Ryan Callinan hoped his fortunes this season were turning around after a busy, powerhouse display on Thursday at the Sydney Surf Pro at Manly.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Merewether goofy-footer and clubmate Morgan Cibilic opened with victories at the second stop on the Challenger Series (CS), where they are pushing for a return to the Championship Tour (CT) next year after missing the mid-season cut.
While Cibilic made a strong CS start at the Gold Coast Pro, making the round of 16, Callinan's disrupted 2022 continued with a opening-round loss. The 29-year-old missed the first event on the CT because of a broken wrist and he has been playing catch-up ever since.
On Thursday, in small but consistent waves, Callinan stayed busy in his four-man, 30-minute heat, riding nine waves and showing his forehand power.
He opened with scores of 6.0 and 5.6 from a series of front-side slashes to lead Cam Richards, Mihimana Braye and Eli Hanneman. He dropped to third then improved his position with a 6.0 as the lead changed between himself, Braye and Richards inside the last 10 minutes.
Callinan stamped his authority on the contest with a heat-high 7.67 to lead inside the final six minutes. His 13.67 total edged out Braye (12.53), while Richards (11.7) and Hanneman (8.13) exited.
He hoped the win was a sign of better things to come.
"There hasn't been many heat wins," Callinan said.
"I've just been trying to find a rhythm through it all and everything, and just get some heats under the belt to be honest, so it's really nice to put a heat on the board, even though it was kind of back and forth, scores came in, and flip flops, but just to get some waves.
"I feel like I've been surfing really well all year but just a couple haven't gone my way and I've made some stupid mistakes, but I feel like I'm surfing good and just once it clicks it should be all good so hopefully this is the start."
Natural-footer Cibilic opened with a 5.5 and a 4.17 to sit second near halfway in his heat before a 7.67 put him in first. His 13.17 was enough to hold out Te Kehukehu Butler (13.03), Marco Fernandez (10.70) after Marco Giorgi (5.67) was hit with an early interference penalty.
MORE IN SPORT:
- Knights land key signings for NRLW team
- Josie Morley making impact with Adamstown: NPLW NNSW
- Obituary: 70s surfing great Roger Clements
- Seven Days in League: Some kind of Magic
- Beqa Mikeltadze, Cassidy Davis the stars of Jets awards night
- Warners Bay seize top of the table in NPLW NNSW with midweek win
- Abandoned NPLM NNSW match to resume where left off
- Big wet puts NNSW Football season on slippery slope
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark: newcastleherald.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News