Surfest, Stitches, 21st, and more...

This post is long overdue and encompasses multiple little happenings over the past month.

Beginning with Surfest, a major surf contest held just a few blocks from my house. The contest began the week after I returned from visiting the Gold Coast. There were AMAZING waves at the beginning for the Pro Junior event, especially Thursday March 8th. I took a few pictures, but you can also see more on the official website if you are interested.

When I was jogging up to the beach to go surf (jogging because walking wouldn't get me there quick enough... too excited) as soon as I could see the waves, I was distracted and not watching my steps. I accidentally kicked a curb and tore a quarter-sized portion of skin off the tip of my left big toe (my pivot foot for frisbee). Just about the worst place for a cut making both surfing and playing frisbee painful and difficult.

Speaking of frisbee....That weekend, March 10th - 11th, down near Sydney, just a day or 2 after cutting my toe, was Regionals (the qualifying tournament for Australian Nationals). I Beam didn't do as well as we had hoped, but we qualified for Nationals! Next week, April 22nd - 25th, I will be competing in my first National tournament here in Newcastle.

My I Beam teammates awaiting the start of another point on our way to qualification

So when I returned, I spent the rest of the week at the beach watching the main event at Surfest. I got a bunch of autographs, pictures, and got to meet a bunch of the pros that I admired in my surf movies growing up, like this guy:

Damien Hobgood. He is from Florida. A few years ago on a surf trip down to FL I met his twin brother (also a pro surfer). I have great respect for him because he is a man of faith, a family man, a great surfer, and a cool guy who isn't bothered by annoying fans bugging him for a picture and autograph --> me...

and this guy:

Gabe Kling. Another surfer from FL. He made it all the way to the semi finals.

I got a bunch of the pros to sign a hat. For those of you who know pro surfers these are the names on my hat: Taj Burrow, Joel Parkinson, Adriano de Souza, Jay "Bottle" Thompson, Tom Whitaker, Luke Egan, Gabe Kling, Kai Otton, Damien Hobgood. I also got Corey Lopez to sign of poster of himself that is now on my wall above my bed.

There wasn't much of a crowd until the finals rolled around:

Heaps of people to watch the finals of Surfest

Well, that's enough about Surfest.
What's next? Oh yea...stitches. So once my toe was nice and healed and another big swell came thumping on the shore, I injured myself again. I pulled into a barrel, didn't make it out, got thrown out in front of the wave, and instead of staying underwater for an extra moment as I always warn people when I teach them to surf, I pulled my head out of the water only to have my board crash into the back of my head giving it a nice 1/2 inch long cut. The lifeguard (Brett, a surfer, too) cleaned it up a bit, and I decided it didn't need stitches, and I didn't want them either because I wanted to be able to surf the next day.

Then the following week when the cut in the back of my head was healed, I rode my bike to uni one night for frisbee practice. I had made a turn to the wrong fields, so I pulled a U turn. I couldn't see the loose gravel on the edge of the other side of the road, and my wheels slid out from underneath me. The crash left me with a some scrapes on my palm, leg, finger, and a piece of gravel lodged in a 2 inch long cut on my forearm. The cut was about the width and depth of a pencil. I walked my bike up the hill and road it down to the gym, where I found someone to help me clean it up a bit. I'm a bit squeamish, but the guy handing me first aid supplies and I both shivered a little when the pebble responsible for the wound in my arm fell into the sink. I called Davies, who was already at frisbee, and he took me to the hospital to get 3 stitches.

Easter morning Dani and I took the stitches out ourselves because I was expecting to leave the next day on a road trip, and didn't want to deal with going to a doctor.

No we weren't dying Easter Eggs, just removing some stitches haha 

Thankfully none of these injuries were serious. Don't worry, I AM being careful!


Last but not least: my 21st birthday celebrations :)
It was a Wednesday night and I invited my mates over to cook some food on the barbie, play some ping pong and beer pong, and then go into town. After a great time hanging out at my place, we ended up walking about 30 minutes into town, which was longer than I had anticipated. One of my friends knew a guy working at a Kebab shop, so we split a free kebab (a wrap basically). We got a drink, then the bar we were in was closing, so we took a cab back to my place, which was perfect because I was super tired and was getting up early to go surf before I had to go take a test.

This picture cracks me up! A few had already left since it was a Wednesday night, and 5 of made the trek into town. Thanks, mates, for celebrating with me!

Actually the 3 pictures of the waves at the end of my last post were taken the day after my birthday just before I paddled out and unwrapped the Tasman Sea's birthday present to me.

My mate, Lefty, and I went out to surf Redhead the Friday after my bday. This big rock, here, is why it's called Redhead. 

...and the waves out at Redhead we're bad either

I hope you enjoyed the post. Next up will be a post about my road trip up the New South Wales coast with George and Keegan in search of waves. Have a great day!