The SOCIAL REPORT from Brian Delaney

By chance our September social night at the Cherry St Bowling Club coincided with their Centenary Party celebrations. It was a night of good food and flowing conversation with entertainment by local band Fossil Rock.

Our next social night will be on Friday, 16th October at the Mi Thai Restaurant in Lennox Head at 6:30 pm. He had a large roll-up of members at the restaurant last year so we have to be fair to them for their catering. I have the names of members who indicated they wished to attend at the October comp. Anybody else who wants to come along should phone me on 6628-5317 or email me at delaney@aapt.net.au by Wednesday 14 Oct so that I can give Daniel and Andrew firm numbers for the night.

Our annual prize presentation afternoon and evening is on Sunday 6th December. Please mark it in your diaries to avoid a clash with something else. The venue and more details will be announced very soon.

Ciao, Brian D.

COMPETITON UPDATE

The October round started slowly with members rolling up still dazed from losing sleep with the change to daylight savings time. The weather seemed to mimic the condition of members with a dull grey morning slowly warming up to a pretty good day at the beach. Sixteen surfers competed in inconsistent 1 to 1.5 metre waves. Flat Rock Point had a few reasonable take-offs with the usual cutting back required to progress down the reef. The beach breaks out front produced some reasonable lefts and rights as well. Frank McWilliams turned up just in time to make a first round heat and ended up taking out the day with smooth rail to rail manoeuvres and casual footwork. Well done Frank!

See the image gallery for all the pics and live footage...

The judging tent with judges Roger Coulthurst, Marg Bryant, and Steve Watts.

A small crew of die-hard surfers turned up on a grey day.
Grant Edwards working the camera.

Social Director Brian manned the traditional BBQ at half-time.

COMPETITION RESULTS

Judging Criteria for Competition Rounds

The judging criteria is now available online. A decision was made this year to limit the number of waves a surfer can catch per heat to 5 waves. We will be discussing this more with members at the next comp.

We invite suggestions from members regarding practical methods of improving our ability to apply the judging criteria. Some suggestions to date include:

• online video examples of waves and their scores,
• judging clinics

If you have an other ideas we'd like to hear them.

Jim Devlin Memorial - 6 Ways

The annual 6-ways competition, organised by the Bryron Bay Malibu Club, was held on Sunday 20th September at Wategoes. This year the competition turned into a 7-ways with seven clubs competing in the challenging conditions. The surf ranged from barely breaking during the early morning high tide to one metre as the tide dropped during the day. Thankfully a light south-easterly breeze brushed the waves producing glassy conditions all day. Given the easterly onshore breezes had been getting up early on the days leading up to the competition the organisers were quite happy with the conditions.

Our club entered a full field of 15 surfers in the competition. Each surfer surfed just once during the day in their allocated heat with points were awarded for their best 2 waves. Evans Head took out overall winner and our club placed 6th beating Lennox Head for the second year running.

Thanks to Bruce Wilson who arrived early to claim a primo' spot for our tent and to Mel Mott for organising her famous noodle salad and bread rolls. There was plenty of food for all.

Bruce arrived early to claim a primo' spot for our tent.

Seven teams turned up on a beautiful sunny off-shore day at Wategoes.

What a great way to spend a Sunday. The crew - (front) Frank McWilliams & Steve Watts, (rear) Roger Coulhurst, Paul Abbott, & Chris Lorroway

This annual event was been renamed the Jim Devlin Memorial 6 -Ways after Jim tragically passed away during the competition last year. Jim's family though appreciative of the offer were concerned over time his memory would fade and competitors would no longer understand the connection. The Byron Bay Malibu Club have now decided to name the club as a memorial to all surfers who have passed away renaming the contest to the "6-Ways Memorial".

Next Club Round

Our next club round is on Sunday 1st November.

PIC OF THE DAY

Each month we feature the best picture taken on the day. (Sorry no pics from Alan this week).

Mi Thai Winner

This month's winner of the Mi Thai $25 voucher is Grant Edwards.

TRAVEL REPORT

Please email the secretary if you have an interesting travel story.

MEMBER PROFILE

Grant Edwards

Name: Grant Edwards

Family: Son Alex 5 years old

Origins: Born in Parkes, moved to the NSW Central Coast in 1969, Byron Bay in 1981, and to Ballina in 2005.

Current job: Final year at University studying Training & Development.

Surfboard(s): Bic 9'1 & 10', T&C 9'1, Tolhurst 9'1 & 8'1, 6' Twinny, 7'6 McTavish.

Natural or Goofy footer: Natural.

Best Job you ever had: Self-employed sales

Musical Preference: Blues, rock, brainwaves

Movie Preference:

Fav. Surf Movie: Morning of the Earth

Fav. Non Surf Sport: My 112 acre block of land at Ashford

Fav. Grog: No favourite, though Chartreuse Green is a nice 55% proof

Fav. Surfer: Joel Tudor

Best Surf Holiday: Tonga

Fav. TV show: Stargate

Hobbies: Fishing, computing, and the beach.

Nickname & why: None yet - any suggestions?

What I hate most: Liars & cheats.

Where and when was the best surf you ever had: The Pass - early 1980s

Age when you started surfing on a board: 17

Before you had a car, where did you surf most: Avoca / Copacabana

How many overseas surf trips: 3

Where was your first ever surf on a surfboard: Copacabana beach breaks

My Dream surf trip: A never ending island hop, love reef surfing!

NEWSLETTER & NEW WEB SITE

All club newsletters can now be accessed via the web site and viewed online. Members who have provided their email addresses to the secretary will receive an email each month containing a link to the newsletter. The Committee urges all members to take advantage of the web site and register their email address. Members without an email address will still receive a printed copy via surface mail. Members interested in submitting stories for inclusion in our monthly newsletter should Email submissions to secretary@ballinamalibuclub.org

MEMBERS CLASSIFIEDS

Items for sale (eg. used surfboards, surfing-related items etc) may be listed free of charge by members. Members are invited to lodge advertisements by Email to the Secretary. Please include a description, asking price, contact details, and preferably a color photograph of the item(s) for sale.