SUP success for Surfing Australia at Phillip Island

SURFING Australia staged its 2024 Australian SUP Titles at Phillip Island last week and once again, the versatile island came to the fore with suitable conditions on all competition days despite the moving weather pattern.

On Friday, October 25 organisers opted for Right Point and Cat Bay on the far west of Phillip Island as the locations best suited to the southerly conditions, but with just enough easterly flow in the winds and enough swell to see consistent if small waves rolling in at both locations.

Right Point hosted the finals of the age group events and Cat Bay, the technical race, out and back around three buoys twice to finish on the beach.

On Saturday, October 26, it was across to Corinella for the start of the marathon race to the Cowes front beach and while the wind shifted during the race, the best of the paddlers, Jonathan Hagan of Queensland, still managed the respectable time of 1:28:42.21 to complete the course.

Fourteenth finisher was Stephanie Sievers of Victoria who toughed it out for a tick over two hours to do justice to the Australian championship event, finishing in 2:04:18.00.

In the age group titles, Jamie Ralston of Western Australia caught five waves in the final, including the two highest-scoring waves to comfortably take care of the opposition and claim his first Australian title in the Over 60s category.

The pilot boat captain operating out of the port of Fremantle is no stranger to the ocean and revelled in the conditions at Right Point on Phillip Island’s west coast, with excellent positioning on a moving peak that often caught others with priority too far inside.

Not so for Ralston who had four good scoring rides of 5.33, 7.83, 5.40 and 7.00 before catching a small wave at the end, scoring 2.93 on his victory lap back into the shore.

Here he collected the full set of national and state flags; the Australian flag, Indigenous flag and Western Australian flag with the black swan happily paddling into the shore.

Fourth placed Michael Jenkins of Victoria gave the final his all, taking off on seven waves to give it his best shot.

The final results in the Over 60 10ft SUP were as follows: 1st Jamie Ralston WA 14.83 won by 5.03, 2nd Craig Caldwell NSW 9.80, 3rd John Takle VIC 9.34, 4th Michael Jenkins VIC 4.80.

One of the highlights of finals day at Right Point was the Over 40s Men where Matthew Russell of NSW went from last to first with his final wave of the day, his highest-scoring effort of 6.27 to edge up Troy Ashton of Tasmania by just 0.4 in the final analysis.

In other SUP finals at Right Point on Friday

• Over 40s Women: Emma Webb of Victoria won the Over 40s women’s title when she put up a good combination of rides, including the two highest-scoring rides of the day to easily take care of the competition, finishing with 13.43 (rides of 6.50, 2.20, 6.93, 5.33, 2.17, 3.97, and 3.8) in a dominant performance. Results in the Over 40s Women: 1st Emma Webb VIC 13.43, Lucy Bell VIC 6.30, Susanne Prosser VIC 4.80, Kerry Davenport NSW 2.96.
• Over 50s Women, 1st Gwen Carbone VIC 10.17, 2nd Kerry Davenport NSW 6.36, 3rd Madeline Rayner NSW 5.40, 4th Juanita Read QLD 4.87.
• Over 50s Men LB SUP: 1st Liam McCafferty VIC 14.73, 2nd Jamie Ralston WA 12.07, 3rd Scott Penwarn QLD 8.67, 4th Sam Hodder VIC 6.63.
• 10ft Open Women: 1st Emma Webb VIC 11.90, 2nd Hannah Finlay-Jones NSW 10.10, 3rd Ke'ale Dorries QLD 6.27
• Over 50s Men: 1st Chris Twomey WA 13.63, 2nd Andrew Cassidy NSW 13.33, 3rd Peter Campbell WA 9.77, 4th Blaire Moore NSW 8.73.
• Over 40 Women: 1st Rebecca Dunning NSW 12.10, 2nd Lucy Bell VIC 7.00, 3rd Madeline Rayner NSW 4.46.
• Over 40 Men: 1st Matthew Russell NSW 11.07, 2nd Troy Ashton VIC 10.67, 3rd Marty Cole NSW 9.47, 4th Richard Feeney NSW 9.47.
• Open Women: 1st Isi Campbell WA 16.33, 2nd Rebecca Dunning NSW 10.50, 3rd Hannah Finlay-Jones NSW 6.00, 4th Ke'ale Dorries QLD
• Open Men: 1st Kai Bates NSW 15.30, 2nd Indy Rose NSW 14.53, 3rd Connor Linz NSW 8.00, 4th Matt Takle VIC 7.74.
• O60 10ft SUP: 1st Jamie Ralston WA 14.83, 2nd Craig Caldwell NSW 9.80, 3rd John Takle VIC 9.34, 4th Michael Jenkins VIC 4.80.
• O40 Women LB SUP: 1st Emma Webb VIC 13.43, 2nd Lucy Bell VIC 6.30, 3rd Susanne Prosser VIC 4.80, 4th Kerry Davenport NSW 2.96
• O50 Women: 1st Gwen Carbone VIC 10.17, 2nd Kerry Davenport NSW 6.36, 3rd Madeline Rayner NSW 5.40, 4th Juanita Read QLD 4.87.
• O50 Men LB SUP: 1st Liam McCafferty VIC 14.73, 2nd Jamie Ralston WA 12.07, 3rd Scott Penwarn QLD 8.67, 4th Sam Hodder VIC 6.63.

Technically excellent

Cat Bay turned on consistent, classic, small rolling waves for the final of the Australian SUP Championship Technical Race with Rohan Fell of Surfing Australia welcoming competitors, and event director Max Wells and course designer Warwick Lee offering instructions.

The event turned out to be a procession for Queensland’s Jonathan Hagan who originally signed on to compete at Phillip Island to qualify for the world championships in Florida next month.

With a highest world ranking of 18, Hagan showed his class in the final, catching good rides on both circuits of the out and back course, to win by almost three minutes.

He revealed afterwards however, that his work as a paramedic would preclude him from competing overseas this year as planned.

Hagan also went on to win the marathon on Saturday.

• Technical Race results: 1st Jonathan Hagan QLD 15:17.46, 2nd Warwick Lee VIC 18:02.00, 3rd Dave Warner VIC 18:41.00, 4th Ke'ale Dorries QLD 19:25.00, 5th Peter Jackson VIC 21:09.00, 6th Duncan Gosling VIC 21:47.00, 7th Lucy Bell VIC 23:40.00, 8th Sorelle Nolan VIC 24:08.00, 9th Jeff Cornehls VIC 26:33.00, 10th Kazuma Sato VIC 27:05.00, 11th Juanita Read QLD 33:58, 12th Scott Penwarn QLD 34:05.00, DNS Craige Macaulay VIC.
• Surfing Australia 2024 Australian SUP Titles Marathon Race results: 1^st Jonathan Hagan QLD 1:28:42.21, 2^nd Dave Warner VIC 1:37:34.00, 3^rd Peter Jackson VIC 1:40:07.00, 4^th Juan Cruz QLD 1:40:50.00, 5^th Warwick Lee VIC 1:42:36.00, 6th Ivan Martorell VIC 1:43:40.00, 7th Duncan Gosling VIC 1:43:53.00, 8^th Ke'ale Dorries QLD 1:48:57.00, 9^th Susanne Prosser VIC 1:53:37.00, 10^th Nick Christie VIC 1:56:12.00, 11^th Mark Harrop VIC 1:59:15.00, 12th Sorelle Nolan VIC 2:00:21.00, 13th Jeff Cornehls VIC 2:02:35.00, 14^th Stephanie Sievers VIC 2:04:18.00.