The 24th annual Cricks Noosa Festival of Surfing is now into its sixth day and the festival hasn’t disappointed despite a small swell moving the event further up the beach.
The action was moved to beach access 11 in the search for better surf on the less sheltered beach break at Noosa Woods.
The Deus Womp Comp kicked off the festival as the first round to hit the water and boasted an international competitor field from across Australia, France and a strong contingent from San Diego, California.
Californian Chris Lafferty made the most of the one-foot conditions using his vast experience and bag of tricks for a convincing three-heat win, while Hayden Emery and Phil Gabel fought close run heats one and five respectively to emerge victorious.
Local lad and an unknown entity in the field of bodysurfing, Fraser Biden, usually more akin to longboarding, put on a fantastic show and, along with John Robbins and France’s Jonathan Despergers, advanced to round two with a heat win.
At the other end of the surfing spectrum, the stand-up paddleboarders were next to get wet.
Familiar names were odds-on favourites and didn’t disappoint, despite the small conditions.
Geoff Breen dominated his heat, a 17-point combined score seeing him throwing his board around with strength and finesse, performing incredible maneouvres despite the lack of power provided by the ocean.
On day two, with competition still at beach access 11, the Classic Malibu Teams Challenge was the first to enter the water.
The popular division brought four-person teams from all over the world, with each surfer taking their turn to get as many points as they can on a single wave before adding the scores together for the team’s final ranking.
The always strong local team of Captain Sip Sops/Thomas Surfboards again competed dominantly, winning their heat by a convincing margin.
An all-Hawaiian, all-girls contingent, featuring the always outstanding Honolua Blomfield and Kirra Seale, along with Jo Rickabaugh and Sierra Lerback, threw a little feminine charm in among the predominantly male-dominated division, while the team from McTavish surfboards saw the great Ray ‘Mr Dropknee’ Gleave come out of retirement and return to the Cricks Noosa Festival of Surfing for the first time in many years.
The festival will run until Saturday 14 March with three more days of pure stoke to come.
For the full list of surfing events, visit www.noosafestivalofsurfing.com.
