| Werri Beach Boardriders. Todd Prestage tells all.
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Formerly South Coast Underdogs now Surftag champions.
On Saturday March 14, the 2009 Jim Beam Surftag National Final was held at North Narrabeen Beach in Sydney. Sixteen boardriders clubs from all around Australia gathered at the event to see who would be crowned “the greatest of them all”.
By the last heat of the day only four teams remained in contention – raging hot favourites Snapper Rocks,North Narrabeen and underdogs Dee Why, and Werri Beach.
All four clubs fielded their strongest teams. Joel Parkinson, Josh Kerr and Shaun Gossman were surfing for Snapper, Nathan Hedge, Davo, Nathan Webster and Ozzie Wright surfing for North Narrabeen. Both of the above mentioned club’s looked hard to beat on paper, but when the final hooter sounded it was little known Werri Beach who took the title of numero uno club downunder.
Werri Beach is situated on the south coast of NSW and is a small town of only a few thousand people.
The ocean plays a major role in shaping the community and the way people live.
Werri Boardrider’s club is one of the largest on the south coast and is populated by a passionate group of people committed to keeping Australian surfing culture alive and positive, irrespective of age, gender or level of ability.
As former club president and World Tour representative Todd Prestage explains, winning the biggest club challenge in Australia may have come as a surprise to some, but certainly not to the club itself.
| | Dave Hunt proudly holding the 2009 Jim Beam Surftag trophy. |
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CW: What does it mean to the Werri Boardriders Club to win the 2009 Jim Beam Surf Tag national final?
Prestage: I think it means a lot to the Boardriders Club and the town. Not only do the guys who surfed in the event have bragging rights now, but everyone can be proud that our small town has produced such a good result. We’re the number one club in Australia and I think that’s a pretty good title to have. Every member of the club from juniors through to seniors can feel pride in that fact and get some sort of confidence from it. The impact is massive because we are also the first South Coast club to win it. No one really expected us to do anything, but coming into the final we had won every heat. Snapper and Narrabeen were walking down to the box looking at each other going, “Ok it’s out of us for first and second.” No one was even looking at Werri or Dee Why. We had an interference against us in the first five minutes which took the wind out of our sails a bit, but then Rhys Bombaci went out there and went ballistic, scoring a couple of high 9’s and all of a sudden those other teams were thinking, “Hang on, this wasn’t in the script!”
CW:What was the biggest factor that helped you get over the line?
Prestage: We didn’t get over confident and excited about the situation. We were very happy to be in a final, but it didn’t take us away from what we came to do. We knew we had a team that could win, and it was just a matter of putting it all together at the right time. That’s the thing with these team events, just ’cause you’ve got Joel Parkinson, Josh Kerr, and Sean Gossman in your team doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to win. You can put all those guys from Snapper and Narrabeen in the water and they might be the world’s best surfers, but I don’t think they necessarily have the team spirit that a lot of the other clubs out there have.
| | Rhys Bombaci powering off the bottom focusing on his next manoeuvre and winning Surftag for his beloved Werri crew. |
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| | Dean Bowen taking off late and eyeing the inevitable tube section at one of his favourite south coast reefbreaks. | Photo: Conti |
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CW:Who are the up and coming juniors in the WBBC ranks, and who are the big dogs?
Obviously Dean Bowen is killing it, he has just won the ISA World Junior Title in Ecuador so that goes to show what the calibre of surfer is in Gerringong. Then you’ve got other kids coming through like Matt Gale, Tom Salverson, Doug Chandler and Justin Arnold. There are a lot of young kids coming through. Everyone is keen, everyone loves to surf and they all love competing so who knows where these guys could end up, it’s up to them really.
CW:Would Sally Fitzgibbons be in there as well?
Prestage: Sally is up there without a doubt. We all hang our hats on Sally and how well she has done. She is just a tremendous athlete. We would have loved to have had Sally surfing for us. Imagine walking down the beach to your heat and then all of a sudden you see Sally Fitz run down and she’s in your heat! I know I would have shit myself, because she knows she is going to go out and smash you.
CW:Is Werri Beach a club to be reckoned with in the future or is this a case of the one hit wonders?
Prestage: Definitely we will remain a threat. We had an amazing team this year and Dean Bowen and Tom Salverson weren’t even available! With those two guys coming in we’ll be even stronger. I think its got to the point now where we could actually put two teams in. And both could win.
| | Rhys in winning form in the 2009 Jim Beam Surftag final at North Narrabeen in March 2009. |
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| | Dean Bowen has already made a name for himself in big south coast barrels. Deano charging. | Photo: Conti |
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CW:Why do you think that WBBC has so many members?
Prestage: We’ve got 80 strong members in the seniors, and 75 to 80 members in the juniors (12-years-and-under) so the club has got really good stocks. The area has become popular and has definitely grown compared to when I was young. Back then there were only about 150 houses with a population of a thousand or more people, nowadays the population has expanded quite a bit, and because Gerringong is such a small town the team spirit is extraordinarily high. That enthusiasm flows through all the various sporting clubs in the area, but particularly for the Boardriders Club. I think everybody genuinely loves to surf and it’s just a way for us to hang out and make sure everyone is having fun. Which could be the reason why people come flocking back every year.
CW:What’s next for the club?
Prestage: From the time the club first started we have always dreamt about having our own clubhouse. How good would it be to have our own memorabilia on the walls instead of borrowing the surf lifesaver’s club? Epic. But our goal as a club is to represent Werri Beach and the NSW South Coast. We have a few events that we use to raise money, which is very important so that we can travel to these events. Back in the early days when the club started they used to have these dances and raise money so they could put it all into getting a bus and drive the bus to various locations along the coast. I can even remember a few of my first state titles, we went up in the Werri Beach Boardriders bus! If we can raise money to keep our junior kids competitive and help get them to these events then that’d be great. It just cost Dean Bowen a big wad of green to even get over and compete at the ISA World Games. In the future it would be great if we could say, “Hey look, Werri Beach Boardriders has got your flight covered, go over there and smash em!”. Obviously producing good surfers is something that seems to happen naturally around here. The area has got good waves and it has a very healthy competitive environment, which was so different to when I was growing up. In the past all the competitive froth was in Sydney and if you wanted to learn how to hassle you had to go up there and surf for a few days, whereas now you don’t have to go anywhere - you just have to paddle out at home and you get hassled by about 25 grommets (laughs). I think its great to see that.
- Story by Jordan Brunt
| | Former CT stalwart Todd Prestage still ripping at home at Werri. | Photo: Conti |
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| | Tom Salverson popping a little close out air at Werri. | Photo: Conti |
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| | The beautiful gateway to the south coast. Werri Beach. | Photo: Newsham |
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