Round Three of the
Schick Hydro Ocean Thunder series was held on Saturday, 14th January, 2012, in small, yet testing surf conditions on Sydney's Dee Why Beach.
The Men's morning preliminary rounds saw series leader Culligan Water (Bilgola) again dominate with Reilly and Sons Food Services/Mammoth (Bungan Beach) also impressive, both winning five of their six rounds. Southern Fasteners (North Cronulla), Taste Living (Dee Why), Sheldon Office Fitouts (Newport), Australian Cable Tray Systems (Manly), Dial Before You Dig (Mona Vale), Enware Australia (Elouera), Schick Hydro (Bronte), St George Leagues Club (Bulli), Stockland (Currumbin), Creffields Digitial Printing (Lorne), Starret (Batemans Bay), The Beach Club Hahn Super Dry (Collaroy), West Surfing (Cottesloe) and Bisley Workwear (South Maroubra) qualifying for the finals. Westrac (North Cottesloe) and Energy Australia (Wollongong City) missing out on a countback.
The Womens preliminary rounds saw event one winners Westrac (North Cottesloe) blitz the field, winning four out of a possible four races with joint series leaders Culligan Water (Bilgola) and Chocolate Box Training (Bilgola) finishing the morning in second and third places respectively. Dial Before You Dig (Cooks Hill), TYR (Elouera), Village Centre (Batemans Bay), Hocking Stuart Torquay (Jan Juc), Australian Cable Tray Systems (Manly), Surf Vest Australia (Elouera) and CC's (Palm Beach) making the finals.
The Men's final saw a possible changing of the guard with a number of crews in their maiden Ocean Thunder final which was contested by Taste Living (Dee Why), Culligan Water (Bilgola), St George Leagues Club (Bulli), Southern Fasteners (North Cronulla), Sheldon Office Fitouts (Newport) and Starret (Batemans Bay). Series heavyweights, Dial Before U Dig (Mona Vale), Australian Cable Tray Systems (Manly) and Reilly and Sons Food Services/ Mammoth (Bungan Beach) all missing the final.
The double race Mens final saw unbeaten series leader Culligan Water (Bilgola) lead going in to the second race before being overtaken by Southern Fasteners (North Cronulla) in an awesome display of power rowing, Southern Fasteners (North Cronulla) went into the final turning can with a two boat length lead which they extended for a comfortable win. Culligan Water (Bilgola) finished in second place to maintaining their stranglehold on the series pointscore with Taste Living (Dee Why) coming in third sport in front of Sheldon Office Fitouts (Newport), Starret (Batemans Bay) and St George Leagues Club (Bulli).
Qualifiers for the Womens final were Dial Before You Dig (Cooks Hill), event one winners Westrac (North Cottesloe), event two winners Chocolate Box Training (Bilgola) , joint series leader Culligan Water (Bilgola), TYR (Elouera) and Hocking Stuart Torquay (Jan Juc) who were looking to redeem themselves after blowing a seemingly winning lead in the final of the second event.
The double race saw Hocking Stuart Torquay (Jan Juc) take a slender lead into the second half of the race over Culligan Water (Bilgola), Westrac (North Cottesloe) and TYR (Elouera) with Hocking Stuart Torquay (Jan Juc) eventually coming out clear winners in front of Culligan Water (Bilgola) and TYR (Elouera). Chocolate Box Training (Bilgola), Dial Before You Dig (Cooks Hill) and Westrac (North Cottesloe) finishing the day in fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively.
In the cumulative series pointscores Culligan Water (Bilgola) have a seemingly unassailable seven point lead over the Men's field however the final round four will see a number of crews in with a chance to take out the minor medals. A potential double bonus is looming for Culligan Water (Bilgola) with their Women's crew also going into the final round with a lead in the series.
Full details of both event three results and the cumulative pointscores are shown below:
Men's Event Three Results:
