Four local surfers made history at the 20th anniversary running of the Noosa Malibu Club’s Wrecks and Relics seniors surfing competition at Noosa West Beach last weekend.
In the first ever over 80s age division at a surf contest anywhere in the world, former surfing head judge and administrator Trevor Brady, 81 and now living at Tin Can Bay, emerged victorious over Mick Reale, 83, Bob Wood, 82 and Mike Williams, 81, after a thrilling 20-minute heat in perfect waist-to-chest-high waves that had the huge crowd on their feet and hooting from start to finish.
Five-foot-nothing Little Mick Reale jumped into action right from the start, taking two long rides on waves well over his head, scoring a near-excellent 7.0 for the first, and threatening for a title win in this, his comeback surf from a long out with injury. But wily Trevor Brady, biding his time for a set wave, answered back with a stunning excellent 8.17, then followed with a 9.17 to take complete control of the final, “combo-ing” the field.
Former advertising guru and founder of the Turtles swimming club, Bob Wood and big Mike Williams were gallant in defeat, both posting a high score of 4.57, and finishing equal third. But it was Trev’s day, and he led the other octogenarians through the Aussie flags to the beach podium, where they were festooned with Hawaiian-style leis in a ceremony orchestrated by Wrecks co-ordinator Peppie Simpson, no stranger to pomp and pageant.
Accepting his historic award, the unofficial world over-80s champion shed a quiet tear or two, then promised to be back to defend the title next year.
Full details of the Wrecks and Relics in Life of Brine, page 42.
