RipCurl Gromsearch

Photo Steve Robertson Surfing Australia


The RipCurl Gromsearch Gold Coast event is running this week from the 15th to the 19th. Zac Wightman and Jake Snellgrove both did really well in reaching the 1/4 finals of the Under 12 Boys. Nic Hoskin is in good form and has progressed into the 1/4 finals of the Under 16 Boys.

UPDATE 1
Nic Hoskin finished 3rd in the final and is now sitting 3rd in the overall RipCurl Gromsearch ratings after 6 events. Keep it up grom !

Wahu Grom Comp

The Wahu Surfer Grom Comp was held on the Goldy over the weekend. Congratulations to Zac Wightman 2nd in the Under 11 Boys. Zac was winning the final til the last 30 seconds. It won't be long til he wins one. Well done grom.

Winners are grinners '08

All photos Kellie O'Brien

2008 Presentation -Change of Date

The Le-Ba AGM and 2008 presentation awards will now be held on Sunday 14th December at Lennox Head SLSC picnic grounds from 12pm. See you all there !

O'Neill World Cup

O'Neill World Cup at Sunset Beach runs from the 24th Nov - 6th Dec. Adam Melling is surfing in heat 5 of the round of 128 and Stuey Kennedy is in heat 14.Good luck fellahs. Sunset link here

UPDATE
Unfortunately both of the boys were knocked today in really tricky, solid and stormy conditions at Sunset. Mello couldn't buy a wave and Stu was chasing a 5.50 with 3 mins to go and scored a 5.33 - ouch !

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Reef Hawaiian Pro

Walshy onto the first Pipe session of the season. Photo Morris


Mello doing the hula Photo ASP

The Reef Hawaiian Pro 6 star prime WQS runs from 12th - 23rd November at Haleiwa. Mello is seeded into the round of 96 Ht 13. Stuey is listed as an alternate. Good luck fellahs. Haleiwa link here

UPDATE 1
Mello has made a great start to his Hawaiian campaign by comfortably winning his first heat at the Reef Hawaiian Pro with a heat score of 14.83. He surfs next in the round of 64. Go hard mate.

UPDATE 2
Mello has made it thru his round of 64 heat despite having an interference against him. The head judge decided in favour of Jeremy Flores but Mello hung in there til the end and now finds himself in the final 32. Good luck in the next round mate.

UPDATE 3
Mello finished the event in 25th and another solid result for 2008. Good luck in the final event at Sunset.

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Kearney 5

Kade Kearney, 2020 Le-Ba Cadet champion, arrived this arvo weighing in at 10 lb 7 oz. Jodz and Kade are both well. Click here for photos

Le-Ba '08

Congratulations Marcus Aboody the overall Open Champion for '08 and the 3rd year running. Well done Ice-cream. Congratulations also to Mitch Adams winner Cadet A, Nick Hoskins winner Juniors, Jamie Kennedy winner Senior men, Tony O'Brien winner Masters and Pete McBurney winner Veterans. For full results for all senior club divisions click the Results button above. Little Le-Ba has their final round Sunday Nov. 9

November Round

The Le-Ba November Club round is on this weekend. Membership fees were due at the May round. If you are not a financial member this Saturday you will lose all accrued points and will be ineligible for '08 glory. Due to legal requirements for club incorporation and insurance you must be a member to surf in events. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Club Committee Meeting

A club committee meeting is on tonight 6:30 pm at El Presidente's Ballina Palace. Click Here to view the agenda

Another Aboody

Congratulations to Marcus and Michelle on the birth of Sienna Aboody on Sunday morning. Bub weighed in at 6lb 12oz. Mum and Bub are both well.

ESTORIL COAST PRO

Photos ASP Europe

The 6 Star WQS ESTORIL COAST PRO is due to start in Portugal tomorrow. Good luck Adam and Stu. Mello surfs in Ht 2 round 96 and The Stuminator in Ht 8

UPDATE 23.10
Mello won his heat easily with scores of 8.33 and 7.17. Don't worry if you couldn't see the feed - it's not your machine - these guys needed to buy more bandwidth. Hopefully it gets better as the event goes on. Stu squeezed into second in his heat and joins Mello in round 3.

