Hunt wins another Wavefest title

A small but quality field of surfers contested the 20th edition of the local Wavefest competition, held in ideal conditions at Parry Beach — west of Denmark — on Sunday, with 2003 champion Reiss Hunt again proving too strong in the open men’s division.

Hunt made the long trip back to the Great Southern from Sydney to contest the premier Albany Boardriders event and he had to prevail against a strong open men’s field containing a number of former winners.

In the four-man final, Hunt revelled in the conditions to score highly from the judges and secure another Wavefest crown, beating Matt Stadler (second place), Paul Tarbotton (third) and Robbie Mabbs (fourth).

Mabbs was successful at the event, however, winning the 35-and-over men’s category, with his trademark style getting the better of Dave Beeck, Darryn Oostdam and Stadler in the final.

Star Denmark surfer Emi Campbell proved too strong for the talented young brigade of Albany competitors in the open women’s division, claiming her sixth successive victory in the event.

Despite only two competitors tackling the 30-and-over women’s division, Karina Mitchell and Davynka Moss had a terrific tussle across two finals but Mitchell prevailed in the overall scoring to take the victory. The popular 45-and-over division was again a close contest, but former men’s open champion Paul Dupuy came out on top, winning the four-man final from Adrian Shepherd, Tarbotton and Gary Connell.

Albany Boardriders president Ian Minter said it was a wonderful day of competition, which attracted 26 surfers in total.

“It was a wicked day — the competition was really good,” he said.

“We had great waves all day; they held up, even for the final.

“It was closely contested and there was lots of high-quality surfing going on.”

The winners of the open men’s and open women’s divisions received $1000 in prize money for their efforts.