Burleigh Off Its Brain

Andy Morris

Tanner Gudauskas representing for SoCal. Pic Andy M

It’s true what everyone’s been saying about the Breaka Burleigh Pro. Don’t believe Public Enemy. Believe the hype. Burleigh lived up to its cult status this morning as straight and very smashable three foot freight trains skedaddled down the point. The sun was out, the water was back to its inviting lime green after all the torrential rain; it’s nothing but happy times for surfers on the Gold Coast at the moment.


Just another lap of the point for Ibis. Pic Andy M

It was obvious the locals had an advantage today. Chris “Ibis” Bennetts ran circles in his heat with a convincing win. Noah Lane stole the show from US ripper Tanner Gudauskas. And Jack Freestone put on a wild show. Interestingly, it took seasoned professionals a little too long to get their heads around the best take-off spot at Rock Break and were often timmy too deep to make the first section. It was a tad un-nerving seeing perfect waves being blown at such an elite level of the sport. Fifty meters down from the first take off zone the wave really turned on. The oldschool floater mixed with new-age tweaks came into play a lot – it wasn’t a safety turn, but more a survival method to get around the sections.


Travis Lynch tubed. Pic Andy M

The standout wave of the morning came from the Casuarina kid, Brent Savage. For those who didn’t see it on the webcast or in real life, he linked three sick, vertical reos down the line, stalled in the middle section and got one of those famous Burleigh barrels, then had another solid crack at the lip, before finishing off with a smooth carve. He earned himself a 9.83. After his heat Brent came in over the Burleigh boulders near the start of the point and was pinballed all the way in. “I though I was going to fuck my ankle,” laughed Brent. “I thought the tide was high enough, but my leggie got wrapped around a rock and I tripped over and couldn’t get back up!”

Paul Fisher had a dick on the end of his mic during last year’s WT Trestles event, which he was shoving in people’s hesitant faces. So what does he do this year? Well, today he had a vagina on the end of his mic and this time everyone seemed more interested in talking into the mic.


Jack Freestone floating over the shallows. Pic Andy M

As the day progressed heats became slow and conditions tricky. Scores began falling into the mid range.

It didn’t pull a Stubbies crowd (infamous 1977 surf comp where thousands of people crammed the point), but with the swell building, the weekend looming and the best surfers in the world all due to surf, anything’s possible. Tomorrow sees the Occstar represent and Nicky Wood's return to competition. Nicky who? Remember the youngest ever competitor to win a World Tour surfing event down Bells way when he was just 16? Well he's been out of the spotlight for a while, but if you've seen him out at Snapper you'd know he's still got plenty of tricks up his sleeve.


The young Aussies were on fire, Ty Watson sliding tail over the bricks. Pic Andy M

www.breakaburleighsurfpro.com.au