Balin / Snickers®  Pro Junior 2006

Surfing Australia
Gunnamatta Beach (Boneo- End of Truemans Rd)
18 - 22 January 2006

www.balin.com.au

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 18 January, 2006 : - - A wind swept wild Gunnamatta played host to 200 of Australia's very best Pro Junior (20 years and under male and female surfers) and in typical fashion, the wild oceans of Gunnamatta Beach served up rips, currents and in amongst all this , some excellent waves. 

The Balin Pro really tests a surfers ocean skills, both on the waves and in general in the ocean and in this environment, some talented surfers can really standout and highlight the complete ocean skills of a great surfer.No one better to highlight those skills than South Coast NSW surfer Owen Wright. He opened the day with an excellent win in the first heat of the day scoring both the highest scoring (9.25) wave and combined two wave  heat score of the day (16.75).  

While many surfers were frustrated with the winds, rips and unpredictable waves, Wright reveled in these conditions. - "Those waves are great, there's rips running into the break creating "rip bowls" and they are super carvable and enjoyable waves - I love these types of conditions, you can use the rips to your advantage and the whole unpredictability of the waves keeps it interesting. I know it can be way more extreme here as it gets bigger but even in those conditions I love these waves!" 

And while the ocean favoured Wright today, or he got the better of it, a number of Victorian's struggled in these conditions - Three surfed their round two heats and all were eliminated, mainly due to not being able to find the right waves - Cahill Bell-Warren was a prime example, choosing to surf another sand bank to his competitors and that alone was a huge mistake with his opponents all finding great waves and eliminating Bell -Warren to last place.

Owen Wright : photo courtesy Surfing Australia (click image to enlarge)

Tyler Slaven (Jan Juc) found similar misfortune in his heat, surfing a sand bank that didn't appear to produce decent waves for most of his 20 minute heat then late in the heat finding a decent scoring ride, but with only one decent score was eliminated in third place. Airey's Inlets James Healy suffered a similar fate and was also eliminated in third place. 

It wasn't just these three who suffered difficult heats, there were plenty of very experienced talented interstate and overseas surfers who suffered in these conditions and it was fluky as to who found the right waves out there. Others to stand out today were many of the large group of South African's here to surf - Rudy Palmboom, Josh Schmeltzer and Josh Redman all progressed easily along with Japanese surfers  Osawa Nobuyuki  and Kaito Oohashi. 

A couple of other Australian surfers were in good form as well - Cronulla's Dylan Hannah and young 14 year old sth Coast surfer Dean Bowen were also strong scoring winners today. 

With offshore winds predicted in the coming days, conditions should further clean up and a more settled ocean with good clean waves are likely in the coming days which should suit all surfers, including Wright! Seeded surfers will enter in round three tomorrow with the event starting around 8am each morning and going through to around 5pm.

Previous reports:
# 1 : Balin/Snickers Pro Junior Gunnamatta Beach Jan 2006
# 2 : Coming soon
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

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www.surfingaustralia.com.

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Kate McDonell - Balin

Junior Contests - Surfersvillage