AUSTRALIA’S BEST INDIGENOUS SURFERS Carve up Bells

Some of the country’s best Indigenous surfers congregated on Bells Beach over the weekend for the seventh annual Australian Indigenous Surfing Titles.

Surfing Victoria’s Jordie Campbell, one of the event’s organisers, said the competition had gone from strength to strength each year.

“This year there’s 54 individual competitors from around the country competing across six divisions including junior boys and girls, open men and women, longboard and masters,” he said.

“If they win they’re recognised as a national Australian champion. It’s a fantastic event for Indigenous kids because it gives them positive, strong role models.

“A lot of them don’t have the best role models in their lives, the open guys are really nice and want to be involved and  teach them about surfing and life it’s an amazing opportunity for the kids.”

Mr Campbell said he found out about his own Indigenous heritage later in life and this event had allowed him both as an organiser and competitor to make life long connections.

“I’ve met some amazing mentors who are now good friends of mine. This event allows a lot of people to connect with other Indigenous people. Everyone loves to come, for most of us catching up with friends you see a few times a year is just as important as the competition itself.”

He said after moving to Torquay over three and a half years ago, the worldfamous surf spot had become one of his favourites.

“It’s a hard wave to get to know because it changes so much but it’s one of my local go to spots and I’m reasonably confident,” he said.

“All of my mates hate me because I get to go to the beach, go surfing and to surf competitions as a job and they’re grinding it out at work.

“Surfing has been everything to me, in a lot of ways as a kid it used to get me out of bed to go surfing. I’ve turned my passion into a career and it’s not something I ever thought I’d be doing for a job as a kid.”

Over the course of the weekend, Rohnin Henry-Micale (Woolongong) and Summer Simon (Port Kembla) claimed the premier Open Men and Women divisions.

The Over 35 Masters Division saw the first ever Victorian to claim an Indigenous Australian Title with Anthony Hume winning the final.

The Longboard Division saw perennial winner Tom Avery claim top honours for the third consecutive year.

Len Collard (Pingelly) won the Elders Expression Session – a new edition to the competition in 2018 to pay respect to elders in the Indigenous community.

For more details and photos, head to australianindigenoussurfingtitles.com.