Gibson gets Whalebone win, Medland claims twin titles

Bill Gibson (Margaret River), secured his first Whalebone Longboard Classic title in Cottesloe this weekend, after competing in almost all of the events over the 25 year history of the competition.

Gibson won the Over-65 Men’s final and reminisced about the first Whalebone back in 1998.

“I think I still have the t-shirt from the very first event,” he said. “I think I’ve only missed a couple of them over the years and I’ve been the bridesmaid a bunch of times so to get a win at my age still means a lot.”

The Open Men’s Longboard final saw Dunsborough’s Jack Medland click into another gear, combining style, grace and flow into every wave he rode. Medland locked in an 8.10 and backed it up with a 7.50 to finish on a two wave total of 15.60.

“We’ve had a little bit of everything this year, so I’m really happy to take the win against such quality surfers,” Medland said.

Medland added to his achievements by winning the Old Mal final, a division which sees surfers competing on longboards shaped prior to 1967.

He credited the Cordingly’s board his mate found in the rafters of a home he was renovating for his success.

Yallingup’s Evan Ledger (Yallingup) won the first ever Nose Rider final, a division judged purely on the surfers ability to hang five and hang ten.

Ryan Clark (Dunsborough) won the Open Men’s Logger division, Australian Champion Amanda Curley (Margaret River), was the best performer in the Over-50 Women’s Logger final, and Shae Sheridan (Dunsborough), won the Over-40 Women’s final.