BATTLE ON THE BOARD
SURFING’S BIG TEAMS EVENT:
POINT Lookout Boardriders will give a nod to history as they seek to create their own at this weekend’s Battle of the Boardriders National Teams event.
Likened to a grand final for clubs, the Newcastle competition pits Australia’s top surfers in a cutthroat teams event which promises to deliver bigtime bragging rights.
North Stradbroke’s Point Lookout come armed with a strong side but also a sense of history.
Team representative Stacey Holt Baxter is just the second female president at the club, with the current supremo quick to honour forebear Helen Ewing.
The late Ewing was a twotime Australian Open women’s champion in the 1980s and the first surfer from North Straddie to win a World Tour event, the 1983 Bells Beach Pro.
Ewing had three sons – Brody, Curtis and Ethan – with Curtis a two-time PLB club champion and considered one of the best free surfers on the island.
Ethan was only five when his mum passed away from cancer, but went on to win the 2017 World Professional Junior title and was on the World Championship Tour last year.
Both Curtis and Ethan will compete for PLB this weekend, with Holt Baxter hailing the trailblazing efforts of her predecessor as her club now strives for national glory.
“Being the second female president after Helen is a great honour,” Holt Baxter said.
“She was not only a fantastic role model for female surfing but also a wonderful mother and beautiful friend.
“There has and continues to be strong female presence not only in our boardriders club but in our community as well.”
Holt Baxter says there was no shortage of motivation this weekend.
“The PLB team is pumped and everyone is super excited to get down to Newcastle and give it their best,” she said.
“I think everyone in the team lifts with a competition like the ABB because we all seem to bounce off everyone’s excitement of going away as a team, having everyone’s support from home and knowing what amazing talent we have.
“Our team is all really close, we have all grown up together so I think that makes us stronger as a team and takes a little bit of pressure off.
“But there are definitely no easy teams in the ABB.”
The ABB final will be covered live on Channel 9’s GO! channel tomorrow.