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Coff's Harbor surfer Harley Ingelby wins Hot Tuna Summer Classic,
Chelsea William's takes Women's final.
Harley Ingelby positions himself perfectly to win today’s Hot Tuna Summer Classic at Flinders in Victoria.
Northern NSW surfers Harley Ingelby (Coff’s Harbor) 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 (Coff’s Harbor) 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.
The Hot Tuna Summer Classic is Australia’s first ASP World Longboard Tour event and the biggest event of the 2007 season.
