Another great day for Gromfest
Ballina’s North Wall again served up fantastic conditions — and the local sea-life served up an amazing show — for day two of the world’s most prestigious and original young surfer event at the Rusty Gromfest.
Girls 16 and 14 and under divisions along with the tiny Boys and Girls 12 and under rounds one were completed and high-scoring rides were essential for surfers to advance.
Current world number two rated 16 and under surfer Laura Enever (Narrabeen) looked like being implicated in the event’s first major upset as she trailed in fourth place in her opening round heat this morning. Not only was Enever finding it hard to catch the right waves, her opponent, Amy Hubbard (Currumbin/Gold Coast/Qld), was racking up some very good scoring rides to open a big lead.
Fortunately for Enever she managed to catch some strong rides toward the end of the heat which moved her from fourth place to second and she advanced behind Hubbard into round two.
A little rattled with her close encounter, Enever said after the heat: “That was a shocker for me and I was lucky to get through. It was a hassle out there and very hard to catch waves for me but I survived the heat and hopefully that gets rid of the scrappy heat. It’s a great event and I come here to have a lot of fun but that heat was no fun for me.”
Hubbard, on the other hand, enjoyed the win, saying: “I knew Laura would be a tough opponent but I don’t really care who I surf against, I simply get out there confident that I can beat anyone and I felt good. This is my first Rusty event and it would be a fantastic event to win.”
The Wright kids from South Coast NSW (Culburra) were prominent today. All three managed to take convincing heat wins across their divisions, with Kirby opening in the 16 Girls followed by Michael in the 12 Boys and finally Tyler in the 14 Girls.
Kirby Wright’s heat provided a memorable moment in the 12-year history of Gromfest, with a huge pod of dolphins, along with a massive flock of seabirds, invading the break on a feeding frenzy. Laughing after her win, Kirby described the situation, saying: “Oh gosh, that was so freaky out there. I’m not a fan of dolphins anytime and they were everywhere around all of us, I paddled for a good wave and there were two big dolphins surfing the wave as well, right beside me almost coming at me and I was scared and stopped paddling and missed the wave.”
Regardless, Kirby ended up posting a big opening round win and following her third placing last year she’s a big chance to win a Rusty title this year.
With Australia and most of the world’s best youngsters surfing at the Rusty, it’s always exciting when unknown young surfers reveal themselves at this event and today a young West Australian surfer appeared and put on a really exciting display.
Jack Robertson, who comes from the famous Margaret River surf region, impressed everyone by surfing brilliantly to easily win his 12 Boys heat. Making his performance even more impressive is that he’s just nine years of age and many of his competitors are three years older.
The tiny talent seemed focused on bigger things after his win today, saying: “I’m confident I can go a lot further here and maybe even win. The waves were really enjoyable and I felt good out there today and I’m looking forward to my next round for sure.”
Other impressive heat winners today included Sunshine Cast surfers Dimity Stoyle (Maroochydore) and Tom McGregor (Currimundi), Gold Coast surfers Will Morrison (Tweed Heads) and Noah Deane (Coolangatta) and overseas talents Alexis Poulter (NZ), Rosa Thompson (NZ), Peri Matenga (NZ) and Mihimana Broye (Tahiti).
A number of local surfers from the Byron, Lenox and Ballina region have also been strong including Soli Bailey (Suffolk Park/12 Boys) and Stephanie Single (Lennox Head/12 Girls), who both posted strong heat wins.
With two days to run the Rusty is right into the business end and the surfing is certain to lift even more as these exciting young surfers chase one of surfing’s most sought after titles.
The Rusty Gromfest runs Saturday July 7 through to finals day on Tuesday July 10th.
PICTURE: Noah Deane in action at North Wall, Ballina, today. Picture courtesy of Surfing Australia.
