Though so much more went down & I don't think anyone can argue that it was an event that will be remembered for the large number of competitors and even more so the intensity of the heats with some big names & even bigger dark horses keeping the event from round one to the final extremely unpredictable.
The days before the event brought some degree of frustration for many of the competitors that came to the rock early to prepare for the weekend ahead. The forecast was looking good swell wise, though, & I speak for myself, I can never remember which direction on the island is a good wind! Which did not matter as long as the predicted swell arrived. The Thurs & Fri was strong on shore winds at Woolamai beach side of the island with 6ft waves & yet on the other side were semi cross shore winds at Flynn's reef & Right point in the range of 2ft with the odd bigger sets. Some even found other breaks like Kitty Miller Bay on the high tides or like myself went out 6ft Surfers Point on my own which looking back now was not a very smart thing to do. I couldn't even convince Chayne, Albert or Gavin to come out with me to face the big dark shadows of the deep.
Everyone found something to get the cobwebs off & enjoyed what was a very warm current (for Victoria) to make the wild conditions that little bit more bearable.
Friday night brought together the masses for the pre event contest meet. The draw was made available & the rules discussed & debated with the best outcome made available to all thanks to GB's knowledge of the current rules. The funniest part of the night was seeing a large group of very hungry kneelos let loose on a dozen or so free pizzas. From what I saw the USA groms held their own in the battle.
Day 1
Held at 3-4ft (odd bigger ones) Flynn's reef.
(A right hand reef break not known for its hollow sections but more for its flattish walls and crumbling lips allowing high performance surfing with a nasty shore break to test all).
The decision was made to run the open event all day with no age divisions until day two.
The 1st round was an eye opener for me as it allowed me to see who was doing what & who was in form with this odd wave.
The stand outs in round one in my opinion were, Kyle Bryant, Dean Bould, Gavin Lewis, Mark Vanderpeer & Dale Ponsford to name a few.
Round 2. Some of the big guns & 1st round shredders fell to the surprise of many & not due to poor judging but the reality of this event & that was if you were not on your game you were going to be taken out with the high quality of surfing.
The nasty shore break was by far causing the most entertainment on the beach with anyone who tried to line it up for a bone crunching re-entry had the beach cheering, laughing, applauding & moaning. Stan Kofoed I think caused more frowning & moaning from the crowd on the shore with his no fear approach to the shore break & unfortunately, but not surprisingly breaking his board clean in two. Stan was noticeably frustrated with the broken board but did not hold back at all when given a board from Red to finish the heat & to everyone's delight saw him progress to the next round. I think about an hour later his long awaited new board arrived hand delivered on the beach for him to continue.
I think another memorable moment was Mark Vanderpeer's big hit in round one on the shore break which pretty much got a standing applause.
I remember sitting down interested in watching his heat as Mark has been a huge stand out with previous performances on the Island that I had not ever witnessed.
Mark took this one wave that was a good size set in the 4-5ft range & took the high road to get maximum speed & went out wide into this powerful round house cutback really hooking it around. Just before hitting the foam he did a reverse spinner off the white water maintaining full speed lining up for this very nasty shore break which the crowd had already started the audible winding up of anticipation for something huge. Mark held a perfect line to attack this nasty 4-5ft back breaking slab & hit the lip with full speed, power & grace & landed it with such style & ease it was insane! Its sounds made up but the crowd went wild.
As the day went on & the tide started dropping out in the afternoon & it started causing some disturbing lulls in some heats. The size of the waves dropped & the rocks started popping up confronting some of the riders. Another scenario that kept confronting the competitors was a corpse of some type that I could not recognise which kept popping up in the line up. It did numerous laps of the reef & just when you thought it would wash up on the shore break it would get pulled back out by the rip to scare another unexpected person. It & the dead seal on the beach that had lost half its face from something? & the previous nights discussion over the photos on the pubs walls at the Isle of White regarding the biggest white pointer ever caught (murdered!) which just so happened to be just around the corner was causing some of us to be very alert!
of anything in the water that caused a shadow. It never did wash up & I have no idea what it was. Some said a kangaroo? but without a head or limbs I find it hard to agree 
By the late afternoon many people had fallen out of the main event with Gavin Colman being the biggest surprise. The tide was very low & the sun was straight in the faces of the judges & on lookers. Mother nature was doing her best to drain any energy left in all who sat in the harsh conditions with no protection from the wind or sun.
The call was made to run the main event till completed, Final & all.
The quarter finals were brutal, the heats were loaded with good surfers & everyone had their sights set on the final though the conditions were getting so hit & miss it was concerning the majority of competitors still remaining. The semis were finally stacked as followed.
semi 1 was Simon Farrer, Chayne Simpson, Baden Smith & Dale Ponsford
semi 2 was Neil Luke, Albert Munoz, Matt Gallager & the giant killer Phil Arthur (dark horse)
I have no problem in saying that I started discussions between the competitors about whether the event should stop as the conditions were becoming Sh-t!!!!!
Every person came to the same decision on their own that it would be best to postpone the event until tomorrow. I stepped up to the plate & spoke on behalf of all remaining competitors as it was frustrating me that everyone was concerned about the conditions but no one wanted to bring it to the attention of the organisers. This caused some tension with organisers & a few dresses fell down around some people ankles
when asked to individually back up what had been put forward by myself but the end result was made by the organisers which they made quite clear. The contest was postponed until the next day with only the 2x semi finals & Final remaining of the main event.Day 2
Woolamai beach 6ft close out bombs outside reforming into a right hander with a horrendous current dragging everyone in the water across through the line up with no chance of paddling against it back to the channel. The tide was low & the wind was onshore. First impressions were Oh My God!!!!!
