The 39th Neil Luke Kneeboard Classic went down in Classic Woolamai conditions, with young gun Owen Fairweather taking the win in 2024.
The Fairweather dynasty was the highlight of the competition, with father and son ripping the lefts and rights on offer to pieces.
Mick Devall
Photographer
A mostly Victorian event in 2024, the surfing was exceptional throughout, with 14 point + heat scores in every round, Dean Bould setting the highest heat total of the event with an 8.17 and 8.33 for a total heat score of 14.50 in the Quarterfinals
The final was an all Victorian affair (and nearly all Rye!), with Owen taking on Dean, Tim Kadwell and Stan Koefed. Sets were slow to roll through, but when they did, there were four waves in them, allowing each competitor an opportunity and making great viewing for the spectators.
Huge thank you to everyone who helped run the event, and to ReefRat, Mick Devall and Brewdy for allowing the use of their photography.
A special thank you to all of the sponsors who made this event happen. Bass Coast Shire Council provided a grant for the purchase of technology which saw the scores broadcast Live globally, with the final live-streamed on Instagram. Bendigo Bank, Sombreros Tex Mex Cantina, Kneeon, Phillip Island Nature Parks, Bendigo Bank, Island Surf, Atoll Travel and BarzOptics – we couldn’t run the event without your support. To all the volunteers, thank you.
Looking forward to a big year of waves, mates and competition.
Thank you to our sponsors and partners for the support
2024 is off with a bang, with your committee having been very busy since Presentation day at UrbnSurf in December. A big thank you to Rod, Paul, Jim, Andy, Bruce, Tony, Pete and Dave for all their hard work.
CURRENT AND COMPLETED PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES
Kneeboard Surfing Victoria Website
a source of valuable information for KSV members and other interested people
Kneeboard Surfing Victoria now has a website! Visit kneeboardsurfingvictoria.com for upcoming event dates, links to registrations, details about becoming a member, and more.
Each of the event write-ups (published on our socials) are linked and/or copied to the website to keep a record. It’s also slowly being updated with past results too – if anyone has any other content they’d like added to the site, please send it to contact@kneeboardsurfingvictoria.com
Online scoring coming to competitions
allowing competitors and fans to follow along and improve their performance
Thanks to a Quick Response Grant provided by Bass Coast Shire Council, Kneeboard Surfing Victoria has been able to purchase equipment to enable judging at our events via the LiveHeats platform.
A laptop for the head judge will also allow for more efficient management of our memberships, event registrations, and allow for live scores to be available to competitors and spectators.
We also have 3 tablets for judges to use, which have also been set up with the EmergencyPlus App, in case of emergencies. A 4G/LTE Cat6 Wi-Fi HotSpot was also covered by the grant, and a Telstra sim card will give us connectivity at all the surf breaks we hold competitions.
A huge thank you to Gene Parini and Emma Foley at Gippsport and Shirley Egan at Bass Coast Shire Council for the help and guidance applying for the grant.
For those of you who have registered for the Neil Luke Kneeboard Classic, you will have already experienced the sign-up/payment process – that same landing page is where you will be able to see the scores from each of the heats as the days progress.
We kick off this year’s State Titles with Round 1 on the Mornington Peninsula on April 14. Should the weather and swell not cooperate, we have been given back-up dates with our permit.
Round 2 and Round 3 will be held on Millowl (Phillip Island) on October 6 and November 17 respectively.
An athlete’s best 2 results count toward the points accrued toward the title.
We currently have about 17 paid-up members ready to compete for the title. If you haven’t already, please return your membership form and proof of payment to contact@kneeboardsurfingvictoria.com
Points Awarded in each division per event.
Club Trailer Maintenance and Improvements
extending the life and utility of our club’s important asset
Another grant thank you to Bass Coast Shire Council provided the club with the funds to bring our club trailer back to life. This important piece of infrastructure ensures our club is able to run events, so it’s very important that it is safe and usable for years to come.
