WESTERN Australia's best young surfers impressed in challenging conditions at Trigg Beach over the weekend for the second event of the WA Junior Surfing Titles presented by SunSmart.
Shifty and punchy peaks in the two metre range provided ample scoring opportunity along the Perth coastline.
The South West surfers adapted best to the conditions, winning six of the seven divisions contested.
Yallingup’s Emma Cattlin and Margaret River's Seth Van Haeften captured the first State Championship of 2017 with back to back victories in the Under 16 boy’s and U16 girl’s divisions respectively. Emma Cattlin was the standout surfer of the event, going on to earn a double victory in the U16 Cadet girls and U18 junior girl’s divisions.
Dropping some of the highest scores of the weekend, Cattlin was explosive on her backhand sending massive fans of spray on every turn.
“To win the 16’s State Title is dream come true, I can’t believe it,” said Cattlin.
“It’s was surprising how good the conditions were and I really enjoyed competing in both divisions.”
Margaret River’s Jack Haslau surfed with great flow and innovation to take out the blue ribbon U18 Junior Boy’s final.
After a disappointing opening event of the series on home soil, Haslau answered back with an impressive display that included strong rail turns and big aerial manoeuvres. Haslau posted a combined total of 17.36 (from a possible 20) to claim victory ahead of Josh Cattlin (Yallingup), Cyrus Cox (Margaret River) and Jolan Bonelli (Margaret River).
Daniel Benedetti (Margaret River) won his first ever competition, dominating the U14 Grommet Boy’s final. Linking together a series of technical and stylish turns, Benedetti edged out Solomon Pogue-Englert (Gracetown), Jay Robinson (Dunsborough) and George Simpson (Gracetown).
Attentions now turn to the third and final event of the WA Junior Surfing Titles presented by SunSmart, which will be held north to Geraldton on July 15 and 16.
Forecast: Thursday looks epic with NE winds early and a solid 2.8m swell. The winds shift strong N on Friday with a 1.9m swell. There will be SW winds on Saturday and another solid 2.4 metre swell then Sunday looks good with SSE winds and a big 2.6m swell.
Photo: Surfing WA.