Yallingup's Redman leads the challenge

Yallingup longboarder Justin Redman scored well in the weekend’s WA longboard and stand up paddleboard titles held in Denmark.

Longboarders and stand up paddleboarders turned up in droves to compete for State titles and allimportant team positions for the upcoming Australian national titles.

The weekend highlight was the surfing in the blue-ribbon open men’s final, which saw finalists demonstrate the calibre of surfing required to represent WA at the upcoming Australian titles.

Perth surfer Ryan Clark was the man to beat in the final.

He opened his account with a long peeling right hand wave that earned him a 7.77 (out of a possible 10 points).

Clark’s smooth style saw him move into an early lead and remain there for the rest of the final.

While Brett Mason (Yallingup) and Scott Trew (Mullaloo) looked invincible in the preliminary rounds, the pair could not seem to find their best form and it was Yallingup’s Redman who took the challenge up to Clark.

Redman, a former national title winner, applied pressure with 6.80 and 6.70 rides to finish on a 13.50 combined total.

But Clark soon broke free, scoring an excellent 8.33 ride to claim the win.

The open women’s final was equally impressive with current national title holder Georgia Young, of Swanbourne, outgunning her female counterparts in an emphatic display.

The final was a seesawing affair with all surfers impressing the judges with some solid scoring waves.

In the SUP surf divisions, brothers Rick and Jake Jakovich from Gracetown were unstoppable winning all their heats en route to the final.

The two brothers seem to bring the best out of each other and this weekend was no different.

Rick was in blistering touch in the final, opening the heat with an excellent 8.00-point ride and was then able to back it up on his final wave with a 7.00 to finish with a combined total of 15.00 points (from a possible 20).

Jake Jakovich finished in second ahead of Yallingup’s Brett Mason in third and of Mike Galvin from Cottesloe in fourth.

Galvin and Yallingup’s Tim Shaw won the over-40 and over-50 men’s SUP divisions respectively.

Other results from the weekend included Redman winning the over-35 masters with a range of classic longboard manoeuvres.

Denmark local Emi Campbell won the under-18 junior women’s division, with Samantha Vanderford (Scarborough) winning the over-35 master women’s division.

Yallingup’s Nigel Coote was too good in the over-60 men’s division, while Dave Ellis from Busselton won the over-65 men’s division.

The final event of the HIF WA longboard titles is in Mandurah on June 29 and 30.