Peninsula Surfriders Club

Welcome to the Peninsula Boardriders 2025 ABB Squad

Fresh off our first ABB State Title win in over a decade, the team has been training hard and is ready to take on the country’s best boardrider clubs this weekend at Burleigh Heads.

With 42 teams all chasing the $25,000 prize purse, we’ll see Australia’s top grassroots talent, former champions, and rising pros going head-to-head in what's set to be an unforgettable showdown.

Introducing the Peninsula Surfriders Club Team:

Open Men
• Lucas Hickson – Current Victorian Open Champion & Club Champion
• Jett Dickson – Former Club Open Champion and last year's runner-up
• Will Watson – Current QLD State Schools Boys Champion & WQS competitor
• Caiden Fowler – Multiple Open Club Champion & former WQS warrior
• Joel Wookey – Heart and soul of the club, top 3 Open Aggregate past 4 years

Open Women
• Sara Hickson – Current Women’s Club & State Champion – Team Captain
• Sophie Wilkinson – Top 3 PSC Women’s Aggregate & 2025 Tasmanian Open Champ

Juniors
• Tarvi Woods – Fresh off his inaugural Australian Title campaign – Tarvi’s on fire!
• George Everist – Nephew of a club legend & current Under 16 VIC State Champ

Over 35s
• Lachy McDonald – Multiple Open Club Champion
• Joel Reid – Team Coach & reigning Over 35s Australian Champion.

The Australian Boardriders Battle National Titles is this April 12th & 13th at Burleigh Heads.

Follow the team live on Instagram @peninsulasc and watch LIVE on MySurf (YouTube), Kayo & Foxtel.

And the 2025 Aggregate Season of Good Times Rolls On!

Once again, we scored—perfect 3–5 foot offshore waves all day! A massive thank you to our committee and members for pulling together such a seamless event on short notice. It was epic to see everyone, from cadets to the over-55 division, ripping and enjoying themselves throughout the day.

A huge congrats to all the competitors including Open winners Lucas Hickson and Sophie Wilkonson. The level just keeps rising, and it's unreal to witness. Special shoutout to new members Steve, Mick, and Kim for diving into the 2025 season, stoked to have you all on board!

Looking ahead, our next aggregate event is tentatively set for April 5–6, we’ll keep an eye on conditions and only run if it’s looking prime.

In the meantime, let’s throw our full support behind the club as Peninsula Boardriders head to the ABB National Finals as the reigning state champions! With the new dates set for April 12–13, the team is back in training and fired up to represent. See you in the lineup!

Thank you to our sponsors and supporters for 2025 including St Andrews Beach Brewery, Hawkes Farm, Welcome Boardstore, Shed Nine, Everist Timber, Yawa Swim Centre, Dunes Golf Course, Oke Surfboards, Dundas Street Milk Bar and Peninsula Sports Photography.

Check out the photos of the day by Peninsula Sports Photography | Full results online at liveheats.com/psc

See you in the lineup! Pres.

What an incredible way to kick off the 2025 aggregate season, 3–5 foot, perfectly offshore waves all day at Gunnamatta 1st car park! I’d like to extend a warm welcome to all our new members who joined us for the event and the season ahead. It was also fantastic to see some of our life members and old friends return. It’s always a pleasure when the Antonies are back in the lineup!

A huge congratulations to all the contestants. Special shout-out to the Open Women’s and Men’s finals, where we witnessed some of the highest-caliber surfing seen in these divisions in a long time. I’m already looking forward to our next event on April 5–6.

In the meantime, let’s all get behind the club at the upcoming ABB National Finals, where we will compete as the current State Champions. The team has been training tirelessly and is ready to make a statement on the main stage, let’s go! Dates: March 8–9 | How to Watch: Kayo, Foxtel, or Surfing Australia

A big thank you to our sponsors that’ll be joining us for the 2025 Season:
• St Andrews Beach Brewery • Hawkes Farm • Welcome Boardstore • Shed Nine • Everist Timber • Oke Surfboards • Yawa Swim Centre • Dunes Golf Course.

And thank you to our ongoing supporters Dundas Street Milk Bar and Peninsula Sports Photography. Check out the absolutely cracking photos of the day by Paul and Al from PSP on their facebook page | Full results online at liveheats.com/psc

See you in the lineup! Pres.

First off, a huge welcome to all our new and returning members! With a condensed 2025 aggregate season ahead, I have no doubt we’re in for some fireworks right from the first event. I’m looking forward to building on the incredible club culture we’ve created, and with a tighter comp schedule, we’ll need to be ready to go when conditions align. Don’t worry, I’ve sent HUEY a personal message, and he’s promised to deliver the goods to keep things fun!

We've sheduled in our 2025 Aggregate Contest dates including – 
Comp 1: Feb 22/23, Comp 2: April 5/6, Comp 3: May 3/4, and Comp 4: May 31/June 1.

This condensed Aggregate Season will run in the first half of 2025 and consists of 4 events, with your top 4 results determining your final score. In the event of a tie, we’ll use the fourth event as the tiebreaker, with the highest result taking the win. We will then run our Seasons in line with the financial year, as voted in at the 2024 AGM.

Presentation Night (Date TBA) we’re throwing around a possible ball theme, so start thinking about winding back the clock, locking in a date, and getting ready for a night to remember!

A big shoutout to the 2025 committee for the incredible work already done. The East Coast Cash Comp was an absolute cracker [full report below] and that’s thanks to the effort of so many people. A special thanks to our major sponsorsfor the event – Yeti, St Andrews Beach Brewery, Mornington Peninsula Shire, and supporters – Carve Media, Dundas Street Milk Bar, and Peninsula Sports Photography – You were instrumental in making the event a success, and we’re looking forward to working with you again in the future. We also have potential new sponsors lined up for the 2025/2026 seasons, so if you or anyone you know is keen to get involved, feel free to reach out!

