BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

Sunday 25th September 2022
World Surf Lifesaving Titles – Teams Day

Well it has been raining all night and the weather is looking inclement for today. It is looking like we will have a miserable day on the beach. As we got ready early again today, 6.30am up and out the door by about 7.30, we have been saved. The weather is still overcast and miserable, but it has stopped raining. Yeehah! As we head to the beach for our teams day, I am just a spectator today as we have no other girls here and they won’t let me make up a team with the boys. Oh well, I will just enjoy the day watching and supporting our team.

First up was the 170+ swim teams, David came in 1st place, Mark came 12th and Nick 14th. To get a result, you add all the placings for each of the teams and the team with the lowest number wins, the next lowest comes 2nd and so on and so on. The boys manage 2nd place, a silver medal. Our first race on teams day and a medal. Woohoo!

The next race was the 170+ board relay. We have two teams in this one. David, Doggy and Mark, and then Smithy, Nigel and Graham in the other. So this is a race where you race in relay style. Paddler one competes the course, tags paddler two who then completes the course and then tags paddler three for his turn with a run to the finish line. David headed out first and tagged Doggy first with a good lead by at least a wave, then Doggy stayed in front tagging Mark, who continued the race and held the lead. Winning our first gold teams medal. Yay boys. Smithy, Nigel and Graham all paddled well coming 7th.

Next was the 170+ ski relay. We only had one team in this race, being David, Doggy and Mark. They paddled in the same order but were a little slow out of the blocks as David missed the start as he was straightening his ski against the side current when the gun went to start the race. They finished in 5th place.

Last but not least was the 170+ Oceanman Relay – this is one leg ski, next leg swim and final leg board. We had 2 teams in this one, they were Mark on the Ski, David in the swim and Doggy on the board. Our 2nd team was Nick ski, Graham swim and Nigel board. Mark was about 5th or 6th on the ski, David swam and came in about 6th in the swim leg and Doggy paddled down and was on the wave with one other competitor for 3rd place, unfortunately he took 6 or 7 steps and pulled his hamstring and hobbled to the finish in 4th place. Our 2nd team came in 10th.

So with a small team of 8 we managed a Gold and a Silver medal on teams day.