UPDATE 25.10
Stu finished with another solid result in Portugal overnight. After the last event he had cracked the top 100 and will now improve on that with a 37th and 1200 rating points. Mello did really good to win a super tight heat and move into the final 24. There was only a difference of 1.5 between 1st and 4th but the win should be a great confidence boost. Adam surfs in the first heat of round 4. Go hard mate !

UPDATE
Adam won his round 4 heat and moved into the final 16 in 6'+ clean beachie peaks. He was eliminated in round 5 and finished in 9th. Congratulations mate on another great result.

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The local swell forecast -

Straddie Assault

The troops from Le-Ba will all come together tonight on a notorious Queensland island to plan the attack that will begin in the early hours of tomorrow morning. It's that time of year again - The Straddie Assault. General Ando is a veteran of island warfare and the troops have trained rigorously over the last 12 months so victory is certain. Good Luck fellahs

Santa Surf Pro

Anthony Walsh drift. Photo ASP Europe. Click on image to enlarge.



Stu backside release on day 1. Photo ASP Europe. Click on image to enlarge.

The waiting period for the Santa Surf Pro 6 star Prime event will start today ,Tuesday October 14, at the lefthand point break of San Juan on the beautiful island of Lanzarote. Stuey Kennedy (Ht 10) and Anthony Walsh (Ht 14) will be surfing in the first round. Adam Melling will surf in Ht 19 of round 2. Good luck fellahs.

UPDATE 15.10
Good news overnight with Stu winning his heat easily with a score of 16.34 and Walshy also progressing thru to the round of 96.

UPDATE 18.10
Mixed bag of results overnight. Walshy dipped out with a 3rd in his heat . Stu grabbed a 2nd in a low scoring heat and is now into the 3rd round. Mello had a sweet win and is into the 3rd round as well.

UPDATE 19.10
Stu and Adam both finished the event in 25th and 1050 WQS points. Stu is starting to make a move up the ratings and is currently at 100th.

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Current swell forecast
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Ocean and Earth Pro

Stu carving on finals day. Photo ASP Europe. Click on image to enlarge.



Stu launches himself into the semi-final. Photo ASP Europe. Click on image to enlarge.



Stuey smashing it into the final 16. Photo ASP Europe. Click on image to enlarge.



Walshy in round 3 Photo ASP Europe. Click on image to enlarge.



Walshy gets a 10. Photo ASP Europe. Click on image to enlarge.




Mello slotted. Photo ASP Europe. Click on image to enlarge.



The Ocean & Earth Pro presented by La Caja de Canarias 4star WQS starts today and runs til the 12th. The event is held at the right hand reefbreak El Confital on the island of Gran Canaria . In the round of 96 we have Anthony Walsh Ht 7, Stuey Kennedy Ht 10 and Adam Melling in Ht 14. Mello had a good result here last year and he'll be hoping to back that up this year especially as we head into the final few qualifying events of '08. Good luck fellahs.
UPDATE
Day 1 has been called a lay day. Check back tomorrow.
UPDATE 7.10
Deja Vu, check back Wednesday.
UPDATE
It looks like another day off, someone killed the Canary.

UPDATE
Anthony Walsh progressed thru his first heat in style. His wave scores were 5.17 and a 10. If you get a 10 it means you are going pretty good. Stu Kennedy won his heat surfing really confidently and is thru to the top 64 too. Adam comboed the rest in his heat - say no more . F@#K those waves look like fun.

UPDATE 10.10
Walshy managed to progress thru a very low scoring heat to make the final 32. Stu Kennedy has progressed in a heat that he almost won. The Iceman ,Mello, had 1 good score and waited and waited until the last couple of minutes to get a score that pushed him thru. It looks like he is saving himself. A good look when you get thru but hard to watch sometimes.

