News from the Surfboat 2023 NSW Championships - Newport Surf Life Saving Club

By Michael King, 5 March 2023

An up and down day today. The swell had picked up overnight, which had a few eyes widening as they walked onto the beach. I was trying to find out where and when the Lifesaver relay was on when a couple of old sweeps and I saw the Queensie bommie pop up and start capping. It’s going to be an interesting day.
Fortunately, there were plenty of gaps, so in the boat leg of the relay, the u19s got away well and picked up a nice wave home to set our swimmer off in second place. The paddlers did a great job and our runner had an easy run for the first gold medal of the day.

In their quarter-final, the 19s got well and truly belted but managed to keep the boat upright and moving forward to get through the three Huey sent to test us. A great effort in the biggest surf they’d been out in. Unfortunately, Alani Barros hurt her back in doing so, and we had to pull out. She did get to play the green whistle, however.
The u23 Nemos had an excellent carnival, good results yesterday, and a great row and wave this morning put them in the semi. Warning: ‘tale of woe’ approaching. We were a bit behind after negotiating the break and a tight turn saw me miss the can and all I could hear on the run back to the beach was a portly contralto.
Both crews can be proud of how they handled the tough conditions today, a few of them for the first time. It’s one of the wonderful features of this sport that it can take you so far out of your comfort zone, leaving you with a wonderful sense of accomplishment.
Great job, Stingers and Nemos.