2009 Jim Beam Surftag National Champions - Werri Beach
The Jim Beam Surftag National Series is a tag team surfing competition contested by boardriding clubs from all over Australia. The series in 2009 expanded to 7 events with the introduction of the Jim Beam Women's Surftag that was won by North Narrabeen (NSW). The North Narrabeen girls continued the clubs Surftag dominance with the mens team winning the 2008 Jim Beam Surftag National title and the junior mens team claiming the 2008 O'Neill Gromtag title.
North Narrabeen went into the 2009 Final as the team to beat and narrowly missed out on a hat trick of National Titles when south coast club Werri Beach Boardriders (NSW) surprised all and held off a strong finishing NN. Dee Why (NSW) in their first year at the finals finished in third position with powerhouse club Snapper Rocks (QLD) fourth. WCT stars Joel Parkinson and Josh Kerr surfed for Snapper with Kerr scoring a perfect 10 point ride in the final.
The Werri Beach team of Todd Prestage, Ryan Bailey, Tully Robinson, Matt Jones, Rhys Bombaci and Dave Hunt (Manager) won $12,000 cash and a vmoto scooter for the south coast club with Bombaci also winning the O'Neill Surfer of the Series ($500) and the vmoto highest score in the final ($3,000 vmoto scooter).
The Jim Beam Surftag National Series provides a national competition for boardriding clubs to compete against each other and to determine Australia's No.1 Club. The Jim Beam Surftag is Australia's largest team surfing competition and offers a prize pool of over $100,000 in cash and prizes.
The Series is run under the popular tag team format with each club represented by five surfers. In relay style each surfer catches three waves and then returns to the beach to tag their team's next surfer. Heat duration is one hour with four teams contesting each heat, bonus points are on offer for each team's fifth surfer returning to the tag area on the beach. The top two teams from each heat progress to the next round.
Past winner's of the Jim Beam Surftag National Series are 2001 – Queenscliff, 2002 – Snapper Rocks, 2003 – North Steyne, 2004/05 – Umina, 2006 – Snapper Rocks, 2007 - North Narrabeen, 2008 – North Narrabeen, 2009 - Werri Beach.
Over the past eight years some interesting results have been recorded, North Narrabeen are the only team to have won back to back National Titles, Margaret River won four WA Surftag events in a row only to finish runners up to Yallingup in 2007, 2008 and 2009. In their second year of Surftag South Australia's Seaford Boardriders won the 2009 Victoria Surftag event, Snapper Rocks have won 4 of the 8 QLD Titles finishing runners up to rival club Kirra in 2009. Bronte Boardriders did not compete in 2008 but bounced back to claim victory at the 2009 NSW event beating a record field of 38 teams.
2009 saw the introduction of the FCS Manufacturers Cup which is a tag team event for all the surfboard shapers in Australia. State qualifying events were held in NSW, WA, QLD and VIC with WA team Murriginals taking the cash. Lead by former WCT surfer Dave McCauley the Murriginals included Matt Manners, Dave Delroy Carr and Zak Ogram.
The 2010 Jim Beam Surftag National Series will continue to be Australia's richest and largest team surfing competition with over 100 teams entering the series. Stay tuned for dates and venues with a new event expected to be announced in August