Members win medals at 2012 NSW Championships

First up our Nippers contested the 2012 NSW Age Championships at Kingscliff Beach 2-3-4 March with a small squad of eager kids. Well conditions varied over the 3 days of competition with hot sunny days, wet & wild weather, clean surf break followed by massive surf sweeps & dirty water caused by the adverse weather conditions thrown in as well to top off the weekend. A few finals for the kids with top 6 placings to Coen Taylor 5^th in the U9 Male Surf, Ashley Dribbus 6^th in the U11 Female Flags & Kiah Taylor 6^th in the U14 Female Surf.

Congratulations to Ashley Dribbus on winning gold as the NSW Champion in the U11 Female Sprint.

Next it was our grey hair brigade or commonly known as Masters athletes who contested their events on Thursday 8 March. A fine day with a small wave made conditions perfect for competition. Well done to Kimberley Fleming 4^th in the 40-44yrs Female Ski, Peter Lord 6^th in the 40-44yrs Male Ski & Michael Harris 6^th in the 50-54yrs Tube Rescue.

Congratulations to our Masters medal winners namely Kimberley Fleming 2^nd in the 40-44yrs Iron-woman & Peter Richards 2^nd in the 45-49yrs 2km Male Beach Run.

The Senior Section of the club were greated with fine warm weather over the 9-10-11 March with tricky conditions from shore leading to an increase in swell over the 3 days, causing kaos with skis/boards & body surfing skills being tested in the 3ft-4ft waves. The boat events were held at Fingal Beach and they too were greeted with a shore dump & trick conditions.

The Boat Section gained some excellent results with the Men’s A crew being crowned NSW Champions after racing strongly all season. Well done to Paul Jones (sweep), Dean Roberts, Heath Mercer, Ben Lowe & Dan Porra. This crew then teamed with the Open Women’s & U19 Male crews to finish 2^nd in the Boat Relay.....a great club effort!

The Surf/Craft Section gained some great results with everybody putting in 100% in their races. Great to see our Lifesaver Relay Team finish 3^rd in the final and qualify for Nationals in this event. It is a club event with a boat crew, U17, U19 & Female required to be in the team doing boat, swim, board, ski & run legs. Over 58 finals contested by Bulli members over the 4 days including Masters. 11 x top 6 placings gaining points allowing the club to finish 14^th in the Open Club Point-score...not too bad for a small club really!

Proud to announce our NSW Championship Medal Winners;

* GOLD U11 Female Beach Sprint Ashley Dribbus

* GOLD Open Men’s Boat Crew (Paul Jones, Dean Roberts, Dan Porra, Ben Lowe & Heath Mercer)

* GOLD Open Female Ski Hannah Minogue

* GOLD U15 Female Surf Bridgette Lockhart

* SILVER U17 Male Ski Lachlan O’Grady

* SILVER Masters 45-49yrs Male 2km Beach Run Peter Richards

* SILVER Masters 40-44yrs Iron-woman Kimberley Fleming

* SILVER Boat Relay (Open Men’s Paul Jones, Dean Roberts, Heath Mercer, Ben Lowe, Dan Porra - Open Women’s Crew Brittany Sharkey, Ashley Unicomb, Susie Scott, Belinda Scott - U19 Men’s Crew Shane Geloven, Kyle Mercer, Albert Smeaton, Iszak Lunney & Toby Allnutt)

* BRONZE Lifesaver Relay ( Open Men’s A crew, Lachlan O’Grady, Beau Wheeler, Downie langthorne & Hannah Minogue)

* BRONZE Open Men’s Rescue Tube Rescue (Mitchell Fagerstrom, Sean White, Jake Hogarth & Matthew Crilley)

* BRONZE U15 Female Surf Kiah Taylor

* BRONZE Open Female Board Hannah Minogue

* BRONZE Open Iron-woman Hannah Minogue

* BRONZE U17 Male Belt Lachlan O’Grady (Belt Team Dave O’Grady, Jake Hogarth, Peter Lord & Peter Richards)

