After a strenuous early evening of sundowners in the park while watching the Christmas Carols flotilla float by, to be honest I’d seen enough water activity to do me for last Saturday, but duty called so I sat down in front of the Mac to watch the WSL Nazaré Big Wave Challenge in Portugal.
And lasted about 15 minutes. But it was enough to see France’s Justine Dupont defending her women’s title by sliding across the shoulder of a monster into the waiting arms of her ski driver Eric Rebeire, and mega-wave madman Nic von Rupp (Portugal) towed into an absolute bomb by his young tow partner Clement Roseyro (France).
As I discovered the next morning, that was two out of the three best waves ridden. If I’d managed to catch Lucas “Chumbo” Chianca slide into a 50-footer a bit later to get the nod for best men’s individual performance, I would have watched the trifecta and still got to bed before lights out and before confusion reigned on the cliffs of Praia do Norte.
According to the WSL official report: “A massive day of competition unfolded today at the Tudor Nazaré Big Wave Challenge as some of the world’s best big wave surfers braved the 45-60 foot waves at the iconic Praia do Norte. Thousands of surf fans lined the cliffs from sunrise to sunset, creating an arena like no other. The team of Nic von Rupp and Clement Roseyro won Best Team Performance, while Justine Dupont earned the Women’s Best Performance and Lucas Chianca (Brazil) the Men’s Best Performance award.”
Posting on Swellnet an hour or two later, legendary big wave filmer Tim Bonython had a slightly different take: “So Nic and Clement win, literally by half a point. Only Round One run. Scooby and Chumbo needed to win their second round or better the scores of Nic and Clement to win the comp but due to technical issues, including a medical boat missing (so I am told) the second round was cancelled. From 2pm the public had really no idea what was going on. It was absolutely farcical. On a good note, I am happy to say Aussie five-times world kite surfing champion Melbourne surfer James Carew came third with driver Andrew Cotton.”
I’ve been to a few surf comps in Portugal, even run one or two, and I know of what Tim writes. Wonderful, friendly people, the Portuguese, but excitement tends to trump communication.
But great to see James Carew fly the flag in a comp dominated by Euros and Brazilians, and even better to see Nic Von Rupp, probably the best big wave free surfer in the world, underline his competitive cred. When I was boss of marketing for Quiksilver Europe, at every groms event we sponsored, Nic’s dad, who had just bought a holiday house in Portugal to escape the German winters, pumped me about getting little Nic into our junior team. To be honest, I wasn’t keen. There was a lot of arm-flapping going on and I didn’t think he had what it takes.
So much for my crystal ball. Nic is not only guts-up, he’s smooth in the most radical of situations, like Lopez on steroids. And there will be more podium finishes before he’s done.
Paras rule at Aus Surfing Awards
I made it down to the Goldie for my first SA Hall of Fame awards dinner in quite a few years, and was so glad I did. Mainly I was there to honour old mate and colleague Graham “Sid” Cassidy inducted into the Hall, sadly in his absence but graciously accepted by Sandshoes buddies Steve Core and Reno Gillespie, but the night had many high points, the most surprising and pleasing to me being the dominance of the adaptive surfing contigent.
Firstly, my great mate Mark “Mono” Stewart capped off a week that began with him being inducted into the NSW Hall of Champions with another gong in the SA Greater Good award.
Accepting the honour, Mono said: “I was extremely proud to captain the Australian team at the ISA World Para Championships this year. We finished fourth overall, but the whole team—especially the women—truly excelled and did an incredible job.” But later, when we had a good long chat, Mono told me what excited him most was the performance level right across the para divisions. Adaptive surfing has only had a world championships for 10 years, and Mono has won five of them, but he jokes that he struggles to get out of his heat now. “They’re not just surfing now, they are ripping!”
Underlining this positivity was Annie Goldsmith, winner of the female para surfer of the year. Annie, 18, who has cerebral palsy, had the huge crowd of supporters, and everyone else at the awards, laughing and crying at the same time with her wonderfully self-deprecating acceptance speech.
Alongside female surfer of the year the hilarious Molly Picklum, she quite made my night.
All the best for Yuletide to faithful Brine readers. Let’s hope Santa send us a swell!
