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Northern NSW surfers Harley Ingelby (Coffs Harbour) and Chelsea
Williams (Tweed Heads) today won the men’s and women’s divisions of
Australia’s biggest professional Longboarding event, The Hot Tuna Summer
Classic, at Flinders on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. 
Excellent waves prevailed with northerly offshore winds under
dark skies as Victoria enjoyed some much needed rain and Australia’s best
longboarders excelled in the conditions with outstanding 9 point plus ride common
throughout the semi finals and finals. 
Ingelby’s opening two rides in the 30 minute final were
an 8.5 and an 8.55 out of a possible 10 within the first five minutes that placed
him front for the entire final. Queensland surfers
Grant Thomas and Josh Constable (both Sunshine Coast) seriously challenged Ingelby
with Thomas scoring 8.5 ride and Constable an 8. Ingelby however surfed a super
smart final as he patiently waited for an excellent wave that would allow him
to improve on his previous two excellent rides. He passed on plenty of good looking
waves and with five minutes remaining decided to take one of the larger set waves
of the day – A series of trademark outstanding drop knee cutbacks, hang tens
and clean bottom turns saw him rewarded with the days top scoring ride of 9.5.
Ingelby’s final heat score was an impressive
18.05 with Grant Thomas (Maroochydore) coming in second on 15.65, Josh Constable
(Noosa) third on 15.50 and Jared Neal (Coffs Harbour) fourth on 13.30. 
“This is a fantastic event or me to win, it’s the
biggest event in Australia and just like last year here we’ve scored amazing
surf. It’s a great start to the season and I’m super keen to take a
hat trick and win the Australian Longboard Circuit for the third year running.
The world professional titles in Costa Rica later this year is my ultimate goal
along with as many wins as possible.” 
Ingelby also praised the event organizers for running such
a quality event saying “They picked the absolute best of the surf for us
over the four day waiting period and made sure of an outstanding event. It’s
setting new standards for professional Longboarding which is really good to see.” 
Second placed surfer today Grant Thomas wasn’t so enthused
about the move from the Gunnamatta Beachbreaks which he dominated in yesterday
to the slightly smaller defined reefs of Flinders today saying “I wanted
to stay with the bigger waves today on the beaches but that’s just my opinion,
the majority ruled on where we surfed today and it’s hard to complain when
the waves were really good but I think my best chance of winning and defeating
Ingelby would have been in the bigger surf – It’s still a great start
to the season for me and full credit to Ingelby, he surfed a great final and deserved
the win.” Tweed Heads surfer Chelsea Williams
dominated her final and left her three opponents chasing a combination of scores
to catch her. An excellent 8.25 ride early where she performed a series of excellent
nose rides and floating re entries put her well ahead and then on her final ride
she bettered that ride with an outstanding 9 point ride. She defeated Queensland
surfer Sharon Jackson with Tweed Heads Lisa Nicholson 3rd and Nava Young 4th.
The best of the Victorian’s at this event was from Phillip
Island surfer Eli Curry (Cape Woolamai). Curry made the semi finals where he finished
3rd with an overall event placing of 5th. Curry is a semi professional judge who
works on the domestic professional tours, both shortboarding and Longboarding
and following this result plans to compete more on the Australian Longboard Tour
– “It’s been a great event and I knew my best chances would be
in solid waves which we scored at Gunnamatta yesterday – I’m confident
I could do well on this tour providing the waves are quite solid but I’m
very aware that in smaller waves I’ll struggle against these guys.”
Next event on the Australian Longboard Circuit
will be the Noosa Festival of Surfing in early March. | 
