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Red Bull Junior Surf Masters Finals

By intrepid reporter & photographer Adam Albertini
You can view a selection of photos of the action, including MF, by - 
clicking here for Friday/Saturday..
clicking here for Sunday..

Or view them on my new website - www.surfstar.com.au

Friday, 29th August, 2008
Red Bull Walk of Shame.

It was the start of the Red Bull Junior Surf Masters Finals - held at the surfer/spectator friendly beach of Queenscliff NSW Australia.
Red Bull put on a splendid show of hospitality for the surfers, with a massive white dome dominating the fore shore accompanied by various blow up Red Bull logo's; interesting cars; an undercover pool hall; and a tent city for the obligatory pajama party that is sure to follow.
A good show was put on by the Crew, with girls meeting the losers of each heat at the waters edge with a nice warn towel and a Can of you know what. I'll explain about the losers and the Walk of Shame later.

Friday's waves were nice and offshore in the morning but the the southerly kicked in about 10am - and the low tide didn't help much either. 3ft waves came in about every 5 minutes - serving up something to attack but most of the time was spend holding priority and starving the next guy out.

"Torched" is the term for this new format of comp surfing (I hadn't heard of it but have had my head in the sand for a month or so). It consists of a 5 man heat that is scored on your best one wave, after a 20 min heat the loser gets to do the Walk of Shame (luckily he is met by the Red Bull girls) and the rest of the surfers (4 now) start all over again.
Fortunately, the winner of the last heat gets priority and can take the first wave he wants, effectively starving the others guys as the heat draws to a close. This progresses until one surfer drops out of each heat - and then there were two.
The final probably has two cold and tired surfers, carefully picking their waves - but it's pretty clear who wins and it's fun to watch.
Friday's winners progressed to Sunday, along with a welcome rest.

Saturday, 30th August, 2008
Mick Fanning flies over Manly.

Mick Fanning and Beau Emerton teamed up to put on a fine show of tow-in surfing at the end of the day's competition for Red Bull Junior Surf Masters.
I caught the final round and after 1 hr Owen "Ozzie" Wright had dispatched his rivals and secured himself top seeding for Sunday's finals.

Queenscliff's banks held up for the surfers but the swell had dropped and was now about 2 to 2.5ft. The wind swung around to the ENE and the cloud cover crept in to make for poor viewing until Mick Fanning and Beau charged out on the Saturday, 30th August, 2008 jet ski.


The waves weren't quite up to it but got blasted never-the-less. Beau Emerton (the driver and ex pro surfer) even hooked up some local kids after Mick had blown the froth off a few. The grommets looked stoked.



Sunday, 31st August, 2008.
Lincoln stitches up Ozzie.
 
Lincoln Taylor out performed todays top seed Ozzie Wright to claim the Red Bull title and a host of goodies.
The finals waves didn't quite give the surfers a great launch pad for their tricks, Ozzie had Lincoln pegged early then got starved for a good wave in the dying minutes.
Lincoln steadily wound Ozzie in the with some great turns in the small waves.

Earlier the waves turned it up a notch for the start of the Red Bull Junior Surf Masters at Queensie. The morning started wet - but with some great beach break waves - and the guys took to the air to make the cut for the finals. The early rounds were made up with the Torched group of surfers from the previous 2 days and the the winners joined the others to fight it out in the normal man on man format.

The Expression Session had Mick Fanning and a host of crew being towed in to the waves by Beau Emerton and generally going nuts, popping air and slamming everything in sight. Great fun and a good format.