GSI Noosa Festival of Surfing 2008

ASP LQS 2 Star Men's Event
Banana Boat Women’s Pro
Noosa, Queensland
3 - 9 March 2008

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

Lightweights throw down the gauntlet at Global Surf Industries Noosa Festival of Surfing

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 5 March, 2008 : - - Day three of the Global Surf Industries Noosa Festival of Surfing was greeted with beautiful blue skies at Noosa Heads and small, clean surfing conditions. It turned out to be a case of size does matter today as one after another the fly weights of the field in the Noserider Pro progressed thru, many of the heavyweights on paper suffered elimination, failing to find that something special in the small half meter waves.

The youngest competitors in the entire Festival have managed to cause two of the biggest upsets to date! 13yr old Noosa local Zye Norris and his older brother Ezra (15yrs) raised eyebrows today as they easily advanced through upstaging their more highly fancied opponents.

Standout surfer in the Pro Noserider division also belonged to a local surfer with talented Sunrise Beach surfer Harrison Roach managing the small waves with ease to post one of the mornings biggest heat wins.

Pronoserider is all about time spent on the nose and judges are geared up with stop watches which click on and off as surfers walk to the nose and either hang ten or hang five to amass time on nose – widely regarded as longboarding’s most seriously testing skill.

Ben Haworth : photo Robertson/ASP Australasia

Others to impress in round one of the Pro Noseriding division included Queensland surfers Fraser Biden, Mitch Surman and Gold Coast’s Jackson Close along with international’s Michael Detemple and Alex Esposito (Both USA). Not so fortunate amongst the international competitors were Randy Rarrick (Hawaii) and UK junior longboard champion Ben Haworth (Devon/UK) ,both eliminated in their opening rounds today.

Rarrick is world renown in surfing circles, competing with distinguished results in Pro Surfings early era of the 1970’s and now runs Hawaii’s biggest surfing events which includes the Pipeline Masters and the Sunset Beach World Cup.  Not at all disappointed with his result today Rarrick commented after his heat -

“It’s been 9 years since I was last in Noosa for this festival and it’s great to be back. There’s an amazing array of activities going on around the event this year which I’m very interested in and I really only competed in the Pro Noserider division hoping the surf might be pumping on the points like last year and I’d get the chance to surf with just three other guys in the water!

Obviously that wasn’t the case but I’m having a great time here and really looking forward to the rest of the week – Hopefully the waves will come up a little as well!”

For Ben Haworth, his elimination from the Pro Noserider leaves him with just the amateur open division to compete in and of his chances he said – “ While I’m the UK Junior Champion, it’s a lot tougher competing here but that’s why I’m here to mix it with the world’s best and I’m having a great time despite getting eliminated in the Pro Noserider division this morning

– It was better for me in the Open amateur where I progressed in 2nd place in my four man heat and I’m hoping to go further and basically get as much experience here as possible – Like everyone else here I’m hoping it gets a bit bigger but we’re longboarders and we can ride big and small waves!”

Quarter finals of the Telstra Men’s Pro and the Banana Boat Women’s Pro were placed on hold as the organizers patiently await a slight swell increase which they believe will kick in over the coming few days and provide more ideal conditions for these blue ribbon pro divisions – the outlook is promising with the weekend hopefully seeing super clean small waves on the Noosa famed points!

The event will recommence tomorrow morning around 6:20am with the likely venue again main beach.

Comprising a staggering twenty surfing competitions (3 professionally sanctioned by the ASP/WTT), a three day Surf Summit (attracting the big 3 – Rip Curl, Quiksilver, Billabong’s CEO’s/Global Brand Managers, the International Directors of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and world surfing’s biggest names), a seven day SURFEXPO, an Ocean Marathon, a major music concert and a Festival Village that will showcase everything from the ‘History of the Bikini’ since the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s by RAQ Fashion Design Award Winner Karen Neilsen to the largest Surf Memorabilia Auction ever staged in Australia.

Classic cars, daily live music, art/photographic exhibitions, book signings, FREE surf clinics, a surfing test drive centre by the world’s largest surfboard manufacturer, movie screenings, giveaways and the chance to ‘Meet the World Champs’ including 8 time ASP WCT champion Kelly Slater (Florida USA), Current ASP World Champions Mick Fanning and Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 7 time ASP WCT Champion Layne Beachley, 4 time ASP WCT Champion Mark Richards, 3 time ASP WCT Champion Tom Curren (USA) and 1977 World Champion Shaun Tomson (RSA) just to name a few!

www.noosafestivalofsurfing.com   

Previous reports:
# 1 : Oz stars Emma Snowsill and Craig Walton hit GSI Noosa
# 2 : GSI Noosa Fest of Surfing honors 'Bustin Down the Door'
# 3 : Dave Rastovich drops in on GSI Noosa Festival of Surfing
# 4 : Men's pro at GSI Noosa Festival Surf scores LQS 2 star 

# 5 : Noosa Festival of Surfing will host memorabilia auction 
# 6 : GSI Noosa Festival of Surfing 2008 unveils new events 
# 7 : Global Surf Industries Noosa Festival of surf kicks off 
# 8 : Noosa Fest: Rajzman & Bonga out of Telstra Men’s Pro

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Darren Landers
Media Manager | Noosa Festival of Surfing
darren@freshlogicmedia.com.au

Garth Prowd OAM
Managing Director | USM Events
gp@usmevents.com.au

Georgie Hannon
Event Management | USM Events
georgie@usmevents.com.au

Festivals - Surfersvillage