Winning The Wahu
Last year was my first year of competitive surfing. It started with the Gold Coast Wahu Surfer Grom Comp, where I didn’t make the final – so I really wanted to show how much I’d work through the year to do well to get a win under my belt in the wahu of 2015.
My nerves were on edge. The comp was being held at the North side of the Spit in Surfers Paradise because, even though it’s on the Gold Coast, I’d never surfed there before and the new surfboard hadn’t arrived yet – so I had to stick with my dinged up dingo! I calmed down as I went for a surf and realized my practice on the lefts had developed and I felt comfortable. It wasn’t so comfortable in the blazing heat of the day – with little shelter available on the white sand.
I had two big goals – to post good scores and to win my heat. I was happy with a healthy 7.5 and 5 and won the first round – my confidence was boosted!
Straight after the heat we dashed to Burleigh Heads to help out with the Billabong Bikini Truck and watch the Billabong Burleigh Single Fin Classic, meeting up with the legendary Dave ‘Rasta’ Rastovich and Lauren Hill. There were really fun vibes there – a really good atmosphere! Even with a SWARM of jellyfish closing in on the competitors, everyone had a good time J
On the second day it was overcast and rainy, the complete opposite to the previous day and we all huddled up under our friends the Campbell family’s tent (thank-you!) to watch the competition. There were even more stinging ocean creatures today and I was quite freaked out because I’d never been stung by a bluebottle before…
Anyway, I was sitting out in the line up for a warm up surf and felt a really sticky stinging sensation and found a bluebottle lightly touching my thigh. I quickly grabbed it and threw it away and caught the next wave in. To be honest at that moment it hurt but it disappeared fast. That wasn’t so bad!
I had another great heat – winning two out of two which put in the red rashy (seeded first ) in the final. I wanted this so badly, I hadn’t won a proper comp all last year, so this would really kick things off. I even wrote a little note to myself to help me focus! We shared it around all our friends who were competing that day and they say it helped them a little too!
It was time. The next 20 minutes would be the decider, now I just had to make sure that I produced the winning scores.
I had a steady lead but there is always a chance to better your scores so I made sure no one was catching up.
As the 30 second mark was approaching I glanced back at shore and saw all my friends cheering on the beach. My friend Jaggar was in the U14 boys final after me and gave me a thumbs up.
3…2…1… BEEP!!
I had done it. I had won! I actually felt like it was just a heat win and it wasn’t that big but I was still really happy. I caught a wave in and did 3 big turns that many people said was the best wave I had caught all competition – after the buzzer!!
As soon as I saw all the other girls in the final I gave them a big hug J
I am really appreciative for all the support from my family, friends and sponsors.
Thank you!!
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