SEVERNE DOMINATE GREEN ISLAND NATIONALS.

The 2014 Green Island Nationals finished up this evening with 5 days of solid high-wind racing with Brisbane rider Sean O’Brien leading the pack ahead of Rowen Law from Western Australia and Michel Van Der Pligt from Brisbane. Strong, consistent winds have peppered the island this week with racing taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday in winds over 35 knots making for some challenging conditions for the sailors. Sean O’Brien (Starboard/Severne) and Rowen Law (Patrik/Severne) had been trading places only 1 point apart for most of the week before O’Brien took a giant step forward in the points to cement his lead and win the Australian Title after winning 2 of the 3 final three slalom eliminations. Severne team riders took out 6 of the first 7 places for the event for slalom as well as the Top 3 in Freestyle and Freerace.

O’Brien said about the conditions during the week:

“It’s a pretty special place to race here (Green Island). I’m based in Europe for most of the year to do the Pro Tour but I fly home for this event because it’s one of the best places to windsurf around the globe. We’ve had extremely strong winds this week which have made the racing pretty exciting with lots of crashes at the gybe marks! It’s extremely close up the front as there’s at least 5 guys who have the speed to win a race so there’s no easy heats. Our format is to register only 2 sails/2 boards and I went with 7.8/7.0 Reflex_5 and 107 and 80 iSonics. The 7.0 was way too big on most of the races when we had over 35 knots but the nice thing about these sails is they are extremely stable so even when you are insanely overpowered you can make it around the course and be fast; I even won a final with the 7.8 on the 80L. Everyone told me that combo wouldn’t work but as a testament to the weight of the Reflex_5 I tried it out and although it’s a bit slow to accelerate out of the gybes with the perfect rotation in these sails I could get in to the gybe quicker. For fins I used a custom 32cm Jobfins in my 80 and a 38cm Jobfins in the 107 which I’ve been developing over the summer with my father. These fins are pushing the wind range of my sails even further. Really loving my gear this season!”

The Australian Freerace Championships, a division where competitors take their best speed averages and distances over a 1-hour GPS timed session each day, was taken out by Severne riders Kaleb Smith (Starboard/Severne), Michael Van Der Pligt (Starboard/Severne) and Dave Moorehead (Starboard/Severne). 

In the Australian Freestyle Championships, which finished up on Wednesday, the podium spots again dominated by Severne riders with Alistair Bentley (Knightmare/Severne), James McCarthy-Price (Starboard/Severne) and Max Ploumis (F2/Severne) making the Top 3. The strong winds made for some radical and challenging conditions with the competition taking place in the flat waters of the island’s reef shelves giving the best platform for the multitude of flip and spin tricks competitors are capable of in flat water. After the competition finished, the freestyle fleet headed out to the western end of Green Island for an expression session in the perfect waves barrelling over the reef in the strong winds.

This multi-discipline Australian Championship event is hosted in one of Australia’s most famous National Park islands, home to many rare and native Australian animals and plants; situated on the Great Barrier Reef, boasting some of the clearest waters and abundant reefs in the southern hemisphere. During the winter months, Green Islands cops the ‘trade winds’ with conditions exceeding 20 knots nearly every single day throughout May-August, perfect for windsurfing competition and an ideal location to host this premier windsurfing event.

Huge thanks to Ian Fox for organizing the event and event photographer Billy Craig. 

SLALOM OPEN

1. Sean O'Brien (Severne)

2. Rowen Law (Severne)

3. Michel Van Der Pligt (Severne)

4. Kaleb Smith (Severne)

5. Luke Baillie (Severne)

6. Julien Ventalon (Severne)

FREERACE

1. Kaleb Smith (Severne)

2. Michel Van Der Pligt (Severne)

3. Dave Morehead (Severne)

FREESTYLE

1. Alistair Bentley (Severne)

2. Half-Price (Severne)

2. Max Ploumis (Severne)