Weather Spoilt Surfing

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28524, 1 March 1958, Page 5

Weather Spoilt Surfing

BUT ’or the high winds, rough surf and rain which caused the abandonment of some of the events at the national surf lifesaving championships at South Brighton last week-end, the meeting would have been an unqualified success. For many months Canterbury officials had laboured to make the meeting a complete success and the extent to which they succeeded can best be judged by the lavish praise and thanks extended to them by visiting surfers. Their efforts were spoilt only by the weather. The championships, Jike most sports tournaments, produced

i their surprises. The greatest upset I was the defeat of R. Harker (Red 5 Beach) by G. Pratley (Taylor’s Mistake) in the final of the senior ’ beltman’s event. Pratley, with i his orthodox breaststroke action » and excellent judgment of the difficult. conditions, was superior on the day. For some time he has come close to winning the f title and his win was a most* s popular one. s Another surprise was the com--7 fortable win of the Sumner junior 7 canoe crew in its fibre-glass craft. - This type 7 of canoe was closely i. inspected at the conclusion of f the event and it would not be particularly surprising to Und that t North Island clubs also obtain 1 similar craft. UU nil I-M- ' .1.1. !..u.u. LU ■> 1 -.JU

t For a young club, Red Beach (Auckland) did remarkably well to win the Nelson Shield for the senior six-man rescue and resuscitation event. Harker played a major role in the team’s victory, giving it an unassailable lead through an outstanding swim. iln this event, Waikanae also i showed up strongly. For several * years the club has done well in teams* racing and to have two teams in the final of this event ' was an outstanding. performance. Lack of judgment in assessing the strength of the bad rip was ' the most noticeable failing of ; many, and some excellent surfers t lost valuable time in trying to i beat their way back up to the buoys.