- Aug 19

2024 National Titles Wrap

This year’s Australian Bodyboard Titles went down on the 1st and 2nd of August at North Haven Beach New South Wales. The event once again formed part of Australian Surf Championships present by Surfing Australia.

A modest contingent of seven riders from Victoria made the journey to the mid north coast of NSW for the comp. But for what the team lacked in numbers it certainly picked up in its application with 3 of these making the finals.

With one the largest sustained pulses of swell to bombard the entire east coast in recent memory the sheer size and direction of the swell meant that finding a break that could harness the size was near on impossible. At the briefing the night prior to the start of proceedings it was clear that the southern comer of North Haven beach nestled against the mouth of the Camden Haven river would be the only viable option.

Day 1

Teams were greeted with solid 4ft plus inside peaks with the outside banks and bombies maxing out at 8 to 10 foot plus. However the wind was favourable and if you could get yourself in position there were some nuggets to be found.

First in the water were the Open Men, with Vico’s Ben Roberts making an appearance in the 3rd heat of the day The seasoned campaigner made the most of the washing machinelike conditions. While he managed to get the third highest score of the round he it was not enough to pip his opponent in the two man heat.

Next in the salt were the Masters, with South African expat Ryan Jucker flying the flag for the team. The former Port Elizabeth local laid down some solid pocket surfing which gave him the win and highest single wave score of the opening round.

The next gen of Vic bodyboarding River Gray and Lucas Byford found themselves in the same heat straight up after the masters. Both guys put in solid efforts but in a close heat it was River advancing to round 3 and Lucas heading to round 2, with a 2nd and 4th respectively.

To quote the great Teza Mckenna the “Voltaren division” were up next. Better known as the Grand Masters it was the Melbourne local Ben Lee Kong getting amongst it. With the tide bottoming out all riders found it even harder to get scores with Ben taking 4th in a low scoring heat.

Slotting into the packed heat schedule was round 2 of Open men. Fighting to stay alive all 5 guys jumped out quickly, but when they hit the final straight it was Benny Roberts and NSW’s Flynn Dunn that had gapped the field. When the foam settled it saw Ben narrowly missing out on 1st by .4 of a point.

With the tide starting to fill in the conditions improved marginally. The first heat of the dropknee division saw Dane Pope do Dane Pope things. Dropping an 8.17 in the first few minutes of the heat with a clinical display of jack stance surfing. Not content with this, Popey proceeded to drop a 7.17 back up score absolutely decimating the field, see him advanced through to round 3 and earn the highest heat score of the entire competition on day 1.

Rounding out the day saw the Bennies, Kong and Roberts take out some gritty heat wins placing them in the 3rd round and semi-finals respectively.

Day 2

A Victorian-esque Friday morning of crisp temperatures and stiff offshore winds greeted the field, with the swell on the decline but still 3 to 5 feet range.

The 3rd heat of the day saw Mr Jucker apply his trade in the masters semi-final. Starting where he left off with a solid spin to roll combo it looked as though the male model from Melbourne was well on his way to the final. But as time started to tick away it was evident that finding scoring waves was not going to be easy with a lot of water moving across the bank. When the hooter sounded he was left still chasing a second score and bowed out. The trend seem to continue with Ben Roberts suffering a similar fate in his Opens Men’s semi-final. Both guys put in great efforts and in a display of great sportsmanship and state pride both hung around to emphatically support the guys still in the mix.

Wedged in between the two losses was a successful semi-final for the young Mornington Peninsula local River Gray. Showing the composure of someone with a lot more trips around the sun he proceeded to drop solid scores throughout the heat and always looked like advancing with a 2nd place by a mere .28 of a point.

After a searing appearance the day before it was The Pope who entered in the line-up next to deliver an aquatic sermon of dropknee savagery. While he advanced, the tricky conditions showed how tough it was with him landing a hard fought 2nd to the ex-Victorian Justin Kilpatrick.

The semis continued to roll along with Grand Masters, and this time it was on-like-KONG! He came out firing with a Tamega like roll off of a meaty section earning him a 6.5 for single manoeuvre wave. Ben then dropped a tidy back up score and he was off to the finals.

The first of the Victorian finals was River in Juniors. Not fazed by the gravity of the situation the steely eyed young man took to the shifty rip bowl peaks with gusto. Never afraid to attack lip he had the small contingent of Vic team members on the break wall dropping moves that could have seen them qualify for break dancing in Paris. The approach while valiant, with solid flip attempts but unfortunately it didn’t pay off and River walked away with 4th.

The dropknee final resembled a who’s who of DK in Australia. Never looking bothered Popey went about his business dropping some tidy numbers. But when the inform Novocastrian Jimmy Leayr put a 7.17 on the board he was forced to dig deep. Fighting to the bitter end and unlucky not to ride out of a least one solid floater the Bird Rock maestro had to settle for 2nd.

The next final saw the statesmen Benny Lee Kong in the Grandmasters final. Hot off the back of his semi-final victory KONG was swinging from the fences. Courageous efforts from all riders saw a spread of just 3 points between 1st and 4th. But when the final buzzer sounded it was Ben who found himself 4th place

The crew stuck around and watch the remaining finals before retiring to the Bowlo for the presentation. With a great atmosphere and some great conversations going down over a few beers the Friday arvo vibe was strong. When the division awards were handed out it saw NSW come out on top overall followed by Queensland, Victoria then Western Australia.

A big shout out all the team it was an epic trip and looking forward to next year’s campaign.