Top 6 placings for the club over the Age/Masters/Open Championships included;

4^th U15 Female Surf Teams (Emma Brown, Bridgette Lockhart, Abbey Dawson & Kiah Taylor)

4^th Open Male Surf Teams (Beau Wheeler, Sean White, Mitchell Fagerstrom & Oscar Bradley)

4^th 40-44yrs Female Ski Kimberley Fleming

4^th U15 Female Cameron Relay (Emma Brown, Bridgette Lockhart, Kiah Taylor & Morgan Richards)

5^th U17 Iron-man Lachlan O’Grady

5^th U15 Female Surf Emma Brown

5^th U9 Male Surf Coen Taylor

6^th Open Male Board Rescue Mitchell Fagerstrom/Oscar Bradley

6^th U15 Female 2km Beach Run Morgan Richards

6^th Open Mixed Double Ski Downie Langthorne/Hannah Minogue

6^th Open Male Belt Matthew Crilley

6^th Open Male Taplin Relay (Mitchell Fagerstrom, Lachlan O’Grady, Beau Wheeler, Oscar Bradley, Downie Langthorne & Sean White)

6^th U19 Male Board Beau Wheeler

6^th 40-44 yrs Male Ski Peter Lord

6^th 50-54yrs Tube Rescue Michael Harris

6^th U11 Female Beach Flags Ashley Dribbus

6^th U14 Female Surf Kiah Taylor

The club would like to thank our members that drove gear trailers to the championships, sometimes a thankless job but definitely needed to allow our competitors to race. Thank-you to Sean Taylor, Paul Jones, Lincoln Costello, Dave O’Grady & Russell Brinkworth for your efforts in towing our boat & craft trailers.

Not forgetting our hard working officials & team management, including assistant area managers, plus junior & senior competition secretary’s who also put in long hours during & prior to the Junior, Masters & Open Championships. Massive thanks to John Meehan, Dennis Allen, Kevin Starling, Dave Greene, Leanne Taylor, Maria Caldwell, Keith Caldwell, Peter Lord, Stuart Brown, Lisa O’Grady, Sandra Brinkworth, Kris Crilley plus our intitial tent set-up people Sean Taylor & Paul Dawson. If any name has been missed apologies but your help was greatly appreciated. Thanks to all the supporters including parents that travelled to these championships.

Good luck to everybody attending the 2012 Australian Open/Masters Championships at Kurrawa Beach, Queensland in late March. 

Bulli crowned 2012 Champion Surf Sports Club at Branch Championships

What a great weekend for our surf sports athletes and the club in general after being crowned 2012 Illawarra Surf Life Saving Champion Surf Sports Club with a win in the overall point-score at the recent Illawarra Branch Championships held at Thirroul.

The Junior Activities Section finished 2nd behind the very strong Thirroul nippers and the seniors had their work cut out to close the deficit, especially with the host club Thirroul having members turn up to compete in events, mainly Masters athletes. Our masters guys & girls held their own tallying some medals along the way. It was then left to our Surf/Craft (U15 to Open) & Boat Sections to mass points for a convincing club victory.

Members gained victory in every Open Male & Female individual & team surf/craft event bar the beach sprint, flags & relay races dominated by Stanwell Park & the boats won by Austinmer. The premier Open Ironman & Open Ironwoman events saw the club gain the trifecta in each race with Mitch Fagerstrom winning from Beau Wheeler & Lachlan O'Grady. Hannah Minogue leading home Jamie Brinkworth & Penny Locke in the ladies.

Bernadette Cardillo came out of a semi-break (HSC & a few niggling injuries) to show her class in winning the U19 Female Beach Sprint & Flags double. Members also combined to get teams in beach relay events & gained a few impressive placings. Peter Richards, Jake Montogomery, Lachlan O'Grady, Calvin Richards, Morgan Richards & Josh Gordon also raced well in the long distance beach events.

