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Jarret Napper withAlannah Harris, Skye Downing, Georgia Henderson, Tara Downing and Brooke Farrow.
Monday, 20 August 2012
There are around 55 longboard clubs in Australia, with members ranging from micro groms right through to ancient hairy backs, and they are the true grassroots of surfing Down Under. Very social, they have monthly "friendly" comps, and most also host a major annual event with entries from all over. All hold an annual Presso Night, generally at the end of the year, but Wollongong's Laybacks have had theirs already! Club Secretary Andie Goldie reports:
Ah yes, another year of fierce and friendly competition drew to a close on our club's 'night o' nights' (nighty night for some of the older members) on Saturday 21st of July at the Woonona Bulli RSL Club.
The culmination of 12 months of point scores, a Club Championship comp in March, and our biggy, the Winter Classic on the 7th of July, all drew to a close on that fateful July night. We had had incredible luck with our competition season this year with 'contestable' waves at least every time, and frequently much better, with long nose riding rights, and some drop in and hang on lefts finishing on the reef that doesn't look shallow, until you get to the end, and its too late…
As usual, being surfers, very few tickets were sold until the last minute, and also as usual, we committee men had our last couple of weeks coloured with the joy of taking a stab at how many of our 'mates' would turn up and eat all the food and take away the awards..
I can report that in the end our stalwart members, along with a good proportion of stalwart partners, turned up and infused the night with the great good cheer that they are famous for….and we committee types once again breathed a sigh of relief!
Our club has been around since 1992, and we have the great good fortune to have many of those original members still active in the club, and on the water. They began, and we continued a great tradition of a club -
'that would encourage and support boys and girls of all ages and all members of the club to enjoy and to advance the art and the sport of surfing'.
(quote from George Kennedy, one of the founding members)
We have also had the consistent support of very generous sponsors over all those years, some have come and gone, and new ones have come on board and have stuck with us. It is no exaggeration to say that we would not be, or have been the club we are now without them, particularly our friends at Byrne Surf and Ski, who have literally been there since the beginning.
So the Presso night had big shoes to fill, and our members filled them in a joyous, raucous night ('Fashion Failures' was the theme, just had to reach into the back of the wardrobe..). The endlessly imaginative and barbed jokes of MC Craig Henderson on the mike, President Bill Morris with his poignant speeches with his typically dry hilarious stings in the tail, and big handshakes, group hugs, and laughs aplenty as the award presentations proceeded, the silent auction got less so, the door prize and best dressed prizes left the podium, and the tension mounted to see who got the feared Snake and Drop in awards. (your correspondent once blithely defended these awards as valuable 'behavioural modification tools'…then won them both that year..)
We have a very strong membership, in all divisions, but in particular our Open riders are of a standard that make that wide range of longboard moves from beautiful and subtle nose work, to rip tear lacerate explosions waaaay too easy looking! Young guns like former member Dane Pioli, the Farago brothers Nick and Damo, (and their dad Andrew), El Presidente Bill Morris, Scott (the Guvnor) Downing, Jarret Napper, and a host of others snapping at their heels. All the best from us Laybackers!
- Andy Goldie
Check out the new website: www.laybacks.com.au
The results of this year's season were as follows:
Opens 1st Jarret Napper 2nd Scott Downing Equal 3rd Bill Morris and Andrew Farago 5th Craig Henderson 6th Chris Hughes
Old Mal equal 1st Bill Morris and Jarret Napper 3rd Scott Downing 4th Rob Armstrong 5th Bryce Caine 6th Rob Lumby
Juniors 1st Georgia Henderson 2nd Skye Downing 3rd Alannah Harris 4th Kayla Wilson 5th Ethan Hughes
O/40s 1st Bryce Caine 2nd Dale McCombie 3rd Andrew Farrow 4th Dave Edwards 5th Rob Lumby 6th Peter Scrine
O/50s 1st Mark Harris 2nd Mal Robertson 3rd Andy Goldie 4th Darcy Perry Wentworth 5th Dave Wolfe 6th Greg Nichols
O/55s 1st Rob Armstrong 2nd Barry Monte 3rd Ian Olney 4th Dennis Williams 5th Brian Bull 6th Ben Pioli
Most Improved – Dale McCombie
Clubman of the Year – Dale McCombie
Life Membership – Craig Henderson
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| At the beach is Skye Downing left, Alannah Harris and Georgia Henderson |
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| Mel Bourne - not the city, the champion woman. Surf shots: Dave Milnes |
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| Clubman of the Year – Dale McCombie |
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| A couple of dandys, Gary Hoban and Andy Goldie |
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