Congratulations to our 2025 Open division qualifiers– Lucas Hickson, Jett Dicko, Pedro Lani, Joel Wookey, Mitch Hayes, Joel Reid, Arieh Paterson, Tarvi Woods, Mikey Barber, Sean Mcdevitt, Lachy Mcdonald, Adam Morris, Jake Panic, Mike Antonie, Jett Harrison, and Rip Everett. (Reserves: Wade Cochran, Justin Grey, Charlie Lucas) ... Good luck to all our Open surfers, juniors, seniors, and supergroms for the season ahead.

I also would like to personally thank the outgoing 2024 committee and president Sean McDevitt, your five year tenure has been nothing short of amazing, and the club is in an epic position because of your leadership. Sean has written a piece on our 2024 season in below posts.

If you have any questions regarding Open Qualifications, Club Standards & Expectations, Judging, ABB, or junior development, check out our new information page, where we’ve set up a dedicated tab for all the info you need. A massive thank you to everyone involved, let’s make 2025 a season to remember!

See you in the lineup, Pres.

The second running of the East Coast Cashie was run and won on Saturday 25 January with Gunna back on the main stage hosting Victoria’s top Men and Woman surfers for a winner take all cash prize of $2,500.

With challenger, QS and multiple Vic and club champion surfers, all talking the water in both divisions the field was stacked. Moderate 3-4ft waves were on offer in the morning, with a building swell and afternoon sea breeze making the finals more challenging. The crowd on the lookout at first car park got to see huge turns in 6ft+ heavy peaks, with the winners finding the open face to lay down big turns as the waves exploded on the outside sand bank.

It was no surprise to see Xavier Huxtable and Ellie Harrison come out victorious, with plenty of support on the beach, including an iconic chair up the gunna stairs. Proving that despite the rivalry between clubs and coasts, the crew at the beach were all about celebrating the best surfing!

The contest run by PSC and Surfing Victoria judges, was live broadcast by Carve Media, so a replay of the entire days surfing is available on YouTube. [ Watch Replay ]

The Cashie has become the premier surfing contest on the Mornington Peninsula and will be back bigger and better next year!

Special thanks to Yeti, St Andrews Beach Brewery, Mornington Peninsula Shire, Carve Media, Dundas Street Milk Bar and Surfing Vic for their amazing support of the event.

The 2024 season was a hallmark year for the Peninsula Boardriders Club, celebrating our 50th Anniversary in style at our beautiful clubhouse. It was an amazing day celebrating the past, present and future together as one big community.

On the surfing side of thing’s, the performance level of our club rose exponentially again in 2024. Our Amazing performances at the ABB state qualification round. Women’s and junior success twice in a calendar year at the Vic state teams titles. Our first trip to Burleigh for the ABB finals and incredible individual performances from all of our members during the 2024 season.

Another special highlight was the epic surf conditions for contest 4. After huge swells pummelled the beach during September we lost a staircase but gained some of the best sand we have seen at First Carpark in recent memory. From dawn till dusk the waves were pumping and the vibe was electric. Everyone hanging out watching the contest and free surfers getting spat out of 4 to 6 foot tubes up and down the beach is something we will be lucky to see again anytime soon.The performances of everyone that surfed that day was incredible and I hope everyone has great memories of what was a truly epic PSC comp day.

I would like to acknowledge some of the people that made 2024 so successful for our club. Paul Thompson, Ron Gorringe, Joel Reid, Rod Barber, The Easton family, Adam and Jane our club caretakers. The entire PSC committee and to all of the members that make our contest days happen. Finally thank you Team PSC for giving everything for your club every time you are competing for us and making us so proud as a club.

To our sponsors I would like to thank you for everything you do to help this club flourish and for supporting grass roots surfing on the Peninsula.

A special thanks goes to the Purchase family at St Andrews Brewery for the incredible support they show us year in year out. Seven years of major support is an incredible gift to our club and its members.

I would also like to thank Mark and Fiona from the Dundas St Milkbar for the amazing support they give us in supplying our BBQ and YETI coolers with bread and ice at every event and contest.

And finally, to the individuals who help spoil all of our members at the Presentation night. Chris O’Shea, Rory Oke, Cam Stynes, Eddie Wearne, Joel Reid and Angus Forrest. Thank you for bringing so many smiles to our members faces on presso night.

It has been a pleasure serving the club for the last 5 years. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of it.

Sean McDevitt.

The final contest for Season 2025 was greeted with sunshine, offshore winds, 3-4ft swell, and super-fun lefts and rights all day at 1st Car Park Gunnamatta.

Open B again kicked off the event with Tarvi Woods showing early form along with Sean, Macoy, Bennie and Sara surfing well through the rounds. In the final Tarvi again proved his worth beating the older crew with Sara 2nd and Ben in 3rd.

Throughout the day the vibes were amazing and so was the surfing, it was the ultimate way to complete the competion side of our '50th Year' with the last few contests producing the best waves we've seen in a while.

In other finals we saw Sophie Wilkinson taking out the Junior Girls honours in a high scoring affair with Elysha Browne claiming a 10 point ride for a crazy long barrel, with Mia Holland, Luka Woods and Rose Holland all close to the mark.

In the Open Women Sophie backed it up with some massive scores with Sara close behind, along with Ava, Luka, Rose and Mia finishing strong.

George Everist claimed victory in Cadets over Sunny Wouters, Noah Hanson and Jack Goodison.

Arieh contined his form in the Junior boys winning over Tarvi, Mac, Flynn and Matty.

Other finals winners included Jett Dicko O/18, Mikey Barber O/28, Joel Reid O/35, Shan Creasey O/45, and Ronnie O/55

In the Open, the ultimate prize was on the line – the PSC 2024 Open Aggregate – the top two highest ranked surfers, Lucas Hickson and Jett Dicko, pushed their surfing to the limits through the draw and met in the final. In the end Lucas showed us what years of top-tier competitve surfing and training can do by taking out the final heat, with only 1.1 points sperating him and Jett, and ultimately the season championship. Pedro Lani and Joel Wookey who also made the final had ripped through the rounds and completed the season aggregate in the top 5.