In the Boats (6 medals won) the U19 Male crew raced impressively (in a very strong division in Illawarra) to record a great win, plus backed up in the Boat Relay for a 1st with the Open Male & Open Female crews. The Open A Male crew finished a close 2nd to Austinmer.

Jesse Morris was our sole medal winner (gold) in the U17 Maler Board Riding held at Port Kembla recently.

All up some strong racing on both days with some athletes going around the bouys close to 20 times.

Well done to Lachlan O'Grady (9G - 9S - 5B), Jamie Brinkworth (7G - 7S - 4B), Beau Wheeler (7G - 4S - 2B), Mitch Fagerstrom (6G - 2S) & Hannah Minogue (6G - 3S - 1B) on their respective medal tallies. 

JUNIORS 17 Gold - 17 Silver - 11 Bronze

SENIORS 62 Gold - 53 Silver - 42 Bronze * Club Record Gold medal tally * Club Record medal tally

A large gathering of members, family & supporters then attended Bulli Workers Club on the Sunday after the seniors carnival finished to celebrate the results.        

Nipper Dates

Information for all Nipper Parents & kids, the Junior Activities Section will operate as normal for the next 4 weeks;

* Sunday 26 February 2012 9.30am Bulli SLSC

* Sunday 4 March 2012 9.30am Bulli SLSC

* Sunday 11 March 2012 9.30am Bulli SLSC

* Sunday 18 March 2012 9.30am Bulli SLSC

Could all proficient water safety personnel please let bullinippers@gmail.com know so the neccessary requirements can be put in place for water activities on these dates as a couple of the organising committee will be unavailable on 4 & 11 March due to their attendance at the NSW Junior & Senior Surf Life Saving Championships at Kingscliff.  

The 2011-2012 Annual Junior Presentation Day will be held on Sunday 25 March 2012 9am on the southern grass area near Bulli SLSC. All welcome come along and congratulate all the award winners, plus enjoy the break up activities including BBQ & refreshments.

Kiah Taylor - Illawarra Junior Female Lifesaver of the Year

Well done to Kiah Taylor one of our young U14 lifesavers who was crowned Surf Life Saving Illawarra Junior Female Life Saver of the Year at the 2012 Illawarra Branch Championships on Saturday at Thirroul Beach. 

Kiah is a good all round club member excelling in surf sports, a great patrol member and is always keen to get involved in any club activities. She has a great personality which makes her a favourite amongst her club members.

Congratulations to Kiah, she will now represent Illawarra as a finalist in the NSW Junior Female Life Saver of the Year.   

Mitchell Fagerstrom races well for NSW in NZ

Mitchell Fagerstrom thoroughly enjoyed the experience with the NSW Development Team in New Zealand last week.

He raced really well placing Top 5 in the surf & iron man events and with a bit of luck could have achieved podium finishes in both events.

The team competed against New Zealand’s leading competitors from each of Surf Life Saving New Zealand’s regions in the 2012 Lion Foundation Open Surf League at Mount Maunganui Beach on the Saturday & Sunday.

Mitch said the 'run legs really killed' with the set up much the same as the Nutri Grain Ironman Series.

Overall he enjoyed the experience racing against the best in NZ, including team events (canoe team of 4), plus having a fun week doing some sight-seeing as a bonus leading into the competition days. On the Monday before flying back home the team went White Water Rafting in Roturua.  

Illawarra Branch Championships this weekend

Good luck to our junior & senior athletes who will be competing at the Illawarra Branch Championships this coming weekend (Saturday 18 Feb - Juniors & Sunday 19 Feb - Seniors) at Thirroul.

We have over 100 members competing on the weekend, including 40 nippers which is a great effort on behalf of our junior committee & surf sport programs within the club.

Our nippers will be looking to get over the top of Thirroul SLSC who are really strong in the younger age groups, but the club is confident our kids will have a very sucessful day on Saturday.

Our seniors are strong right across the ages from U15's to Masters including 7 boat crews!