Before the work, the steel in the trailer was rusting out and the springs had lost their spring.
Now, thanks to Troy at Yarram Engineering, our trailer is solid, rust free and ready to carry our competition equipment for years to come.
Another huge thank you to Gene Parini and Emma Foley at Gippsport for support with the grant submission.
Welcome kneelos to the 2024 KSV State Titles season!
The Neil Luke Classic is just around the corner, and your KSV Committee has been hard at work planning for the Victorian Kneeboard Surfing State Titles, with 2 events locked in on the island, and a third on the peninsula being finalised. We’re also planning a couple of social events, and, of course, preparing for the upcoming Neil Luke Kneeboard Classic in March.
This year, and based on member feedback, the KSV Committee have decided to extend a couple of options for renewing/becoming a member of our club. Financial membership runs from January 1, to December 31 each year, and Victorian members who plan to surf in the Neil Luke Classic should also be a paid up club Surfing Member by the running of the comp.
Surfing Member: $60
Includes entry to all 3 state round events
Option to participate in social events (additional cost per event)
Social Member: $30
Includes entry to 1 state round event
$30 balance to be paid if wishing to enter a second or third state round event
Option to participate in social events (additional cost per event)
Yesterday we held our state titles at Flynn’s reef rounds 2 and 3. The weather was not kind and very trying at times but I think we had the best for what was on offer on the island. I would like to thank Rosie Jim Pal Jason Bruce and Simon for doing an awesome job sitting in the judging tent most of the day I very much appreciate your time to help us in the trying weather. All the boys that competed with great stamina to do two rounds in one day were awesome and we saw some great surfing by all out there and thank you. Thank you to Kev Ross for bringing his amazing hooter and for sitting in the weather taking videos and pics also to Andy Whitehead for doing the live rounds and keeping the website in tune.
On behalf of myself and our committee a big thank you to all of you we wouldn’t be able to run our comps without these lads giving their valuable time to us. And amendment big thank you to Jock for manning the flag duties awesome mate.
We will put out the scores for the winners at our prezzo at urbnsurf so please get your name in as limited spots are available. Plus crown the title holders for this year.
So see you at urbnsurf.
Cheers Rod KSV president.
The below was updated Live during the day:
The 2023 Kneeboard Surfing Victoria State Titles rounds 2 & 3. Back-to-back rounds on one day – Sunday November 29, 2023. It’s a test of skill, power, flow and stamina to crown a champion.
Live event results will be uploaded on this page – results of each final to be kept secret until KSV Season 2023 Presentation Day at UrbnSurf on December 4.
Conditions not great, but we’ll give it a crack!
ROUND 1 Results: Highlight was Pete F hitting the shorey and ending up on the sand
ROUND 2 RESULTS:
ROUND 3 RESULTS:
B SEMI 1
An injury sees B SEMI 2 a walk through
OPEN SEMI 1
OPEN SEMI 2 in the water now, with B FINAL paddling out now under the yellow flag.
OPEN SEMI 2:
B Grade Final: Dave, Rod, Pete G, Mitch
A Grade Final: Owen, Stan, Pete F, Paul O’Neill
The results of the FINALS will not be published here – will be announced at our presentations on December 9.
ROUND 3: if anyone is following along, sorry, I’ll sort the order later
Heat 1:
Heat 2 a walkthrough after withdrawals from Simon Chipper and Paul O’Neill
Heat 3:
Heat 4:
Semi 1:
Semi 2
Sorry, I didn’t get a photo of Semi 2 results, but it was Stan and Owen progressing into the final.
Final was Stan, Owen, Pete and Andy
B Final was a 3 man heat – Pete, Paul Mannix, Gary Smithett
Hope you all ripped into some nice waves like we had for the 2nd comp on the KSV state title.
Started the day prior when we had a look at possible event sites in the arvo. With swell in the moderate + range and Flynns pushing solid 5-6ft with side/offshore on it. The contest day showed a promising day ahead with light winds.
