Tuesday, 02 March 2010 00:00
Friendy's foray at Burleigh was no match for Coolie kid Dean Morrison.
As I finished packing some threads into my well-travelled duffel, I hit pause on iTunes to examine the heat draw freshly downloaded from the ASP for the inaugural Breaka Burleigh Surf Pro. I've surfed in a few QS events in the past, but this year, with a round of 96 wildcard seed, and sitting promptly upon the Pro Junior threshold I was looking to make a mark & step up my surfing against some of the finest QS battlers.
The 4 Star WQS events normally stage a pretty solid calibre of surfing, with snotty-nosed peckerheads like myself finding their way into the draw against the more seasoned competitors. However for the opening regional WQS event of 2010, I was not prepared for the line-up I was exposed to from my weathered MacBook screen. Names like Mick Fanning, Andy Irons, Owen Wright & Bede Durbridge beamed at me, amongst two-dozen or so other World Tour competitors; an outstanding field. I examined my Coastalwatch app, to find that the surfing talent was to be complimented by a decent swell.
Day one at Burleigh point was greeted with the preliminary crests of a burgeoning swell. The Gudaskas brothers provided some early heat entertainment with some smooth classic beach-boys style Californian surfing. A notable standout performance came from Volcom team manager, Matt Bemrose. The notoriously loudmouth Sydney-sider came out of retirement for the event, backhand blasting his way through the first two rounds. He found himself into the third round only to be facing one of his own team members: Mitchel James Coleborn. The pair agreed to help one another and progress in first and second. The point side spectators held their breaths as the clock ticked down, with Bemrose leading the heat and his esteemed team rider sitting in third searching for that all important wave. At the sounding of the siren, it was Bemrose who had proved himself as the form surfer, leaving a disgruntled Coleborn bolting from the beach in tears of angst after being eliminated by his own boss.
By the time the event’s main seeds were waxing their crafts pre-heat; Burleigh point was firing. Scores were dropping as fast as the promo gals dispersed the flavoured milks to the excited crowd. I wish I could name a standout, but the fresh face world tour surfers were all on fire, alongside some local rippers including the Dorrington brothers and Chris ‘Ibis’ Bennetts. I was dusted by an inform Dean Morrison, who’s right-point tailored hacks & cracks earned him two massive scores.
Media circles reported the final day to be an unprecedented hi-fi affair. The diminishing swell had left some crazy bowl like sections allowing Taj, Kerrsy and Owen to completely mistreat their ankles and knees with high flying punts. The amount of time their tails were kept in the water was minimal; a sure sign of things to come with this year’s rookie class. The traditionalists were trumped; Tom Whittaker left in the wake of a 17- year-old local wildcard, Thomas Woods. Josh Kerr was spotted sporting a 5’0 fish, with the other surfers shortening their crafts by an inch or two, compensated by wider tails. Anything to gain the most projection out of the lip was highly sought after.
At the conclusion of the event, it was crowd favourite Taj Burrow holding the 12k cheque of glory. Runner-up Josh Kerr doused him in chocolate milk; which had replaced the usual bottle of champagne
normally used at event presentations in the interest of the sponsor.
Its fair to say Breaka will be very happy with their first ASP investment. The returns provided by the surfing action throughout the weekend would have surely sold many-a-flavoured-milk. I return to the Sunshine Coast with an amended training agenda: to throw heat at every section possible. The surfing world now waits for the upcoming Quiksilver Pro to further witness what is appearing to be a ‘Renaissance’ of competitive surfing.
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