Thirroul SLSC with their strong numbers in Masters & Stanwell Park SLSC with their beach competitors will definitely push our club in the overall point-score.

It should be a good hit-out on the Sunday leading into the State Championships early March.

Events starting at 8.30am on both days.....so come along and support our members in the Bulli cap. 

Good Luck to everybody on both days including kids, athletes, parents & our members who will be officials...........

Everybody is welcome back to Bulli Workers Club on the Sunday at 6pm. There will be no BBQ, but Opals Restaurant will have their normal selection of mouth watering meals available. 

Nippers Cancelled this Sunday 19 February 2012

This coming weekend 18th-19th Feb the Illawarra Junior and Senior Branch Championships will be held at Thirroul Beach. 

Many of the parents who normally are committee members, age managers and water safety helpers are also involved with the Senior Branch Championships (kids competing in the U15 ages) - so unfortunately we will be cancelling this Sunday's Nippers (19th Feb).

Nippers will be on as per normal the following Sunday, 26th Feb at 9:30am.

Some important dates as we approach the end of the season for our Junior Activities Section;

  -  18th March is the final Nippers of the year.

  -  25th  March is Presentation Day and Bulli Junior SLSC AGM.

The Presentation Day is at Bulli Beach - further details will be advised well in advance. In case of bad weather it will be moved to an indoor venue to be advised.

If not sure of any details please contact bullinippers@gmail.com 

Regards

Paul Bruton

BJA Secretary

ASRL @ Stockton Beach this weekend

The Navy-Surf Rowers League Australian Open 2012 is all set to be run at Stockton Beach, New South Wales today and over this weekend, the 10th, 11th & 12th of February, 2012.

The club has 5 crews entered and good luck to the Men's A crew, Women's A crew, U23 Women's crew, U23 Men's crew & our Under 19 Men's crew.

We received $350,000.00 towards our Building Extensions

This week 17 surf life saving clubs were announced by the NSW Government as being successful in their grant applications under the 2012 Surf Club Facility Grant Program.

BULLI SLSC will receive $350,000.00!

Four surf life saving clubs in the northern suburbs will share in more than $690,000 of State Government funding to improve facilities.

Helensburgh-Stanwell Park SLSC will receive $29,390, Era SLSC $146,000, Thirroul SLSC $165,000 and Bulli SLSC $350,000.

Member for Heathcote Lee Evans said surf life saving clubs were the backbone of our coastal communities. "The Surf Club Facility Grant program exists to help clubs develop their facilities and increase usage and member numbers, these clubs have been neglected for 16 years while volunteers fought tirelessly to keep us safe. It is a disgrace that some buildings were allowed to deteriorate so significantly," he said.

NSW Minister for Sport and Recreation Graham Annesleysaid the NSW Government was committed to Surf Life Saving NSW having better facilities to support the hard work of surf life-savers and provide valuable community assets. “There are over 120 surf clubs along the NSW coastline patrolling more than 200 beaches during the surf season and each and every one of them is a credit to their community,” he said.

Mr Annesley said the NSW Government had committed a further $2 million a year for the next two years to assist surf life saving clubs provide facilities and services to enhance beach goer’s safety.

Club members Keith Caldwell (President), Barry Adams (Secretary), Peter Lord (Junior Chairperson), Noel Freeman (Life Member) & Sean Taylor (Junior Parent)met with other successful clubs at Thirroul Surf Life Saving Club for the announcement.  Both Lee Evans & Graham Annesley were present and our members expressed appreciation towards the NSW Government & Surf Life Saving NSW.

