Inverted Byron Bay’s HEADLANDERS
vs
Dallas Singer’s PORT STEPHENS

The inaugural Teams Challenge between the 2 clubs began with the anticipation of a Wallabies vs All Blacks match.
The All Blacks, I mean Port Stephens, began to arrive on Friday, with some of their team getting lost in cane paddocks on the way ( note : never use GPS’s when travelling to Headies territory ). The Wallabies, I mean Headies, were all eager – especially the ones who party all weekend and live on WA time.
DAY 1 = 14 rounds. Port Stephens’ younger team were up and keen to suit up and catch some waves – the only trouble was Mother Nature had forgotten to provide any ! So Tallow Beach and nearly all beaches on the Far North Coast looked like the Mediteranean – perhaps that hump back whale or oil tanker out to sea could provide enough wake that a spin/roll combo may be possible.
A few of the Port Stephens guys had started to dig a channel out of Taylors Lake to create a standing wave – the only trouble was no one believed them when they said it was working. We should have moved the contest down there when they said they had it at about 4 ft !
Meanwhile most of those Headies living on WA time were just starting to put their eyeballs back in their sockets. The heats started off great, with almost an even amount of wins per team – ie one for Headies, one for Port. In the conditions it was proving very difficult to do more than a spin plus, with any luck a roll.
In Heat 2, Dallas scored a 3.2 and left Tahnee the burden of scoring a 7.5 to catch up to the Headies – but with no whales or jet skis around at the moment Tahnee was unable to score a wave at all in his time left.
The Port Stehens Young Guns gave it their all and even though they were outweighed in age by the Headies they helped the end result of Day 1 be a total count of 7 rounds each. The Wallabies ( sorry, Headlanders ) were looking likely to get another thumping by The All Blacks ( sorry, Port Stephens ) when they were being expected to show up early the next day again.
Day 2 = 7 rounds. Mother Nature decided to throw some surf on with 3 – 5 ft waves. Tallow Beach was still not great because of the gutters so we moved the contest to Sharpes Beach @ Ballina. The rip towards the North was tearing down the beach but if you could manage to get out the back the opportunity was there to nail a big move for your one wave score.
The score board started off the same as Saturday with Headies nailing Heat 15 with scores of 6 + 7 and Port scoring 5 + 6. Heat 16 yet again saw Port’s Dallas and Tahnee scoring 5 + 6 and Headies getting4+5. GAME ON!
The local heavy weights were struggling against the light and mobile Port boys but at the end of Round 18 ” ALL EVEN ” was the call again from the judges.
Heat 19 saw Mitch Singer from Port up against Headies Ben “Danger” McDonald when their other 2 partners paddled in. Mitch tried and tried but to no avail – what was looking like a perfect barrel into a spin / roll closed out so Mitch paddled out again ! With only 100 seconds on the clock Mitch managed a neat 6.5 score. With only 45 seconds left Danger, in his typical style of leaving everything to the last minute on WA time took off for his only wave of the heat to hit the peak with enough momentum to score a 7 with a big air / roll. Headies hit the lead !
Heat 20 had Headlanders follow up with a 5 + 6 and the visitors with a 5 + 5.    Then Heat 21 – the best heat of the weekend – the groms from both teams against each other ! What made it even better was that they started surfing half way through Heat 20. The judges were confused, who was inside, who was outside, was that the groms or the other guys ? So we sent them out again. It
was one of the closest heats of the day with only half a point separating the 2 teams.
So end result was Headies first and Port Stephens second, and we would like to thank Port for letting them win ! The Port guys showed great determination and grit, thanx for coming up and making this the success it was !
If we’re still invited, Headies will travel to Port Stephens next year for the return match and by the way the Port boys left with a threatening glare, I think they’re planning on kicking ass on their home break.
Anyway. thanx, Frank, “The Mayan”
Note : No correspondence will be entered into and all Headies riders are fictional in their own minds !