Australia's Surfing Life Magazine

Davey Does It

Tuesday, 18 May 2010 00:00

Will H-S

Davey Cathels tearing the land of the long white cloud's long lefts. Pic Robertson

On Sunday North Narrabeen wild child Davey Cathels took out the Billabong Pro Junior Raglan NZ, over fellow Aussie Ryan Callinan. With this win and an early loss from ratings leader Mitch Crews, Davey has narrowed the gap. The Aussie Junior Series title race just got a whole lot more interesting.

ASL - Tell us about the contest.

Davey - It was at Raglan and the surf was fun. We got some OK waves, but the wind was pretty shit the whole time. I did an event there two years ago and got knocked in the first heat, so I hadn’t really surfed there much.              

How was the final?

It was close. Ryan Callinan got a five and then a small insider and did a nice air-reverse, rode it all the way in and scored an 8.5. Then I was comboed and there wasn’t much time to go. There wasn’t many good ones coming through but I knew I only needed a couple of mid-range scores and I’d be sweet 'cos he didn’t have a back-up score. Luckily I got a few alright ones and put myself in the lead, Ryan only needed a five or something and he just couldn’t get it.

Was Ryan gutted to lose by just 0.10 after he locked in the highest scoring wave of the final?

Yeah, but that’s competition, you win some you lose some. You win by a point or lose by a point, it happens to everyone. I’m sure he’ll make some more finals.


Davey's second win of the season, he might need a couple more to catch Crewsy. Pic Robertson

Mitch Crews has a massive lead on the rankings but lost early in this event. Do you think you catch him?

I wasn’t really thinking “oh Mitch lost first heat, now I can capitalize.” I wasn’t thinking about ratings or anything, I never really do. I’ve brought the lead a little closer but it’s still a big ask. Mitch is a long way out in front and I think this was a one-off loss for him. We’ll see what happens.

Has seeing your hometown hero Chris Davidson kick arse this year inspired you?

Yeah it’s always good to see someone you surf with on a regular basis do well, I think it pushes you to do well too. I surf with him at home a lot, and it always pushes my surfing.

Tell us about growing up in North Narrabeen.

It’s got a reputation of being a pretty gnarly place, but if you live there and you’ve grown up there it’s pretty cool. It’s a really tight knit community, there's the whole boardriders thing and everyone’s good friends. But, yeah sure, if you don’t live there and you go for a surf, it’s pretty hard to catch waves.

When I was young there was a bit of grom abuse, but there's not that much anymore. All the young guys are kinda getting away with it. It’s pretty sick growing up in Narrabeen.

Did seeing fellow Narra local Laura Enever win the World Junior Championship at Narrabeen in January make you wanna do the same?

That was one of the biggest inspirations ever! To see her win at home in front of everyone, getting chaired up the beach, treated like a hero. I was sitting there thinking “fuck, I wanna do that next year!”     

You’re looking good for a spot in that event again this year, what have the Aussie guys gotta do to win it?

I dunno, maybe get there early and surf the break more. Nah, it’s not even that. I think we need more confidence. Crewsy and me and whoever else makes it, we all surf good enough to win it, we just need to get serious about it.

I know in the past guys like Owen Wright and Stu Kennedy have had weird loses where they don’t surf as well as they usually do. If we all turn it on and try and push each other I think we can do it for sure.

Thanks for that mate, good luck for the rest of the year.

Yeah mate, no worries.