Newport Surf Boat Carnival Report ~ 14 November 2020

by Michael King

A beautiful sparkle-arkling day at Newport for the first surfboat carnival of the season. As usual, another fantastic all of club effort; thanks to Lily Tancred and all the first aiders and Peter Finch, Matt Edwards and water safety who were there from early to late. As carnival organiser, its so satisfying that our club pulls together for these events. A message to Jess Menzies, Bec Capell, Lily Tancred and Matt Edwards and the support is provided. Our officials also helped make the event a success, thanks Megan and Mark Hayward and Bernie Howard.

Finally a big thankyou to all the rowers, new and old, a long day on the beach. They were there early to set up, then compete, then pack up all the gear at the end of the day. They even put up their own tent.

To top it off we had some solid results. The Australian champion U23 girls , Thunder, kept their record intact, winning a hard fought final to make it four wins in four years at Newport carnival. The Open men, Hellfish, were well placed for a win when three crews came through on a wave- dare I say it… ‘that’s surfboats’. The reserve women ‘Nudies’ finished third in their first race together and the u19 boys ‘Noodlefish’ gave away too much at the start of the final to feature in the placings. Our other two crews, reserve men and U23 girls ‘Nemos’ didn’t make their finals, but have a solid base to work on.

Freshwater in two weeks.