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Surfest: Mutual Bank High Schools Team Challenge 2024
04.04.24
After a couple of years away from competition it was great to accompany a group of  surfers to Surfest at Bar Beach to contest the Schools Team Challenge on 14 and 15 March.

St Edward’s entered the following 4 teams into the tag team event,

  1. Riley Turner, Ryder Kasun, Dylan Hitchenson
  2. Kai Tower, Kalani McRea, Nate Saley, Jaxon Burgess
  3. Cohen Tower, Ollie Goulding, Xavier Turner
  4. Tom Barry, Max English, Finlay Jones

Day 1

Sunrise on Thursday greeted us with perfect conditions, 3 to 4 foot waves with a light offshore breeze that continued throughout the day making for a perfect day of competition, however, it was a day of mixed fortunes for our teams. It was a testing format with all three surfers expected to catch a minimum of 2 waves in a 20 minute heat. To their credit each team discussed the conditions, the surfing order and the potential for scoring waves and came up with a plan to execute prior to their heats. For the majority of the heats, the surfers did well to catch their 2 waves each and get back to the beach before the heat buzzer went off. Despite managing a 1st and a 2nd place during day 1, the heat totals were going to make it difficult for our surfers to surf their way into the final on day 2.

Day 2

Conditions on Friday had deteriorated significantly. A storm through the night had increased the swell. It was raining, and the wind was howling from the south. The surf was a mess of broken swell and the shore break made the paddle out difficult to negotiate, but that certainly didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the Eddy’s crew. All surfers performed well locking in a heat win and two 2nd places but unfortunately not scoring enough overall points to see any of our teams into the final.

Congratulations to all the surfers who competed over the 2 days and did St Edward’s proud. Thanks to the family members who come along to support the teams and thank you also to Mr Carpenter and Mr Austin for the early morning starts driving the teams to and from the event.

Mr Bondfield
Coach