Longboard titles moved to avoid whale carcass

A DECOMPOSING whale carcass has forced the Victorian Longboard Titles to abandon their plans to hold round 1 of the competition on Philip Island.

Surfing Victoria announced that round 1 of the 2021 Victorian Longboard Titles will now be held at 13th Beach in Barwon Heads. Round 2 will still be held at Point Impossible.

Surfing Victoria spokesperson Liam Robertson said it’s not the first time a whale carcass has interrupted their event.

“It happened once before at Ocean Grove some years ago, we were supposed to run a junior event and a whale washed up on the beach and we couldn’t run the event because of the risk that it would attract shark,” Robertson said.

The state titles are a pathway into Australian Surf Championships that will be held in August at Port Macquarie. From there competitors can enter the world titles.

Robertson said longboarding is becoming increasingly popular as a lot more people take up surfing.

“Many people start with a longboard, some transition to shortboards but others stick with longboarding,” he said.

Forget what you’ve seen on social media, there will be no handstands, shoulder rides or dogs in sunglasses sitting on the end of the boards.

Nevertheless, Robertson is still expecting some fancy footwork.

“It’s an elite level event, but everyone can enter,” he said.“It’s a mix of modern and traditional surfing, so there will be everything from critical cutbacks to nose rides and cross steps.”
“We expect a broad range of competitors, we have everyhing from under 18s all the way through to over 70s in both men and women.”

“The standard of longboarding is very high, we have a lot of Australian champions in the mix.”

The champions include Ben Considine, Emma Webb and Greg Brown.

“It’s very much a gathering of the entire longboard community for a weekend,” Robertson said.

“It’s a really kind of a fun social of event.”

Victorian Longboard Titles Round 1 is from May 1-2 at 13th Beach on the Bellarine Peninsula Round 2 will run from May 22-23 at Point Impossible on the Surf Coast.