Snapper the ‘best team ever’

IS the Snapper Rocks Surf­riders Club the greatest boardriding team ever? Surf Scene weighs in.

IS the Snapper Rocks Surf­riders Club the greatest boardriding team ever?

Love them or hate them, Snapper have won more club competitions than any other boardriding team in history, notching up their 24th win at the annual Straddie Assault at North Stradbroke Island.

Once again Snapper showed their depth with another convincing win in the Saturday teams event.

COAST GUN’S SURF TITLE

The Snapper Rocks Surfiders Club celebrating their 24th Straddie Teams Assault at North Stradbroke Island (from left) Jaggar Bartholomew, Jay Phillips, Dextar Muskens, (Soraya Phillips on Dex’s shoulders), Mitch Parkinson, Thomas Carvalho, Jay Occhilupo, Kai Tandler, Kobie Enright and Rabbit Bartholomew. Photo: Fiona Pyke/Straddie Surf Pics.

But Snapper were denied the double on Sunday, losing narrowly in the semi-finals of the tag teams with host club, Point Lookout Boardriders, claiming their third consecutive tag team win.

The Assault, in its 35th year, is the longest-­running teams event in the world.

This year 16 invited clubs competed over an intense two-day battle.

COAST’S BEST FEMALE SURFER

Snapper won five of their six heats on the Saturday to win the Teams Assault. Heat winners were Kai Tandler, Kobie Enright, Mitch Park­inson, Jay Phillips and Jay Occhilupo.

Surprisingly Snapper missed out on Sunday’s tag team finals by only .21 points, finishing third behind Coffs Harbour and Lennox Ballina in the semis.

Point Lookout Boardriders excelled in the Sunday finals. Their win was boosted by a 7.6 out of 10 from Surfing Australia high-performance centre coach Tim McDonald and an inspired effort by former world tour competitor Ethan Ewing.

The Point Lookout Boardriders won their third consecutive Sunday Tag Teams final for the 35th annual Straddie Assault (from left) Tim McDonald, Ash Tenner, Lincoln Taylor, Stacey Baxter, Zane Jenner, Luke Surawski and Ethan Ewing. Photo: Fiona Pyke/Straddie Surf Pics.

The 2016 world junior champion was their nominated power surfer (two waves) with a 7.5 and 6.97.

Other Point Lookout members included Stacey Baxter, Zane Jenner and Luke Surawaski.

Ewing was the top scorer in Saturday’s heats with 16.67 and can take a heap of credit for Sunday’s result.

Following in the professional footsteps of his late mum Helen Lambert, a Bells Beach champion in 1983, Ethan qualified for the world tour in 2017 after winning the World Qualifying Series ratings in 2016.

Despite huge wraps on his surfing as the “next big deal”, Ewing failed to requalify for the 2018 world tour.

He is rated ninth on the WQS with the final top-10 getting a shot at the world tour in 2019.

Ewing is likely to compete for Point Lookout Boardriders again in the 2019 Australian Boardriders Battle national final, which will be held in Newcastle.