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Longboarder has high hopes for '07
by TOBY WALKER
TELEVISION appearances, sponsorship commitments, his own burgeoning surf
school to run and board meetings around the world.
Life sounds hectic for famously laidback Maroochydore longboarder Grant Thomas. But the 28-year-old wouldn't have it any other way.
The idea was not to work too hard, he said, and when work involves travelling around world surfing breaks most of us get to see only in magazines, then you can understand why he's not too stressed about the arrangement.
A new year is on the horizon and with it come more waves and another chance for Thomas to further cement his reputation as one of Australia's best longboarders.
He's been doing that since he left school, and 2006 was no different. Thomas finished ninth in the world at the ASP World Longboard Championships and second in Australia, behind Coffs Harbour's Harley Ingleby and in front of good mate and Noosa longboarder Josh Constable.
It was the fourth year in a row Thomas has finished in the world's top 16, and he will look to do it again next year.
Another milestone he hopes to reach in 2007 is pulling off a hat-trick of wins at Noosa's Festival of Surfing, which begins at the end of February.
"The other guys have been trying pretty hard to beat me the last couple of years, so we'll see what happens," he said.
"Josh won it a few years ago and I know he'd love to win it again. It's so good to surf at home, and the competition means a lot to all the local boys I travel with."
Until then, Thomas will be kept busy managing his Maroochydore-based surf school, which received a healthy boost of interest in November after he came third at the Lanuza International Longboard Pro in the Philippines.
And when school's out (although that now seems unlikely), Thomas also has a new gig in front of the camera to consider. Contractual obligations stopped him from discussing exactly what he was doing in Hawaii last month, but he said he was presenting on an Australian-backed pilot for a lifestyle television show.
It's a job Thomas will no doubt skilfully ease into, just like the waves at First Point.
