SURF’S UP DURANBAH CREATES SLICE OF HISTORY
HISTORY has been made as Duranbah made full use of their home break to secure a fourth straight women’s Australian Championships crown to put themselves clear as surftag’s greatest ever team.
The D’Bah Boardriders unit cruised to victory in large and powerful conditions running for the one-hour final on Saturday.
Amiya Doyle was the star for D’Bah, notching a score of 18.87 – including a 7.44 powerwave earning double points – to help put her team well ahead of their rivals from start to finish.
The home team finished on 67.16, aided by contributions from Audrey Styman-Lane (13.33), Grace Styman-Lane (12.57), Freya Prumm (7.73), and Amiya’s twin sister Brodie Doyle (10.66).
North End proved their closest challenger with 45.20 – carried by Sayaka Muramatsu’s heat-high total of 26.90 – ahead of North Shelly (42.39) and Currumbin Alley (40.59).
“We are so happy to win our fourth surftag Australian title and we couldn’t do it without the support of our team manager Poppy (Ray Helton) and our families,” Amiya said.
“All the other teams surfed great and pushed us all the way. This event is the best.
“Every year gets tougher to win and we can’t wait for next year as we know there will be more women’s teams coming for the title.”
Snapper Rocks made it a Gold Coast double by clinching their first men’s title since 2006.
Snapper’s 96.46 total put them ahead of Elouera (78.01), Merewether (67.32) and Torquay (60.14). Jay Phillips, Snapper’s captain, led from the front with an individual score of 22.73 to go with efforts from Shaun Gossmann (11.67), Quinn Bruce (17.66), Mitch Parkinson (16.40) and Sheldon Simkus (24.00).
Phillips has been competing for Snapper in the surftag series since it began in 2001 and showed age was not slowing him, boasting the second best average wave score (5.78) of any competitor in the 2018 edition.
“To win here at D’Bah with the younger guys in the team is really special,” Phillips said.
“Having the best boardriding clubs from around Australia come together and compete for the title is amazing and to finish on top is something our club is really proud of.
“Our next generation of surfers have really stepped up and to win this Australian title is something we will never forget,” Phillips said.