Lock up your grannies, as we used to say, but these days there are as many grannies and grandpas cavorting on the beach when the Noosa Malibu Club’s annual Wrecks and Relics seniors surf comp is on.
So away with that sexist nonsense and instead let’s celebrate the fact that the biggest seniors only surf comp in the world next month celebrates its 20th anniversary with its biggest ever competitor base – 85 already signed up as I write with more late entries expected. And amazingly, 13 of them are entered in the oldest age division, over 75s, and three of those are actually over 80 and still feeling the wax between their toes.
When I grew up surfing in the 1960s there was an expectation that a surfing life began to fade away in your late 20s, maybe early 30s with a lot of luck, to be replaced by the responsibilities of education, work and later family. If you were lucky enough to work in the surf industry or media (as I did from time to time) you might be able to wangle an extension, but not for long. You certainly wouldn’t be sitting out the back waiting for a set when you’re fat and 50!
But then along came the longboard renaissance. We could get back on the meaty boards of our youth, paddle with ease and not risk a heart attack every takeoff. Surfing through middle age became a full-blown craze. When we introduced the Noosa Festival of Surfing in 1998, one of our slogans was “from grommets to grandpas”, but at that stage old was considered to be the over 50s. The grey brigade wanted more divisions and each year we obliged.
But by 2004 there was so much a demand for senior surfing that the Mal Club came up with the Wrecks and Relics. Very much a suck it and see proposition in its first year or so, the Wrecks proved to have legs, albeit a bit bandy and probably arthritic. One of the keys to its continued success was the fact that it promotes camaraderie and friendships over competition, although put an old bloke in a coloured jersey and watch him get gnarly.
For the past couple of years the Wrecks has been directed by two of our local surf community’s top senior surfers, both state and national champions, Peppie Simpson and Albie Curtis, ably assisted by several of the Mal Club’s old silvers. And this anniversary year they’ve gone all out, stretching the event from two days to three and introducing a gala dinner for competitors at Noosa Springs, where the walls will be ablaze with old footage and stills from the glory years, tall tales will be told and many a heat verbally re-run.
As one who’s competed in the Wrecks for a lot of those 20 years, I can’t wait for the fun to begin. If you want more info visit noosamalibuclub.com/wrecks-relics-competition-24/
Junior Irukandjis take ISA gold
Moving from the ridiculous to the sublime, the much younger Australian junior surfing team, known as the Irukandjis, have claimed the overall team gold at the 2024 ISA World Junior Surfing Championships, as well as individual gold medals for Dane Henry (U18 mens) and Ziggy Aloha Mackenzie (U16 womens).
In one of the most commanding victories in ISA competition, last weekend’s result in El Salvador makes the Irukandjis the winningest team in ISA world junior history, ending an 11-year wait since their last triumph in 2013. This is Australia’s eighth world team title, won easily from silver medallists Hawaii, with France taking bronze and USA copper.
Dane Henry (Fingal NSW) becomes first Australian to win the Boys U/18 World Title in 15 years, while Ziggy Mackenzie (Bilinga Qld) took the gold in the girls U/16. Our gold meddalists were backed up by team-mates Fletcher Kelleher with a silver and Milla Brown with a copper. Well done, guys and gals!
Murder in Mexico
Last week a radio reporter from the ABC phoned me and asked if I would do an interview about the horrendous murders of Australian surfers Callum and Jake Robinson and their Californian friend Carter Rhoad in Baja California, Mexico.
I was taken aback, not so much by the fact that they wanted to put me on air but by what they thought I might add to this unspeakable tragedy. I said no.
I’ve loved Mexico for over 50 years. First it was weekend strike missions over the border to surf San Miguel or K38 (right by where Callum, Jake and Carter were camped and were later found at the bottom of a well, dead from gunshot wounds to their heads) and dance and drink tequila shots at Hussong’s Cantina. Later, it was East Cape, Cabo to surf the remote points along dusty tracks at the start of the Sea of Cortez, and in more recent times it’s been the long fun lefts of La Saladita on the mainland.
Every time something bad happens there’s a pile-on about how the country is ruled by the cartels, but I can honestly say that I’ve always found the Mexican people happy, helpful and fun to be around, and in all these years I’ve only been scared once. That was when a bunch of men stood out on the road and blocked my way, ushering me into a dusty paddock hidden from the road. I was trembling when they told me to get out of the car, laughing when they handed me a stack of flyers for various bars and strip clubs in the next town.
None of which diminishes the tragedy of the Robinson boys. Like surfers of goodwill everywhere, I offer sincere condolences to family and friends.
