The Australian Wave Nationals took place on Philip Island recently. The SEVERNE Australia team were charging and Ben Severne took the title for the second year in a row! SEVERNE Australia team rider James McCarthy-Price, who came 3rd, has done a write-up of his experience at the event... 

Our nationals kicked off with a 3:30am rendezvous at the Loft where we filled 5 large bags full equipment for the 5:30am flight to Melbourne, Victoria. Some sweet talking at the Quantas desk by Ben Severne desk saw 160kg of gear loaded for only $30 between us. We were off to a flying start!

Upon landing in Melbourne we picked up Shane ‘Fino’ Finnegan, packed our hire van and set out to Phillip Island stopping by ‘The Zu’ in St Kilda, a windsurf shop with an awesome location right on the beach in the heart of Melbourne. I was stoked to pick up a copy of Andre Paskovski’s last film Below the Surface. We threw a few more boards in the van and then the three amigos  set off to Phillip Island.

Frothing after our travels, we scrambled down to the surf at Woolamia and were greeted to a heavy cross-on beach break with light winds. I was feeling rusty after a few weeks without wind and received some complimentary floggings to blow out the cobwebs. We sailed until dark retiring to a beer at the local surf club for sunset, an awesome start to the week!

The wind disappeared for the Saturday giving us some time to explore the amazing surf on the island. We were treated to a decent surf at Cat Bay which offered high class waves if you could manage the swarming crowds. Sunday morning held some surprises for Ben Severne; up late with cold sweats he awoke to a putrid infection on his foot resulting in a trip to the doctor. Keen to rapidly fix the infection for competition he asked if the doctor could directly inject something strong in his foot, for his efforts he received a “jab in the arse with a needle”. We didn’t hear much from Ben for the rest of the day.Tracking a sniff of wind, forecast guru Alistair McLeod made the call on Monday to start the competition at Sandy Point. This spot had been hyped up a lot by friends and I was excited to check it out, I was pleasantly surprised. Head to logo peeling waves were met with very offshore 15kn cross-off winds delivering powered and glassy down-the-line conditions – heaven! I was stoked to make it through my heats allowing me to sail a lot throughout the day, even trying a goiter in my last heat. Battling a painful swollen infected foot Ben Severne also made it through his heats before the competition was called off due to light winds. Instantly everyone was on the water launching huge ariels, big turns and a few fired up to attempt goiters. I was frothing to see the boys feeding on the energy and pushing hard, but sorry to hear Ben Newson had broken a toe and Alistair McLeod tweaked an ankle after crashing a few goiters – sorry lads!

Light winds continued for the next few days and windsurfing was replaced for equally important activities such as Go-Kart racing! Adjacent to the legendary Phillip Island raceway sits a scale model go-kart track with twenty karts reaching speeds of 65kmh. Advice to use the first lap to warm up tyres was immediately void as Fino blasted past the pack sideways into the first corner sending karts drifting in pursuit. A few karts were involved with tyre walls and ego’s were similarly bruised, as the chequered flag fell Fino was pronounced the winner – yew! Frothing on MotoGP, I was absolutely stoked to be lucky enough to see some of the MotoGP guys like Crutchlow and Rossi blasting on the main track for pre-season training. TV coverage just doesn’t do justice to represent the scorching pace of the bikes screaming along the straight at over 350kmh, it truly has to be seen to be believed.

Thursday was met with light conditions on the island. The groms were out first at Cat Bay, a glassy cross-shore volcanic reef break with a few head high sets rolling through. Young frother Nic Walker was ripping with well-connected turns in the pocket and was keeping the crowd entertained with some close calls on the reef. Cat Bay looks to have real potential in a large swell with offshore winds.

Itching to get through some heats competition was resumed on Friday where light winds were met with a large swell. With the low tides, a lot of water was moving close to shore needing careful timing to dodge the crazy head to logo high shallow water barrels only a few metres from land. I received an absolute flogging and was dragged all the way to the high water line in knee deep water! Some even broke their masts trying to get off the beach. Those who made it out were rewarded with a glassy logo to mast high peeling beach break. Heats kicked off with light conditions, and careful wave selection was critical in such light winds. The semi’s began with Duncan Osbourne vs. Ben Severne. Duncan is an awesome sailor to watch, throwing care to the wind he was charging into mast high lips launching huge ariels and trying goiters off mast high closeouts. Once he gets his consistency up he’ll be one to watch! Still battling a gnarly foot infection, Ben sailed through with late hits and stylish turns to take the victory before light winds canceled the competition.

Saturday was finally met with decent winds and competition was started early. Open semi’s kicked off with Stuey Martin and I battling for a spot in the finals. Sailing was tight with only a quarter of a point separating the final scores, but Stuey took the win with awesome turns and ballsy ariels in mast high waves. The crowd was treated to some awesome sailing as Stuey and Ben faced off for the Single Elim crown, each sailed awesome heats before Ben was crowned the winner. The double kicked off where shredders such as George, Al McLeod and Andrew ‘The Hock’ Hocking clawed through the pack. Duncan and I were lucky to fend off aerial king Al McLeod and an in-form Hock in the quarter finals. The double finished similarly to the single with Stuey and Ben vying for the crown and superkooks Duncan and I battling for a spot in the podium. The swell cleaned up and the light winds filled in for an awesome finals finishing up with Ben, Stuey, myself and Duncan in first, second, third and fourth respectively. Yew! Duncan is definitely one to watch, look out for him next year! Shane Finnegan took out the Masters, netting himself a new nickname ‘MasterBlaster’ and Nic Walker and Lisa Edlund-Tjernberg took out groms and Women’s categories respectively.

I expected to get my ass kicked, so was really stoked to make the finals. Thanks to everyone involved and a huge thanks to Al McLeod and Hudson Godfrey-Smith for putting the awesome event together, Jodi from White Caps for her Photographs, Col Leonhardt for putting together event coverage, personal sponsors Windsurfing WA and KineticIT, and finally a massive thanks to Ben Severne for supporting me with awesome gear and getting me to the island. Bring on 2015!

Opens  

1st - Ben Severne 

2nd - Stuey Martin 

3rd - James McCarthy-Price  

Masters

1st - Shane Finigan 

2nd - John Jacob 

=3rd - Jonathon Bouillir  =3rd - Martin Batstone  

Amateur  

1st - Martin Batstone 

2nd - Sean Cleary 

= 3rd - Harry Walker  = 3rd - Nic Walker 

Junior

1st - Nic Walker 

2nd - Lachie Bouillir 

3rd - Harry Walker  

Women

1st - Lisa Edlund-Tjernberg 

2nd - Kym Symonds 

3rd - Louise Bricknell