There’s been so much happening in El Salvador in recent weeks it was a shame they didn’t get to wind it up with a bang rather than a whimper.
But that’s the way it went, with the second event of the WSL’s post-cut season placed on hold for a much-hyped swell that never eventuated, and the men’s and women’s semi-finalists eventually sent out in onshore rubbish. The whole event was lackluster, with Punta Rocas never looking better than a B minus wave, but finals day was excruciating.
It’s a shame to see this phase of the pro tour played out in under-par surf, with Brazil up next with possibly more of the same. To my way of thinking, the tour should be building momentum through the back-end, with the reduced number of competitors able to strive for a final five finish in quality surf. That should happen, but not until J-Bay and Tahiti. In the meantime, because of sponsor pressure and regional concerns, it’s tough to watch and I’m sure it’s even tougher to surf for your career in.
That said, in the men’s division the two best surfers of recent events, Griffin Colapinto and Filipe Toledo, were again the standouts, with Fil reversing the placings in last years Punta Rocas final, but still not claiming the yellow jersey. Other players will emerge of course in the waves of consequence to come, but at first and second in the rankings and the finals series to play out in similar conditions, the Californian and the Brazilian look certain to punt it out at Lower Trestles.
Of the Australians, only Ethan Ewing remains above the final five cutline, with early season leader Jack Robinson failing yet again, but it was Burleigh’s Liam O’Brien who finished best, with a notable third. Good news for him, but he’d need a miracle to reach final five.
In the women’s Tyler Wright was no match for a rampaging Caroline Marks in the final, but still held her number two spot on the rankings behind Carissa Moore. Steph Gilmore also remains in the five after losing to Tyler in the semis, while Molly Picklum is still in it at fourth but seemed to have run out of grunt in her quarter against Steph. Pickles needs to get it back, soon.
This week, Brazil. Yawn.
Down memory lane with Lynette
Now well into her golden years, Lynette Clemitson has been a stalwart of the Noosa Malibu Club for as long as I can remember, and an enthusiastic competitor in the senior ladies’ events until this year, when health issues have kept her out of the events. She’s also normally a regular in the ocean swim events, but for now that’s out too.
But Lynette has kept herself busy, volunteering at surf comps, selling up a storm for the surfboard raffles and getting her scrapbook histories of the Kurranulla Wahines ready for donation to a surf museum.
For those of you too young to remember the surfin’ ‘60s, the mighty Kurranulla (Aboriginal for Cronulla) Wahines was an all-women’s surfboard riding club founded in 1964 by Sydney southside surfers Lyn McCarthy (now Lynette Clemitson), Sharon Whittaker, Dianne Milling, and Sylvia and Sandy Hoogeveen.
The club had 35 members at its peak from all walks of life and became quite famous for the coverage it managed to get from the male-dominated surf media of the day. Jack Eden’s Surfabout was particularly kind, and surf photographer Bob Weeks became the official photographer.
Together for several years, the Wahines had regular club comps and inter-club meets with the strong all-womens East Coast club out of Bronte, and also Manly and Windansea on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
As Lynette told Pacific Longboarder magazine a while back: “The comps were fine, but really it was all about just surfing together. The whole group did regular trips away in a convoy of cars and the locals in those little coastal towns didn’t know what hit them. We just had so much fun!”
Lynette’s collection of cuttings and old prints takes me back to my first years of surfing, not a million miles from Cronulla. In fact, I grew up surfing alongside Lyn Stubbins, one of the star Wahines who won state and national titles. While Lynette never quite made the top echelon, she was, by all accounts, a ferocious competitor and a born leader. It’s quite a scrapbook, and young, fit and decidedly sexy Lyn McCarthy figures in a lot of the pictures, hanging out at the first world titles in Manly in ’64, stacking the boards on the roof of her classic Holden to go on surfari.
She’s had a great surfing life and it’s wonderful that she’s allowing it to be shared.