We would again like to thank St Andrews Beach Brewery, BFT, Shed Nine, Welcome Boardstore, Mornington Mazda, Everist Timber and Peninsula Sports Photography for their support ... View photos at Facebook.com/media ›

The Final PSC Aggregate Results for Season 2024 are online at Liveheats.com/psc ›

We’re back in action! After a little arm-twisting from President Sean McDevitt, Contest 4 got the green light—and what a call it was! We were treated to clean 4-6ft conditions under sunny skies, perfect for a stacked roster.

The contest kicked off early with the B-Grade in the big left-right rip bowls, with proper 6ft+ sets greeting the opening round competitors. Saul Taylor stole the show, threading tube after tube to claim the win over Mike Antonie.

Open Division was next, featuring a much-anticipated Top 12 lineup with some returning heavy hitters. Mikey Barber, Jett Dickson, Pedro Lani and new member Lucas Hickson tore it up all day, but it was Pedro Lani who dominated the final, securing the victory over Hickson, Joel Reid, and Barber.

Sara Hickson, our other newest member, was on fire, winning the Women’s Division and snagging 6th place in the B-Grade Final.

In the Juniors, Matty Meysta, Mac Acosta, and Zeph Creasey battled it out in stellar conditions, with Matty narrowly edging out Zeph in a nail-biting heat. Over in the Cadets, Noah Hanson took the win over Sunny Wouters, dropping an 8-point bomb to seal the deal.

The 18-28 Division saw some high-caliber surfing, with Joel Wookey putting on a clinic to defeat Max Burton, Jett Dickson, Louie Purchase, Joel Corboy, and Olly Pullar.

Other standout performances included Pedro Lani dominating the Over 28’s, Reidy threading some nice tubes claiming victory in the Over 35’s over Luke Beerling and Prez Craig Browne, who got shacked to win the O/45 over Shan. Finally, Jamie Reichelt took top honours in the O/55.

Stay tuned for some epic photos from the event!

Special thanks to our SPONSORS: St Andrews Beach Brewery, Body Fit Training (BFT Rosebud), Everist Timber, Shed Nine, Welcome Boardstore, Mornington Mazda, Chips N Gravy Rye.

PS: The final aggregate contest will be November 16th, stand by for updates closer to the dates.

View photos by @PeninsulaSportsPhotography at Facebook.com/media ›

We completed our 3rd event for the season at Gunna 2nd car park, east winds and contestable 3ft rights and lefts.

Pedro Lani, who just returned to the water after a nasty neck injury in Hawaii, took out the OPEN division over Jet Dicko, Mitch Hayes and Arieh Paterson.

Sara Hickson (State U/18 Champion) continued her blazing form winning both Womens and Junior Girls.

Tarvi Woods also followed up his great results this year by taking out the Junior Boys and the Open B (against 40 entrants).

Hot of the plane from Japan and rejoining the club was George Everist taking out the Cadets. Other winnerson the day included Lucas Hickson in O/18, Mikey Barber O/28, Sean McDevitt O/35, Shan Creasey and Cam Newman tie O/45, and Jamie Reichelt O/55.

The club will take a few months off over Winter and looking to resume October 12/13 with 19/20 as back up.

Check the full results online at liveheats.com/psc

View photos by @yourgrace51 on our Facebook page ›

What a weekend for our Peninsula team at the Surfing Victoria Phillip Island Junior Titles, third and final state round. So many breakthrough performances and personal best results.

Congratulations to Rose Holland U14s and Sara Hickson U18s who were crowned State Champions today. Tarvi Woods U16s also won his first state round putting in a blistering performance after a nasty injury that he missed the Gunnamatta event. And Arieh Paterson after a massive 10 point ride yesterday kept up his great performance to win his final state event as an U18s surfer. Both Arieh and Tarvi have put themselves in good contention to make the state team.

On the girls side Ava Holland won the U18s event with Sara Hickson in 2nd and Sophie Wilkinson 4th. In the U14s Rose Holland was again victorious with Lily White finishing a credible 4th. Our U14s boys again had a fantastic event with Harry Cleary finishing in 4th in the final but dropping a massive 9.17 as a buzzer beater in his heat yesterday. And the youngest of them all, Raff Morris scored his first 10 point ride but unfortunately missed finals today.

Was a great vibe on the weekend with so many Peninsula kids on the beach and supporting each other. We eagerly await the state team announcement with our biggest PSC team yet to be announced.

Congratulations to our whole team who competed over the weekend. U14 Girls Rose Holland, Harper Browne, Lily White, Sophie Day, Edie Wouters. U14 Boys Finn Charpentier, Harry Cleary, Raff Morris. U16 Girls Tahli Browne. U16 Boys Noah Hanson, Jack Goodison, Raph Jones, Jack Willis, Sunny Wouters, Cooper Browne, Mac Agosta, Tarvi Woods. U18 Girls Mia Holland, Sophie Wilkinson, Ava Holland, Sara Hickson. U18 Boys Arieh Paterson.

The future looks bright!

With limited weekends due to state and national events early this year, we made the most of the conditions on offer. The surf improved throughout the day with the tide where we saw some big surfing out the back early, then turning onto the inside double up for some very contestable rip bowls.

In the Open (Top 16) four names stood out thoughout the day with Jett Dicko taking the event over Lucas Hickson, Justin Grey and Joel Wookey.

In the Womens/Girls, Sara Hickson continued her winning form, Sophie Wilko 2nd, Sophie Thommo 3rd.

In B-Grade Wade Cochrane won over Pittsy and Beerzla.

