Seddon Shield Wrap Up

Another year of great surf down at the Royal National Park, special thanks to Burning Palms Surf Club for hosting the annual event!! Thanks to Head Judge ‘Humphrey’ and his minions for meticulously gauging the top-notch surfing that occurred throughout the day!

The quantitative scoring wouldn’t have been fulfilling however without our quality commentator Benjamin “Macca” McDonald. His new found talent has set him on a new career path and rumour has it he’s even bought a megaphone to practice from the Frat Front Lawn (drive past on Friday nights for the show!). Last but not least an extra special thanks to Greg “Smegzy” Smart for being the Seddon Shield’s photographer over the past years. It’s awesome to have professional level pics to look back on and give the crew back home a snapshot into the event, Thanks Smegz!!

Junior and Open Male Heats kicked off the day with top surfers of each heat getting catapulted to the finals, while remaining surfers having another crack to get through in the deadly repechage round. Wild Card surfer Will “Tah Man” Harrison was seen shredding outside his usual arena proving his prowess as an all-round athlete in front of the crowd. What can’t this man do!!

Women’s straight out Finals followed with four of Coogee’s best surfers Macy Smith, Mila Folsom, Alice Norbury and Samara Lichaa. Last year's title winner Georgia Beale nowhere in sight, last seen on a flight to WA with a 10 ft board bag following a big low pressure system brewing in the Indian Ocean. Check Ross Clarke-Jones Instagram and you might catch a familiar face on the back of the ski. With the 2023 Title holder out of the count, the three Havachats plus one Nutcrabber had full reign to show off their surfing abilities. Innovation and style was the name of the game for the Women's Final with moves such as head stands, cross stepping and hang-tens all on show not seen at all by their male counter-parts (boys take notes).
The cross stepping queen Mila Folsom took the Title with Macy Smith following a close second with deducted points due to an interference. Alice and Samara shared third place with equal points with Samara’s protest for a higher score unsuccessful as the head judge was already over the hill at Era when the protest was put forth. A reminder to all competitors that all protesters at the Seddon Shield must also provide a 6 pack for any appeal to be processed, sorry Samara :(

Masters continued the day also with a straight final (usually opted by the Masters themselves) in a spectacular seven person final consisting of David “Smithy” Smith, Paul “Macro” Beale, Bruce Julian, Todd Mison, Ross Messiter, Brian Wilkie and Mark “Starkzy” Hutchinson! Large swells rolled in permitting the golden oldies an extravagant stage to show off their skills. Their powerful performances ranged from late take offs into tight bottom turns and beautiful arcing cut backs from the shoulder all the way back to the pocket. Wave selection was key as found out the hard way in the early minutes, ‘Smithy’ getting caught on the inside and subjected to the Burning Palms spin cycle. Fortunately the wise decision of the run around to the rip was in the back pocket also used early on by fellow mate ‘Macro’. Macro and Toddy both took two of the biggest bombs of the day despite this their overall score count tied them at 3rd place while Ross Messiter surfing with the same flexibility as his son got the silver medal. Bruce Julian took out the win with clever wave selection and critical in the manoeuvres in the pocket which I believe might be the fourth time in a row he’s taken out the Masters title!!! Outstanding Bruce!!

The Opens final kicked off right of the back of the Masters with probably one of the hottest Open’s competition both in looks and in surfing ability with Joey Mison, Kel Gollan and Joe Beale stealing the show. Jack Beale and Clay Cantarella trying their best to look as good as the others it even looked like Clay would of won the comp for the second year in a row if his fish didn’t snap in the early minutes of the final comp. Professional board caddy Harrison “H” Smith swapped out Clay’s broken quiver with a 6’6 softlite but still wasn’t enough to get him the trophy. Head to head majority of the comp Kel “Kelloggs” Gollan and Joey “Shampoo” Mison went at it but Shampoo scrapped through using his home ground advantage to take the win off Kelloggs and Joey Beale taking the bronze medal to round out the podium. Shout out to good friend Johnny Walsh for his late Wild Card entry into the Open’s just minutes before the buzzer. Unfortunately, Johnny might of even placed if he hadn’t forgotten to see the marshalling tent for registration before he paddled out.

Last but not least the Junior Men's final finished the day for Male Seddon Shield Title. Probably the most breathtaking display of surfing. These World Class surfers were out to dominate and dominate they did. With multiple Aussie medallists in the water at once all other divisions (especially the Open Mens) were happy to keep the young groms in the Juniors until the end of time. Finn Wilkie and Georgie Messiter were the two stay out surfers almost mirroring each other wave for wave. Judges painstakingly scrutinized every wave right down to the wire but Georges magical re-entry on a close out coming from under the lip let him hold the title for another year beating Finn by half a point. Jimmy Azar and Lachie Hume followed for 3rd and 4th place, respectively, both with unreal waves of their own. Hats off to the junior boaties ‘The Filthy Oars’ sacrificing their chance at the title and hiking back out of the park and returning to get the food and drink that they forgot for the day. Great effort!

After a great day of surfing, BBQ and preso ensued with all the medal winners collecting their trophies, supporters and fellow surfers present and of course Mila Folsom and George Messiter claiming the Seddon Shield for the year! Thanks to Lachie Hume for presenting the awards as well as the two Wild Cards for helping out. Special mention to Bruce Julian who recently celebrated his wedding anniversary to which a bottle of O'Donnell's Irish Cream was shared amongst everyone to celebrate further.
Thanks to all those that made the day great and those that stayed the night and cleaned up the next morning much appreciated! See you next year. Yewwww.

Surfing Captain