THE HOTEL ELLIOTT
ENCOUNTER COAST KNEEBOARD CLASSIC
2011
Wayne Jennings (aka Smurf) from NSW wins his first professional kneeboarding event by a narrow margin from Kevin Ross (Vic) and two SA boys, Jake Hadcroft and Phil Arthur in taking out the 2011 Hotel Elliot Encounter Coast Kneeboard Classic (ECKC).
How good could it be? With a contest window of one day, scoring
off shore winds, a good size swell, sunny weather and a surf spot all to
ourselves. Contest coordinator, Phil Arthur (Pinebox) was smiling
all day. Pinebox could not have made a better call when the point
at Parsons Beach was made the contest site. The volunteers may not
have been too happy as they had to negotiate the narrow steep downhill
track with all the contest site gear and then get it back up after the
event. But the Kneelos were happy. You could feel the
nervous tension and sense of excitement as a few larger closeout sets
swept through the contest arena.
The surf was big with the odd nasties coming through. It stayed that way all day and may have even increased in size with the incoming tide.
The first heat hit the water early and Smurf showed his fellow
competitors that he means business. All the top seeds made it
through the first round. The second round saw a few close
tussles with some heats being won in the last few moments of the heat.
The standout kneelo in the first two rounds was the 2011 World Junior Champion, Jethro Cooney (Vic) who absolutely ripped every wave apart and was everybody's early tip to take out the contest.
Another standout performance came from Peter Granton (Stylemaster) who achieved a personal best two wave tally, scoring well over ten points in a smooth performance on some big waves.
The most radical manoeuvre came from Pinebox, who hit the lip on one
of the bigger waves of the day, aired all the way to the bottom, handled
it with ease and claimed the wave. The crowd and the commentator
roared in approval. You had to see it to believe it.
Unreal!!!!
The semi-finals had only one surprise result in that Jethro Cooney, the stand-out surfer in the first two rounds, struggled to find enough suitable waves to rip apart, and failed to make the Open Pro Division final.
The Open Pro Division Final was a tight contest between the two
interstaters Smurf and Kevin Ross, who picked off some good right
handers and taking them right into the rocks. The two SA Kneelos,
Jake and Pinebox struggled to find suitable waves to show off their
skills to the Judges.
Smurf's radical re-entry near the end of the
heat swayed the Judges to give him the nod and the title of the 2011
Hotel Elliot Encounter Coast Kneeboard Classic champion.
Congratulations Smurf.
Well done to the two SA Juniors, Pat Langlands and Ben Morrison, on their exceptional performances in their first ever kneeboard competition. These boys have not been kneeboarding long and performed way above expectations in challenging surf conditions. A big well done also to Geoff "Groova" Ferguson for having a crack at his first competition. Well done guys.
Congratulations to the winners of 'A' Division, Simon Coote and 'B'
Division, Ben Morrison.
Presentations were held at the main sponsor's premises, The Hotel Elliot and a plethora of trophies were presented.
Thanks to all the sponsors for supporting the event (logos listed below). Please support these sponsors when you can.
A big thanks to the following:
- Phil Arthur and his 3 amigo's in Paul Francis, Simon Coote and Jake Hadcroft in getting this event together.
- To Surfing SA, for all the Judges, work crew, contest director, computer operator and first aid officer, who helped keep the contest moving. The competition ran as smooth as silk all day.
- To the many volunteers, who had to lug gear up and down those cliffs at Parsons.
- To the Christian Surfing Association on running a BBQ and feeding the starving contestants and spectators.
A special thanks to all the Kneelos that come from interstate.
It was great to see the support of Kneeboard Surfing Australia executive
at this contest, namely John Clingan (President), Wayne Jennings
(Secretary) and Jim Brown (Treasurer).
Results of the 2011 Hotel Elliot Encounter Coast Kneeboard Classic are as follows:
Pro Division
| 1st | Wayne Jennings |
| 2nd | Kevin Ross |
| 3rd | Jake Hadcroft |
| 4th | Phil Arthur |
| = 5th | Jethro Cooney |
| = 5th | Günther Frensch |
| = 7th | Peter Granton |
| = 7th | Sandy Langlands |
| 'A' Division | |
| 1st | Simon Coote |
| 2nd | Jim Brown |
| 3rd | Pat Langlands |
| 4th | Craig Jacoks |
| 'B' Division | |
| 1st | Ben Morrison |
| 2nd | Max Simionato |
| 3rd | Geoff Ferguson |
A full break-up of the heat results in 'pdf' format can be downloaded on the following link:-
Encounter Coast Kneeboard Classic - Heat Results
Encounter Coast Kneeboard Classic - Photos
 |
 |
 |
 |
SPONSORS
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |