The Victorian Manufacturing Titles was the brainchild of Peninsula surfers Ian Weir and Bazza Burns, with the inaugural event to be conducted on an East Coast surf break. All the major Victorian surfboard manufacturers (Island, Balin, Rip Curl, Water Cooled, Strapper, and Oke) entered, with most of the state’s best surfers attending.

Some members of Team Trigger were still smarting after losing the State Teams Title at the same venue a year earlier. As the Trigger Bros coach, manager, and motivator, I was determined not to experience another humiliating loss!

Fortunately, the surfing talent available for our team selection at that time was enviable. The Trigger Bros stable was unsurpassed for contest experience, depth, and downright animal competitiveness, and in 1986, it was arguably at its peak.

The final team consisted of Mark McCabe, Steve Wilkinson, Garry “I didn’t drop in” Burns, little Mark Harrison, kneeboarder Peter Schuster, Garry Taylor, and senior men’s representative Phil Trigger. This group was backed up by an above-average, super-keen line of reserves.

Team Trigger with matching pink hoodies. Even though our team consisted of vastly experienced contest surfers, we were very much aware that consistency on the day would be required to succeed and bring home the first Manufacturers' Holy Grail.

For the uninitiated, getting caught up in too much aggressiveness, nervousness, or pressure—along with a lack of awareness regarding time and quality wave selection—can all too easily wind up in a poor result. Simply falling off or not completing a manoeuvre can see the remaining team members chasing opponents and playing catch-up. It is all too easy to lose points, but incredibly difficult to claw them back.

I was quietly confident, and our mission statement to the team was simple: establish an early lead and maintain that winning momentum.

On contest day, "Suicide" at Point Leo was the chosen location, serving up 1 to 1.5-metre peaks that required controlled patience, local knowledge, and, to a degree, a bit of luck. Our expectations were high, but my main concerns were overconfidence, a lack of discipline, and whether Bazza would execute a costly penalty by dropping in!

Before each Trigger Bros team surfer entered the water, we spent a quiet two to three minutes concentrating on the task at hand. In reality, there was no need to worry. The boys took the lead early and maintained a strong, assertive position all day, even as the conditions deteriorated.

Later at the Dava Hotel, Team Trigger was presented with the Manufacturing Title. It was a day of jubilation on a number of fronts: we had won, Phil shouted the beers, and Bazza didn't drop in! Success then transferred into excess, and a brilliant night followed.

- Wilko.

With no real takers to host a Manufacturing Championship the following year, Wilko took it upon himself to award the magnificent perpetual trophy to the Trigger Bros, having it engraved for the next seven years.

Some 15 years later, a Manufacturing Title was once again fought out, with Trigger Bros fielding another winning team: Andrew Everest, Summer Tickell, Mark Harrison, Cal Nicholson, Jon Cleary, Lachy McDonald, and Phil Trigger on the mal.