In Junior Boys Arieh Patterson won over Tarvi Woods and Matty Meysta.

In Cadets Sunny Wouters just pipped out Noah Hanson.

In the 18-27 divsion Lucas Hickson took the win over Jett Dicko, Wookey and Jake P.

Other divison winners included Hayden Forrest O/28, Luke Beerling O/35, Shan Creasey O/45, and Jason Agosta O/55.

We'll be looking at May 11/12 for Comp 3 weather permitting.

Results published at liveheats.com/psc

Saturday 16th March, Clubhouse

Well now. That’s what you call a 50th Year Blowout!

An incredible night with our community. There was a lot of love in the air, laughter, stories and such good vibes. It was clearly evident just how important this club is to so many people. Thank you so much to everyone who helped us celebrate this momentous occasion. It was an enormous effort!

Special thanks to @eventlogisticgroup @pizzaforno_au Geoff Howard Audio, ProSite Fencing @sab.brewery @doubles.entertainment @onguard__ @splitsystem666 @drunkmums @filthyhabitsofficial @philandthetiles and big shout out to Jai @justallimages beautiful images mate!

View photos @ facebook.com/peninsula.surfriders

Sunday 11th February, Gunnamatta VIC

We kicked off our big Season at Gunnamatta 1st car park in clean 3ft condition and sunny skies. With a stacked roster of B grade to get though the contest started early in the fun right rip bowls.

After six full heats of Open B, Tarvi, Mike A and Daz Watto were showing great form. We jumped straight into the coveted Open (A Grade) division with the highly anticipated Top 16 and the return of some past big names like Mikey Barber, Jett Dicko, Liam Jolly and newest member Lucas Hickson – who was shredding all day and ultimately took out the event over Jett, Justin Grey and Adam Morris.

Lucas' sister, Sara Hickson, was also on the tear and took out both the Womens and Girls divisions, overcoming the Holland's and Luka in both finals.

In the Juniors, Arieh Paterson continued his strong form defeating Tarvi Woods, Matty Meysto and Mac Acosta. Cadets saw Raph Jones win over Jack Looker and Cooper Browne.

The new 18-28 division threw up some all time surfing with Lucas Hickson again showing us his ever-sharp contest attack defeating Jett Dicko, Charlie Lucas, Jarrah Cervi and Joe Walker.

In other divisions Mikey Barber who was shredding again after a hiatus, took out the Over 28’s over Mike A and Ads. Reidy won Over 35 over the Pres and Foxy. Retruning to Peninsula after many years was Daz Watto who won O/45 over LMC and Shan. And ... Ronnie 'the Mad Snake’ took out the O/55 over Joe Bonato and Jason Agosta.

Special thanks to our major sponsors: St Andrews Beach Brewery / Body Fit Training / Everist Timber / Shed Nine / Welcome Board Store, and Paul Stan Churcher from Peninsula Sports Photography.

Check out the photos from PSP  |  Full Results at LiveHeats.

Welcome to Season 2024, one of the biggest in the club's history and we kick it off this Sunday 11th February.

The committee has been working tirelessly over the break organising the Club's 50th as well as some exciting changes to the OPEN division which will now feature the Top 16 surfers in the club fighting it out in 4 person heats. This will include the top 8 from Open 2023, divisional winners and wildcards.

The 2024 Open includes Lachy McDonald, Jake Pancic, Joel Wookey, Pedro Lani, Joel Reid, Angus Forrest, Rip Everett, Adam Morris, Jett Harrison, Tarvi Woods, Sophie Wilkinson, Jett Dicko, Hayden Forrest, Arieh Paterson, Justin Grey, Ava Holland. (Wildcard substitutes include Charlie Lucas, Mitch Hayes, Mikey Barber and two others)

We have also created a new division, 18-28 years, which now gives this age group the opportunity to surf in 2 divisions. *All members may surf in a ‘maximum' of 2 divisions only.

Divisions: OPEN (Top 16), Open B, Over 18 (18-28), Over 28, Over 35, Over 45, Over 55, Womens, (Women's B), Junior Women U/18, Junior Men U/18, Cadets U/16.

*You may surf in up to 2 divisions – for example – Rip has qualified for Open and may also surf in Over 18 (the new 18-28's division), Sean may enter Over 35's and Open B, Soph may enter Junior Womens and Open Womens, Zeph may enter Junior Men and Open B. (*Note Cadets cannot surf both Cadets and Juniors - you must choose one or the other, but you can still surf Open or Open B) Please read more about divisions, judging, registration and more at [ PSC-Event-Expectations-324.pdf ]

Renew Membership and enter Event 1 now @ LiveHeats.com/PSC ›

Happy New Year to all of our members and friends, I hope everyone has enjoyed a great break and scored a few waves over the holidays.

I’d like to start by thanking everyone for a great presentation night at the clubhouse. It was fantastic to see so many generations of members enjoying the good vibes and celebrating our clubs champions.

Another huge shout out has to go to the companies that were so generous in donating prizes for the epic raffle and putting smiles on so many of our members faces. Thanks to Cam Stynes, Joel Reid, Lachy McDonald, Angus Forrest for the product. Last but not least a huge thanks to Chris O’Shea and Rory Oke for the donation of the surfboards.

We’re only weeks away from commencing the 2024 season which stands to be biggest in our clubs history, we celebrate turning 50 on March 16th with what stands to be the party of the year. Prior to that team PSC and supporters will be heading the Burleigh Heads to compete in the ABB National Finals.

March 16th will also see our women’s and senior team defend their Victorian titles on home turf at Gunnamatta. I ask all Members to put this date in the diary and make sure you are there on the beach to make a huge noise in support of our teams. Hopefully we will return to the club later that day victorious and kick off our 50th Year celebration by hoisting the trophies once again.

