“If you don’t get to the front, it kind of floats back and you can flip.
“There were some big waves out there, eh.”
It was the first competition for George since he, along with many fellow Surf Lifesaving NZ members, manned IRBs to conduct rescue missions in Hawke’s Bay during Cyclone Gabrielle.
He gave credit to coach Rhys Harman, who had put in a “huge amount of time” to help train the Hawke’s Bay groups.
“It is a huge win for the Hawke’s Bay SLSNZ community after all our gear and people were used in the callouts for the floods.”
The waves caused major disruptions to the competition throughout the weekend, with Sunday’s events called off completely.
Overall, Waimārama placed fifth on 12 points and Westshore 11th on five points.
Besides the brothers, other notable results were the U19 Male Mass Rescue Waimārama team (Luca Broome, Beau Marshall, Sharon Jones and Olivia Jackson) and the Open Male Mass Rescue Westshore A team (Taylor Dick, Taine Williams, Greta Augustine, Joseph Duff) both clinching third place.
Coach Rhys Harman said the rough conditions and large surf were “exactly what we wanted”.
“They showed great skill and ability navigating the messy waves and massive onshore winds,” he said of the Charteris brothers.
“Tom and George, with their patients Sharon Jones and Tayla Hook, put on a masterclass.
“It’s a real shame that they were forced to cancel the second day. I have no doubt that our seven teams (Waimārama’s most ever) would have picked up more placings and medals.”
For the Charteris brothers, it’s probably not the last competition they will enter this year.
George said they hoped to have a crack at the Australian competitions in July, where it would, with a bit of luck, be a little sunnier.
“Me and my brother are going to go over there with a few other crews from around the place.
“Hopefully that’ll be good. Different rules over there, so that’ll be a bit interesting, but a cool trip away.”
