WAUCHOPE-Bonny Hills Surf Club will aim for back-to-back titles in the final round of the North Coast Surfboat Series at Woolgoolga on Saturday.
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Boat captain Tony Kee said the reserve men’s crew “have a bit of a buffer”, but didn’t want to leave anything to chance.
“Last year the final round was at Coffs Harbour and it was a really tight finish; we stole victory by one point,” he said.
A top-five finish should be enough to secure a successive title, but they won’t be taking it easy.
“It will be great to go back-to-back because it’s been a pretty tumultuous season for us,” Kee said.
“But if we win the round we won’t need to worry about how the other crews have gone.”
The club has overcome the loss of rower Simon Stennett earlier in the season and Kee said they would spare a moment to reflect after the race.
“We’ll definitely have a beer or two for Stenno,” he said.
It will be great to go back-to-back because it’s been a pretty tumultuous season for us.
- Tony Kee
In previous years the final round has seen crews awarded double points, but Kee was unsure if that was the case this year.
“In the past that’s what they’ve done which makes it interesting,” he said.
Bonny Hills will also take their open men’s, masters women and a junior girls crew to compete.
Both the open men’s (fifth) and masters women (fourth) have a “fair bit of work to do”, but Kee was excited to see the juniors in line to row in their first race.
“They’ve been working on their skills for the last couple of weeks so it will be great for the club if conditions allow them to go and have their first race.”
Kee said the beach at Woolgoolga had provided a variety of conditions, but he hadn’t raced there for a couple of years.
“It can be an exciting venue to row at, but it is protected from the south which is generally where all your big surf comes from.
“Sometimes it can be a bit of a bay.”
Port Macquarie Surf Club boat captain Rick Rolff has been pleased with the performances of his masters men and masters women’s crews.
They will look to round out the season with a top-three finish each.
If Rolff was offered a third-place for both his crews at the start of the season he would have taken it.
“The men are in a battle for third with Minnie Waters and the girls are also in third spot with not much chance of finishing second,” he said.
The winners of the series will be announced at the presentation night on Saturday night.
Racing starts at 10am.
