The Muscle Milk Australian Ocean Racing Series presented by Titan Bar, hit Coffs Harbour over the weekend with Cory Hill once again dominating the field. Race 3 of the national series started at Bellinger Valley at North Beach Surf Life Saving Club, which is a 25km drive south of Coffs Harbour. The race began at 12pm and paddlers were greeted with a slight 6-8knot southerly with the front markers averaging 4:10km. The race was battled out over the 21km course to Coffs.
The conditions were an improvement on last year with a slight ESE pushing the field up to Coffs. A solid 4ft shore break greeted the field at the start creating havoc for the punters and ironman greats alike. Before the race even started, Bruce Taylor, Nathan Myer and Josh Myer all threatened a no show after seeing the wind forecast and opted for a surf pre-race. This was clearly a warm up tactic and gave a few of the starters the jitters when the awesome threesome turned up within minutes of the race start. The most exciting performances of the day was when some of the best paddlers struggled to make it out in the 4ft shorey (cue Benny Hill theme song). Cory Hill and Greg Tobin both lost their brand new hats after taking on the surf and falling off their skis, amateur hour (considering one has finished 2nd in the Aussie ski title and the other 2nd in the Worlds ski race – wait maybe we just found the reason?) However the worst off was Nathan Myer, arguably the most notable surf expert in the field, not only lost his ski twice but managed to put a one metre seam crack in his ski (what would Uncle Toby say?). This ultimately filled his ski with about 5 litres of water, maybe that was just an excuse for Josh dominating him? 
After the start Cory, as he typically does, went furthest out, Greg was on the inside with Ando holding the iddle line. For much of the race it stayed this way with Cory breaking away in the last ten kilometres. Racers had small residue swells to chase from the day before and a lot of cutting back out, as the wind was over the right shoulder. Ando uncharacteristically broke away from Tobin in the last 5km with Bruce Taylor and Josh Myer fighting it out closely behind for 4th and 5th. Bruce got the edge over Josh coming into the final 3km getting the better of the backwash coming off the break wall. Bruce is a master in tricky conditions and that has reflected in his wins over the years (lets just say he ‘schooled’ Josh).
In his first race back on the water after his historic triple crown this year Cory Hill took no time to cement his class over the field. After foxing for the first 40minutes Cory then put the foot down and gapped the field by nearly 2 minutes in a time of 1:30:10. When speaking to Cory after the race he told us “he felt really comfortable out there” and was happy to take the win after coming so close last year. He went on to say that “it was such a well-run event and thanks to all the sponsors and organisers for putting on such a great race”. Racers were unlucky with the wind as strong northerlies and southerlies shadowed either side of the event.
Mark Anderson and new-found partner in crime Greg Tobin rounded out the podium after great performances. Ando hasn’t beaten Greg in a while and it seemed Greg was rather upset after the race, “I know I said I had not been doing much, but this is a hard pill to swallow!” The Stellar kayaks representative will be back with a vengeance at the doctor and is looking for another solid top ten finish in what is shaping up to be the race of the year. Ando on the other hand was smug about his win over Greg and said he is finally getting to where he wants to be. The Fenn paddler’s year has been his best yet, sneaking inside the top five in many of the World Series events including Durban, Canada and San Francisco. Ando says his good form has come from enjoying himself more by travelling with Wee Man and Mr Willy. “I’ve had a great year and I have been able to rekindle the love for the sport which is reflecting in my results”. Ando will be slimming down and pumping up for the Epic Kayaks Doctor in 5 weeks time.
Bruce ‘Breakthrough’ Taylor also made his resurgence to competition after a somewhat long sabbatical from the sport. Bruce has recently swapped his light, fast, dynamic ‘ocean ski’ for the heavier, deplorable, poorer cousin, the ‘clubby ski’. His thought process was simple, he hated the way his skinny pins looked in the sunlight and vowed never again. He has since re-taken to DT’s much to the disgust of his fellow racers. He said his idol is Ben Allen in Dubai and has not looked back. Maybe Breakthrough is back for good? Maybe this is the restart he needed? Will he be back to get second in the Doctor again? Only time will tell.
Dean Gardiner took 6th overall after talking up his winning abilities before the race. Some saw Dean chasing waves on the shore and he looked for every excuse after the race blaming age, fitness and health and he began telling everyone how he did the fastest section from the 8th to 10th kilometre. Nathan Myer finished 7th, 3 minutes behind his better-looking brother Josh. Josh was ecstatic telling us “I’ll take 3 minutes over Nath any day of the week… The guy usually belts me at training but I love giving it to him”. Nathan on the other hand may have left his pride and dignity at the start but was excited for the upcoming events and vowed to bounce back like Wilkinson at Piha.
In the Woman’s division Wendy Reyntjes took a commanding victory by 30 minutes over Darleen Charney cementing her position as the number 1 female ocean racer in the world! It’s always great to see women participating in what is generally a male dominated sport. We hope to see more and more women at the events over summer!
Outside the open divisions, Dean Gardiner reminisced the old days taking out the 40+ despite turning 50 early this year. Hometown hero Matt O’Gerey took second with Bruce Dailey in third.
Mike Mills took the win in the over 50’s ahead of WA superstar Nicholas Taylor and Gary Henderson. In the ultra veteran class Tony King won the 60+ scraping in just under the 2hr mark.
It was great to see so many make the trip to Coffs Harbour for the event and the series now will head to the other side of the country for the next 4 events with the Fenn West Coast Downwinder, the Epic Kayaks Doctor and the Mobil Statewide Oil Sunset Series races 1 and 2. We look forward to seeing you all there!
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