Well, maybe not as much as in days gone by, but surfing’s senior citizens still know how to have fun, as witnessed at the 19th running of the Wrecks and Relics over 50s surf comp held last weekend over two sparkling early winter days at the river mouth.
Okay, it’s been a while since we saw this great event held on Noosa’s fabled points but the righthand bank at the river rock wall was in pretty good shape over the tide changes, with just enough size to keep it interesting. Like most events that originated with the baby boomers, the Wrecks has grown bigger and longer in the tooth as the years roll by.
I remember in the very early days it topped out at the over 60s and that was a hard division to fill. This year organisers the Noosa Malibu Club managed to fill over 70s for both men and women, and introduced an over 75 grand kahuna division in the mens.
To be honest, back in the day the oldest division was usually a comic sidebar with a few geezers struggling to get out the back and slide a few before collapsing on the sand with a respirator or a cold beer. But this is the beauty of surfing. As my generation has shown, if you really, really want to, you can keep going forever. Or at least 80-something, and there were a couple of examples in this year’s Wrecks, including the indefatigable Big Wave Bob Wood, of Sunshine Beach.
My dear old mate and surfing hero Barry Magoo McGuigan never made it to the Wrecks but he surfed in the oldest age group at the Noosa Festival of Surfing, usually against surfers 20 years his junior, until cancer claimed him at 85. And he wasn’t just going through the motions, he was a damn fine surfer, a truly elegant stylist right to the end. I try to emulate Magoo as I get seriously old, but he never had an alcoholic drink in his life and stood on his head for an hour every morning in the fire station where he worked, so what hope have I got!
A bit.
The super senior ranks these days are peopled by former champions who grew older but never grew up, but even though the competition is getting more hectic, I honestly feel that in my 70s I’m surfing better than in my 60s.
The agility of the teens and 20s may have diminished but the boards are better for codgers, and my current shaper Josh Constable knows exactly what I need – a performance single fin trimmer with a little more of everything to match the advanced body shape.
Given all that, it would be good to be able to tell you that your columnist gave perpetual first placer Eric Grey Ghost Walker a hiding and walked away with the big trophy, but in fact, after storming through the heats undefeated, I fell in a heap in the final, copped a few on the head, smashed my knees on my board and finished fourth.
Next year, Magoo, I promise!
But what a great weekend it was, old cobbers from all over, plenty of lager, laughs and memories, and exactly the right attitude in the water. Congrats to the Mal Club and all the worker bees, to event directors Peppie and Albie, the effervescent Gowers and this year’s heroes, the admirable Denis Lowe who took out the inaugural over 75s and made a beautiful speech thanking the late, great Macca for teaching him to do a drop knee cuttie (wish he’d taught me), and the amazing Sue Altmann, a ballerina all her life who came late to surfing but never gave up on it. Approaching her ninth decade on the planet, Sue saw a bomb coming, jumped on it and rode it like a champion to the beach, just eclipsing the estimable seniors champion many times over, Margie Bryant.
Can’t wait for the 20th anniversary same time next year, if we’re still here. As old mate Kevin Weldon says, “I don’t even buy green bananas any more”.
FOOTNOTE: El Salvador has been the scene of a lot of competitive surfing action recently. As I write the WSL pro event is in progress at Punta Rocas, with the ISA world amateur titles just finished along the coast a bit. Since Australian didn’t fare too well, I won’t got into details on the ams, just to note that our great champion and ambassador Sally Fitzgibbons once again put on a great show, and also found time to bro down with the Ukraine team, surfing in the world titles for the first time despite such horrors at home. Onya Sal.
SIDEBAR
WRECKS WINNERS
50 mens: Glen Gower
50 womens: Kate Perry
55 mens: Matt Fleming
60 mens: Glen Gower
60 womens: Peppie Simpson
65 mens: Albie Curtis
70 mens: Eric Walker
70 womens: Sue Altmann
75 mens: Denis Lowe
Old Mal: Wally Allen.
