Hotdoggers League Contest 2

The following piece was written by Phil Hill for the Hotdoggers website......

This weekend saw another poor forecast for the hotdoggers event and Saturday was everything we didn’t need. Strong winds, rain and a confused swell took the place of the corduroy lines we were hoping for so the comp was postponed until Sunday. Saturday night’s entertainment took precedent and a great movie night and food at Cook Island kept everyone amped for Sunday’s contest.

For Sunday more manageable waves and lighter winds were the order of the day, with a weak wind swell topping out at 2ft consistently pushing through. The early heats got underway and the usual suspects managed to find their way towards the final with some stand out performances from Claire Smaile scoring 9′s in her semi and impressing the judges and spectators with her smooth style. In the Juniors Jack Unsworth, Aaron Bright and Ashley Wright all put in solid performances, whilst the Masters proved they still have it with Colin Bright and Shaun Marlow milking the small surf for all it was worth and pulling in the big scores.

In the Open the competition was as fierce as ever and Greg Norman used his recent good form to take him all the way to the final where he was joined by Ashley Braunton, who surfed consistently all day, whilst Angus Murray and Ben Howarth seemed to be the ones to watch, mixing speed and style in an impressive display of surfing given the conditions.

The famous Underdogs event gave those who missed out in the first round a second chance and by the final a strong display of surfing by everyone wasn’t enough to stop Dave Hutchins who opened his account early with an outstanding wave securing his win.

To finish the day off, for the first time ever in a Hotdoggers event and as controversial as Dan Mapps website, we had a S.U.P straight final consisting of Rob Martin, Angus Murray, Ben Howarth and Paul Williams who won the crowds over with some comical drop-ins and impressive sea sweeping. It was a great final despite it being as unlikely as Surfing GB giving equal recognition to longboarding it added a fun dimension to the event not seen before.

A big thanks to all the competitors (especially those who travelled from far and wide) for making it such a fun event.

Final placings:
Open- 1st Ben Howarth, 2nd Angus Murray, 3rd Ashley Braunton, 4th Greg Norman 
Masters – 1st Shaun Marlow, 2nd Colin Bright, 3rd Norman Wright, 4th Paul Vowles
Ladies- 1st Claire Smaile, 2nd Juliet Marlow, 3rd Charlotte Bayliss, 4th Vikki Burley
Juniors- 1st Jack Unsworth, 2nd Aaron Bright, 3rd Ashley Wright
Underdogs- 1st Dave Hutchings, 2nd Richard Unsworth, 3rd John Lynch, 4th Mark ‘Fizzer’ Watson