Despite being younger and less experienced than most of their opponents, the Corrimal crew of Christian Adams, Shane Thelan, Jordan Scott and Kurt Gray claimed line honours in a blanket finish.

‘‘Naturally it was a very tight race with all the state representatives, but we were good enough to prevail,’’ Corrimal sweep Peter Scott said.

‘‘It was too close for me to call but we were declared winners, so it was very, very pleasing.

‘‘NSW representative honours don’t come along too often, and to get the win up and also get NSW winning the whole interstate challenge was very satisfying. It’s not just a personal victory for them as a crew, but a team victory as well.’’

After winning Friday’s Interstate Challenge, Corrimal returned to the same venue on Saturday and Sunday for the Australian Open, advancing to the semi-finals.

But they were brought undone by the unpredictability of mother nature.

‘‘We got hit by a wave,’’ Scott said.

‘‘It’s been flat all weekend and we were unfortunate enough to get hit by a wave that filled the boat up.

‘‘It’s still been a good weekend and we’re looking at this as a stepping stone because we’ve still got the Illawarra branch championships next weekend and then we’ve got the state and Australian championships coming up. All’s not lost yet. It’s been a good hit-out for us and we’ll look for a bit of further improvement.’’

Corrimal wasn’t the only Illawarra-based crew to shine at the Australian Open.

The Helensburgh-Stanwell Park under 23 women won yesterday’s final, while Austinmer had crews in the reserve men, open men and open women’s finals.

Windang reached the under 23 men’s final, while Woonona contested the under 19 men’s final.