AUSSIE TITLES LEADUP (REGIONALS)

[Techno]

Red - good idea - talk it over a few beers at Coffs !!!

Better do the talking before the beers though - looks as though it will be another flat comp' - so more time for beer ???

Tony "TECHNO"

[Techno]

Know the feeling mate - last club comp' out of four score cards - two had me winning the six man heat - one had me in 5th and the other had me in 6th ???

One small barrel I got - and there wern't many stand-up barrels on the day - two guys scored me 5.5 & 6.5 - the other two gave me a 2.5 and a 3.5 - so go figure ???

And these guys are my mates !!!

So how bad can it be out in the real world ???

Tony "TECHNO"

[kneelo_44]

Red & dorje

Sophia and I are up for anything, early starts no problems. Name a place and time and we will be there. Provided Sophia doesn't have Judo commitments. I know there are heaps of us about but its just getting the word out and them in one spot. I know Sophia wants to surf in more comps she like the competition and it helps her surfing.

John

[DarcyM]

I surfed as a kneelo against standups at least twice... it was a local contest at a well known left reef break in my home town. That annual contest had the world's longest waiting period, because they wouldn't hold it unless the waves were really good. The break is pretty nasty, a treacherous ledgey wave (or at least it seemed to be at the time) that needed a good south swell to work and then only the big boys surfed it when I was growing up. I wanted to surf the contest bad, though ... just to get out there when it was good.

They didn't have a kneeboard division, so, being young and not knowing better, I entered in the women's division. I figured, what the heck? Get to surf Brooks street on a good day with only a couple of other girls out, why not? I was aggressive enough in those days, I figured I'd at least show the other girls a thing or two. It was just one heat and I charged, I got all the sets, while the other girls seemed to hang on the inside just getting the smaller waves. I ended up taking second, which I was later told that I was robbed, but I was happy enough with it. I realized that they couldn't possibly give a kneelo first place. Don't remember who won first (I think she was a ringer, because contestants were supposed to reside in the city, and it turned out she didn't, but no one ever made a stink about it). The interesting thing, though, is the girl who took third was Alisa Schwarstein, future NSSA standout and top 5 on the women's pro circuit back in the day.

Not to diss Alisa, she's a great surfer, and went on to win a lot of contests and surf some really heavy waves. But I was pretty proud of that.

The next couple of years, they actually had a kneeboard division.

dm

[surfhorn]

Yeah, Darcy! I've also KBed in a standup heat. It was in the invitaion-only
now defunct Pleasure Point No Cord Classic. Usually held in mid winter, my heat had Santa Cruz's Kevin Reed (credited with pulling the first surfing airs), Robert Waldameyer and three other hot surfers. The rule was: No surf leashes.

We were fortunate to have a really large swell that year. Many broken boards on the rocks/cliffs. Big wave charger Richard Schmidt rode a wave all the wave from outside First Peak down to The Hook. Once there, he said the heck with the contest and proceeded to surf on down to Capitola.

I didn't stand a chance against these great surfers so I hooked into a set wave and surfed all the wave down to The Hook. By the time I had walked back (really low tide), the horn ending the heat went off as I started to wade out again.

Today, if offered, I would definitely enter a heat with standups and give it a go!

-Dan

[scoop]

After winning my local area regionals ...I was at the state titles last weekend and came 2nd to Matt Gallagher ...so off to Sth Australia in October to contest the Aussie titles (dont hold any hope though )