Rip Curl GromSearch
Presented by Snickers

Surfing Australia
Newcastle NSW
1 - 4 October 2006

Queensland ex "Saffer" surfer dominates the day

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 3 October, 2006 : - - Little known Queensland surfer Thomas "Tiger" Woods gained instant prominence and profile today when he destroyed his opponents to win round three of the 14 and under Boys at the Rip Curl GromSearch which ran at Merewether Beach in Newcastle.

The larger stormy waves whipped up by the overnight strong southerly winds  posed no problems to Woods who was quick off the mark with an opening excellent score of 8.5. Better was to come later in the heat when he unleashed all his stylish and  powerful repertoire of maneuvers  to score an 8.93 ride and easily advance through to the quarter finals.

" I guess no one knows me because I'm from Cape Town/South Africa but we're settled on the Gold Coast (Coolangatta) now and have just received citizenship last week! I'm doing a few Queensland comps and made the Queensland under 16 team for the Australian Titles a few weeks ago and now I'm doing well in the Rip Curl GromSearch here so it's great fun!"

It's appears to be also a lot of fun for Thomas's brother James who is  excelling in the 16 and under Boys where he too has advanced to the quarter finals. "Tiger" Wood's performance today secured him the SNICKERS® wave of the day award and he's set for a great quarter final match up with Narrabeen's Cooper Chapman who has also been a standout in the early rounds.

Local Newcastle surfers again surfed brilliantly today. Merewether based surfer Ryan Callinan demonstrated an incredible local knowledge of his home break finding three excellent rides from way outside the point to easily win through to the quarters defeating Cabarita's Jason Jameson who also advanced in second place in the four man heats.

After his win Callinan said "I was so excited when I heard  we were moving to Merewether today. I surf here all the time, big small, onshore or offshore - this is where I've always surfed and it's the best wave around. I really hope we stay here for tomorrows finals because I love this wave!"

Just as impressive was fellow Newcastle surfer Sam Lendrum (Nord's Wharf) who also posted a high scoring round three heat win to advance to the quarters. Mendrum has been impressive throughout this event and in today's bigger waves he appeared to lift the performance levels even more!

The 15 year old appears to be gaining in confidence  and his 8.6 winning ride in today's heat saw him produce probably the events most powerful performance with a series of fast cut backs that sent spray flying high.

"The last six months I'm getting good results at a state level and now at this event I guess at a national level - I'm not sure why but recently I've made a lot of state finals. I seem to have worked out how to compete in the surf!"

Tomorrow Lendrum will face North Curl Curl surfer Steve Ahrens who has also been a high scoring round two and three heat winner. Girls 16 and under quarter finalists were  decided today. Narrabeen's Laura Enever is clearly the favourite here. She's been dominating her division recently and will be looking forward to the larger waves that look likely to maintain through  tomorrows finals.

Local girls Phillipa Anderson and Laura Byrnes  won through to the quarter finals and they are certain to be Enever's biggest challengers, especially at Merewether which is their home beach. Twelve and under Boys  surfed their opening rounds today and in the rugged onshore 1.5m (3 to 5ft) swells demonstrated awesome ocean awareness and their were multiple impressive performances.

Tomorrow promises to be a great day with abating winds and swells maintaining for all finals which should finish around 4pm.

Previous reports/photos/videos/etc. available here

www.surfingaustralia.com

More Australasian Surfing News available here
Check the latest Australasian Surf Reports and Forecasts

New! Get the latest news with Surfersvillage News-Alerts

Steve Robertson

Contests - Surfersvillage