WA’s best junior surfers converged at Margaret River main break for the first state titles event on the weekend and were greeted with raw, powerful swell that the region is renowned for.
The large surf challenged the grommets but they rose to the occasion and relished the opportunity to compete at the legendary wave.
With nearly 100 competitors in the boys and girls divisions it was memorable contest with the finalists not only contending against each other but also a building six to eight foot swell.
Yallingup micro grom Remy North boldly took on the immense surf and received some excellent scores for his rides in a tightly battled final.
His final scores of 14.67 was a solid total and also a narrow win by only 0.5 points over Maverick Wilson.
Remy’s older brother Otis North competed intensely in the under 14 grom boys division and was rewarded with a second place to Cowaramup’s Macklin Flynn.
Yallingup surfer Emma Cattlin made the under 18 junior girls final with some strong waves throughout the contest and placed third overall.
Margaret River duo Maddie Cawood and Arabelle Gibson took out first and second place with some local knowledge getting them over the line.
Jed Gradisen from Gracetown put in a stellar performance and was a popular winner in the blue ribbon under 18 junior boys division.
Gradisen’s fast and commanding rail surfing impressed everyone and he cruised through the 25-minute final with a cumulative total of 16.86 from a possible 20 included a near perfect 9.33 and 7.53.
"I love surfing fast and there were some big sections out there," he said.
"It’s always great to surf a final with some of your good mates and get keeper result in the opening event of the series."
Trigg’s Jack Mickle surfed with a maturity beyond his years to win a hotly contested under 16 cadet boys division.
Mickle defied the odds, taking down a trio of inform South-West local including Danny Benedetti from Margaret River, Solomon Pogue-Englert from Gracetown and Yallingup's Dylan Vernon rounding out the top four.
Vernon was also awarded the Volte Wetsuits Rising Star for his impressive performance in the under 16 boys division.
Forecast: Classic surf on Thursday with a solid 1.9 metre swell and clean SE winds. The swell drops on Friday to 1.2m with offshore SE winds.
There is a new 2.4m groundswell filling in on Saturday afternoon with SSE winds and Sunday will have a large 3m swell and SE offshore winds.
RESULTS
UNDER 18 JUNIOR BOYS:
1st Jed Gradisen (Gracetown) – 16.86
2nd Danny Benedetti (Margaret River) – 14.10
3rd Finn Cox (Margaret River) -12.30
4th Jahnu Packer (Gracetown) – 8.53
UNDER 18 JUNIOR GIRLS:
1st Maddie Cawood (Margaret River) – 14.50
2nd Arabelle Gibson (Margaret River) – 10.00
3rd Emma Cattlin (Yallingup) – 6.94
4th Skyla Tothill (Sorrento) – 6.50
UNDER 16 CADET BOYS:
1st Jack Mickle (Trigg) – 13.74
2nd Danny Benedetti (Margaret River) – 12.00
3rd Solomon Pogue-Englert (Gracetown) – 11.50
4th Dylan Vernon (Yallingup) – 0.77
UNDER 14 GROM BOYS:
1st Macklin Flynn (Cowaramup) - 12.83
2nd Otis North (Yallingup) - 9.97
3rd Jess Siedmiogrodzki (City Beach) - 7.76
4th Maverick Wilson (Wannanup) - 6.57
UNDER 14 GROM GIRLS:
1st Willow Hardy (Margaret River) – 14.44
2nd Ruby Berry (Augusta) – 11.60
3rd Kaleisha Launders (Margaret River) – 11.50
4th Lyla Macpherson (Wembley Downs) – 0.00
UNDER 12 MICRO GROM:
1st Remy North (Yallingup) – 14.67
2nd Maverick Wilson (Wannanup) – 14.17
3rd Okie Fraser (Margaret River) – 10.63
4th Aston Grime (Secret Harbour) – 4.23
5th Rhys Bulloch (Secret Harbour) – 3.90
