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With
a near perfect display of surfing, Curl Curl's Matt Bemrose has taken home the
inaugural Hurley Zink Surf South Coast Open title. On a weekend at Werri Beach
where the surf was near perfect for 2 days of the 3 day event, Matt blew the other
finalists out of contention with some of the best backhand surfing seen on the
south coast beach. 
Day
1 saw the event make camp at the northern end of Werri Beach. Some of the best
waves all year were on offer with consistent 1- 1.5 mtr sets rolling through.
Tide and wind were favourable and from the opening heat Manly's Nick Riley and
Alex Chacon of Brazil showed spectators what would be in store for the weekend.
Other standouts in round 1 were Jefferson Duarte of Brazil, Tim Wrench of Ulladulla,
Scotts Head Paul Evans, locals Tom Salvesen, Dean Bowen, Rhys Bombaci and Cronulla's
Dylan Hannah. The 30 minute expression after the final heat saw 20 competitors
go ballistic and it was Alex Chacon taking session number 1 with 2 massive air
punts. 
Day
2 saw the swell a little smaller but still very consistent and the last of round
1 was completed with Matt Bemrose giving an indication of what was to come by
nailing his opening heat. Also stepping up were Werri Slash runner up Nick Squires
of Wollongong, former WCT surfer Jake Spooner and Lloyd Bowen kept the flag flying
for the Werri locals. Round 2 began and every heat was so solid that it would
have been impossible to predict who were progress further. Nick Riley maintained
his his form to take heat 1. Heat 2 was full of south coasters with Tim Wrench
very convincing in his win. Paul Evans and Dylan Hannah prevailed in the heat
3 whilst Werri's Tom Salvesen and Kiama's Rhys Bombaci progressing from heat 4.
Dean Bowen and Central Coaster Jeremy Cohen came through heat 5 unscathed with
Rhys Tucker, Parrish Byrne, Matt Bemrose, old stager Kurt Nyholm and south coasters
Owen Wright and Brett Burcher ensuring they would be back for day 3. The 2nd expression
session saw another packed field and an even more amazing display was on offer
with Tim Wrench, Rhys Bombaci, Owen Wright and Alex Chacon going air for air and
they had the crowd in awe as Tim Wrench prevailed. 
Day
3 dawned and an overnight southerly change cooled things down and a new swell
arrived. Event organisers shifted camp towards the southern end of Werri Beach
where solid 1 mtr plus waves were on offer. It was a bit shifty but the quality
of the surfers ensured some fantastic surfing for the growing crowd on the beach.
Qtr 1 and it was Tim Wrench taking it ahead of Nick Riley with Ask King a very
close 3rd and Alex Chacon 4th. Qtr 2 saw Paul Evans and Rhys Bombaci move through
quite comfortably ahead of Dylan Hannah 3rd and young Tom Salvesen 4th. Jeremy
Cohen had quietly moved through the event and was a convincing winner in Qtr 3
ahead of Gerroa's Dean Bowen. Rhys Tucker and Parrish Byrne saw their campaign
finish with a 3rd and 4th respectively. Qtr 4 saw Matt Bemrose maintaining the
rage with another heat win although Ulladulla's Kurt Nyholm was pushing him all
the way and was good for a semi final berth ahead of fellow sth coasters Owen
Wright 3rd and Brett Burcher 4th. 
Onto
the semi finals and as the tide started to fill over the contest bank, wave selection
was playing a cruicial part in determining progression. Tim Wrench and Nick Riley
were quickly out to an early lead before Paul Evans smashed a long righthander
to score a 9.0 ride and let the rest of the field play catch up. Nick score another
solid wave to take the lead about 10 minutes in. Tim then nailed his highest score
for the heat before Paul shut the gate with a solid wave towards the end. Rhys
Bombaci couldn't find anything worthy of a high score and finished 4th. Nick had
done enough to edge out Tim Wrench into 3rd with Paul victorious. Semi 2 saw Dean
Bowen and Kurt Nyholm carry the last of the south coast's hopes against Matt Bemrose
and Jeremy Cohen. No-one really scored anything early until Matt Bemrose opened
up a good lead with a 6.0 ride. Dean Bowen then grabbed the lead with a great
backhand barrel. Matt took off on the wave behind and belted about 4 re-entries
before finding a reform and smashed another couple of turns to score an 8.0. It
was then down to a tussle between Dean and Jeremy. Jeremy had good scores but
it was a final wave for Dean which saw him smash a huge top turn and a roundhouse
cutback that gave him the score he needed to relegate Jeremy to 3rd place. Kurt
Nyhom finished 4th. The final expression session was run before
the final and it was Owen Wright who took home the prize. A
good crowd had gathered under overcast skies as Paul Evans, Nick Riley, Matt Bemrose
and Dean Bowen paddled out for the final. Each of the finalists first wave was
a throwaway until Matt Bemrose blasted a series lightning quick, beyond vertical
snaps to score an average 9.2 ride to take a commanding lead. Paul Evans picked
up the pace with a 7.3 and rattle Matt's cage early on. Some more low scores were
collected by Matt and Paul before Matt nailed the coffin shut on the others with
the best wave of the fnal. Two judges scored perfect 10's and the third gave him
a 9.8 and it was game over. Paul answered back with an average 8.7 but it was
never enough. Dean came home with a wet sail to take 3rd. Nick, who had been surfing
with a sore knee all event, faded to finish 4th. In the end Matt finished with
an average score of 19. 0 out of 20 to take out 1st place and $1500.00. Paul was
2nd, Dean 3rd and Nick 4th. The Hurley Zink Surf South Coast
Open organisers would like to thank Hurley and Zink Surf Kiama for their generous
financial contribution to enable this great event to happen. Also, many thanks
to Bellacharra Boutique Hotel Gerringong, Odyssey 20/20 Sunglasses, Kiama Council,
Kiama Tourism and IGA Gerringong for the generous support. Also many thanks to
Tooheys Extra Dry as Championship circuit sponsors. Many thanks go to Advanced
Concrete Cutting for the power generator and to Andrew Heffernan for donating
the P.A system. Many thanks to the tireless efforts of Werri Beach Boardriders
members who gave up 3 days of their time to set up and pack up the event site,
and also to those who ran the food stall. Werri Beach Boardriders would also like
to thank Surfing NSW for their confidence in giving Werri Beach Boardriders the
chance to host event 3 of the Surfing NSW Tooheys Extra Dry Championship Circuit. | 