Before we start the 2024 season we have one very important task to take care of and that is the AGM and selecting the 2024 committee. I ask all members to make themselves available to be there as we will be voting in new individuals and also proposing some big changes to how our comp days run. We need you there to have your say in how the club will move forward into its biggest year ever.

The AGM will be held at the club at 5pm on the 26th of January.

See you soon, Sean McDevitt, PSC President.

The fourth instalment of the 2023 season was run and won at Gunnamatta's 2nd carpark in very contestable 2-4 ft rights. Clean conditions in the early part produced the best rides, with the onshore moving in later in the day.

Congratulations to Jake Pancic who took out the Open division over Lachy, Pedro and young Jett Harrison pushing the limits all the way to the finals.

In the womens Mia Holland put on a strong performance over Sophie Wilko and Sophie Thompson. In the Junior Men Jett H continued his strong form winning over Jarrah Cervi and Matty Meysto. Sophie Wilko got one back taking out the Junior Women over Mia and Rose Holland, and in the Cadets Noah Hanson claimed victory over Cooper Browne and Jack Willis.

Other division winners included Over 28: Pedro Lani / Over 35: Joel Reid / Over 45: Ben Pitts / Ove 55: Joe Cervi / Open B: Shan Creasey / Womens B: Elysha Browne.

Full Results available at LiveHeats.com/psc ›

Special thanks to Paul Stan Churcher of Peninsula Sports Photography who captured some of the moments throughout the day. View their albums at facebook.com/PeninsulaSportsPhotography ›

We are looking at November 11th or 18th for the 5th and final contest of the season with the Presentation night on December 9.

Special thanks to our sponsors & supporters St Andrew's Beach Brewery, Mornigton Mazda, Body Fit Training, Rip Curl, Dundas Street Milk Bar, Everist Timber, Shed Nine, and Welcome Board Store.

The club has again qualified for the Hyundai Australian Boardriders Battle Finals in March of next year in Queensland with a solid performance at the Regional Qualifier finishing 2nd in the Final behind Torquay, held at Woolamai in perfect 2-3 foot a-frames under bright blue skies and sunshine.

Firstly, massive congrats to all Boardriders clubs involved – competing alongside these Victorian clubs is a true honor. Secondly, props to Torquay Boardriders for bringing the heat and clinching the well-deserved victory.

To our Peninsula Boardriders crew, stoked to qualify for the national championships. We're confident we can go toe-to-toe with any club at the ABB Finals. Big thanks to our team surfers and extended crew for the relentless effort. Time to ride this momentum, a watch out for our surfers' grind in the lead-up to the ABB Finals, its on!

Fantastic effort by the team which included Ava, Caiden, Lachy, Pedro, Jake, Justin, Jett D, Hayden, Joel, Sophie, Jett H, with special shoutout to Will Watson's stellar performance throughout the contest, not to mention Bus Driver Rod, Coach Reidy, Captain Lach, Pres Sean, and all those who came down with us.

We're pumped to see the team at the finals at Burleigh Heads, March 2024!

LET'S GOH!"

Despite a tricky surf and weather forecast, Peninsula Surfriders Club committed to their mission of bringing Victoria's best surfers to the local area in the pursuit of cash and prizes. With $1,000 up for grabs to the winner of both our Open and Open Women's divisions, the call was made to run at Atlas in Shoreham.

Competitor feedback from other coasts aligned with our theory that calmer conditions and protection from the elements was a priority to ensure good atmosphere and spectating. Clean waist to head high waves greeted us, and remarkably hung in throughout the low tide.

The standard of surfing was strong, with the Women's quarters an early highlight... Sophie, Ava, Sara (TBC) and Carly (Jan Juc) all locked in strong totals with the Soph v Ava heat a back and forth battle that set the tone for the afternoon.

As we reached the finals the swell energy was less consistent and longer lulls made for some important tactical choices. Fortunately the Women's final again provided the best action with strong scores and lead changes to Sara, Lucy, Ava and Carly. A head high set in the final minutes saw Ava snatch the lead, before Carly overtook her on the last wave with a 9 point ride.

The ebb and flow of conditions meant a big lull was due and the Men's final started slow. Well done to Lucas Hickson from Rye (TBC) for grinding it out in the inconsistent conditions. Lachy, Cooper (Jan Juc) and Harry (PIBC) rounded out the final. Lucas' 9.4 in the semi-finals was the high score of the event and he was clearly the guy to beat.

We were stoked to have 5 different clubs represented in the two finals, and a total of 8 clubs represented in our event.

See you all next year!

RESULTS:

OPEN WOMEN
Carly Shannahan (Jan Juc) - $1,000
Ava Holland (Peninsula)
Lucy Naylor (Point Lonsdale)
Sara Hickson (Torquay)

OPEN MEN
Lucas Hickson (Torquay) - $1,000
Lachy McDonald (Peninsula)
Cooper Downes (Jan Juc)
Harry de Roth (Phillip Is)

Special thanks to our sponsors & supporters St Andrew's Beach Brewery, Mornigton Mazda, Body Fit Training, Rip Curl, Dundas Street Milk Bar, Everist Timber, Shed Nine, and Welcome Board Store.

The weather has steadily been showing signs of improvement and the daylight beginning to last that little bit longer as we speed towards the recommencement of our competition season. I'll start this Presidents report by returning to the 28th of May and our 3rd contest for the year.

Our contest directors Joel and Alex had been scouring the forecasts for weeks and finally pulled the trigger on one of the best Westernport days most of us had seen in a very long time. From start to finish every heat was stacked with great waves and great surfing. Despite the soggy weather and a BBQ that spontaneously combusted we succeed on completing an epic comp and a fantastic club day hanging out in the beautiful Pt Leo foreshore.

Thanks to Tony and the Pt Leo Foreshore Committee for hosting our Club and to David ‘Skip’ Easton for lending us his Webber.

