An exciting wave of opportunity rolls in
DURING the shutdown of surfing events, a whole new area of opportunity has arisen riding on the back of a surfboard industry boom.
Welcome to the new era of virtual surfing in the form of web titles presented by Surfing NSW and Surfing Queensland.
Surfers have been able to submit surfing footage of themselves and be judged on their best two waves, much like a contest.
The last public surfing events were held in March and future competitions are off until further notice due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The World Surf League 2020 Tour is still on hold on the back of travel restrictions, pending an announcement due in July.
But that hasn’t stopped people from surfing, especially with the epic run of surf in the last month.
In fact, the surfboard manufacturing industry is experiencing a boom. According
to a spokesman from Burford Blanks, a major supplier of surfboard foam worldwide, busier.
“Sales of surfboard blanks have been unseasonably busy, which is probably due to it’s never been people surfing and not working, plus the waves have been so good.”
NSW was the first to kick off the new format of a webbased surfing competition judged on footage.
Cabarita’s Kyan Falvey was awarded third place in the U/16 boys when his dad submitted footage of him.
Kyan had entered the regional titles but when those were cancelled, competitors were offered entry into an online comp. Entrants had to submit two waves surfed and filmed in NSW in 2020.
Each wave was scored and the results were published.
The new format designed by former Queensland junior champion Chris Friend allows each surfer to watch their own waves and the waves of their competitors.
“My dad filmed a couple of waves that consisted of a twoturn combo of two turns on each wave. It was a good process to sort through my own waves and work out which ones would get the best scores.” said Kyan, who now looks forward to beach comps.
But this new phase in surfing could be replicated all year round and opens up opportunities for both free surfers and competitive ones.
SALES OF SURFBOARD BLANKS HAVE BEEN UNSEASONABLY BUSY ... PROBABLY DUE TO PEOPLE SURFING AND NOT WORKING, PLUS THE WAVES HAVE BEEN SO GOOD