WAUCHOPE-Bonny Hills were hit on the way out and never recovered on the way to a respectable fifth-place finish in the final at the Manly Surf Life Saving Carnival.
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Their under-19 girls crew have been sweeping everyone aside in recent weeks, but it was Mother Nature who provided a gentle reminder of the luck you require in the surf.
While they didn’t have to right the boat, more than 500 kilograms of surfboat stopped dead in the water when all crews headed out in the final.
Unfortunately for the Boatettes, the Queenscliff, Avalon, Avoca and Noosa crews all recovered quicker on the way home.
“The final wasn’t our best race and everyone got hit by a wave, but we didn’t recover,” Monaghan said.
“Chasing runners has been our strong point and we just couldn’t get any on the way home.”
Once they had to start again, the task proved to be too difficult of a challenge.
Boat sweep Steve Monaghan said they were still pleased with their result at Manly Beach.
“You take your luck when you get it and when you don’t, you think … ‘oh’,” he said.
“The girls rowed really well and were right up amongst it; in the semi-final the commentator said ‘these girls have given everyone a shellacking’.”
The race was the Boatettes’ sixth of the day and Monaghan conceded they had simply “run out of petrol.”
In a strong overall result for the club, they managed to finish in the top three in four of their six races on the day.
“There were no mugs in the final and the girls were there and thereabouts,” Monaghan said.
“This weekend we head to Kingscliff for the NSW Country Championships.”
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