Dean Cristallo died in a car crash a year ago and a few of his closest friends held Deano’s Memorial Surf Competition in his honour.

Brendan Sheldon – a friend of Cristallo’s since he was 15 – said the surfing community wanted to come together to honour a friend.

“He was a larger than life character,” Sheldon said.

“A few friends got together and we thought it would be a good way to keep his memory alive.”

Riders of longboards, shortboards, bodyboards, single-fin and stand up paddleboards competed in the same division.

“Deano rode a longboard and placed in the Australian championship finals,” Sheldon said.

“We thought it would be good to open it to everyone.”

On Sunday, it was decided that the breakwall had better waves than North Broulee or South Broulee with small, but clean sets rolling through.

The group, which included surfers from the Eurobodalla, Mollymook and Shellharbour, set up three tents and watched from the beach, or the rocks, as their mates carved up the small swell. 

Seventy riders, men and women, aged between seven to the mid-60s, dropped in and most judges also rode waves.

The heats included battles between fathers and sons, something rarely seen at a surf competition.

It eventually came down to four shortboard surfers and Sheldon won the final, taking out the best overall surfer prize.

Lara Murphy was the best female surfer on her mal (Malibu), Kobi Jackson was the best junior, Jani Hulme was the best junior girl and Bryn Flower won the day’s encouragement award.

Sheldon said the day was a great way to also celebrate a surfing lifestyle, family and the community.

“Overall it was a great day,” he said.

The group want the tournament to run annually in Cristallo’s honour and Sheldon said there might need to be two divisions next time.

“The longboarders might be a bit dismayed with four shortboards in the final,” he said.

“The waves were a bit sucky and probably suited the shortboard riders.”