Ross Kendall
Lennox Head surfer Mikey McDonagh won the inaugural Coffs Harbour Open – stop six of the Australian Open of Surfing series – after a day of exciting action in picturesque two-to-three foot conditions at Diggers Beach in Coffs Harbour in late November.
Hot off a win with his local Le-Ba Boardriders at the recent nudie Australian Boardriders Battle, Mikey McDonagh capped off a giant long weekend of massive results taking out the Open Men’s division. McDonagh started off slow, only posting tiny scores in the opening stages of the heat, but was able to capitalise when punchy waves arose, notching up an 8.33 and 7.83 to post a decent 16.16 two-wave heat total.
Runner-up Chris Zaffis (Angourie) showed moments of flair in the heat, holding down the lead for portions of the final, but was pipped by McDonagh by a 0.53 point margin.
‘It was a gigantic long weekend of surfing here in Coffs and I was pretty cooked yesterday from a giant day on Saturday at the Boardriders Battle, but I came here this morning pretty fired up to compete,’ said Mickey. ‘After the first heat this morning, the conditions changed so much and I found that it really suited me as the heats went on. I’m just stoked to have taken this out.’
The Coffs Harbour Open saw approximately 100 competitors surfing across the male and female divisions and formed the sixth of eight events on the Australian Open of Surfing Series.
Philippa Anderson from Merewether in Newcastle won the women’s event.
