Surfer on a mission

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Hot on the heels of his local surfing success 2023 World Junior Surfing Champion Jarvis Earle has won the 2023 Australian Open Surfing Championship.

Team NSW which Jarvis anchored returned Home with 26 from the 46 Australian Titles on offer from North Haven Beach.

The Open Men’s Final saw Cronulla’s smiling assassin, Earle, dominate from the outset, reinforcing his credentials as the reigning World Junior Champion.

Jarvis said of his win after good early waves the final was held in tricky conditions,
“All the boys in the final heat got a couple of good waves and it came right down to the wire.

“I was just stoked to get a few good ones and come away with the win,” he said

In the Open Women’s Final, 18-year-old Rosie Smart overcame her seasoned competitors, and in the Over 50’s mens final Elouera Boardriders stalwart Glenn Pringle finished in fourth.

In the Women’s Bodyboard Titles NSW champ Mariko Menzies was third.

Dunny Bowl success for Cronulla goofy footer

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Elouera’s Carve Dunny Bowl was held at Wanda Beach last weekend in a rising south swell and current World Junior Surfing Champion Jarvis Earle showed his class by putting on a clinic by taking the men’s win.

The first day’s small wave conditions were helped along on the Sunday when the southerly blew picking up the swell with the Wanda left rip bowl getting torn apart by the competitors when it started to get serious.

Jarvis said he’s been travelling a lot this year competing on the Challenger Series.

“It’s good to come home to a supportive surf community and get the chance to surf some fun heats against my mates in an event like the Carve Dunny Bowl.”

The Red Bull sponsored surfer has already won the Australian Junior Championships, the Australian Open of Surfing, Skull Candy’s Oz Grom Open as well as multiple Grom Comps. He has even earned himself a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport at the High-Performance Centre.

Late last year Jarvis claimed his maiden World Surf League Qualifying Series event win at the 2022 Taiwan Open Of Surfing and was gifted a start on the 2023 WSL Challenger Series which was a steep learning curve for the Cronulla 19-year-old.

He is currently ranked 54th on the World Qualifying Challenger circuit after surfing in contests on the Gold Coast, Sydney, South Africa and just back home from the US Open event.

The woman’s Carve contest was a closer fought affair with 18-year-old classy south coast surfer Oceanna Rogers getting over the top of Cronulla Boardriders and NSW Champion Grace Gosby.

Grace under pressure

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(by: John Veage)

Cronulla Boardriders champion surfer Grace Gosby has won the 2023 Woolworths Junior NSW State Title at Corrimal Beach.

Winners were crowned in four divisions with 15 year old Grace taking her first Under 16 women’s crown.

Grace, who also surfs In the Cronulla Girls Boardrider’s club, was almost lost for words as she took out the title, dominating with a score of 7.0 and a 6.5.

The Cronulla High School student performed well all competition but it was in the final where she gave it everything and her highest scoring individual wave of the competition and her highest heat total of 13.5 saw her finish in top spot and chaired up the beach.

Grace said it was so good to get her first big win and be the U16 girls NSW state champion.

“The conditions were tough leading up to finals day but on finals day the waves were pretty fun.

“The girls pushed me to go harder and I couldn’t have done it without the competition. I now qualify for the Australian titles to represent NSW at the end of the year at Phillip Island so my short term goals now are to surf and train as much as possible so I can give it a good shot and surf my best at the Australian Titles in December,” she said.

“My long term goal is to keep progressing with my surfing, do a few more pro junior comps next year and perhaps one day surf on the CT surfing tour so I can travel the world with my surfboard.”

Grace’s Cronulla High School team made the the NSW Junior Girls School final but met an in form Byron Bay team, finishing second.

Kneeboarding isn’t dead

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Kneeboard – The lost alert.

Surfing Sutherland Shire is the body that overlooks competition in the Bate Bay area and has ten affiliated cubs. The Sydney Kneeboard Club caters to a niche part of the surfing sport and is one of the smallest.

Surfers didn’t pay much attention to kneeboarding until George Greenough slid into a long, hollow wave in Bruce Brown’s epic film, “The Endless Summer” and the following “Shortboard Revolution” brought the kneeboard to prominence. This revolution brought in maneuverability and the ability to put yourself more easily into the tube on hollow reef waves, but the sudden impact of the plastic bodyboard made that the sport of the masses and kneeboarding made its own path.

The Sydney Kneeboard Club grew out of Southside Kneeriders Association and covers all of Sydney Metro area and has been constantly operating since 1984. They run competitions every two months either at Wanda or at Narrabeen/Long Reef, and an away comp on NSW South Coast in collaboration with Wollongong Area Kneeboard Assoc. Two times World Kneeboard Champion and Cronulla ‘Walk of Fame’ surfer Gavin Colman is a member and regular competitor.

Mark Ashby said the club was always evolving, picking up interested “kneelos” via their Facebook page.

“Everyone gets a couple of surfs. If you who want competition you’ll get it, if you want a few laughs there’s plenty of those.”

Their last comp was held at Green Hills and the final was won by Chris Williams, with Graham Pettet second, Mark Ashby third and Richard Milton fourth.

Story and Image: John Veage

Champion of champions

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One of Surfing Sutherland Shires main roles is to promote junior surfing and the umbrella organisation that looks after Cronulla surfers will once again be running the annual Surfing NSW Junior Regional Titles on March 25 2023 at the best break on the beaches of Bate Bay.


This year there will also be bragging rights on offer for open age surfers when for the first time in a decade Surfing Sutherland Shire is pleased to announce the Cronulla Champions of Champions surfing event involving  Shire boardriders clubs which will be held in conjunction with the Surfing NSW Junior Regional Titles.


Unlike the junior competition where surfers compete all day through a heat/semi/final system, the Open surfing champ will be chosen from the four shortboard Club Champions- men and women and the Longboard club champions male and female.


From the 1960s up to 2000’s the Cronulla Championship was a big deal but was superseded by surfers having to compete in their allocated regions -Cronulla surfers competing in the Sydney South Zone before progressing to State and National championships thereby eliminating the need for a local champion. In fact Surfing Sutherland Shire is an organization that was formed after Surfing NSW amalgamated their South and East regions into one big body representing all competitive surfers south of the Harbour.


Some of Cronulla’s greatest ever surfers have won the title of Cronulla Champion including Denny Childs and Wayne Roach ,Jim Banks, Ross Marshall in the 70’s, Rod Baldwin, Glenn Pringle and Andy King in the 80’s and 90,s and then young guns Troy Dennehy, Kirk Flintoff, Connor O’leary before the selection was chosen by local surfers highest ranking in the Australasian WQS at the end of a calendar year saw 2022 World Junior Champion Jarvis Earle hold the crown.


Jarvis is back to defend his title so the gauntlet is down and the waves await- whose name will be on the historic Paddy McCue Trophy

Photo: Cronulla Sharks Boardriders Champion Jay Brown – Image: John Veage.