International man of victory.
Congrats on the win, how did you come to be competing in the Channel Islands?
Well my wife is from Jersey island and she has a lot of family here so we really want to come over to see everyone. Once WA opened up to the rest of the world we were straight on the first flight over. I brought my bodyboarding gear because there are some really fun waves here. We had already arrived, surfed a few times and saw there was a comp scheduled so thought it would be cool to go in it.
There was a mixture of different divisions such as surfing, SUP, longboard and retro boards so there were a lot of heats to get through. The forecast wasn’t great but then it changed at the last minute and there ended up being some good swell on the Sunday.
How long has it been since you last won a contest?
The last contest I won was at Mandurah Wedge last year in the senior men’s division and prior to that I won the Open State Titles in 2020 which was a great event at Claytons, Mindaries. So I generally just do one contest a year in WA and haven’t competed interstate since 2005 (when I won the Aussie Title in Port Mac) let alone overseas.
Did you plan on entering the contest or was it just happenstance that you were in the area?
Didn’t have any plans to compete and just entered it to catch up with some of the local bodyboarders and check out the comp scene. I made a joke instagram post about going back on tour but was just excited to be going overseas again after the lockdowns and back on an international flight.
Any other scoring of waves so far on the trip?
Yeah I’ve had some fun waves at St Ouens bay and a wedgy beach break there. Waiting for some more swell to arrive, there’s a good reef break but you have to wait for the high tide to cover the rocks because the tide can vary by 9 meters so timing is everything.
What other highlights of the trip have you had?
The Channel Islands are so much fun and there’s lots to do. There’s all these German war bunkers and tunnels from when they occupied the islands in the 1940’s – World War 2. There are old castles to check out. They have ancient rock huts which date back to the caveman days. There was a good vibrations music festival as part of the comp and everyone is really friendly.
We are about to get the ferry across to the UK and I’m booked for the Bristol Wave Pool which is like Urbnsurf in Melbourne so looking forward to that!
Big thanks to Colin Crowther for his local wave knowledge and flying the flag for Jersey bodyboarding.