UPDATE
Both Stuey and Mello are thru to the final 16 and will surf in the same heat in round 4. Walshy bowed out in round 3

UPDATE 11.10
Stu surfed a really smart heat and has progressed thru to the final 8, Unfortunately Adam did not find the waves to get thru.

UPDATE 12.10
Stu was on fire last night and has made it into the Semi-finals tonight where he surfs against Owen Wright. Good luck mate !!

UPDATE
Stu finished 2nd to Angourie's Dan Ross in cooking 4'-5' waves at El Confital. This is an amazing result for him and the whole club is really proud. Don't get in his way the kid is on a roll. Go have a beer mate and good luck in the next event.

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RipCurl Gromsearch

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Nik Hoskin in action at the RipCurl Gromsearch Coffs Harbour today. Good luck mate.
Photo Michael Tyrpenou Surfing NSW
Nik is into the quarters in Coffs, finals tomorrow. Good luck grom.

UPDATE 7.10
A great result for Nik finishing in 3rd place in the U16 in Coffs. Well done mate.

Billabong Cloud 9 Invitational

Walshy day 2. Photo Jake White Surfing QLD Click on image to enlarge.

Walshy stole the show today, mixing up a variety of radical tail sildes, aerials and full rotation maneovures to bag both the day’s highest combined heat total and individual wave score. Tuason Point, a peeling right hand reef break situated 500-metres from the tournament break of Cloud 9 was todays venue
“I just went out there and surfed the heat like a free surf”
“The more I pushed it the better I seemed to surf. I just didn’t seem to fall on any key moves.”
Sounds like Steph is having fun eh ?

UPDATE 28.9
After a long flat spell the contest pumped on the final day. Walshy finished in 9th

Catching up with Angus

Angus is having a great time in Bali & has been surfing heaps. He placed 3rd in the Final of the Ripcurl Gromsearch at Canggu last weekend in a field of some hot Balinese groms, he is pretty stoked & if he wins the next event in October he has the chance to win a trip to Australia so he is pretty amped to do well. He sent me some photos of him at Keramas where he was surfing with Luke & Terry Chandler ( LE-BA Tresurer) he is really enjoying it. Angus reckons Luke & TC were ripping too. He is keen to catch up with any LE-BA crew if they come to Bali so look him up. I’m going over in a few weeks to see him & get a few waves . Rod - LE-BA President

Winks Grom Cup

Winks Grom comp was held over the weekend in small windy conditions at Gallows Beach , Coffs Harbour. Jayden Hawkins and Zac Wightman competed in the U 12's. Jaden came a credible 3rd in his heat. Zac Wightman made it through to the semi finals only to be eliminated on a countback. Well done mate , going down on a countback sucks !

The Rip Curl Into Summer Junior Challenge hosted by the Caba Boardriders is on Nov 1st and 2nd. Divisions are U 18's, U 16's, U 14's and U 12's.Click on Entry Forms above to check it out.

Walshys new deal

Stephen Walsh has signed with the RPM team, check out their website HERE. Walshy is also one of five surfers to be nominated for the Waves magazine "Black Knight Awards" which aims to crown Australasia's best free-surfing talent. Walshy is off to Samoa with a fresh quiver of boards and new threads to film for his video part.

STU WINS !!

Photo Steve Robertson Surfing Australia



Stuart Kennedy has claimed overall victory on the ASP Australasia Pro Junior Series.

Stuey started the year with an under-dog win in the Jetty Surf Pro Junior at Bells Beach and from then on was the man to beat. He has held the ratings lead since that first event and after a super consistent season which included two wins and a lowest result of fifth place from his counting eight events (Best 8 results from 13 events count) it is impossible for even the nearest competitor to overtake his lead with two events remaining

“I’m totally stoked to win the Junior Series, I’ve had a really good year on the Junior Tour and it is great to have met my goals. My sponsors Rip Curl, Emery Surfboards & Future Fins have backed me so well throughout the year. Right now, I am preparing for some WQS events in Europe as I want to gain a good seed position for the 2009 WQS. I’m really looking forward to the ASP World Junior Championships at Narrabeen in January”

Stu will miss the remaining two events on the ASP Australasia Pro Junior Series in order to focus his energies on the ASP World Qualifying Series events in the Canary Islands in an effort to secure himself a top level seed going into the 2009 ASP World Qualifying Series.

