The Australian Surf Boat Team will see yet another father-son combination pull on the green and gold after Sam Lowery crewed and his father Rob Lowery swept in South Curl Curl U/23's surfboat victory in North Cronulla's Christmas Carnival on Saturday.
Sam, who made his Australian Surf Boat Team debut in 2018, will row for Australia with team-mates Brady Holland, Kris Martyn and Owen Sheather.
After taking out the carnival on Saturday, the South Curl Curl crew backed up to claim their spot in the national team.
In the most tightly-contested division of the day South Curl Curl beat out crews from Wanda and North Cronulla in a final row-off after the crews could not be separated at the end of the day's racing.
Brady Holland, Kris Martyn, Rob Lowery, Owen Sheather and Sam Lowery.
National Championships, 2015
Tricky conditions at North Cronulla welcomed 60 crews across open and U/23 divisions who put their boats on the line for national team glory, only to see plenty of returning faces force their way back into the national team.
The Northcliffe Krankits will make their second consecutive Australian Surf Boat Team as they once again stamped their authority as the best Open Female crew in the nation.
Led by sweep Damien Clayphan, the Northcliffe crew produced a clinical display going undefeated through 8 races on the day.
The current Australian champions proved too good for Peter Spence's Palm Beach Patriots and North Cronulla Blueys who progressed through to the final however could not get over the top of their northern counterparts all day.
Recently nominated at the Queensland Sport Awards as Team of the Year finalist, Northcliffe will once again be challenged by Titahi Bay as part of the 2020 series who they managed to claim victory over last season.
Shane Geloven’s Bulli Gold also paced the Open Male field throughout the day. Picking up two firsts and a second through the first three rounds of racing put the 2015 Australian Surf Boat Team representatives in good stead for the back end of the day where fitness would prevail.
With the crew currently in training for the George Bass Surf Boat Marathon which begins in two weeks, there were questions of how the crew would adapt returning to a three minute racing format. Those questions were certainly answered as the field was cut to a final round robin with the four best crews.
In previous years we have seen Bulli pipped at the post for national team selection however they made their selection a certainty picking up all three wins to finish the day well ahead of crews from Currumbin, Caves Beach and Batemans Bay.
Powerboat: South Curly SLSC's U/23s surfboat surges through the North Cronulla swell on the way to representing Australia.
The U23 Female division will welcome back North Cronulla Funkys to their second straight Australian Team after beating out Newport Thunder and Palm Beach Piranhas in three consecutive races to finish the day.
Next year will mark the fourth consecutive year North Cronulla has had a crew part of the U23 development program and they will be keen to turn that into an open crew in the coming years.
The national teams' competition will be held alongside the ASRL Open at Mollymook Beach next February with the Australian team looking to secure their eighth-straight Trans-Tasman victory over New Zealand.
The Trans-Tasman Series will be hosted by the ASRL and run in conjunction with the ASRL Open on Saturday 15th February 2020 at Mollymook Beach.
Greg Heard will once again take charge of the team, appointed as team manager of both open crews for the next two years. He will be assisted by U23 team manager Don Cotterill .
Full Results from the Australian Surf Boat Team Trial can be found on the ASRL app.
This is an edited version of a piece originally published as "Australian Surf Boat Team welcomes back victorious crews" at Surf Life Saving Australia.
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