North Narrabeen hosted this invitational event for the third straight summer and the lack of swell meant that the competition inevitably was going to be a war of attrition as the day progressed through to the finals.
To qualify for the finals teams had to row multiple races which proved to be a mental challenge as much as a physical one for the crews involved.
Ultimately there was a good spread of winners from across the clubs.
In the U19 event the youngsters from North Cronulla proved too strong as they claimed the first two positions with the crew from Wanda SLSC finishing third ensuring a Bate Bay treble to kick off the action.
North Cronulla continued their winning ways as they finished first in the U23 Women’s Final, second in both the Open Women’s field and Reserve Men’s Final, and took the bronze position in the Open Men’s Final and Reserve Women events.
Bulli SLSC continued its proud boating tradition with a hard fought win in the U23 Men’s Race ahead of Avalon Beach and Collaroy, while Palm Beach claimed line honours in the Open Men’s Race.
The crews from Bilgola SLSC had an enjoyable day out ending the competition with victory in the Open Women’s race and second place in the Open Men.
NSW Surf Sports Development Officer Tim Piper said it was a fantastic day of competition conducted in good spirits.
“In an ideal world there would have been a good swell for the competitors but that is the beauty of our sport, you never know quite what to expect. All the crews certainly deserved to be congratulated for their efforts in quite trying conditions,” Mr Piper said.
“Ultimately it was a close, high quality competition which I think bodes well for the remainder of the season especially as the crews can now turn their attention to the State and Australian Championships.”
Newport ensured that there would be three Sydney Northern Beaches clubs claiming top spot on the winners list after they won the Reserve Men’s race, while Wollongong City finished the day on a high claiming gold in the Reserve Women’s event doing enough to hold off a fast finishing Whale Beach.
2017 Best of the Best Surf Boat Challenge – Top 3
Open Men
Palm Beach SLSC
Bilgola SLSC
North Cronulla SLSC
Open Women
Bilgola SLSC
North Cronulla SLSC
Queenscliff SLSC
Reserve Men
Newport SLSC
North Cronulla SLSC
Newport SLSC
Reserve Women
Wollongong City SLSC
Whale Beach SLSC
North Cronulla SLSC
U23 Men
Bulli SLSC
Avalon Beach SLSC
Collaroy SLSC
U23 Women
North Cronulla SLSC
Collaroy SLSC
Manly LSC
U19 Mixed
North Cronulla SLSC
North Cronulla SLSC
Wanda SLSC
Friday 10 February 2017