2002 Longboard Open

The 2002 Central Coast Longboard Open was held on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10 November at North Avoca beach. The weather was fine and hot for most of the weekend, with 2-4 foot waves on a beach break with both left and right. Hand waves on offer. Over 100 competitors from the Central Coast, Sydney, NSW south coast, Newcastle and even Noosa competed in 11 divisions with over 140 divisional entries in total.

The heats were held on the Saturday morning with Semi’s starting Saturday afternoon. Standout performances on the Saturday were Mark Williams (Central Coast) in the Over 40 heats, Peter Becker (Central Coast) in the Over 45 heats, Luke Flanders (Newcastle) and Dwaine from Hobie (Noosa) in the Open 9 foot heats. Ray Smith (Central Coast) put in an unbelievable performance in the Open 8 foot heats with huge progressive manoeuvres combined with long nose rides, and Darren Stapleton (Central Coast) also put the Open 8 foot field on notice with an impressive performance and dynamic re-entries. Dave English (Manly) was the standout in the Over 35 Semis, and Clarke McClymont (Central Coast) was a standout in the Old Mal Semis.

The complementary competitors BBQ and drinks was held on the Saturday night at the Avoca Rugby Club. It was a family affair and all who attended had a good feed, heaps of drinks and kids even got ice creams for dessert . A good night was had by all.

A crowded beach watching some superb feats of board control

The balance of the semis were held on the Sunday morning, with the Finals starting late morning. The weather was again fine and hot and the surf was cleaning right up thru the morning, until the southerly change hit just as the finals were getting underway. Fortunately there was no rain, however the wind did mess up the surf and played havoc with the contest tents, but the show went on.

Blake Pascoe (Central Coast) took out the Under 16 final with Mitchell Fraser (Central Coast) 2nd. Leigh Davison (Central Coast) took out the Old Mal with a solid traditional display with Clarke McCymont (Central Coast) 2nd. The Under 18 final was taken out by Jeff Dunn (Cecil Hills – DV8’s) with Adam Crompton (Central Coast) a very close 2nd. Dave English (Manly) had a convincing win in the Over 35 final with Malcolm Ray (Central Coast) 2nd. John Fraser (Central Coast) in his first appearance in the Over 40’s took out the final with Peter Sharp (Central Coast) 2nd.

Peter Becker (Central Coast) won the Over 45 final with Michael Thomason (Manly) 2nd. Ken Gay (Manly) and Al Breakspear (Cronulla) were neck and neck in the Over 50 final with Ken just edging out Al for the win. Over 55 Australian Champion Danny Bond (Central Coast) had a solid win in the Over 55 final with local living legend Barry “Magoo” McGuigan in 2nd. The 8 foot final saw Darren Stapleton (Central Coast) edge out Ray Smith (Central Coast) with some dynamic manoeuvres. The 9 foot final saw six quality surfers battle it out, with great displays of longboard surfing by all.

In the closest of finals, Leigh Davison (Central Coast) defended last year’s Open 9 foot title again with Ray Smith (Central Coast) in 2nd. A close examination of the judges score sheets revealed that if one judge had scored just 0.1 more to Ray on either of his three scoring waves (or 0.1 less to Leigh) that Ray would have won the final. You can’t get much closer than that.

Judges smudges - every one leant a hand

Highlights of the event included:

• The Open 9 foot division which was hotly contested by a quality field, with exceptional surfing on display from the heats thru to the finals.
• Leigh Davison taking out the Old Mal and Open 9 foot finals. This is an exceptional effort noting the quality fields in each division. Leigh displayed his ability to shine in both traditional and modern forms of longboarding and all at the age of 21.
• Although being the bridesmaid this year (with 2nds in both the Open 8 foot and Open 9 foot finals), Over 40 Australian Champion Ray Smith showed his class in every heat and final over the weekend with exceptional performances. Ray is always a pleasure to watch, a great chef, and the most humble bloke you would ever meet.
• A huge effort by Peter Sharp who was competitive in all three divisions contested, being Open 9 foot (reached semi final), Open 8 foot (came 4th in final), and Over 40 (came a close 2nd in final). Peter showed his versatility surfing 8 foot, 9 foot and 10 foot boards over the weekend, and was always competitive.
• The number of new competitors who joined us this year, with new faces from DV8’s of Shellharbour, Bondi, Manly, Shelley Beach and Ocean Beach, and the traveling Hobie boys (Dwaine and Jess) from Noosa.
• The Competitors Draw was HUGE this year with heaps of great stuff given away to all of the competitors, including a Gerry Lopez Custom Longboard. What a bonus !!!

Special thanks to all of the event sponsors for their generous support. All of the donated products were given away in the HUGE competitors draw, with everyone getting a great package of goodies. Huge thanks to Wave Signature Surfboards for the limited edition “Magoo Malibu” which was 1st prize in the raffle, and to Gerry Lopez Surfboards for the custom Gerry Lopez Longboard which was given away as 1st prize in the competitors draw, and for the stack of Gerry Lopez surf wax which was also given out to every competitor. Also special mention to Balin, Golden Breed and Hobie Surfboards for their generous support, with all donating a heap of great stuff. Please support the event sponsors if you can by buying or at least considering their products. They support us, so support them.

The Tally Room

Huge thanks to all of the competitors for their support of our contest. We hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did and we hope to see you all next year at The Magoo Charity Classic in May, and The Central Coast Longboard Open in November.

Special thanks to all of the CCMBC members who helped out over the weekend to make the event the success that it was. Special thanks to Mick Castor for the contest shirts, trophies and 4WD, Barrie Salmon and wife for doing the food, and everyone who helped out at the food tent, setting up and packing up, and with the tallying.

EVENT SPONSORS:

HUGE THANKS TO ALL OF THE EVENT SPONSORS FOR THEIR SUPPORT. PLEASE SUPPORT THE EVENT SPONSORS IF YOU CAN. THEY SUPPORT US, SO SUPPORT THEM.

James Purcell.

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