JUNIOR competitors from across Victoria are competing in Round 1 of the Woolworths Victorian Junior Surfing Titles at Phillip Island this weekend February 4 and 5 and there’s a liberal sprinkling of locals in all age divisions.
And it was young Dusty Rayner of Inverloch, surfing in the quarter final of the Under 14s who produced a buzzer-beater highlight on Saturday when he went from fourth to first on the last wave of the heat.
Dusty found himself on the inside after taking a wave out the back but with the last seconds ticking away in the quarter final he grabbed a decent reform wave and surfed it to the beach for a 3.67 score to sneak past Sunny Wouters by just one point into first.
The crowd cheered and family members including older sister Coco gathered on the beach to congratulate the young fellow. That’s what comp surfing is all about surely.
A man of few words, Dusty chatted with the Sentinel-Times on the beach afterward: How was it? Hard to catch waves? Are you through to the semis?
“Not bad. Yeah. Hopefully.”
In another huge highlight of the day, Kai Coleman found the powerful waves very much to his liking as he punched out four wave scores the pro surfers would have been proud of; 7.17, 5.93. 9.53 and 6.10 for a combo of 16.70 to win the Under 14 Boys quarter final (heat 3), but with Arch Rayner no slouch on 14.00 in a very classy contest.
The Woolworths Victorian Junior Surfing Titles is the exclusive qualification pathway for the State’s elite junior competitors to be selected into the Victorian Junior Surfing Team which is set to compete at the Australian Junior Surfing Titles later in the year.
Faced with stormy conditions organisers took the event to the Penguin Parade beach at the western end of the island where the wind shifted between offshore and cross-shore but still allowing plenty of clean chunky waves for competitors.
At one stage a massive tanker steamed across the horizon providing an unusual backdrop to the event as a good-sized crowd watched on, the sun popping out every now and again to warm the bones.
The event saw the juniors compete across six divisions including Under 14 Girls and Boys, Under 16 Girls and Boys and Under 18 Girls and Boys.
The three-part series started at Phillip Island before making its way to the Surf Coast and will finish on the Mornington Peninsula.
Competing in Under 16 Boys’ quarter final heat one, Jarrah Cicero of Sandy Point finished top with three good rides.
“Really enjoyed it. There were some pretty good waves out there. Great,” said Jarrah, typical of conditions at Waratah Bay, he said.
Toby Davies of Phillip Island led the second Under 16 Boys’ quarter final early but was overtaken by Jerry Kelly with superior wave selection and some very nice linking turns and cutbacks including one high—scoring 7.67 wave that included a terrific cut back and float on the finish, which he landed.
Rye Cicero, Jarrah’s brother, also from Sandy Point in yellow impressed with his first wave in quarter final 3 of the Under 16s when he landed his last cutback on the bricks showing plenty of commitment for the judges and scoring a nice 5.17 to get his tilt underway in style.
He backed it up with a big wave from out the back featuring a solid take off but in the shifting winds, the wave didn’t quite shape up and he kicked out in the white water but it was enough for a 5.60 and a good early combo score of 10.77 to have him in the lead at the halfway mark.
He finished with 12.43 on top with three scoring waves.
Sophie Thompson in the yellow surfed a good-sized wave to the beach to get her Under 18 Girls quarter final off to a great start.
But Eva Bassed of Sandy Point was the first to combo up with two brief rides to take the lead midway through.
Eva took off on her third wave using her priority over Sophie in second place but the wave didn’t count due to limited interference and Eva retained priority.
The heat counted down without any good sets coming through and Eva went through to the semis.
It was a delighted Eva who was greeted by supporters back on the beach.
“I got on to a couple early which was good and then it kind of went flat but good to get through, yeah,” said Eva.
In the second Under 18 quarter final Inverloch’s Sarah Seuren in white got the first wave to kick off her challenge but fell behind Juliet Muscroft who pulled out consecutive waves including a nice long ride for a 5.17 score to go to the lead.
Conditions out the back were a movable feast as two of the girls got cleaned up before Sarah took a wave going left that didn’t shape up with eight minutes remaining and good waves hard to catch.
Sarah was left alone out the back with priority after the other girls caught waves still with six minutes to go.
She took a couple more waves that didn’t shape up but she grabbed a promising one right at the end only to get bucked off and she was surfed out of the event in third.
Sister Sonia Seuren paddled out in the third quarter final in the under 18s just as Sarah was paddling in and the sun was popping out but it was Sarsha Pancic in red who snagged a nice pealing wave, linking some good turns to go into the lead.
She had her combo of 12.67 up before Sonia got her first wave, scoring well for a good takeoff, positioning and several early turns to go into second with a 4.0 score.
Ultimately Mia Holland caught a couple of nice waves to slide through to second but it was all Sarsha who dominated with some classy surfing and she looks in good form for the under 18 division with the finals at either Smiths Beach or Woolamai on Sunday.
The live scores and schedule can be accessed via http://www.surfingvic.com/live
