Coming Together

Andy M

Owen Wright will do some damage on tour this year with punts like this. Pic Shield

There’s nothing better than a last minute dash down the coast for a quick surf trip. And that’s exactly what this is. Although the 2010 ASL Aussie qualifiers trip has been on the cards, uh, since the last one 12 months ago, we’ve been at the mercy of dribbly waves and six blokes with filled daily planners.  Owen Wright, Adam Melling, Luke Munro, Blake Thornton, Matt Wilkinson, Dan Ross – these are men on the move.  Fair enough we’ve got to juggle busy schedules, there’s lots of happenings in the surfing world at the moment – the Breaka “world’s hardest four-star QS to win ever” Burleigh Pro is just around the corner followed closely by an old favourite, the Quikky Pro. As for the waves, it’s not fair enough we’ve had to wait months for them to arrive along the east coast, but the longer the flat spell, the better the swell when it hits, right?

Right. The waves have come. They’ve been coming for almost two weeks now and don’t look like letting up in a hurry. And about farken time. The team’s coming together, we have waves, all we need now is daylight so the boys can see what they’re doing and let loose on a few.


Owen blows the tail out on a clean wave in between the closeouts. Pic Shield

Speaking of letting loose, late on the first arvo Owen paddled out at Main Beach in Yamba. He’d come fresh from the Cleo Bachelor of the Year photo shoot in Sydney where he’s guaranteed a top 10 finish, according to the admiring ladies on set. At first glance there wasn’t anything to surf which would explain why there was no one out. But Owen found waves amongst closeouts and wash-throughs, and some inviting sections. He was hurling himself relentlessly upwards. Some he stuck, some he didn’t.  After, he admitted there were a few finely tuned speed issues as he adapted to the power of the surf. He flat-out denied the buzz from the recent Cleo shoot had anything to do with it.

The rest of the team will be on-board tomorrow so stay tuned for more hoopla.