Davies takes blue ribbon

Cowaramup’s Jarrad Davies took out the blue-ribbon open men’s final for the opening event of the Volte Wetsuits WA Longboard Titles at the weekend.

The competition was held in powerful 4-6ft surf at Yallingup Main Break on Sunday.

The three-day tournament saw broken boards, snapped leashes and bruised egos, with 15 separate champions crowned at what many consider the spiritual home of longboarding in WA.

Davies caught only three waves during the 25-minute final, but was able to amass a combined two-wave total of 14.17 out of a possible 20, which included a heat-high score of 8.67.

Davies said the weekend event was “really memorable”.

“It’s not every day you get a comp with a decent swell like we’ve had here in Yallingup,” he said.

Coming in second was 2018 open men’s State champion Jack Medland, of Marmion; third was Ryan Clark, of Dunsborough; and Daniel Holding, also Dunsborough, was fourth.

The open women’s longboard division was hotly contested, with a young field making the final.

The experienced Georgia Young, of Perth, came up against local Lauren Williams, of Yallingup, and teenagers Gidget Neunuebel, of Denmark, and Zali Corry, of Mandurah.

In a see-sawing battle, reigning State champion Young was able to grind out a victory.

Young said the conditions between morning and afternoon heats were contrasting.

“It was victory at sea out there, snapped leashes, big wash-throughs and a lot of wind and swell,” she said.

In arguably the most enter-taining division of the entire event, Medland showed his style and showed some swagger to take out the open men’s logger final.

“Today was as good as it gets out there, I reckon,” Medland said.

Davies, Medland and Doug Carruthers, of Margaret River, all picked up Air Asia wave of the day awards during the event.