Club President Keith Caldwell said, "This is a great announcement and our members are very excited. It is unreal and really gives our club a big boost. Our building committee has been working hard over the past 18 months towards DA approval for building extensions from Wollongong City Council. Since our DA was approved late 2011 we have been pushing towards gaining some funding and this $350,000.00 is a great start. The hard work will continue to make this happen for the future of our surf club members. Our membership base has increased by over 200 in the past 4 years and we are struggling to meet our members & councils needs with storage space at a premium for both organisations life saving equipment. I would like to personally thank Lee Evans (Member for Heathcote), Graham Annesley (NSW Minister Sport & Recreation) & Phil Vanny (CEO Surf Life Saving NSW) for their continued support of our club & surf life saving."      

Mitchell Fagerstrom - NZ Tour with NSW Team

Good luck to Mitchell Fagerstrom who has arrived in New Zealand (today) as part of the Surf Life Saving NSW Development Team (Under 21).The team will compete against New Zealand’s leading competitors from each of Surf Life Saving New Zealand’s regions in the 2012 Lion Foundation Open Surf League which will be contested at the beautiful Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th February 2012.

A separate Under 19 and Open competition will form part of the carnival and Mitchell will have some serious racing to do ion swim, iron-person & team events. This is an excellent opportunity for U19 and U21 NSW athletes to represent their state in an international competition against elite competitors from Surf Life Saving New Zealand.

The club wishes Mitchell all the best!

St George Leagues Club Men's A Crew place 2nd in final.

Well done to the St George Leagues Club Men's A crew who finished 2nd in Round 4 of the Ocean Thunder Boat Series. The crew led from the start only to see bad luck strike again when waiting to complete the second lap of the final, another crew slewed into their path on shore causing our boys some lost time. At that stage Mona Vale hit the lead and never looked back.

With the 2nd place finish in the final, our St George Leagues Club crew finished 4th overall in the Men's Point-score only a couple of points behind 2nd & 3rd.

Congratulations to Paul Jones (sweep) and the crew of Dean Roberts, Heath Mercer, Ben Lowe, Dan Porra & Mitchell Roberts (reserve) who rowed in this series.

Many thanks to St George Leagues Club for their support. 

Nippers win Point-score at Corrimal Carnival

Congratulations to our Junior Activities Section (Nippers) on winning the point-score at the recent Corrimal Surf Life Saving Club Centenary Junior Surf Carnival.

A strong all round performance from around 50 kids (U8 to U14) saw the club finish in front of Warilla Barrack Point & Thirroul. There are too many great peformances to highlight individual results but most pleasing to see was the team efforts from a lot of kids who were competing first time at a surf carnival.

As a result our numbers have doubled from 20 to 40 kids now going to the Illawarra Branch Championships to be held at Thirroul on Saturday 18 February.

For any further information about registering for this carnival please contact bullinippers@gmail.com or  seanleannetaylor@bigpond.com

Final Rd of Ocean Thunder this Saturday

Good luck to our St George Leagues Club Bulli Men's A crew as they battle what looks like huge seas, miserable rainy weather & opposing crews on this Saturday (4 Feb) at Dee Why Beach in the final round of the Ocean Thunder Boat Series.

In the cumulative series pointscores Culligan Water (Bilgola) have a seemingly unassailable seven point lead over the Men's field however the final round four will see a number of crews in with a chance to take out the minor medals, with our St George Leagues Club Men's A crew sitting in 6th position. Bilgola lead on 35 points but then there is a traffic jam with 2nd on 28 points, 3rd-4th-5th on 26 points & St George Leagues Club Men's A crew on 24 points......so there is still a good chance of a podium finish in trhe series overall. 

Our developing U19 Men's crew will also be rowing in an exhibition race after gaining selection with their 3rd recently at the Young Guns Boat Carnival at Collaroy.

Racing starts early at 8am......GOOD LUCK TO BOTH CREWS!  

Nippers start back this Saturday 28 January

Reminder to all parents & nippers that Junior Activities resume after the Xmas holidays this Saturday 28 January 2.30pm at Bulli Beach.

It is Saturday because the following day we have over 50 nipper kids competing at the Corrimal Junior Surf Carnival.

Welcome back to our Junior Activities Section & good luck to the kids competing on Sunday at Corrimal. 