Anyone with any experience at Woolamai knew that with the tide coming in the bank would turn on!
The early heats were not fun at all & tested the strength of everyone in all age divisions. The contest was split into two with the young guns being sent down to a bank 400m down the beach to another right reform which after a free surf with Stan Kofoed, Matt Gallager & myself felt that they got the pick of the banks. The groms did really well. I compared them to a flower petal placed in the Zambezi river & yet they managed to the best of their ability and charged.
The main event was put out on the main bank on the in coming tide which at that point had well and truly started to turn on. The waves were powerful 3-5ft reforms running through to the beach if picked correctly. The rip had not improved & made many people do the lap! (out, in & around the shore for more!)
Both heats went down really well from what I've been told with some amazing surfing.
Neil Luke missed out from making the main event final by a count back with Matt Gallager in the 2nd semi. A huge effort from the old fella.
I can't say anymore about the final as I was in it, but again from what I was told it was something to see!
I am going out on a limb here but I am quite sure that the whole event was captured on video but someone can confirm that from the Island.
All that has been written above is from my own opinion & experience down at the Island 2007.
I hope others can add to this with their own experiences & opinions. Sorry for any spelling mistakes,etc.
Below I have added another report which has been written & placed on the Phillip Island kneeboard classic web site. Please check it out & I believe the photos are to come http://www.phillipislandkneeboardclassic.com/home.htm
All Hail the New PIKC Champ
Chayne Simpson wins the Open Title
The 2007 Classic has been run in difficult conditions at Woolamai. The day of the final was overcast with a light SW onshore breeze around 5 knots. Contest directors chose to hold competition on a rippy Woolamai bank, with waves of around 6 feet smashing on a shallow low tide rip bank. A raging current made positioning difficult and many competitors succumbed to its power, being pulled inside onto the shallow sandbank and struggling to escape the surging maelstrom that engulfed them or sucked outside beyond the take-off zone.
DAY 1: Open Event.
The first day was held in cleanish cross-shore Flynns, running the full gamut of the tide, early Open competitors having the best of it with clean 3 foot mid-tide conditions. Late in the afternoon with an ultra-low tide and dropping swell, the Open Event pushed all the way through to the Quarter Finals when the whistle was blown on the days proceedings. Some radical turns were thrown at the slow Flynn's walls and if a section opened up, some mind-blowing smashes off the top. Top-flite kneeboarders as always revealed an entirely different approach to wave-riding; the supreme angles of attack, the speed and the power were a joy to behold. Kneeboarding can be an acquired taste and the judges showed knowledge and appreciation and rewarded the difficult high-risk moves well. The judging all weekend was excellent and showed the value of professional judges at a Pro Contest.
With Gavin Coleman and Mark Vanderpeer knocked out in the second round, progression through the Open draw was tough. Standout of the day was Simon; certain aspects of his surfing are his alone, the power off the bottom, the maintained velocity, the controlled sweeping turns and precise cracks at will. When most had trouble dealing with the shorebreak close-downs the Sparrow excelled. While the Flynn's rights fatten and dribble into the sand, surfers are faced with a jumping, sand-sucking left shorebreak to complete the wave. It provided plenty of entertainment for the crowd as kneelo after kneelo was pile-driven into the sand. Simon attacked that difficult section with ease, with precisely timed hits or swinging left into the shorebreak and belting the pathetic right into submission. Mr Farrer was looking unbeatable.
Other standouts and semi-finalists were Baden Smith, Chayne Simpson, Albert Munoz, Dale Ponsford, Phil Arthur, Matt Gallagher and local legend and shaping guru Neil Luke who impressed all with his semi-final berth and highest-placed local award. We were all inspired to see Neil still carving and frothing like a grommet. Even with the lowest tide of the year and good waves at a premium the surfing was still excellent.
DAY TWO: "Its thee Day of thee Final"
The second day saw competition at Woolamai, breaking 6 foot and onshore on a churned up sandbank on the old "Dunny Block" sandbar. The Pro Junior, Women, Cadets and Junior Events were held on the next bank down towards Magiclands - this too had a strong current but was more of a reform through the inside. The main bank had some racy outside sections, a fattish middle section linking through to an action shorey which saw many a big bang landed on the sand and some nice go-downs as well. At its best on the high-tide the Open finals and the finals around it were held in good contestable conditions.
The talking point amongst the kneelos, however, was the rip, a classic Woolamai washing machine job that made keeping in the spot just about impossible. Add to that a heavy shorebreak to paddle through after every wave, the boys were made to work hard. Competitors then had to negotiate some gurgling double-stacked take-offs, work hard to make the link to to the inside to meet a quick powerful wall and a bone-dry close-out. Low tides early and late made finding good waves difficult but in general the cream rose to the top and the Open Final was held in the best possible conditions.
The Open Final was the marquee event of the day and the surfing was top shelf, all of the age divisions were also brimming with talent and hotly contested. Chayne pipped Simon in a close one and Albert and Matty G turned it on as well. Thanks to the sponsors Panhandle Tex Mex Family Cantina, Island Surfboards, Isle of Wight, Piglets of Cowes, Rhyll Fishing Park & Restaurant, Play It Safe By the Water, Tide Has Turned, Drexel Boardshorts. Big thumbs up to contest director Adrian Sorati, and Head Judge Greg Hogan. Thanks to Dave Rosenbrook,Neil Luke and Jim Brown.
great job
...... the words painting a good picture. It was an eventfull event!!! to say the least, had it all you could almost say (just lacked the perfection section). Great to catch up again mate.
