Palm Beach Currumbin State High School has been crowned as Australia’s best surfing school, taking home the overall School Winners trophy at the first Australian Interschools Surfing Championships. The prestigious event was proudly sponsored by Ghanda and held at Miami on the Gold Coast.
The day saw an exciting increase in east swell which provided great conditions for the championships to get underway. The Year 7,8,9 Girls and Year 10,11,12 Girls Tag Team divisions demonstrated their skills on the main bank – battling it out to make the best of the waves.
Sunshine Beach State High School showed a remarkable understanding of the conditions and made the best wave choices to secure a significant win over local favourites Palm Beach Currumbin Dolphins (PBC). Their performance was lauded, particularly in the senior girls heats where they took the aggregate win over the three heats, ahead of Lindisfarne and Bulli State High.
As the morning wore on, both Senior and Junior Boys divisions had to contend with a fresh southerly wind, but the long period swell still held plenty of scoring opportunities. The highlight of the day came when Henry Dowling swooped in to claim victory in the last seconds of the Year 7,8,9 Boys Individual Final. Dowling posted an impressive 8.35 point ride with just thirty seconds left on the clock, edging ahead of Jai Nield and Lachland Arghyros in a thrilling finish.
In the final heat of the day, the Year 10,11,12 Boys gave a demonstration of their skills, with Samuel Lowe stepping up in a big way. He narrowly beat Riley Munro by a tiny margin, scoring 8.05 points to Munro’s 8.00 points as the surf pulsed in the last 30 minutes.
Congratulations to Palm Beach Currumbin State High School on their well-deserved victory at the first Australian Interschools Surfing Championships.
