Bellarines SOUL Longboard club ran the Victorian Old Mal titles at Ocean Grove on the 13-2-10. With a reasonable ½ to 1mt swell and an incoming tide it was down to business early with the first heat in the water by 8am.
There were plenty of old boards and old cars on display in keeping with the Old Mal theme. One of the legends of the Old Mal era, George Rice, was on hand to sign a few of his boards and explain some of the history behind them too. Wayne lynch had prior work commitments but gave plenty of support for the event beforehand.
SOUL President Brian Tucker said “even though we haven’t got great conditions today, at least there is swell and contestable waves for the whole day. The club has worked hard to put this event on for the Old Mal surfers and it’s great to see the support we’ve got from our sponsors and from guys like George Rice, Wayne Lynch and the local community”
With the wind getting stronger and the tide starting to turn the finals hit the water about 2 pm.
Some great action was on show with the best old mal surfers around trying to get the highest scoring waves. Big manoeuvres and great nose riding on the old boards showed just what can be done in less than perfect waves.
Jordie Brown carried on the good form he’s been in lately by taking out the under 40’s division. Ben Considine showed that he is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years and had a good result with second. No doubt Tim Edwards would like to have placed a bit better than third but in the conditions it’s still a good result. Defending Title holder Jordan Noble finished 4th but said that he wasn’t too worried about it.
In the over 40’s Scott Wintle once again showed his great style and skill that’s been developed over the years to finish first. Lee Considine kept the family’s name in the results with a solid second. Brian Thompson showed that he is always a threat no matter what class or type of board he’s on with third. John Storm didn’t waste his ferry ticket with a good fourth place.
A great day was had by all with a lot of interest shown by all sorts of people coming down to the main beach and with plenty of coffee and food from the barby everyone’s looking forward to doing it all again next year
Over 40’s 1st, Defending Champion, Scott Wintle, 2nd Lee Considine, 3rd Brian Thompson, 4th John Storm