April 19, 2015, Safety Bay, Western Australia – Home to an amazing marine reserve with abundant wildlife and scenic view, Safety Bay was the location of choice for the official halfway point of the 2015 Australian N1SCO Tour. Just in time to light up the N1SCO arena, weather conditions were perfectly matched to show off the pristine beauty that Safety Bay has to offer.

Taking into account participant requests from previous years, this year’s event added more “bump and rub” (more collisions)—a challenge perfectly suited to the inflatable Naish ONE—by dividing odd and even numbered paddlers into clockwise and counter-clockwise turns round the marks. This gave plenty of amusement and, as requested, provided an array of clashes and falls mixed in with the odd “Bradbury” moment to the cautious paddler.

In typical N1SCO fashion, the day was filled with smiles and laughter with back-to-back heats challenging competitors’ physical limits. Loaded heats ran in 100m, 200m and Distance races for the Men’s, Women’s and Junior’s categories with close finishes and enthralling lead changes bringing just as much action to the beach as on the water.

Spicing things up for the relay, a 2-on-1 format (two paddlers riding on one board for each lap—rotating and exchanging over four laps) gave way to some interesting and experimental techniques, which left competitors spent and onlookers in stitches.

As the BBQ started to ready for the post-race feast, there was one last quest for the day: a twenty-eight-person board tower. With precision and balance, twenty-eight paddlers were loaded onto a twelve-board tower, followed by a hilarious dismount.

A huge thanks to Drew & Andy from WA Surf for putting together such a successful day, Darren from Action Sports WA for his support with boards, SUP WA for getting on board and joining in and, of course, all the paddlers that attended. See below for the full results.

Men’s 100m
1^st Leo Beyers
2^nd Drew Malcolm
3^rd Gordon McKercher

Women’s 100m
1^st Belinda Stowell
2^nd Astrid Lillard
3^rd Christiana Chessa

Junior’s 100m
1^st Guilia Brotzu-Chessa
2^nd Jake Hill
3^rd Chiara Brotzu-Chessa

Men’s 200m
1^st Drew Malcolm
2^nd Gordon Salvage
3^rd Leo Beyers

Women’s 200m
1^st Ashleigh Smith
2^nd Astrid Lillard
3^rd Christiana Chessa

Junior’s 200m
1^st Guilia Brotzu-Chessa
2^nd Chiara Brotzu-Chessa
3^rd Jake Hill

Men’s Distance
1^st Leo Beyers
2^nd Gordon Salvage
3^rd Gordon McKercher

Women’s Distance
1^st Belinda Stowell
2^nd Christiana Chessa
3^rd Ashleigh Smith

Relay – 2 on 1
1^st Creatures
2^nd Chiccas
3^rd Jelly Beans