Three matches finished on the final green and the St Clair win was not certain until Stephen Hitchcox beat North Otago greenkeeper Gary Creedy on the 18th in the last match to finish.
All 12 golfers faced gale force winds making staying upright and putting difficult.
"That is the hardest conditions I have played in a very long time," St Clair No 1 Brent McEwan said after the win.
But McEwan handled the conditions well with low darting drives to finish only one over par.
He beat Michael Ormandy on the 15th green while veteran Kim McDonald, also an exponent of the knock-down shot, downed Oamaru's Paul Velenski by the same margin.
North Otago played two promising schoolboys from Waitaki Boys' High School at the tail with Cameron Ryder losing to Michael Minty on the 17th green.
At No 6, Kris Rush made amends by beating the seasoned Paul Brouwer from St Clair in a tight match which ran the distance.
The coastal series has been successful but needs expanding to involve a South Otago entrant and the return of a Taieri team next year.
