By Phil Jarratt
With due deference to avid reader Big Wave Bob, this column is going to be mainly about live people surfing now, and there’s been a lot going on.
In sparkling little righthand runners at Cabarita, just a few hundred metres from where we farewelled Joe Larkin the week before (sorry Bob), the Australian Longboard and Logger Titles played out, with the Noosa Malibu Club all over it. As I write there are still a few divisions to be decided, but last Sunday was a great day for Noosa, and for the Sunny Coast generally.
Let’s start with the girls first, just for a change, and the standout performance of Noosa junior star Emily Lethbridge, who made three individual finals over the course of the day, and took out the Australian junior women’s title ahead of Noosa’s Felicity St Baker. Emily also finished a tight second to Sydney’s Tully White in the open women’s, with Noosa’s Kirra Molnar a creditable fourth. To top it off, Emily also finished fourth, just behind Noosa’s Zac Brewer, in the open gender junior logger.
Still with the women, I mentioned in this column a few weeks back Noosa’s Kristy Quirk’s stellar performance at the Whalebone Classic in Perth in sketchy conditions, and in great conditions at Cabba she backed it up with a second in the over-35 women. This girl has come such a long way in a relatively short time, trading the Isadora Duncan scarf and the arabesque for straight-up, solid surfing with style. Great work, gal.
Turning to the blokes, most of the glory went south, with Gold Coast veteran Dane Pioli taking out the open men’s title and scoring a fourth in the logger, where Sunny Coaster Clinton Guest finished second to a blazing Ben Considine. In the over-35 men’s, Brisso Dean Bevan (who was also strong in Perth) took out the title from Buderim’s Jason Caldow, while in the junior ranks the aforementioned Zac Brewer finished just behind second-placed Aidan Feeley of Caloundra in longboard and logger.
With some good results also coming through in the old bloke divisions as I write, well done Noosa Mal Club. It’s great to see such strength right through the ranks. And I bet it was fun too, all those sun-drenched winter peelers.
Holy Toledo! He’s done it again!
Across the pond at Huntington Beach, the women’s US Open world tour event saw all the Aussies knocked out in the quarters as Sage Erickson posted her first-tour victory. This still leaves the Aussie girls with a stranglehold on the rankings, with Tyler Wright and Sally Fitzgibbons one and two, but Courtney Conlogue has edged Steph Gilmore out of third.
In the men’s QS event, Huntington local Kanoa Igarashi was a popular winner, but the sensation of the event was Igarashi’s semi-final when Brazil’s Felipe Toledo, the fastest surfer on tour, was called for his second interference in three events, on the same surfer. Anyone who’s surfed Huntington Pier will know that drop-ins, snakes and collisions are not uncommon, but Toledo, number seven on the rankings after his sensational win at Jeffrey’s Bay where he truly raised the bar for pro surfing, really should know better.
If you’re going to split the peak, you’d better be sure of what the other guy is doing, particularly if it’s Igarashi.
Toledo’s interference call against Kanoa in Brazil a couple of months back led to a subsequent blow-up with the judges and a suspension from the Fiji event.
Now, back in contention for a deserved world title, he’d better brush up his act, and if there’s bad blood with Kanoa, leave it in the locker room.
Antarctica with trams
Meanwhile, your correspondent spent the week in chilly Melbourne, or “Antarctica with trams”, as the delightful social diarist Cassandra used to refer to it. No offence Melbourne, but eight degrees maximum is just not cutting it, especially when your rented downtown apartment’s air-conditioning has had the fritz!
Coming home after a long, hard day of meetings and blah-de-blahing on the wireless, I did a couple of pirouettes around the vast and fridge-like room, and unable to shake the icicles off, had no option but to repair to the warm and cosy whisky bar next door.
In fact the whisky bar scene caught me by surprise, not having spent much time in the Melbourne CBD in recent years. Flinders Lane is just one long parade of barely-signposted doorways leading to tiny caverns of delight where you are served endless flights of whisky and cheese. Nothing better for the winter blues … except coming home to our endless, near surfless, blue sky winter.
Footnote: Tonight’s the night at Halse Lodge – the first tour stop for the Life of Brine, with special guests Band of Frequencies’ Shannon and OJ Unplugged. Tickets at the door, but you’d better let Annie know you’re coming on 5448 2053.
