By PHIL JARRATT
WE’RE coming up to the 25th anniversary of the Noosa Malibu Classic/Noosa Festival of Surfing next March, and through my involvement in most of them, I’ve met surfers and surfing families from all over the world, and many of them have become firm friends.
These days we have a dozen or more countries represented each year, including extended family groups and whole clubs from California, Hawaii and all over Europe, but back in the previous century, Hawaii’s Bonga Perkins was about the only international, and he kept taking home the trophy!
With the introduction of the festival concept in 1998, we dug deep and flew a bunch of legends in, notably big wave hero Greg Noll from California, and world champ Rusty Keaulana from Makaha, Hawaii.
After the favourable word of mouth from that, the floodgates opened. The entire Keaulana clan (Hawaiian surfing royalty) descended on us the following year, and wonderful characters of surfing, like surfer/shaper the late Donald Takayama and Waikiki surf instructor Clyde Aikau (from another regal family) became regulars. I knew Clyde from the ’70s, when we didn’t like each other much, but we’d bro’ed down in France and Uncle Clyde became a wonderfully reassuring presence in Noosa.
The roll call has changed over the years, but the spirit remains the same. Now we have a fantastic crew of young Hawaiian girls, led by Hawaii’s champion junior Honolua Blomfield and her lovely mum, Lyn.
The contingent grows each year, and last March the amazing Schremmer sisters joined the party. Although their parents are beach people rather than dedicated surfers (dad Mike is an ER doctor and former college swimmer, mum Patty a former pro golfer), Mason, 14, Lola, 13, and Scarlett, 8, were introduced to the surf as babies by the Waikiki beach boys, when the family relocated from Florida.
Now they’re all rising stars, but more importantly, they live the spirit of surfing (gorgeous little Scarlett, the youngest competitor in 2015, even sent us a heartfelt thank you card).
Our media manager, Tommy Leitch, emailed Patty to ask her impressions of the family’s first Noosa Festival. This is what she wrote:
“We are more than excited to return to the Noosa Festival of Surfing. We had such a fantastic experience this year, with many lasting impressions. Lovely beaches, friendly people, incredible surfers, great surf breaks, and the festival was so impressive. The support and enthusiasm for the event is fantastic. The athletes and the sponsors, the local restaurants, shops, tourists, all seem to share the stoke. The staff at the Noosa Visitor Centre guided us to so many fun spots when we were looking to venture outside of surfing. We loved the markets, the Australia Zoo, the coffee shops, and the wildlife of the Noosa National Park.
“We loved the variety of events that could be surfed, from SUP to team to tandem. We also enjoyed the stadium feel of the viewing area at Noosa and how easy it is to be a spectator and actually view the surfers. We have shared our love of the event with many of our surf friends around the world and have recruited more surfers to attend the next festival.
“The Noosa Festival of Surfing is top notch! Organisation, participation, personality, announcers, viewing, variety of events, the beer garden, overall venue. The girls loved that there were many entrants in their divisions and that the aloha spirit was alive and well in the water. We look forward to reconnecting with some of the friends we made and we will enjoy the positive stoke that defines the festival.”
Thank you, Patty, and take a bow, Noosa. Oh, and if you’re a young female competitor, take note: Mason Schremmer won both under 18 SUP and longboard divisions at the US Scholastics in June, and finished second in both at the Surfing America nationals. Lola finished second to her sister in the scholastics SUP, while Scarlett was the youngest qualifier for the nationals in SUP and took out the women’s title at the Waikiki Longboard Classic. At age eight.
Look out, Noosa!
The fastest paddler on earth
Speaking of stand-up paddle champions, I think Noosa can lay claim to a little bit of ownership of Trevor Tunnington – even though the 18-year-old new “Fastest Paddler on Earth” was born Kiwi and lives at Twin Waters – by virtue of the fact that he works as an instructor at Noosa Stand Up Paddle.
The teenager blew minds at the Lost Mills flatwater event in Germany last week, part of the European pro tour, when he stormed home to take the 200-metre time trials by a solid two seconds, leaving world number one Connor Baxter in his wake. Baxter turned the tables in the long distance event, with Trevor content with a second behind his idol, but it was all Tunnington’s meet, when he proved his versatility and took a third in a classy field in the 18.8 kilometre marathon.
Trevor is also a very accomplished SUP surfer, as the photo (supplied by his mum) attests. What a future this kid has!