Young girls shine at Freshwater Carnival on Australia Day

Some of our younger surf sports athletes competed at the Annual Freshwater SLSC Surf Carnival on Australia Day this year. Our girls excelled with the following results at this carnival;

* Jamie Brinkworth 3rd in the U17 Female Ski

* Abbey Dawson 2nd in the U14 Female Surf

* Kiah Taylor 1st in the U14 Female Surf & Iron-person plus 3rd in the U14 Female Board

* Bryar Lunney 3rd in the U13 Iron-person

* Mali Taylor 1st in the U13 Surf & 2nd in the U13 Iron-person

Request for extra patrolling members on Australia Day

ARE THERE ARE MEMBERS OF BULLI SURF LIFE SAVING CLUB that can assist with a few extra hours patrol tomorrow AUSTRALIA DAY Thursday 26 January 2012?

Last year was a very hectic day with fine weather & challenging surf along the Illawarra coast line pushing all clubs to the limit with their resourses.

If you can help please let our Lifesaving Team know as club emails & sms surfguard messages have gone out recently.

AM Patrol 9am-1.30pm (Patrol Captain Paul Hennessy) & PM Patrol 1.30pm-6pm (Patrol Captain Keith Caldwell).

Medals won at 2012 Paddle NSW Kayaking Sprint Championships

3 of our younger members, namely Jamie Brinkworth, Elizabeth Crilley & Lachlan O'Grady competed over the weekend at the 2012 Paddle NSW Sprint Championships at the Sydney International Regatta Centre Penrith. Jamie & Lachlan representing Paddle NSW Direct & Elizabeth representing Illawarra. Some of Australia’s Open top sprint paddlers hit the water competitively for the first time in a serious hit-out for possible 2012 London Olympic selection in kayaking. We are sure the 3 of them saw some great racing from current & likely Olympians over the 2 days.

All three gained some great results;

Lachlan O'Grady (1 Gold) won the 5000m Men Under 18 K1, he also made 2 other finals with a 8^th in the 1000m Men Under 18 K1 & 9^th in the 500m Men Under 18 K1.

Jamie Brinkworth (2 Silver & 1 Bronze) won silver in the 1000m Women Under 18 K1, she also got another silver medal in the 1000m Women Under 18 K2 (with Kirsty Philpott from Towardgi SLSC). Jamie also picked up a bronze medal in the 500m Women Under 18 K1 and finished 7^th in the final of the 200m Women Under 18 K1.

Elizabeth Crilley also made 2 finals placing 9^th in the 1000m Women Under 18 K1 & 7^th in the 500m Women Under 18 K1.

Small team do well at Wanda Surf Carnival

Only a small group of athletes ventured to Wanda for the Inter-Cities surf carnival under the guidance of 3 of our senior members Jake Hogarth, Hannah Minogue & Matt Crilley.

In testing conditions the young guys & girls achieved some encouraging results with new member (jioned this season) Tom Montgomery placing 2nd in the U14 Iron-person and teaming with Abbey Dawson & Kiah Taylor to finish 3rd in the U14 Board Relay.

Kiah Taylor continued her good form with a 1st in the U14 Female Board plus 2nd's in the U14 Female Surf & U14 Iron-person. Abbey Dawson also raced great & placed 3rd in the U14 Female Surf & U14 Iron-person. Young Mali Taylor placed 3rd in the U13 Female Board & also teamed with Bryar Lunney to place 2nd in a 2 person U13 Board Relay. Emma Brown had a great swim to place 3rd in the U15 Female Surf.

Hannah Minogue continued with her impressive form & is looking forward to representing NSW at next weekend's InterState Championships at Queenscliff. Hannah won the Open Female Ski & Board races & placed a close second to Tara Coleman in the Open Iron-person. 

Ocean Thunder Boat Series Rd 3

Saturday 14th January 2012 round three of the Schick Hydro Ocean Thunder series was held in small, yet testing surf conditions on Sydney's Dee Why Beach.

