Wonderful win: The North Narrabeen team with the trophy (l-r) Vanessa Osborne, Tessa De Josselin, Kate McMahon (heat surfer), Simone Fitzpatrick, Belinda Hardwick, Elle Northey
NORTH NARRABEEN CLAIM SECOND STRAIGHT WOMEN’S SURFTAG CROWN
North Narrabeen have successfully defended their crown as the number one female board riding club in the country by taking out the Jim Beam Women’s Surftag Australian final in solid one metre waves at Sydney’s Curl Curl beach today.
The Surftag format sees the five-member teams given one hour in which each individual must catch three waves, with the second being a “powerwave” worth double points. All three waves for each surfer count in the scoring and bonus points are awarded for teams that finish before the 60 minute mark.
For the second year in succession Belinda Hardwick starred for North Narrabeen as they took out the final with 64 points from North Steyne (51.8), Northern Beaches Women (46.9) and Cronulla (27.2).
The final standings reversed the semi-final result that saw North Steyne beat North Narrabeen to set up what turned out to be an enthralling decider.
Hardwick put together a stunning series of vertical attacks in the challenging surf to amass 21 points and set up teammates Tessa De Josselin (14.1), former world tour professional Vanessa Osborne (10.0) and Simone Fitzpatrick (6.4) to carry their team to a deserved win.
The final had begun in thrilling fashion with Hardwick’s teammate Elle Northey (nee Black) scoring a brilliant 19.5, only to be called for interference and docked seven points, in turn handing the early lead to an equally impressive Sam Joy of North Steyne with 15.5.
Hardwick then brought North Narrabeen back into contention and notwithstanding the powerful effort from Paige Houden (18.5), North Steyne’s lead was trimmed to just half a point when De Josselin hit the water and gave her team the lead for good.
After the final Hardwick revealed her team had been inspired by a challenge from their male North Narrabeen clubmates.
“That (win) means we are allowed back to Narrabeen,” Hardwick laughed.
“Our boys had said we would not be welcome back if we didn’t win and we were hoping they were joking – I guess it doesn’t matter now.”
Hardwick put her own consistently good form down to a desire not to let the other girls down.
“I try to do the best I can possibly do every time I compete because I don’t like not doing well, especially in a team,” she said.
“When I went in I wanted to do well for the girls, make up some points and some time and I was definitely confident that the three girls after are good surfers and could make things up.”
Despite her unfortunate interference in the final, Northey was sensational all day, scoring the highest “powerwave” – a 9.5 in the semi-final – and taking home a Sanyo dual waterproof camera for her troubles.
Earlier, Women in Waves from Norah Heads and Victorian powerhouse Torquay were eliminated in the semi-finals, whilst Bondi A and Bondi B fell by the wayside in the heats.
The next event in the series will be the men’s Victorian Surftag event at Gunnamatta on December 19. The event will feature teams from both Victoria and South Australia.
2010 Jim Beam Surftag Australian Series
23rd Oct - Industry Challenge – Winner: Hurley29th Nov - Women's Surftag - Winner: North Narrabeen
19th Dec - VIC Qualifier
9th Jan - WA Qualifier
15th Jan - QLD Qualifier
23rd Jan - NSW North Qualifier
30/31 Jan - NSW South Qualifier
12/13/14 Feb - Australian Final
The 2010 Jim Beam Surftag Australian Series is proudly supported by FCS, Tracks, Swellnet, Sanyo and Global Surftag.