While most of us shivered through winter some of our young guns made the trip to QLD for the 2023 Occy Grom Comp and Oz Grom Open. Rose Holland, Sophie Wilkinosn, Ava Holland and Will Watson all showed their stuff against Australia’s brightest young talent. At the Occy comp Ava was able to battle her way to the semi finals for an equal 3rd finish. Unfortunately for Rose, Sophie and Ava the waves and conditions resembled Mornington pier for most of the event.

At the Oz Grom Open the girls were greeted by Will Watson who was competing in the U18s boys division. Held at Lennox beach the event was mostly held in glassy 2 foot surf, again Ava was able to make the final with fellow peninsula surfer Sara Hickson. Unfortunately, Ava fell just shy of accomplishing back to back wins at this event.

Will and Rose were both able to make it to the semi finals at comp and showed tremendous heart in just falling short of the final. As its stands Will is currently 5th on the Australian U18 boy’s rankings, Sophie is ranked 20th in the U16 girls, Rose Holland sits 7th in the U14 girls and Ava Holland is the current leader of the U16 girls.

The Australian Junior title starts September 23rd at Phillip Island and I ask all members to get behind our young stars by either supporting on the beach or sharing kind thoughts and encouragement via social media. Let’s GO Team PSC!!!

Some key dates to look out for over the next few months.

• September 9th ‘The East Coast Cash Comp’ featuring our clubs brightest male and female talent up against Victoria’s best for a $1000 cash prize.

• September 24th Australian Board Riders Battle Vic qualification round.

• October and November PSC 2023 season comps 4 and 5.

• November 25th PSC end of year Presentation Night.

Myself and the committee look forward to seeing you all at the East Coast Cash Comp in a few weeks to help cheer on our surfers as they battle it out for the cash prize. Let’s all support each other over the next few months in what will be some very exciting times for our amazing club and Team PSC.

Sean McDevitt
Peninsula Surfriders Club President.

Check out the great photos of Contest 3 at 'The Point' by @Peninsula Sports Photography – Part 1 –  Part 2 – 

With some fun offshore mid-sized lefts and rights and a heap of competitors, the team ran simultaneous heats over the two banks at Gunnamatta first car park.

Taking out the Open division was Pedro Lani who continued his recent form over Angus Forrest and Adam Morris.

In the Womens, Ava Holland claimed victory in dominating form and high scores. In the U/18 Girls Luka Woods put together a stella heat defeating Ava, Rose H, Sophie Wilko, Mia H and Sophie T, with Jasmine Link winning the newly formed Womens B Grade division.

Young Tarvi Woods took the win convincingly in the Junior Boys over Jett H and Arieh P, as well as winning the Cadets, watch out boys!

Angus was on fire throughout the day claiming the O/28 over Pedro and Alex. Joel Reid won the O/35 over Lachy and Hydey. Pittsy took out the O/45 over Camo and Dutchy, and Joe Cervi continued his form winning the O/55's.

The B Grade Mens was stacked with 4 rounds of surfing which saw some of the younger surfers working all the way through to the finals with Max Wilko taking it out for the second time this year over Zeph C and Arieh P.

Photos are online, thanks again to Peninsula Sports Photography

Plus a big shout out to our 2023 sposors ~ St Andrew's Beach Brewery, Mornigton Mazda, Body Fit Training, Dundas Street Milk Bar, Everist Timber, Shed Nine, Welcome Board Store and Rip Curl ~

The 2023 season kicked off under a mixed bag of conditions last Saturday. Some of the greatest surf minds on the Peninsula threw their heads together to optimise the banks on offer to set up a successful day to kick off 2023.

Jake 'The Apprentice' Pancic put on a clinic throughout the early rounds of the morning under classic offshore conditions. If the Pres doesn’t get Jake back in the roof, he could be a serious force this aggregate season.

Contest directors Reidy and Vrana put in a monumental effort across split banks to put our club’s surfers in the best conditions on offer. The wind kicked up on schedule around midday and so did the action in the water. The surfing lineage in the Holland household was on full display with Ava making her first of many to come Open finals. It took some work though with reports that sister Rose put her under the pump with a heated exchange in the lineup. Rumour has it there was a contentious leggy tug between the pair.

The finals went down in tricky conditions for the competitors. Jake Pancic took out his first Open win on the back beaches. On top of her Open finals berth, Ava Holland took out the Open and Junior Womens divisions. Tarvi Woods was putting on a clinic all day to dominate Cadets. Max Wilko blazed to victory in the Open B with Zeph taking down his old man to claim the battle of the Creasey's. Other winners included Jarrah in Juniors, Hayden Forrest O/28, Reidy O/35, Pittsy O/45, Joe Cervi 0/55

Rod Barber, Jase Owen and Thommo put in a monumental effort on the BBQ all day slinging snags and bacon and egg rolls. Huge shout out to Cam Newman and Cam Stynes for setting an example of how to do more than your fair share. Huge thanks to all those crew who got in the judges tent and were there all day for set up and pack up. See you all in the water and at Comp 2.

Matty B

We had an excellent club day at second car park Gunamatta for the 4th PSC aggregate round, a day filled with spring sunshine and a light easterly breeze greeted contestants with a 3-4 foot right rip bowl, it’d been 5 years since we’d run a contest at second car park, it was sick to be back in the old stomping ground!

Firstly, a huge thank you to all the competitors and members that came down to help run the day, the contests are running seamlessly these days.

The Open was stacked and not an easy heat was evident with big scores being posted by our surfers from the get go. Heat 2 was an early highlight with Ava Holland and Sophie Wilkinson taking on the likes of Jett Dickinson, great to see the future of the club mixing it up in the open, they’ll be taking down some big names in the comps to come. Lachy Mac, Adam Morris, Jett Dickinson and Joel Wookey were all class early, posting super strong scores across the board.

Each division had some great opportunities as the swell filled in across the day, conditions were testing early but the true cream rose to the top as the day went on.

