Well, you couldn’t have scripted it much better – a three-day event in celebration of 20 years and each of them blessed with winter sun, light offshore wind and tiny but lovely runners at Access 11, Noosa West.
Okay, it could have been waist to shoulder high First Point, but it rarely is in June, and I doubt that competitors would have had more fun there, even though the contest viewing area did look a bit like an old folks outing from the rest home. Ahem! What would you expect when we now have not only an over 75s division but a world first with an over 80s!
I’ve covered Trevor Brady’s historic victory in the 80s elsewhere in this edition, but suffice it to say the old boys surfed with conviction and did themselves proud, and I hope I’m still putting my feet in the wax when I qualify in 2031, which may even be an Olympic qualifier! Maybe not.
The Barry Davis Over 75s was also rather special, named in honour of a great bloke who always made a bold showing at the Wrecks, loved to surf in comps and loved (maybe even more) to come north from Brisbane and score the Noosa points with a small band of brothers known as the Wednesday Wanderers. When the Wanderers showed up you knew there’d be as many laughs as waves for the next hour or two, with Bazz leading the pack. It was appropriate that Torquay’s Bob Smith, almost a Noosan by now, at least in spirit, took out the first Bazz Memorial trophy with a great performance.
A personal note here: in the Over 70s men, your correspondent failed yet again, this time by a mere point, to take the win from serial event champion Eric Walker, which would have been only the second time in multiple heats over the years that I’ve got the better of him in a heat. Of course, we don’t take it very seriously, but curse you, Ghost Who Walks! Wait until next year.
The girls put on a show in the fun conditions, with Torquay’s Penny Andrews a stylish winner in the Over 50s, Wrecks chief wrangler and multiple champ Peppie Simpson unbeatable in the 60s, and Noosa Mal Club life member Di Cuddihy winning a titanic struggle in the Over 70s to take home the trophy.
The 20th was a Wrecks and Relics to remember, with a relaxed and happy vibe over the full three days, accompanied by fun and contestable waves, a wonderful celebratory dinner at Noosa Springs Golf Club and only the news of Aido’s passing casting a shadow over the last day. The spirit on the beach was, what would Aido have wanted? Well, he would have started singing, “These are my happy days, catching waves with my friends. How I hope these happy days will never end.”
Congrats to the Simpson/Curtis’s, the Borland/Molnars, the Gowers, Mick Corcoran, Ranga on the PA and the whole NMC crew. What a great event.
RESULTS
Over 50s Men: Jason Cook
Over 50s Women: Penny Andrews
Over 55s Men: Glen Gower
Over 60s Men: Wally Allan
Over 60s Women: Peppie Simpson
Over 65s Men: Mick Corcoran
Over 70s Men: Eric Walker
Over 70s Women: Di Cuddihy
Over 75s Men: Bob Smith
Over 80s Men: Trevor Brady
Old Mal: Glen Gower
Meanwhile, in El Salvador
Seems like since it became “Surf City” there’s an international event in El Salvador almost every week. Go figure.
The most recent was stop seven on the WSL World Championship Tour, the Surf City Pro, which seemed to offer contestable but hardly inspiring waves at Punta Rocas over its three running days. The time zone made it almost impossible for anyone but an insomniac to keep up with, especially when there was a really important event (the Wrecks) running concurrently, but I did take the trouble to catch up with some key heats, and can tell you that the potential world champions for 2024 have certainly hit the home straight.
In the women’s, Caity Simmers was knocked out by Gabby Bryan in the semis, but there wasn’t much in it, and she is back in the yellow jersey at number one in the rankings, and looks locked and loaded for the finals series in September. In the men’s John Florence took the event with some incredible above the lip antics and has pulled away from the field in number one ranking. The twice world champ is on a roll now and looks unstoppable.
From an Aussie perspective, Molly Picklum was the highest finisher in fifth place, as was Jack Robinson in the mens. That bounces Jack back up to second in the rankings, but he gives away 10,000 points to John-John, Ethan Ewing further back in fourth. Molly drops down to fourth with a fifth placing in the past three events and in need of a big finish in Brazil or Fiji to ensure her spot in the final five.
