Good Time Sally

Well that week of the 9th was a mixed bag of emotions to be honest, as one of the strangest situations of my life fast approached, I began to actually acquire nerves. Nerves I had supressed since I used to trot around on stages in front of large crowds of buzzing parents back at Collingwood.

I am not sure if everyone reading this was aware but before I had actually departed for Australia I had (on the prompting of a certain Penguin) found myself registering to take part in the Noosa Longboarding Festival Surfing Competition. Prior to going into the detail I want to remind you that up until recently I had arrived in Australia and was being absolutly re-schooled in how to surf, so realistically I am not actually some kick ass super pro, but with some kind supportive words I was going to be taking part in the 18-39 Amateur Open event at the surf festival, just to get a bit of a grading I felt and most importantly of all a chance to surf First Point Noosa with only 5 other guys in the water and get a kick-ass tee with a big fat competitor logo printed on it for the fesitval. Hoping that this would bring a competitive edge also when it came to talking to some of the truly ugly tree bashing girls that stroll the beaches of the most "beautiful" place in the world.

Anyway the festival started on the 13th and a few days before I started to actually acquire some nerves. Which is probably about the same time I slipped from my blogging habit.

The weather was sweet, Noosa was stunning and the swell had risen to a cool 4ft. The trouble with all this is that not only did this mean locals where taking RDO's (Rest of Day Offs) everyday, but a further 10,000 logging fanatics had arrived in town all looking to score some sick right handers. Now I'm a lover of "everybody surfing now" but seriously surfing Boiling Pot one day there were at least 4 to 5 hundred people in the water. The entire point network looked like a conveyer of every surfer in the world, clawing at the chance for a minute ride through the points, and as mentioned it was cranking. I was out there at about 3pm one of the days and everytime I turned my plank I would bash into someone. Firstly I was still sitting quite far outside because I was still scaredof the angry aussie surfers shouting at me for no reason, and secondly it was 3PM in the afternoon, lets just say it was mental. In all the fridge like chilledness of my mind at that stage a small mosquito of panic flew by, how the hell was I going to get any better for the comp in 4 days, and how the hell was I going to survive as another 3 year old grom sprayed me across the face with a ridiculous backhand cutback, classic of everyone in Australia. I was surely an alien in this situation, and like most hollywood representations I was surely doomed.

So I thought hey, big grin appearing now on this reminiscent noggin. So i thought.

Comp day came, and my heat was the 6th that day. I would be surfing on Monday the 14th at 8:40 AM and quite thankfuly I even had a buddy in my heat from the lodge. Which I was hoping would ease the poop factor. We had picked up our sick tee's and a bunch of other cool shit on registration day, and to be fair I was now feeling pretty amped. What an experience this was going to be. My fairly average surfing ass taking part in a real Aussie surf comp, and more than that the same comp that Josh Constable, Rabbit Bartholemew, Joel Tudor among other would all be taking part in as well. This was going to be off the chart, and I was so excited all over the weekend before I couldn't stop wee-ing.

8:40 was not going to be too ideal of course, because it meant myself and Mark would be going out for a little pre-comp surf at 5AM. Not too much of a problem as we had surfed dawn a few times already, but the problem was once again every longboarder on the planet was also seemingly thinking the same, and we paddled into a crew of about 100 people all knawing at each other for rids on First Point. Also 8:40 was the high tide peak that morning, and with this meant that First Point would be fully flooded, and potentially have as many waves as a tranquil buddhist water feature, that had no waves. So there were a few obvious obstacles ahead. Oh and not forgetting to mention my heat would be shared with a Taiwanese Ninja, a French Assassin and 2 Aussie Local boys who bled Noosa point breaks. Time to put on the comp rashie then and stop being a pussy hey.

We stood all in a line, on the beach, with our boards waxed and chilled, and I was trying to figure out how the fuck I was going to survuve when all of a sudden all the "done this beforers" turned round to me and said "hey bro, good luck hey....." "What? I thought, what is this. Some sort of "so you're English, a little overweight, and riding a mellow plank" sympathy cry / snigger from 4 tanned, athletic, surfing super powers, with brand new comp spec performance boards. Nope this was genuine. And so was the chatter as we all picked up our boards, and strolled into the sea, likewise the banter, chatter, and moaning of conditions that followed as we paddled out to the comp area. I couldn't believe what was going on, this was supposed to be a competition, I was nervous, why isn't everyone Wanna-Be Tank Evans' glaring at each other making slit throat signals. Then I remembered this was the Noosa Longboarding Festival, and looking back at the beach with all the old guys chilling drinking beers at 9AM in the morning, arms crossed hanging out, beautiful girls in very little staring over Gucci and Prada shades, and the Commentator bellowing "Phill Sargeant from the UK, welcome to Australia buddy", this was certainly going to be a very different perspective to a competition than I had thought, In fact nothing can prepare you for that, especially as I turned back to the boys I was sharing this heat with had all started to sing along to the black eyed peas track that was blaring out the sounds system on the beach. I blinked, wee-d a little and smiled. The Air Horn Blared once, Blared Twice, and I paddled into the first wave. Popping up into my bottom turn I thought, you fuckwit, what were you worried about, this is Noosa, paradise, she's hardly here to scare you, now go have fun, surf your ass for 20 minutes, and savour every second, because you are actually surfing in a Australian Surf Comp and you sure as hell know what needs to be done to score.

I did score, I did also come last in my heat, but with a 10 minute wave miss on first point within our 20 minute heat, who cares. One thing I am proud of for sure, is that I was the only English dude in the whole Amateur Open, I did'nt come last overall in fact 50th out of 60, and I scored pretty decent in 2 waves.

I will never forget that moment, arriving back at the beach with the boys, all 6 of us grinning shaking hands and literally strutting past the crowds back to the tents, I will never forget the people that came to meet us, all our friends who were whooping and screaming along the headland as we paddled in, and the friends I made throughout the competition week. I will never forget the feeling of being a part of the whole festival, the amazing surfing I saw, but above all the experience that was gained.

I will definitely be back to do that again.