Thousands more fight for the Bight

THE second “Paddle Out for the Bight” has drawn a bigger crowd, with organisers estimating as many as 4,000 people turned up at Cosy Corner on Saturday, April 20.

Like the first paddle out on March 3, the Saturday morning event was held to protest Norwegian company Equinor’s plans to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight and the possible catastrophic consequences in the result of an oil spill.

The Surfrider Foundation said about 4,000 people came to Cosy Corner and about 2,500 of them took to the water, alongside WSL surfers John John Florence, Owen Wright, Lakey Peterson, Nikki van Dijk and Jack Freestone (who were all competing in the nearby Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach).

Surfrider Foundation ambassador and Corangamite independent candidate Damien Cole helped organise the paddle out as well as the “Fight for the Bight” event held the night before at Patagonia’s Torquay store.

Corangamite Liberal federal member Sarah Henderson was also at the paddle out.