The Men's morning preliminary rounds saw series leader Culligan Water (Bilgola) again dominate with Reilly and Sons Food Services/Mammoth (Bungan Beach) also impressive, both winning  five of their six rounds. Southern Fasteners (North Cronulla), Taste Living (Dee Why), Sheldon Office Fitouts (Newport), Australian Cable Tray Systems (Manly), Dial Before You Dig (Mona Vale), Enware Australia (Elouera), Schick Hydro (Bronte), St George Leagues Club (Bulli), Stockland (Currumbin), Creffields Digitial Printing (Lorne), Starret (Batemans Bay), The Beach Club Hahn Super Dry (Collaroy), West Surfing (Cottesloe) and Bisley Workwear (South Maroubra) qualifying for the finals. Westrac (North Cottesloe) and Energy Australia (Wollongong City) missing out on a countback.

The Men's final saw a possible changing of the guard with a number of crews in their maiden Ocean Thunder final which was contested by Taste Living (Dee Why), Culligan Water (Bilgola), St George Leagues Club (Bulli), Southern Fasteners (North Cronulla), Sheldon Office Fitouts (Newport) and Starret (Batemans Bay). Series heavyweights, Dial Before U Dig (Mona Vale), Australian Cable Tray Systems (Manly) and Reilly and Sons Food Services/ Mammoth (Bungan Beach) all missing the final.

The double race Mens final saw unbeaten series leader Culligan Water (Bilgola) lead going in to the second race before being overtaken by Southern Fasteners (North Cronulla) in an awesome display of power rowing, Southern Fasteners (North Cronulla) went into the final turning can with a two boat length lead which they extended for a comfortable win. Culligan Water (Bilgola) finished in second place to maintaining their stranglehold on the series pointscore with Taste Living (Dee Why) coming in third sport in front of Sheldon Office Fitouts (Newport), Starret (Batemans Bay) and St George Leagues Club (Bulli).

In summary our guys put in another consistent performance, over 9 preliminary rounds including 6 round robin and 3 elimination races, the St George Leagues Club Bulli crew finished with 1 x 4^th, 6 x 2^nd’ and 2 x 1^st placings.   The crew winning their semi final putting them into the 6 boat, double race final.    After the first leg, the crew were lying in 3^rd position and hit some bad luck in the transition landing in a washing machine, rip affected course back out to sea for the second leg.  They grunted their way back to 3^rd, almost getting to 2^nd only to be caught from behind by crews on swells. Heading back into the rip didn’t help either but not a lot of options on the return journey.  But hey that’s Surf!   It was left to the run up the beach with all 5 crews going for the minor podium positions leading their runners out in 1 line.  Unfortunately, we touched in 6^th.   A great effort by our guys & with one round remaining are currently sitting in 6th position, 2 points from 3rd spot overall.

1 Culligan Water Bilgola 35
2 Southern Fasteners North Cronulla 28
3 Dial Before You Dig Mona Vale 26
4 Australian Cable Tray Systems Manly 26
5 Reilly and Son's Food Services/Mammoth Bungan Beach 26
6 St George Leagues Club Bulli 24

Competition this weekend at Dee Why-Wanda-Collaroy-Penrith

Our 'St George Leagues Club' A Men's Crew will be competing at the Ocean Thunder Boat Series this Saturday (14 January) from 8am at Dee Why Beach.....usually goes until 4pm with round robin rows, semi and then a final in both men's & women's. The guys are currently placed 5th in the point-score and are hoping for some good results this Saturday.

We also have a small surf/craft squad attending Wanda Beach for the Inter-Cities carnival on Saturday 14 January as well, this is a 7.30am report.

A few of our younger craft competitors will be competing at the New South Wales Kayaking Championships at Penrith over the weekend as well.

Our young U19 & U23 boaties will be travelling to the Collaroy Young Guns carnival on Sunday 15 January hoping for some solid performances.

Good luck to everybody this weekend.