Jackson Close wins the Surfing Event...

After an incredible four days of paddling on the Gold Coast, five new Australian champions have been carried up the beach after winning their finals in extremely challenging conditions at Currumbin. Despite the conditions, spectators lined the beach with cameras flashing to witness the event, which could only be described as a huge success due to the huge turnout. 

Lincoln Dews and Karla Gilbert hit the beach first in the technical racing, with bumpy conditions the BOP style of paddling was very close race. A tight run to the finish saw some dinged boards (and people) in the men’s final, with a few tangles in the shorebreak but after catching a bump the others missed, Lincoln Dews pulled out an impressive lead to take the Men’s Technical win.

“That was such a tough race,” said Dews. “This was probably one of the toughest races most of these guys have competed in, so to go head-to-head for an Australian Title with so many great paddlers is such an honour and especially in conditions likes these when anyone could have won it.”

In the Womens event, Karla Gilbert was in the lead from the beginning, as the rest of the girls battled back in the packs with the choppy water and very challenging shorebreak. Choosing a slightly wider board was a key to her success according to Karla, she took a 36” wide board instead of the usual 34” board, to which she reported she “was stuck like glue”.

In the waves, Jackson Close scored a lucky (he said so himself!) two waves which were the biggest of the day at only waist high. The rest of the competitors in the final picked the biggest swell they could find, but with only knee high waves there was only so much they could do. Having lived locally, Jackson said he was used to paddling in such small conditions, helping him earn the title of Australian Champion. Shakira Westdorp performed a similar feat in the girls final, scoring an impressive 10.5 to Hannah Finlay-Jones from NSW who scored 9.0.

Karla Gilbert was back for the Marathons, and took out another impressive win over local Angie Jackson and Terrene Black after the paddle from Broadbeach to Currumbin Creek. The North Easterlies helped push the girls back downwind to the finish line (and conveniently the event location) but it was still a tough paddle. Gilbert said after the win,

“I wanted to get out pretty quickly and get a bit of a lead, which is good for the head for the starters, and then work on keeping a good pace because I knew the other girls would be working hard to chip away at the lead. It has been a great weekend. It’s just nice when you put the work in you get some good results so I’m very happy with the way it has all gone.”

Winning the mens marathon was local Jake Jensen. After paddling at the front of the pack in the technical racing, and unfortunately getting caught in the carnage mid race, Jensen was back to claim the title in the Marathon. Only just though, in the final few seconds Jake found a wave when his opponent Beau O’Brien did not, Jake snatched the lead from him after trailing by 50m only a few seconds before.

As a whole the event was very well received, run by Surfing Australia there were many comments about how professional the setup was, and despite the small and very challenging conditions every competitor had a great time and thought the winners well and truly deserved their new titles. Congratulations to the new Australian Stand Up Paddling Champions!

You can find the full list of results here at the Australian Stand Up Paddleboard titles website, and check out the video below of the Mens Surfing finals.