Sydney, 3rd March 2007 - North Narrabeen has taken out the Jim Beam Surftag National final at Sydney’s Curl Curl beach after a blistering display by opening surfer Nathan Webster.

Webster, known throughout the surfing community as ‘Noodles’, lit up the solid one metre waves to post an individual total of 27.5, the competition’s highest score, as North Narrabeen amassed 86.2 points.

North End (68.6) was second ahead of Le Ba (Lennox Ballina) on 68.1and local club Curl Curl (49.6).

Such was Webster’s dominance, his individual score was more than fourth placegetter Curl Curl had totalled after the first two surfers.

The Surftag is the nation’s premier club teams surfing event and is run under the popular tag team format with each club being represented by five surfers.

In relay style each surfer catches three waves and then returns to the beach to tag the next surfer. All three waves ridden count towards the team’s final score with each surfer’s second wave a “Powerwave” worth double points. Bonus points are also on offer for each team’s fifth surfer returning to the tag area before the one hour time limit.

The North Narrabeen team was knocked out in the semi finals of the NSW titles last month but still qualified for the National finals and added former World Championship Tour surfers Nathan Hedge and Chris Davidson to their squad.

Webster is also a former WCT surfer and his experience told when he latched onto a perfect wave and slotted straight into a barrel in the opening ten minutes of the hour final.

From that point on the other three teams in the final were forced to play catch-up as first Hedge, then Davidson, Christo Hall and Ben Short all surfed brilliantly to cement the victory and the National title.

North Narrabeen took home $8000 and an all expenses paid trip to the Mentawai’s for all five team members while Webster was named the Face of Australia Sun Surfer of the Series and took home a vmoto scooter for scoring the highest total in the final.

Earlier, defending champions Snapper Rocks were eliminated in a tight semi final by Curl Curl and North Narrabeen.

NSW champions North Steyne were surprise casualties in the quarter finals going down to Snapper Rocks and Margaret River, while Victorian qualifier winners Torquay and Western Australian title holders Yallingup also lost in their opening heat.

In the Jim Beam Boardriders Cup, a competition between the Open club champions of Australia’s top 50 surfing clubs, Long Reef’s Steve Clements continued the red letter day for peninsula clubs when he was too good for Le Ba’s Marcus Aboody.

Clements, 32, reeled off a series of powerful combinations to rack up 13.3 points to Aboody’s 11.5, walking away with $2000 and a vmoto scooter.

The 2007 Jim Beam Surftag National Series is proudly supported by Jim Beam, Face of Australia Sunscreen, Mentawai Resorts, vmoto, Oporto, Coastalwatch and Australia’s Surfing Life.