VICTORIA

Story and pictures by CHRIS WORTHY

Some of Australia’s best indigenous surfers gathered on Wadawurrung Country for three days at the internationally-renowned Djarrak/Bells Beach in Victoria to compete for the Rip Curl Indigenous titles held by Surfing Victoria.

Now in its 13th year the competition keeps growing with competitors from all over Australia gathering at the famous location with the expectation of the usual great waves, but the first two days produced very calm conditions with competitors making the most of their opportunities when the good waves came through. The final day produced some much-improved conditions which made for some exciting and close surfing for the finals.

The competitors shared great sportsmanship, community and friendships over the three days with many young and old gathering early on the chilly mornings around the fire at the top for some breakfast chats and storytelling. Many competitors also gathered on the beach after the competitions to congratulate each other and discuss the conditions out on the water or cheer on the next group of competitors.

Former pipeline master and surfing legend Robbie Page, now appearing in his 12th Indigenous title, expressed his thought’s on being back at Bells.

“It’s unreal to be here. It’s a spiritual gathering, a modern-day corroboree, back here at Djarrak. I competed in around 12 Bells Beach Pro events back in the day, and now this is my 12th Indigenous Titles, which is pretty special. There’s such a strong family feeling here. There are no egos, and when one of us wins, we all win,” he said

The competitions were tightly contested with the young up-and-coming surfers showing they could match it with their older more experienced counterparts. In the girls and open women’s competitions, young 13yr-old star Leihani Zoric continued her rapid rise, winning both, and getting the highest ladies ride for the weekend with a 9.0 certainly proving she will be a star well into the future.

The boys weren’t to be outdone with Malakai Carson winning the Junior boys and finishing a respectable 3rd in the open men’s while also finishing with the highest ride of the weekend of 9.60. They were just two of many juniors that competed strongly and have a bright future in the sport.

Taj Simon won the open men’s event.

In the long board men’s Kaiden Smales added to his trophy cabinet narrowly defeating Rhys Collins by just 0.54, while in the women’s the result was even closer, with Melissa Combo taking the victory over Angela King by just 0.34.

While in the masters women’s event Kirsty Shaw had a dominant victory producing a two ride score of 16.66.

The weather had been mild until the last event of the weekend, the men’s over 50s where driving rain made the conditions tricky with Brook Silvester narrowly defeating Scotty Winch and the experienced Robbie Page.