SURF BOATS
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Bulli open men's surfboat crew got their Australian Surf Rowers League title defence off to a strong start on Saturday by winning the opening round of the series at Mollymook.
Bulli beat out heavyweight clubs Bondi and South Curl Curl to take out round one just a week after winning round one of the Ocean Thunder series at Dee Why.
It's an impressive start to the season for the crew of Daniel Porra - the club's new boats captain - Ben Lowe, Heath Mercer and Dean Roberts under new sweep Shane Geloven.
Long-time sweep Paul Jones, who swept the crew to victory in the George Bass Marathon, NSW state titles and the ASRL finals last year, stepped down this season for family reasons.
"It's early season still but everything's gone pretty well so far," Porra said.
"It's a bit of a change for us. It's good to get another opinion on our style.
"Shane's got a bit of a different race plan to what Jonesy had so it's been good getting a new face in the back of the boat.
"Not that we had any problems last year, we got really good results last year as well but it's always good to have a bit of a change."
The ASRL series sees crews battle it out over six 400-metre races in a knockout format.
The focus on sprinting is in stark contrast to the crew's preparation for the 2013-14 campaign that focused on endurance in preparation for the George Bass Marathon, which the crew won in January.
With the biennial event not held this year, Porra said the crew's preparation has been more traditional with an early-season focus on shorter sprint races.
"It's all short stuff this year so we've been into sprinting from early on in the year," Porra said.
"Last year we didn't really do anything until after the George Bass in the new year so we're into the sprint season a lot earlier this year so it's a different year for sure."
The crew will now tackle the next round of the Ocean Thunder series on December 6 ahead of the South Coast boat series at Broulee the following week.
Corrimal look like being the big improvers in the 2014-15 Warilla Bowls Surf Boat Series.
Competing in the recent opening round on their home beach, Corrimal upstaged perennial heavyweights Bulli and Austinmer Blue, as experienced sweep Peter Scott guided his crew to victory in a closely fought final.
"Corrimal, Bulli and Austinmer turned at the halfway point together and the lead changed hands several times in the race to the finish," series spokesman John Masters said.
"Corrimal did really well to get themselves in front and win in an extremely tight finish from Austinmer Blue and Bulli."
Sixty-eight crews contested the opening round in ideal surf conditions. Making their maiden appearance were crews from Sydney clubs Cronulla, Bronte, Wanda and North Cronulla.
"It was an exciting start to the series ... [with] close finishes throughout the day," Masters said.
Helensburgh-Stanwell Park won the open women's final just ahead of rivals Austinmer Blue, while Broulee were third.
Corrimal Black and the Corrimal Pistons provided more cause for celebration for the host club in the reserve men's division.
Corrimal Black claimed finals line honours with the Pistons third behind runners-up Gerringong.
Former Australian under 19 champions Bulli Gold won the under 23 final from North Cronulla Blue and Wollongong City.