State Champs – Surf
Kate, Maggie and Skye travelled once more to Perth to compete against the best nippers in the state at the SunSmart WA Nipper Champs – surf on Saturday and Sunday at Trigg Beach. Challenging conditions faced our Woodside Nippers on Saturday, a big swell, decent south – southeasterly winds and some interesting rips tested our three very resilient competitors – the girls looked strong and were well prepared thanks to the time and dedication of the Tuesday Training and Sunday Nippers teams of Age Group managers, assistants, coaches and the girls age group peers.
The conditions were slightly better on the Sunday, and offshore breeze and more moderate swell. All three girls competed in the board race, Kate and Skye competed in the Iron Woman, and Kate and Maggie teamed up for the U11 board rescue. Skye finished 4th in the Board final, Kate finished 5th in the Ironwoman final and 13th in the Board final. Great results for a small team!
| A full list of results can be found on SurfTec |
MAGGIE
“First up for me was the board rescue, Kate was the swimmer and she got stuck in a rip which made it hard for her to get to her buoy, when she got there and put her hand up. I went out on the board and the waves were huge, there were a bunch of boards flying everywhere. I thought once you get out the back of the breakers you were all fine but a massive set came through and smashed me off my board, I got back on and made sure I got to Kate. Kate flipped the board, so it was facing shore and jumped on. Liesel told us that Kate was to call tempo faster when a wave comes so we can catch it and I say 1-2-3 roll when we hop off our board. We fell off right near the beach and just missed out on the finals. Next up was boards I was in the second heat and Kate was in the first Kate got over the waves so fast like there was no tomorrow. I think she ended up second in her heat. Then it was my heat and I got smashed by a wave and three boards landed on top of me while I was still holding my board. I finally got out, but I smashed into something and have a dent in the nose of my board. There was a bit sticking up, so I was staring at that the whole time. When I finally made it back in, I came 13th.
KATE
“I competed on Saturday and Sunday at the state competition in Trigg. On Saturday my iron woman qualifier was the first event of the day. I started it off hard in the swim coming out of the water in the first half of the field. I ran and moved on to the boards. I just made it over a huge wave which took out half my group! Overall, I finished in 5th place and got into the final on Sunday morning. I competed in the board rescue with Maggie. The board rescue was a challenging event, but we pushed through despite the fact there was a gigantic swell and I got stuck in a rip! We just missed out on the final, coming in 5th position! The board qualifier was a great race, I got out quickly and over the waves. I placed 2nd and moved on to the final. The final was extremely hard with heaps of dumping waves. Sadly, I lost my board, the huge swell was very hard to get over and lots of kids lost their boards too. I finished 13th. The next day was my iron woman final and this was my favourite event of the weekend. The swim was first I came out of the water 9th. I grabbed my board and started to paddle. I made it over some terrifying waves and on the way back in I caught a great wave. I sprinted for the finish and came 5th overall. The weekend was a great learning opportunity and was really fun! Thank you to all the coaches who helped us and the parents for dragging along with us. Next year I hope for more people.”
SKYE
“The carnival on Saturday was my first time going to a state competition. I went in the board race and ironwoman. In the ironwoman the waves were pretty big and I lost my board and had to go back to shore to get it. But I noticed lots of other people having the same problem. I finished 10th overall. I managed to get over the waves and off to a good start in my board heat and led most of the way finishing in a close second. I had a good run in the final and didn’t even have to Eskimo roll like in Denmark. I came fourth. It was really fun and I was happy with how I went. I hope more people come next year.”
