World Champion knocked out at Noosa Surf Festival as locals charge through the small waves at Noosa
World Longboarding Champion Phil Rajzman (Brazil) has been eliminated from both the Telstra Men’s Pro and the Pro Noserider divisions at the Noosa Surf Festival today.
Rajzman struggled in the small waves at Noosa Main Beach today and after his elimination was philosophical about his early exit saying – “Naturally I’m disappointed to lose because in the world of longboarding this is such a great event but I knew it would be hard for me to do well in such small conditions – I’m much better suited to medium to large waves but unfortunately we only have small waves this year so really I’m not surprised and I’m not disappointed!”
Typically patriotic, Rajzman will now concentrate on supporting fellow Brazilian Roger Barros who has advanced to the quarter finals of the Telstra Men’s Pro – “Roger is far better suited to small waves than me and I’ll stay on and support him from the beach and try and help him win for Brazil – I think he’s a really good chance to take the title this year!”
Highlight performance at main beach today was from another young international in Christian Wach from San Clemente California USA. The talented 18 year old who is defending champion Noserider, put on a near perfect performance in the Pro Noserider division with a cumulative total of 76 seconds on the nose in his 20 minute heat today. Wach’s performance was well ahead of his rivals with the next best performances logged in by Noosa surfers Matt Cuddihy on 48 seconds and Jai Lee on 45, both who will have to lift their games considerably if they are to challenge Wach in this division.
Christian Wach shows perfect poise on the nose of his longboard
Happy with his heat win today Wach said “That was a great heat for me and I’m confident I can defend this title but really wave choice in the final is crucial and anything can go right or wrong when you’re nose riding. I’ve been eliminated from the main division of the Telstra Men’s Pro so I really have to focus on this division and try and win – The waves have been small to date but as longboarders we are really adaptable and I’m loving this event again this year and who knows, the waves might pick up by the weekend!”
Two surfers who are more than happy to see the swell remain small are the surprise young local brothers in the field in Ezra and Zye Norris, 15 and 13 years old respectively from Sunrise Beach.
Both are causing plenty of problems for their more experienced competitors in the Pro Noserider division mainly due to their light bodies which can cruise across the tiny waves while they rack up serious noseiding time on waves their fellow competitors simply can’t catch! – Both won their heats and Ezra summed the situation up saying – “ We have an advantage for sure and we’re happy to keep riding the tiny conditions – If it gets smaller we could win!”
Both are also competing in the Junior divisions at this festival and Ezra qualified his small wave wish saying “For the Junior heats I’d like it bigger as I think that’s my best chance to win that division – either way, I happy!”
Telstra Men’s Pro Quarter Finals and Banana Boat Women’s Pro quarter finals will patiently await the best surf conditions in the coming days with some event organizers confident of a slight swell increase that hopefully sees the event relocate back to the main event site on the points at Noosa Heads.
Much awaited Stand Up Paddle divisions along with Tandem divisions are expected to be in action tomorrow and we’ll see many legendary names of the sport including Luke Egan
(AUS - recent world number 2 rated ASP surfer) along with Hawaiian’s Brian Keahulana, Dave Parmateer and Bonga Perkins all in action.