I'm over the moon right now. I don't think I would have competed in a State Title in over five years. It was nice to surf my way through a few heats and build my confidence for some upcoming QS events in 2020.
- Eliza Greene
Yallingup sisters Mikaela and Eliza Greene made a successful return to the Surfing State Titles last weekend in Gracetown where they both ripped into the final of the Open Women's division.
The sisters were greeted with excellent two to four foot waves throughout the event which was relocated to Bigrock for the two-day event. Their local experience and wave knowledge in the punchy right and left handers lead them to a memorable dual in the final, going wave for wave and leaving everything out in the water. It was Eliza that took the honours over older sister Mikaela on this occasion with some powerful rail work and exciting turns to take home the winning trophy and bragging rights until the next competition.
Fellow local surfer Emma Cattlin was hot on their heels and made it a top three finish for the Yallingup surfers.
"I'm over the moon right now," Greene said.
"I don't think I would have competed in a State Title in over five years. It was nice to surf my way through a few heats and build my confidence for some upcoming QS events in 2020."
Big wave legend Paul Paterson got his groove on in the Over 45 division, using his years of competition involvement to accumulate an commanding combined total of 16.66 from a possible 20 which included an epic 8.73 and very solid 7.93. Paterson left Ian Macpherson in second place with Paul Dupuy in third and Russ Bird rounding out the top four who were all left chasing high scores for a win.
"It's been great to catch up with some old mate and surf some really fun waves," Paterson said.
"Big Rock is a great competition location and it was a great call coming here."
Belinda Adams from Busselton was another returning to competitive surfing at the event and ended up victorious in the Over-35 Women's ahead of Lancelins Samantha Vanderford.
The Over 50 Men's was most potentially the most fiercely contested division of the whole event, with Paul Dupuy from Albany proving he's a force to be reckoned. Throwing huge chunks of water with ease on his forehand and backhand, Dupuy posted the highest heat total of any final with a combination of 17.27. Dupuy was too strong for Broadwater's Peter Cannon in second and Dunsborough's Todd Taylor in third ahead of Murray Jacob from Swanbourne.
Forecast: Thursday and Friday look fun with light SE winds and a 1.6m swell on both days. Saturday rises to 1.9m and will have S winds early before an onshore change. Sunday drops to 1.3m with similar S to SSW winds.