The Cadets had a cracking final, with a super consistent swell filling in the competitors went to work. A special mention to Ben Choury who was competing in his first contest ever, looking forward to seeing Ben in the future. There was some super competitive surfing from all other competitors, a special mention to Matty Myesta and Tarvi Woods who were cracking in all day, however they were unable to keep up with the surfing of Zeph Creasey, Zeph was absolutely flaring, showing a dominant display that’ll put to the competitors in the Junior division on warning, well surfed Zeph.

The Junior Men saw Flynn Cooper put on a super dominant display, Flynn was on absolute fire across 2 x divisions, he’s rail game was looking super on point all day, congratulations Flynn! Jurrah Cervi, Spencer and Hopper all fought out for the other positions, looking forward to seeing the Juniors at the next round of competition.

The Junior Women were on absolute fire, we had a stacked draw featuring some of Victoria’s brightest female talent, the early rounds were dominated by Sophie Wilkinson, Sophie Thompson, Rose, Mia and Ava Holland. With the swell filling in across the final, we saw some excellent surfing from Luka Woods but she was taken down by a dominant display of backhand surfing from Ava Holland, a huge congratulations to Ava and her fellow competitors.

In the age divisions we kick off with the Over 55, this was closely fought battle between Andrew Dell, Rod Barber and Jamie Reichelt, all going wave for wave until Jamie Reichelt impressed with a fins out re-entry on a solid section, well done to Jamie and the rest of the competitors.

Over 45 saw a stacked heat with 7 x competitors making up a straight final, it was an absolute honour to see Dave Thomas return to the PSC for a day catching up with mates, the competitors put on a epic final with Shan Creasey, Graham Holland and Ben Pitts all duelling it out for the top 3 x positions, a huge congrats to Shan for taking out the final.

Over 35 had some epic conditions, a consistent final with all competitors getting some opportunities to light up the rip bowl right, Lachy Mcdonald took a risk surfing some lefts out the back, separating himself from his fellow competitors to great reward, lighting up a 7 point ride to take a narrow victory over rivals Joel Reid, Cam Stynes, Rob Hanley, Andrew Hyde and Luke Beerling. Well done to Lachy on a ripping performance.

Over 28 saw one of the finals of the day, with all competitors having a red hot crack! It was great to see Josh Carratello back at the club and ripping, Sean (President) Mcdevitt, Justin Grey and Adam Morris had a super close final, with 0.30 separating 3rd - 1st. The boys went head to head exchanging some epic scores, but there could only be one winner with Adam Morris taking it out with some beautifully smooth combo’s, well done to Adam.

The Open Womens final was a beauty, with Victorias top female talent on show, the women didn’t hold back, Ricci Hawkin, Tilly Smart, Rose Holland and Luka Woods were ripping, a special mention to Rose Holland on making the open final, Rose did extremely well in the super tough conditions, however it was a real dual between Sophie and Ava, both surfers opened with super strong waves and it became the game of who had the better back up, and on that day it went to Ava, a huge congratulations to Ava, looking forward to seeing this dual continue for years to come.

The Open final wrapped up the day in a strange slow heat, the lads were super fired up to put a show on for the crowd but unfortunately mother nature decided to put her foot on the break for the final. However the waves that came through were taken apart and there were some ripping performances from the open competitors, Macoy and Jett were flaring on their back hands and if the waves had given them a little more opportunity then I’m sure they would have challenged. for the win, old mate Reidy had a good crack and lit up his best wave 1 mins after the final heat finished, well surfed old boy! Adam Morris was stylish yet again and surfed his way to lovely 3rd place, Wookey was surfing with excellent speed through out the entire day, putting together a couple of cracking waves in the final but there could only be one winner, Lachy Mcdonald continued his dominant performance through out the entire day, absolutely lighting up the waves that came his way to win yet another open final, a huge congratulations to Lachy, looking forward to seeing the lads dual it out in the final contest of the year.

The day was presented by our new club supporter Welcome Board Store Frankston, Chris is offering club members a discount on their newly stocked surfboards and gear. Plus our amazing sponsors at St Andrews Beach Brewery, Mornington Mazda, and Chips & Gravy Milk Bar in Rye. Special thanks to Al and Paul from Peninsula Sports Photography, who again spent the time and took some fantastic photos of the day, available on their facebook page.

Looking forward to seeing you all at the last aggregate contest of the year.

Reidy, Contest Director

What a great day we had for contest 3 at Rye carpark on Saturday the 14th of May. Firstly, a huge thank you to all the members who came down to help and surf and also to our Sponsors SAB, Mornington Mazda, Ripcurl Aus, RVCA and the Chips & Gravy Milkbar for the continuing support.

Contest 3 capped off a great few weeks for our club, the previous weekend had seen an epic club night up at Urbnsurf where 20 or so members were treated to 2 hours of tubes and turns in our own private PSC super session. Gonga was tuning back the clock and showing all of his Indo experience when the beast mode was cranked up. Two past club champions, Jack Winter and Adam Morris were absolutely tearing it up along with all the other members young and old. A huge shout out goes to Ricci Hawkins and Rod Barber for driving the bus and for the great vibes in the surf. Also, a big thanks to Skip Easton for coming along to film some footage of the epic surfing going down.

The next day saw the surfing Victoria junior title go down at Jan Juc. Our PSC groms have had a very successful year at the state level and comp 3 was no exception. Ava Holland took the comp out for one of her biggest wins to date and Sophie Wilkinson capped off a great season to finish 2nd overall in the under 16 girls state title.

Ruby Armstrong capped off her first year competing in the under 18 women’s by taking out 3rd place in the state titles and we can’t wait to see what she has planned for next year.

Finally, Will Watson finished 2nd in the last comp of the year to take victory in the under 18 state titles and lift the trophy. Wills surfing has gone next level in 2022 and as club we are all extremely proud of what he has accomplished in being the first under 18 junior champion since Andrew Ford 30 years earlier. Jett Harrison also had his best result finishing 5th in the comp.

