From 24 teams, only one was going to be crowned Champion and it was four Retailers from Sydney’s Northern Beaches who caused a shock upset on Saturday after they snatched victory from the Central Coast Builders in the Jim Beam Surftag Industry Challenge.

In a 3 - 4 feet north-east swell, South Curl Curl turned on the best waves it’d offered in months, serving up playful A-frame peaks for the final with a team of Retailers – Benny Hamilton, Jesse Francis, Robbie France and Ollie Ingham – flyingunder the radar to emerge on top. But only just.

Victorious with 54.00, it was Francis who, in the dying seconds, was able to net the winning score on his powerwave and race up the beach before the hooter while defending champions, Central Coast Builders, watched their hopes of a back-to-back victory disappear, finishing on 53.53.

Surfing in their signature red sluggos, local Lifeguards were third (50.03) and competition heavyweights, the Personal Trainers (36.23), faltered in the final after dominating every prior round.

“Man, we’re really stoked, we didn’t expect to win,” says Jesse Francis. “That final was so intense. Everyone was yelling at me from the sand, I was confused, and I thought I’d just get to the beach as quickly as I could.”

“I heard them say on the loudspeaker I needed a small score, and I saw the boys in my team jumping up and down. I picked that wave and just tried a turn big enough to get the score but not too big that I’d fall.”

“Between Robbie and Benny, those boys were ripping all day and they really killed it when they needed to. They got us over the line.”

“We’re rapt to get the $1000 cash prize too.”

But the day’s event very nearly came undone. With the stakes heating up and the quarterfinals underway, Mother Nature turned the rains on and forced the evacuation of the event site. Following an hour on-hold period as the electrical storm passed, the action returned and like every Jim Beam Surftag event, plenty of surprises and shock wins played out.

Led by former Australian Amateur Champion, Russ Molony, The Central Coast Builders were favourites coming into the final. In true Molony-style, Russ netted the highest heat total of the final – 23.23 – and took out the day’s top personal score with a 28.17 (out of a possible 30) in his round one appearance. For his troubles Molony had a bit of extra luggage heading back to the Central Coast, winning a Bosch Power Drill for the best “tradie” surfer.

“I don’t think there was a particular undoing in the final for us,” says Molony. “The other team just had a hell comeback. We had a struggle getting those bigger scores in the end but full credit to the Retailers.”

“The waves were really fun all day, we were pretty stoked with the heat results we got. To have that lightning storm roll through certainly kept things interesting.”

“You can count us in for next year, and every year after that.”

Starting off slow, the only tradie team to make the final managed to claw their way into the lead after Molony and Cameron Sharpe (13.97) locked in solid scores. The lifeguards left theirrun too late but Parker Graham (17.67) and Scott Mortimer (10.73) did their best to stay in contention. However it was the unassuming Retailers who peaked right when they needed too. Opening strong, Robbie France locked in a 15.77, backed up by a firing Benny Hamilton who strung a series of top-to-bottom cracks to run up the beach with a 17.47 heat total. Local surf-shop manager, Ollie Ingham, totalled 11.23 but it was Jesse Francis who surfed smart and ultimately secured the win. Needing only a small score, but with time well and truly running out, Francis managed a 2.30 on his powerwave, raced up the sand with 30 seconds remaining and claimed 2 bonus points in doing so.

To celebrate a firing open event for the Jim Beam Surftag Series, competitors, sponsors and supporters revelled at the Manly Salt House, where event sponsors, The Perfect Wave Travel, had one final surprise in store.

After the traditional Jim Beam Surftag Surfboard was awarded, Robbie France, who was a standout for the Retailers, was gifted a 7-day boat trip to the Maldives for being Man of the Match.

The Industry Challenge is a specialty event on the Jim Beam Surftag calendar as teams are made up of four workers in the same industry. Each surfer must catch two waves, their second of which scoring double points, known as the powerwave.