The who’s who of Australian surfing will converge on Sydney this weekend for the Jim Beam Surftag Australian Championship at North Narrabeen beach.

The country’s best 24 Surftag teams including powerhouses Kirra, Snapper Rocks, Margaret River, Merewether, North Narrabeen and North Steyne will battle it out for the more than $40,000 on offer.

There are several mouth watering clashes right from the first round, highlighted by heat six between Kirra, North Narrabeen A, Margaret River B and Cabarita that has been dubbed the ‘group of death’

Check out the MRBC crew live on www.globalsurftag.com…

Pumping three to four foot left and righthanders with the odd bigger set greeted the contestants at Noisys and Karates for Round 4 of the Margaret River Boardriders summer series. With the offshore still howling the Opens hit the briney first, taking advantage of the premium conditions. Jethro Hedstrom hammered the right handers, racking up plenty of great turns and finishing his waves stylishly with some nice tail slide floaters on the closeouts. With the boys heading to Sydney after winning the Jim Beam surftag against Yallingup it looks like Jethro’s great form is right on time. You can’t mention great form without Dave McCaulays name popping up and he absolutely ripped it up on the Noiseys lefts. His high speed turns and long rides had all eyes on the beach glued to him. Jamie Lumsden revelled in the great conditions and was a highlight in the freesurfing session later on. Final placings, Dave McCaulay, Jethro Hedstrom, Jamie Lumsden. Jarrad Davies.The Junior final saw Bronte McCauley tearing it up on her backyard break and leading for most of the final until Shaun Green pulled off a couple of nice reverses to post another win and extend his lead in the ratings. Laura McCaulay, Jayden O’ Neil and Riley Holley filled out the minor placings respectively, surfing well in the larger conditions . The Cadets made the waves look bigger by throwing their small frames and big hearts into the strong swell. Jacob Willcox impressed all with his no nonsense approach to the long lefts, surfing beyond his years with this being reflected in his wave scores that were as good as any of the other divisions on the day. Jed Mattinson was a bit shy at first but found confidence after his first wave and never looked back. Well done mate. Placings, Jacob Willcox first, Jed Mattinson second, The senior men were all stoked to get into some real waves this round with Neil Mattinson unstoppable on the peeling lefts. One wave he surfed through to the keyhole was an absolute beauty, racking up three great re-entrys and finishing with a nice snap in the shorey. Old stagers Tony Thomas and Doug Skullery carved it up with old Dougy pulling off the longest “Peter Garret” in history. Their dog eat dog approach was too much for newcomer Clint McWhirter who found out that the old boys camaraderie on the beach disappeared as soon they hit the water. Final placings, !st Neil Mattinson, 2nd Tony Thomas, 3rd Doug Skullery, 4th Clint McWhirter.

Margaret River has upstaged a Taj Burrow led Yallingup team to take out the Western Australian round of the Jim Beam Surftag at Yallingup beach on Saturday.

On the back of some brilliant surfing by Dave Delroy-Carr, Jerome Forrest, Jethro Hedstrom, Matt Baldock, and Dave Macaulay, Margaret River ‘A’ came from behind in the final, amassing 90.8 points to Yallingup’s 87.8 to win back the title they last won four years ago.

Margaret River ‘B’ was third with 84.3, while Geraldton finished fourth on 55.1

Another part of the day’s action was the FCS Manufacturers Cup which was taken out by the defending Western Australian and national champions from Murriginals.

Jim Beam Promo Girl Interview
Shaun Manners interview with the jim beam promo girl. And Jethro Hedstrom skulling down. Does he do twice?

THE swell turned on for the final day of the 30th Margaret River Classic weekend, and the large number of spectators who turned out to watch the event at Surfers Point witnessed some fantastic surfing.

The 30th Annual Margaret River Classic kicked off in clean 3-4ft glassy conditions.