As President I would just like to say how incredible it is to watch our current crop of junior surfers doing so well at club and state level. The success of certain individuals is clearly helping to lift the standard of everyone one else and a snowball effect of junior rippers is slowly starting to gather pace at our club. A changing of the guard is on the horizon at PSC and hopefully and golden era of competitive success at state and national levels.

Well back to this weekends contest 3 and what a day we had, perfect 3-to-5-foot waves on offer all day long and two very decent banks to run heats for our members. A big thanks to the committee and our comp directors Joel and Alex for one of the smoothest run comps I’ve ever witnessed.

The Open was stacked and not an easy heat was evident with big scores being posted by our surfers from the get go. Heat 2 was an early highlight with Joel Wookey, Adam Morris and Jett Dickinson all bagging scores in the excellent range early on. Jett’s huge backside turn on a thick double up was quite possibly the turn of the day.

Each division had great opportunities to showcase their skills, one particular heat that springs to mind was heat 1 in the women’s division. Ava Holland, Ricci Hawkins and Sophie Wilkinson put on an absolute clinic ripping into the perfect rights on offer on the main bank causing one particular beach announcer to almost have a complete boil over of froth.

The competitive Cadets division was entertaining as George Everist joined PSC for his first comp on a family visit from Japan. Making dad Tom extremely proud, George went on to take out the division with some great surfing. Clancy, Zeph, Fletcher and Matty were also ripping in the final and continued their great performances from comp 1 and 2. Tom and George are looking forward to being at PSC full time in 2023, see you next year guys!

The junior men saw Will Watson put on another dominant performance with surfing that would trouble the best of our Open surfers, he was dominant in the final with the other surfers Flynn, Spencer, Jett, Olly and Tristen in a tight battle for the other placings.

The junior women’s final was another huge heat held over on the left that was seeing consistent lefts with a nice bowl section on offer. Ruby, Sophie, Ava and Jas had an entertaining final as all of the girls managed to make the most of the fun waves. Ava, Ruby and Sophie all traded waves in a tight tussle that saw plenty of highlights and Ava taking the win over Ruby, Sophie and Jas. Watching Jas make the finals was great to see and another example of the inspirational improvement of all of the PSC junior surfers.

In the older divisions the Over 28s final was a stacked affair and, in the end, it was an absolute meat cleaver of a finishing turn by Justin Grey that saw him take his first over 28s win. Pedro Lani, Mitch Heys and Mike Antonie gave him stiff competition for respective places in what was high performance final with some great turns and combinations worthy of an open final.

The over 35s saw Lachy take a very commanding win over his competitors. By the end his two rides saw stiff rival for the O35s crown Joel Reid in a very unfamiliar combo situation. Fighting hard for the other placings was an interesting 3-way duel that saw Andrew Hyde claiming second closely followed by a rampaging Luke Beerling and Cam Stynes who found a clutch wave at the end of the final.

The Over 45s final was another massive heat that saw Benny Pitts going absolutely hammmm on his twinny. Pittsy used big frontside turns to put on a show for the beach and judges, staunching the tower multiple times. The two Goofy footers Shan Creasey and Graham Holland put on a great duel right behind Pittsy for second and third respectively. Burto finished 4th, Ricci Hawkins 5th and Lukas 6th.

In the over 55s Joe Bonato took the win with some great surfing on the rights at his local. Joe threw down some spicy carves and looked confident and lively to take the win over Tim Wilkinson, Andy Dell and Jamie Reichelt.

The Open B final was won by Joe walker who used big backhand turns to take down the other surfers for his first Open B final win. Joe was pushed all the way by another goofy in Graham Holland. Dutchy fell ever so close to Joe in what was a scintillating battle for the very competitive Open B title in 2022.

The Open final did not disappoint and neither did the weather and waves, the sun finally popped out and we were spoilt with epic surfing under a golden Rye back beach vista. Justin Grey took an early lead in the 25-minute final with another 4-turn combo ending in a huge vertical lip hit. All of the surfers remained busy with Hayden, Lachy and Mike locking in decent first rides along with Jett who looked aggressive and confident but lacked a quality opportunity early.

Adam locked in a good ride and found himself way down the bank near the elusive end section double up. With a stroke of luck that he seems to have so often in free surfs a, beautiful little bowl appeared and Morri proceeded to link three smooth vertical turns that ultimately proved the difference.

Back at the main peak and in the final minutes of the heat, Justin Grey powerfully surfed another good wave and found himself in the lead before Adam and Jett both got good waves in the same set. The entertaining scene from the beach saw Jett score his highest ride for the final and Adam improving his back up score with a big backhand finishing turn to take the lead from Justin and take his first open title in over 4 years after a string of serious knee injuries.

Congratulations to Adam and Justin on the entertaining final heat along with Jett, Mike, Lachy and Hayden, each of whom displayed dominant performances at various stages throughout the day.

The level of surfing at Comp 3 was entertaining to watch from start to finish and it has been very noticeable how much the standard of surfing has lifted in every division in 2022. It’s a credit to all of our members and its very exciting time to be around at PSC. We will head into the Winter break before resuming the season in late September and tentatively hold the 2022 presentation night on the last Saturday in November.

The last 2 contests of 2022 should be absolute classics and decide our champions in what looks to be some of the most competitive races we have seen in years. Go PSC!

Club President, Sean McDevitt

Photos above by @ samharrison_surfmp

PSC Members URBNSURF Sessions : Friday 6th May

Our PSC private session is back! $220 for a customised private session at URBNSURF for 30 members. 18+ bus trip there and back, for Junior members we will organise a car pool.

Bus leaves clubhouse at 5pm on the dot for 8 and 9 sessions.

DM us at instagram.com/peninsulasc to secure your spot!