Moomba Masters 2004 - Melbourne - Monday - Finals Today was the best final's day I have ever been at. The weather at the start of the day was the worst of the whole tournament with a light drizzle for the first couple of hours. Even the tops of the skyscrapers were covered in cloud. Conditions on the water were pretty good though. The tide was low, so the water level good and the current not too strong. The site is perfect for spectators with only just enough width for the jump course. (A safety net is needed for the late refusals!). The number of spectators on the bank over the day today was reputed to be 200,000! Tricks semi-finals were first with the favourites going through, apart from Jason Seels, who unfortunately fell halfway through his second pass. The long-awaited second half of the mens slalom semi-final was next. Fabio Ianni skied first with a surprisingly low score of 1.5 @ 11.25m. This guaranteed Jeremy Newby Ricci a place in the final, who was waiting nervously on the river bank! Jodi Fisher then went out and scored an excellent 1 @ 10.75m, showing that the 11.25m pass really had to be completed to be sure of a place in the final. Javier Julio then went out and only skied 1 @ 11.25m, which guaranteed Chris Rossi a place in the final. Ty Oppenlander looked good at 11.25m, but got a bit out of shape towards the end and scored 5 @ 11.25m. Chris Parrish then skied and made every pass look like it was 16m and finished up with 1.5 @ 10.75m. Then came the 11 times Moomba champion, Andy Mapple. Andy ran 13m easily, 12m despite a bubble at buoy 2, 11.25m easily and then stopped after rounding buoy 3 at 10.75m to ensure his place and position in the final. The wakeboard final was next, following the half hour of open river when other vessels are allowed to pass by. A good display of the various wakeboard tricks. Being a skier, I don't know much about wakeboarding, so can't comment much, but I believe that Dean Smith was first, "Froggy" second and "Ozzy Osbourne" third! The trick finals followed this, the women's first with the 2 first skiers each scoring PB's. The second skier, Michale Briant, is only 14 years old. Michale scored 6,860 which is now a pending Australian Under 14, Under 18, Under 21 and Open tricks Record! Michale finished second, with Mandy Nightingale finishing first with 7,210 points. The mens trick final was extremely interesting. Rodgrigo Miranda skied first and scored 8,880 points, which was equal to the Chilean record. Joel Wing skied fourth, scoring 9,630 and Jaret Llewellyn skied fifth, scoring 10,560. Last out, was the world record holder, Nicholas Le Forrestier, who had scored 11,140 in the semi-final. A real surprise came next, when Nicholas fell on his fourth trick. Although, Nicholas attempted his hand-run again on his second pass, he knew it would not be enough and Jaret Llewellyn took the title. Now, the real excitement started. The slalom finals. In the women's Sarah Gatty Saunt had an excellent start with 1.5 @ 11.25m. Geraldine Jamin skied a disappointing 0.5 @ 12m and Emma Sheers just failed to run 12m and scored 5.5 at 12m. This left it all up to Karen Truelove who scored 2 @ 11.25m and won the title. In the men's slalom, all but 2 skiers ran the 11.25m pass. Chris Rossi had a very bad start and fell with 0.5 buoys on his opening pass. Ty Oppenlander ran 2 @ 10.75m, Jodi Fisher 1 @ 10.75m, and Chris Parrish 3.5 @ 10.75m, the best score of the tournament so far. Jeremy Newby Ricci unfortunately fell with 0.5 buoys @ 11.25m. This just left Andy Mapple, who went out to complete 4.5 buoys at 10.75m and take his 12th Moomba Slalom title. The slight head wind for the jump was not as strong as it had been in previous days, so no really long distances were expected, but the final jump of the competition was only 0.4m short of the course record. Emma Sheers took the womens title with a distance of 51.9m, ahead of Rhoni Barton with 48m and June Fladborg with 47.2m. The men's event was very exciting, with some very close results. Jason Seels, out second, jumped 65.4m on his third jump, giving the following skiers something to think about. This wasn't beaten until Curtis Sheers, who jumped 65.5m just ahead of Jason. Jaret Llewellyn, following also jumped 65.5m, creating the possibility of a run-off. Freddy Krueger jumped 65.4m on his first jump, equalling Jason but not taking the lead, and less on his second jump. This meant that the final jump of the competition could make all the difference. Freddy decided that he really should end the tournament in style and jumped a massive 67.2m, taking the title and removing the need for a run-off! This was my first visit to the Moomba Masters, and I'm determined not to make it my last. The site, event, atmosphere and organisation are the best that I've ever seen at a tournament and the skiing was pretty good too! Report by Jill Howard