We arrived at 6.30am the next mornin at Flynns and we were greeted with glassy 3-4ft pumping waves with the high tide around 7.30. As the morning wore on, We were ON.
Due to quite a few of the crew being unavailable, we had to run a 12 man format. In saying that, this did not stop some absolute cracking kneeboarding going down.
First round heats we saw Pete and Bruce, Owen and Andy, Tim and Travis progress thru to the A grade semis.
Rod, Dave sexty, Alistair, and new KSV member Mitch Mennie progressed straight int B final.
The A semis saw some great surfing by Pete with a choob and a barrel roll attempt that he nearly pulled of.. He and Andy Whitehead progressed thru to the final over Trav Sutton who was surfing great. The second semi we saw Owen and Bruce getting the nod over Timbo. Some awesome waves surfed.
The B grade final was battled out and great surfing being done.
Results 1. Mitch Mennie. (He drove 5 hrs to be here) well done mate
2. The Prez Rod Paarlberg.
3. Alistair Ryan.
4. Dave Sexton.
The A grade final was a battle between the 2 Fairweathers lads and two blokes who had just made their first A grade final. Wazza tight final between 3 outta the 4 finalist as Pete was on fire.
1. Pete Fairweather
2. Owen Fairweather
3. Bruce sherlock
4. Andy Whitehead.
Well done to all competitors as it was a pumping day.
A big thank to John (Jock) Chilvio for taking most of the photos. Well done mate.
The 3rd and final kneemeet for the state title will be held on the island on the 26th of November. Put that in ya diary, hopefully we score some epic waves again.
Also pencil in the arvo of the 9th of December for our urban surf gathering and presentations.
South African Kneelo Takes Out the 36th Annual Title
Lester Sweetman took out the 36th annual PHILLIP ISLAND Kneeboard Pro in “classic” island conditions, beating a top field of competitors including a number of former World Champions. Lester joins an elite field of 11 previous winners, and is the first overseas competitor to do so. This years contest had a great field, including former World Champions, Baden Smith, Kyle Bryant, and Albert Munoz, along with competitors from Portugal, and a very good team of 6 from South Africa. Saturdays heats were clled for Flynns, with a solid swell and cross shore wind. Most first round heats went as expected, except for Heat 7 which saw Dean Bould pushed back into 4th place , and into B Grade for the first time. 15 year old Owen Fairweather , fresh from taking out the “World Junior Title” was in red hot form and continued a long way into the comp. The top Australians , along with the top South Africans were all still in form after the recent World Titles held at Dunedin, New Zealand. South Africans, Lester, Jedd McNeillage, and Steve Vanderwatt were all surfing brilliantly, along with Australians, Baden, Kyle, Albert, Paul O’Neill, Pete Fairweather, and Justin Stevens, who were also comfortably taking out there heats. With the surf pumping, it was decided to continue with the Open through to the Semi Final stage.
In a strange quirk of fate we were left with 2 semi finals. 3 south Africans in one, and 3 australians in the other. Sunday morning and the call was made to head to Woolamai. The open semi’s would be in early, and we ended up with a cracker of a final set up. Two Australians with four world titles, against two South Africans who showed their talent in New Zealand. In a very close, split decision we had a new champion. LESTER SWEETMAN. Lester joins an elite list of previous winners, and is the first overseas champion. Our Portugese and South African visitors had a wonderful time and have already promised to return to “the island” for its fantastic beaches, and friendly atmosphere.
A Grade was taken out by longtime competitor Pete Simmons form Newcastle. He finally has a “Dave Fincher” trophy. 2nd was Paul “turtle” Mannix, 3rd was Kev Ross, and 4th Mark Abel.
B Grade was won by Dean Bould, from Terry Day. 3rd was Rod Paarlberg and 4th John Meyer.
Conditions not great, but we’ll give it a crack!
. Brewdy
