OCEAN AND EARTH Secret Harbour Surf Festival 2005
Supported by: City of Rockingham, Clearwater Surf Secret Harbour, Bendigo Bank.

Secret Harbour Beach Rockingham, WA
8 - 9 October 2005 Title

Young Blood nails blue ribbon event against seasoned surfers in inaugural OCEAN AND EARTH Secret Harbour Surf Festival

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 11 October, 2005 : - - With unfavorable surfing conditions forecast for the later part of the weekend organisers were forced to squeeze the inaugural OCEAN AND EARTH Secret Harbour Surf Festival into one day. Saturday competitors were blessed with sunny conditions and clean 1 to 1.5 metre waves with a light wind that remained throughout the entire event.

The blue ribbon division of the event witnessed names from the past progressing through to the final with former multiple state team representative, junior professional and WQS surfer Stephen Knowler (Rockingham) and 6 times State team representative Ian Mac Pherson (Mandurah) laying the gauntlet down to young guns Tom Clarke (Rockingham) and Dan Waddell (Dunsborough).

In an intense closely fought final that had judges and spectators white knuckled from clenching their fists in anticipation, it was Knowler that opened his account early with a series of power driven manouvres and an aerial re-entry to assert his dominance and let the other competitors know that this is his home turf. Not to be outdone Dunsboroughs Waddell answered back with an amazing aerial manouvre of his own to take the challenge up to Knowler, while Mandurahs Mac Pherson closed the gap in on the two with a series of vertical re-entries to squeeze the point spread even closer together.

17 year old Clarke could not find his rhythm in the early part of the final and it wasn't till midway through it that he secured his first scoring ride. Like an unleashed, tightly wound spring the natural footer generated speed through his first manouvre to set himself up with an amazing section that he floated over to make his way onto the clean face of a long wall that he continued to decimate with a series of high speed turns to place him into second.

As Waddell, Knowler and Mac Pherson continued their onslaught Clarke was relegated back to fourth place and with only one minute and thirty seconds remaining on the clock it looked like it was all over as Waddell and Knowler further cemented their scores with one more amazing wave each. But as a set wave loomed on the break it was Clarke who was in prime position one of the better waves of the final.

It was clear to all as he paddled into it that this was going to be the make or break of the final and as Clarke weaved and smashed his way through the long wave and nailing an impressive Ariel just metres from the shore it was clear by the shouts and cheers from the beach that he had done enough to take out the final.

In a mammoth effort Clarke had not only sealed Victory in the open final, but also took out the Junior and Airshow finals in a feat that left him exhausted to say the least.

"I'm so stuffed", said Clarke (drenched and soaked in champagne after being sprayed by the other finalists after the presentations), "It was such a great day with the waves, weather and surfing, I was just happy to be out there surfing at my home beach and to win it, I'm even more stoked! I just want to say thank you to all for putting on such a great event and I can't wait till next years", added Clarke.

In the cadets division it was talented goofy footer Jerome Forrest Mandurah that found his rhythm during the early part of the final and keeping it to win the division. Picking off some hollow little left hand wave paid off as they allowed him to utilize the full potential of his repertoire to relegate Mitch Taylor (Trigg) into second place, Rick Green (Secret Harbour) third and Michael Schnaars (Mandurah) fourth.

Mandurahs Sarah Earle surfed conservatively in the girls final. Finding it hard paddle sporting a hand with broken bones in it from a recent surfing injury, did not deter her from putting on a performance that had her win the final ahead of Danielle Green (Waikiki), Chontarle Pitules (Bunbury) and Yasmin Ismail (Secret Harbour ) respectively.

Age was no barrier for performance in the senior masters division with the collective ages of all four finalists amounting to more than the date of the berth of competitive surfing.

Evan Perry (Secret Harbour) was quick to rack up the score and pick up the lead in the early part of the final, but unfortunately was left starved for waves along with Matt Wilson from Mandurah. The battle for first place was left between Shane Drew (Mandurah) and Brent Moss (Safety Bay), but it was Drews style, speed and power that received the judges nod to relegate Moss into second, Perry into third and Wilson fourth.

"The competition is now set to be a permanent fixture in the WA surfing calendar with next years event promising to be bigger and better" said contest director Doug Kitchingman.

Proudly supported by: Ocean and Earth surfing accessories, City of Rockingham, Clearwater Surf, Bendigo Bank, FCS, Port Kennedy Tavern, O'Neill, Tooheys Extra Dry, Gorrila Grip, West Surfing Products, Arnette, Surfing WA, Dunes Café, Gone Surfing, Surf Mania, srosurf.com and surfpics.com.au

Final Results
OCEAN AND EARTH
Secret Harbour Surf Festival 2005

OPENS
1. Tom Clarke (Rockingham), 2. Dan Waddell (Dunsborough), 3. Stephen Knowler (Rockingham), 4. Ian Mac Pherson (Mandurah)

Juniors
1. Tom Clarke (Rockingham), 2. Brendan Collison (Mandurah), 3. Sam Harbuz (Secret Harbour), 4. Justin Pickering (Warnboro)

Girls
1. Sarah Earle (Mandurah), 2. Danielle Green (Waikiki), 3. Chontarle Pitules (Bunbury), 4. Yasmin Ismail (Secret Harbour ).

Cadets
1. Jerome Forrest (Mandurah), 2. Mitch Taylor (Trigg), 3. Rick Green (Secret Harbour), 4. Michael Schnaars (Mandurah)

Seniors
1. Shane Drew (Mandurah), 2. Brent Moss (Safety Bay), 3. Evan Perry (Secret Harbour), 4. Matt Wilson (Mandurah)

Airshow Winner
Tom Clarke (Rockingham)

Proudly supported by: Ocean and Earth surfing accessories, City of Rockingham, Clearwater Surf, Bendigo Bank, Port Kennedy Tavern, O’Neill, Tooheys Extra Dry, West Surfing Products, Arnette, Surfing WA, Dunes Café, Gone Surfing, Surf Mania, srosurf.com and surfpics.com.au 

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Mario “Marz” Vassallo
srosurf@westnet.com.au

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