Elouera and Bondi Boardriders will be the teams to beat at the first Sailor Jerry Surftag Qualifier this weekend at North Cronulla Beach. Jared Hickel and Shane Campbell will be amongst Elouera’s five-man team with Perth Standlick and Chris Friend leading the charge for Bondi.

Boardriding Clubs from Bondi to Ulladulla will be looking for a Top 6 finish in the Men’s Division and a Top 3 finish in the Women’s Division to guarantee a spot at the Sailor Jerry Surftag Australian Championships being held on Sydney’s Northern Beaches in May.

Elouera’s Jared Hickel has been busy competing on the WSL Qualifying Series at Newcastle and Manly the last few weeks and is looking forward to competing for his local Boardriding Club, “Stoked to be competing this weekend in the Sailor Jerry Surftag at Cronulla,” said Hickel. “I am honoured to represent my Club EBC along with good mates and clubman Joey, Hazza, Shane and Etho’s. Keen to get amongst it and show the other Club’s what we’ve got.”

Harrison Martin, Joey Sear and Joel Etherington will join Hickel and Campbell in the Elouera team with Nick Squiers (Scarborough), Dean Bowen (Werri Beach) and Ty Watson (Culbura) also listed to compete.

Bondi Boardriders have named an experience squad and will go into the event as the No.1 seed after finishing fourth in last years Sailor Jerry Surftag Australian Championships. The Bondi team includes Standlick, Friend, Sage Gubbay, Pama Davies and Ian Wallace.

With twelve teams entering the Men’s Division, Elouera and Bondi will face stiff competition from Wollongong based Clubs Scarborough and Sandon Point as well as the South Coasts Ulladulla and Werri Beach Boardriders.

Local Clubs Cronulla Sharks Boardriders and Cronulla Point Boardriders will be counting on local knowledge when Round 1 kicks off on Saturday morning. Both Men’s and Women’s Semi Finals will be run on Sunday with the Finals scheduled to run at 1.00pm. Straight after the Men’s Final Northies Cronulla Hotel will be hosting the Sailor Jerry Surftag After Party and Presentation.

Clubs will be competing for a slice of $3700 prize money in the Men’s Division and $2200 in the Women’s Division at Cronulla, with the Men’s Champions receiving $1500 and Women’s Champions $1000.

The 2017 Sailor Jerry Surftag Australian Series will include Qualifying events at Cronulla, Newcastle and the Gold Coast with the Australian Championships being held on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, 13 & 14 May. Total Series prize money is $60,000 with the Men’s Australian Champions receiving $10,000 and the Women’s Champions $5,000.

2017 Sailor Jerry Surftag Australian Series

• 4/5 March – Cronulla (Area - Bondi to Ulladulla)
• 25/26 March – Newcastle (Area – North Steyne to Port Macquarie)
• 1/2 April – Gold Coast (Area – Coffs Harbour to Noosa)
• 13/14 May – Australian Championships – Northern Beaches, Sydney

(Includes Trials for VIC, TAS, SA & WA Clubs)

Follow Sailor Jerry Surftag at:

https://www.facebook.com/sailorjerrysurftag/
Instagram - @sailorjerrysurftag

For more info on Sailor Jerry, please go to:

https://sailorjerry.com/en

https://sailorjerry.com/en/norman-collins/hori-smoky

https://www.instagram.com/sailorjerryaus

(Photo of Perth Standlick, Bondi Boardriders, by Bernadette McAlinden)