Australia’s best waveskiers are in Yamba to contest the Waveski Surfing Australia (WSA) Opens. The national championships are the biggest competition on the annual waveski calendar and the last event of the Australian Circuit Championship. A high level of competition is expected, with many competitors recently returned from a successful campaign at the Waveski World Titles in Spain. Jeff Butterworth, from the WSA committee, said the Aussie titles would be hotly contested this year, particularly in the men’s open division because 11-time world champion, Rees Duncan, was unable to surf at the event. With Duncan out of the contest, Dale Randahl and Graham Lancaster, who are both in good form from the world titles, will be the main contenders to watch, according to Mr Butterworth. “It should be an exciting week of surfing from them to see who will eventually take out the championship,” he said. Other competitors to keep an eye on are members of the Campbell family who saw success at the world titles. Bill Campbell was third in the grand masters and in the women’s division, Karen Campbell was fourth and Savannah Campbell fifth. The WSA titles are supported by the Sports Tourism Partner Program, a joint sponsorship initiative from Clarence Valley Council and local businesses. This is the second year WSA have held the titles in Yamba, and Mr Butterworth said they couldn’t wait to return. “With its range of accommodation and restaurants, and its central location for most of our members, Yamba is just a great place to hold this type of event,” he said. “We received excellent support from the council, and the traders of Yamba have really looked after us.” The WSA Open commenced yesterday (Tuesday) at Turners Beach, with the champions crowned on November 3 at the Yamba Bowling Club. World champion, Rees Duncan of the Gold Coast was expected to attend the prize giving. Rees has won 11 world titles over 30 years and, according to Mr Butterworth, was a legend of waveski. Rees started with the Clarence Valley Waveski Club more than 30 years ago.