Dalmeny Boardriders took to the waves for Fathers' Day on September 3 at Kianga Beach. Beachgoers enjoyed two to three foot swells that provided textbook conditions for some glamorous surfing. The copious amounts of sand spanning the length of our beaches saw heavy closeouts and straight handers as the flavour of the month. The under 14 boys opened the day and enjoyed the best time slot, organisers said. Bigger sets of lefts and rights rolled in from the horizon and often ended in nasty closeouts. Sam Harris fought with a heavy closeout for the wave of his heat, scoring 4.67 points. Finn Banks had to quickly straighten out after a neat snap in order to narrowly avoid a sandbar crunching. Charlie Jackson mastered several tricky takeoffs and committed tirelessly to the slamming lipline. Jackson's gnarly dedication earned him a prize of O'Neil boardshorts. In the final, a few quick snaps resulted in Finn Banks narrowly taking the win over Louis Campbell. The opening minutes of the over 45 men's provided no waves, or the risk of bone-breaking on the shoreline. Ryan Smithers used his speed to hunt down some closeout tube time. Justin Back scored 5.33 points - a bottom turn timed well with the backwash to a tight snap high in the folding lip. In the second heat Andrew Johnson and Mark Anderson were splitting peaks. Johnson lined up a rippable section only to find Anderson's board sitting pretty right in the zone, blocking Johnson from completing his turn. Consequently, Anderson landed the only completed turn in the heat. Black held pole position for the majority of the final with a 5.13 point backside re-entry, but it was Johnson in the dying minute who picked a long right with a clean face, tearing in with three whacks to the lip. Johnson collected 7.20 points for this wave to finish in first place along with 'Wave of the Day' winner. Brent Gresty got busy in the Open Men final with a pig dog agenda and Brandon Feledyk kept his knees in check with some backwash boosting on end section re-entries. Finishing first was Matt Hoar, the recently crowned Over 35 Australian Master's Champion. Hoar won with a a couple of backside snaps and a 14.10 heat total. Simon Brown was on the edge of his chair in the judging tent, so much so that the bolts creaked and groaned and finally gave way leaving Mr Brown crumpled in the dunes. Ruby Davis stormed the lineup on her new board in the Under 18 Girls. Navigating these tricky conditions with confidence she went for a beautifully timed snap scoring 5.67 points and winning the final convincingly. Patrick Gunn opened the Longboard division with the spectacular Wipeout of the Day, he fell head first along the face of wave in true scorpion style and subsequently lost his board. Gunn made amends for this shortly after as he finished a re-entry with an air drop landing, wobbled his way out of the foam ball and then battled with the backwash to collect 6.17 points. Simon Brown got the nose around for a couple of frontside reentries. The three Under 8s were neck and neck. The Brown kids Mali and Sandy swapped their foam boards for fibreglass, riding them all the way into shore. Newcomer Sam Martin-Dye finished in first place, paddling hard onto the waves and trimming along well. While his mates were in the water, self-assigned cake tester Archie Mood came close to tasting all the cakes on offer in the BBQ tent, declaring the marshmallow biscuits as the standout for the day. Nina Lange had woken at sunrise to drive from the snow to the surf and was rewarded for her commitment with first place in the Open Women's division. Her highest score was on a long wave where she did a big top turn to floater and rode out clean, collecting 4.27 points. Alice Mood almost chopped off Nina's head with her fins in her desperation to collect 5 points on a backside. Parents of the Assisted Groms (Under 13s) were surely a little apprehensive about sending their small humans over the falls and onto the sandbar. The extra little bit of speed gained from the parental push-on helped them stay upright. Abigail Black and Lucas Heinemann got their wave counts up, with Heinemann taking the win on a long right hander. Ray Lawrence patiently judged all these heats and said it was "so close it was difficult to separate" the scores. The Under 18 boys were fired up for their final catching over 45 waves in total. The judges were put through their paces, unable to blink incase they missed a wave. Jet Lange showed good controlled turns, throwing his whole body into a backside reentry. The dangerous and heaving shore break did not deter Hamish White who put his body on the line on a late bottom turn to receive his surfboard straight to the face. Matt Driscoll found single turn waves, making it look easy by getting vertical and falling with the lip for some hairy landings.