Former World Surfing Champion Tom Carroll will roll back the clock and rekindle his competitive juices by competing for Newport in the Jim Beam Surftag NSW Qualifying event at Cronulla Beach this Saturday and Sunday.

The 2008 Jim Beam Surftag Series sees Australia’s top surfers competing for their local clubs in pursuit of prizes and prizemoney of $100,000 and has attracted a record field of 70 clubs from all over Australia.

Surftag is a team’s event where four clubs compete in a one hour heat. Each club has five surfers, who surf one at a time and must catch three waves and then tag the next surfer from their club, creating an evolving and exciting format.

Carroll is the latest in a string of former World Champions and current WCT stars to enter the 2008 Jim Beam Surftag Series.

In the opening rounds, held in West Australia, Queensland and Victoria, the likes of former World Champion Mark Occhilupo (Snapper Rocks) and current World No.2 Taj Burrow (Yallingup) have helped their clubs progress to the National Final.

Carroll’s Newport will face stiff opposition from a raft of current stars, who will be trying to qualify their clubs for the National Final, to be held at North Narrabeen on March 7.

World ranked surfers Kai Otton (No.12 from the North Steyne club), Tom Whittaker (13 - Bronte), Luke Stedman (16 - Avalon), Adrian Buchan (19 - Avoca) and Dayyan Neve (32 - North Steyne) will all be surfing.

North Steyne goes into the NSW Jim Beam Surftag event as defending State Champions although North Narrabeen was crowned National Champions in 2007.

North Steyne will be spearheaded by Kai Otton and Neve while North Narrabeen will be calling upon the likes of Nathan Webster and Chris Davidson.

The NSW event is the fourth and final round of qualifying and is also the biggest of the four regional contests with 32 teams representing Boardriding clubs from Sydney and beaches stretching from the South Coast to Newcastle.

The top eight teams at Cronulla Beach over the weekend will join Yallingup (WA), Margaret River (WA), Snapper Rocks (Qld), Kirra (Qld), Noosa (Qld), Lennox Ballina (Qld) Seaford (South Australia) and Philip Island (Vic) in the National Final.

Last year North Steyne, Curl Curl, Werri Beach, Queenscliff, Bronte, Long Reef, North Narrabeen A and North Narrabeen B all qualified for the National Final.

Remaining 2008 Jim Beam Surftag Events:
• New South Wales qualifying - Sat/Sun 9/10 Feb – Cronulla
• Jim Beam Boardriders Cup National Final - Thursday 6th March - North Narrabeen
• Jim Beam Surftag National Final – Friday 7th March - North Narrabeen

HOW SURFTAG WORKS

Surftag is a team’s event where each team (Boardriding Club) has five competitors. All competitors must be over the age of 18 and one surfer must be over 30.

Each heat goes for one hour with surfers required to catch three waves before coming to shore and tagging their next team mate.

All three waves are scored by judges with the second wave of each competitor deemed a “Power Wave” and worth double points.

Teams also receive bonus points for finishing within the one hour time limit with four points (4) for the first team to finish, three points for the 2nd team, two points for the 3rd team and one point for the final team to finish inside the limit.

The point scores from all five surfers plus any bonus points are tallied to find the winner.

The 2008 Jim Beam Surftag National Series is proudly supported by Jim Beam, Oneill, Oporto, Vmoto, Mizone, Tracks and Coastalwatch.

Further information:

Jim Beam Surftag Contest Director
Steve Harrison
0403 180 787
steve@globalsurftag.com

Jim Beam Surftag media contact
Dave Mason
0438 243 195