Congratulations Stu from the entire Le-Ba crew.

Click here for a slideshow for Stu '08

Rip Curl Pro Zarautz

The Rip Curl Pro Zarautz 5-Star rated WQS event waiting period will begin tonight in the beautiful Basque town of Zarautz. Mello surfs in the round of 96 Ht 21. Adam had a good result in the last event so he should go into this one feeling confident. Good luck mate.

Click here to go LIVE in Zarautz

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Billabong Pro Junior

Stu Kennedy photo Surfing Australia. Click on image to enlarge.

The Billabong Pro Junior at Port Stephens starts today. Stuey Kennedy surfs in Ht 1 of round 2

UPDATE 4.9
Stu cruised thru to the 3rd round today where he will surf in Ht 2

UPDATE 6.9
Stu had a bit of a shocker at Port Stephens and finished in 37th place. He can afford a throw away result at this stage in the season.

Click here to go to Billabong Pro Junior

Movistar Pantin Classic

The Movistar Pantin Classic 5 Star WQS runs from 2nd - 7th Sept in Pantin Spain. Adam Melling surfs in Ht 4 of the round of 96.

UPDATE 4.9
Mello won his opening heat last night in 4'-6' stormy conditions and is into the round of 48. Good stuff mate.

UPDATE 5.9
Mello had a win last night in Spain and is thru to the final 24.
He secured a near perfect 9.97 to advance through to Round 5 ahead of current WQS No. 4 Patrick Gudauskas .

"There were a few big ones closing out but the right corner of the beach was offering some better quality waves and I tried to stick there," Adam said. "I had some good ones out there so I am pretty happy but I got pulled over on a few ones and it is kind of heavy when you are below."

"I don't want to put any pressure on myself so I am relaxed and going heat by heat,I just want to go home with a good feeling. I lost in very close heats in the last couple of events and I would like to leave Europe not too bumped."

UPDATE 6.9
Mello 's great run in Spain continued last night when he progressed thru to round 6 , the final 16 , in 8'-10' surf. Go hard mate

UPDATE 7.9
Unfortunately for Mello his run was stopped in round 6. This result equates to 1100 QS ratings points which will bump off his lowest keeper result but will only lift him a place or two in the overall ratings. This was a great time to get thru some tough heats and get some positive momentum in the grinding QS season. Good luck in the next one Mello.

The local time in Spain


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Aussie Titles

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Photos Michael Tyrpenou Surfing NSW

UPDATE 29.8
Max was in devastating form to win the O 45's Aussie Title today. With wave scores of 9.50 and 10 he led the final from the start to finish and posted the highest heat score of the entire event. Job done. Congratulations Max. Gordon Barnes could't find the best waves in the O 50's final and finished a creditable 4th in the Aussie Titles.

UPDATE 28.8
Walshy led the Open final for the first 15 mins until Bemrose took the lead. With 6 minutes to go Walshy needed a 7.76 to take the lead and scored a 7.75 leaving him tied for 1st but Bemrose ahead with the highest single wave score, heavy. Inside the last 30 seconds Dane Atcheson scores a 9.00 and wins the event with Walshy pushed down to 3rd on countback. Hold your head up mate , it doesn't get much closer than that, well done.

UPDATE
Stephen Walsh has surfed an amazing semi to blast his way into the Open Final at the Na Papa Australian Surf Masters. With wave scores of 7.85 and 8.90 Walshy left current Aussie champ Matt Bemrose in his wake. Maxy has also made his O45 Final with incredible wave scores of 8.50 and 9.50. Good work fellahs and good luck .

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