Here's a blow by blow of the day -
British Nationals 2011
The forecast looked good running up to the event and for once things held in place and we scored. Offshore winds, sunny skies and a solid 4' – 5' swell running. The odds of those three things coming together in November have got to be nearly as long as a lottery win. As with all perfect looking conditions there were the hidden pitfalls - shifty peaks and strong rips that some got in tune with, lighting the place up with solid surfing. Some battled against them and came home with sore arms.
Open Round 1 heat 1
Karl Ward got out the blocks in this heat with some solid moves and solid scores. This man can chuck buckets of spray. Alex Callister tuned in to the conditions and took out the second place. These two progressed in to the next round of the open. Gareth John battled with the conditions and had to be content to take his sore arms in to the AAA final.
Open Round 1 heat 2
Chris 'Bro' Diplock started as he meant to continue in this one laying down some sweeping power carves to take out first. Duncan Jones chased shifty peaks for most the heat but managed to lock in some scores towards the end. Duncan and Bro progressed to the next round. Bob Wood and Leigh Anderson battled with the condions. Bob hooked in to some tasty looking waves and Leigh chucked herself down some ledgey drops but the scores weren't enough so they moved in to the AAA final.
Open Round 1 heat 3
Richard Smith began his campaign here and demonstrated early what his game plan was – snag the biggest best set waves and go to town on them. Needless to say this progressed him comfortably through to the next round. Anthony Armshaw took out second with good wave selection and clean surfing. Rick Dunstan got himself some bombs but couldn't find the scores to match the other two so headed in to the AAA final.
Open Round 1 heat 4
The rips got the better of these guys the first time and they ended up out of the judges view down the beach. It was opted to go for a re-run. The second time around Richard 'Huey' Hewitt demonstrated his usual flowing style to post two high scores and progress. Jon Paulett showed his determination and aggressively snapped his way in to second. This left John Negus looking for a back up score and moving in to the AAA final.
AAA final
The heats didn't run exactly in this order as we ran the AAA just before the open final. It seems to fit better in the flow of the write up if it goes here. The AAA contestants hit the water with 30 minutes to show what they could do. John Negus got out there and got on it with some committed lip attacks to take out first. For the second year running Leigh showed she could mix it up with the boys and too second. Gareth put his round one paddle demons to bed and took out third place. Bob and Rick chased peaks around the contest area to come joint fourth.
Open Semi 1
Bro was out the gates fast in this one and in rhythm with the set waves. I think he was on just about every set wave that came through. Bro on a decent wave goes a bit like this - full rail bottom turn, full rail carving top turn (huge fan of spray), full rail carving bottom turn, full rail carving top turn (huge fan of spray) etc. etc. Needless to say he took out first. Karl suffered a real wave drought in this one (probably because Bro had booked all the sets in advance.) He got it together in the last few minutes to grind out the scores and put himself through in to the final. Alex got third with a good wave count and some nice re- entry action. This left Anthony in fourth although it was close and hard to pick between the two. From a spectating point of view I would have Alex and Anthony as the two most improved performances of the day.
Open Semi 2
Rich continued his "catch the biggest best set wave and destroy it" routine. On his second wave he parked himself in a barrel that almost had the photographers give up snapping before he burst out through the curtain and continued to carve and float his way to the beach – wave of the day. Huey continued with his laid back flowing style this time with a couple of aggressive punctuation marks as he hit the inside. Duncan and Jon were left needing a good back up score – two more victims of the shifty peaks.
Open final
Things were shaping up for a memorable final and when the hooter sounded the start the spectators were not disappointed. Rich continued his winning streak snaking his way through some cover ups followed by solid power turns to take the win. Bro seemed to have used up all his set waves in the semi but managed to find a couple to show off his surfing and take out second place. Karl seemed to be caught out by the shiftiness – another victim. He couldn't find the waves to get the scores. He finally caught up with some scoring potential late and and put himself in third. Huey was suffering from a long day of paddling after the round 1 re-run but managed to find some waves and take out the fourth spot. A great day all round.
Overall placings
1 Richard Smith
2 Chris Diplock
3 Karl Ward
4 Richard Hewitt
5 Alex Callister / Duncan Jones
7 Anthony Armshaw / Jon Paulett
9 John Negus
10 Leigh Anderson
11 Gareth John
12 Bob Wood / Rick Dunstan
Photo's can be found in the album on here or on this thread - http://kneelo.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f ... 2&start=15
or here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/291596970925/
British Nationals 2011
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southpeakbrad
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Great play-by-play 
Stoked that you had such great conditions. For sure, it allows for some great surfing to be on display.
Duncan thanks for posting the contest results and exciting wrap up sounds like you guys had a great event! reading the play by play of the heats was great! the photos, surfing and waves are killer! 