The inaugural Great Southern Foil Fest, Denmark in Western Australia-  Lights up with stoke and swell.

The Western Australia surf-foil scene is in it's boom, and here's a little write up from the latest comp: Great Southern Foil Fest.

From October 17th to 19th, the inaugural Great Southern Foil Fest was held in the town of Denmark, bringing three days of waves, wind, and pure foil froth to the remote rugged southern coast of Western Australia.  Hosted at the iconic Parry Beach, this debut event gathered riders young and old from across the state for a weekend packed with clean surf, tight competition, epic expression sessions, and an unbeatable community vibe.

The event was the brainchild and work of Marty Sneeuwjagt, one of only a handful of local Denmark foilers.   Denmark is a small coastal town of approximately 3000 people, a 5 hour drive from Perth.  The local population are a mix of farmers, hippies and surfers, who enjoy an alternative lifestyle amongst the impressive Karri trees.  The coastline is undeveloped, largely national park and has many bays, points, sandy beaches.   This is the realm of Landcruisers and four wheel drive utes,  driving down sandy tracks and along the beach with the tyres let down to find the perfect sandbank.  The roaring forties create near constant swell in the great southern ocean, and the varied coastline provides set-ups suitable for different weather conditions.   Marty was happy to share his local knowledge, aware that the uncrowded beaches and bays would allow a competition to be held and yet stay under the radar without upsetting local surfers.  He created a WhatsApp group, and sent out invites to foilers he knew from around the state.  Within days the idea had snowballed and crew volunteered their skills, creating social media content, hats and T-shirts, donating prizes and generally stoking foil froth.  Huey the wind god was also on board, and the opening Friday delivered perfect conditions for a prone surf competition with light offshore winds, sunshine, and fun beach break runners all day.   Cars full of foil gear lined up on the sand,  and a shade tent was erected for the judges.   With no established criteria or experience of judging a foil surf competition, a test heat was held and some guidelines made up on the fly by the volunteer judges.  Heats of 20 minutes with 3 or 4 riders were held.   Riders could link as many waves as they liked,  and were rewarded for stylish turns, flow, and radical maneuvers on critical parts of the wave.   Style and turns scored as opposed to time on foil or number of waves ridden,  thus encouraging aggressive surf foiling and tricks.   With multiple foilers up and riding simultaneously and no video replay,  the final decision on who won often came down to a collaborative call between the judges as to who they thought was shredding the best.  Despite the relaxed organization,  there was certainly a competitive spirit.  Given this was the first and only surf foil competition in the state, the question had been asked,  could the open winner claim to be state champion?

Jack McKinnon from Perth took the open win with his smooth flowing style.  Hugh Mitchell also from Perth placed second, managing a few completed airs in the process.  The junior U21 category was won by 15yr old Felix Pearn from Esperance, with his mate 16yr old Kurt Mumford also from Esperance a close second.   Both of these young guns also placed highly in the open, throwing down tip breaches, floaters and foam climbs that had everyone cheering from the sand.  Kurt knocked out Felix in the open semis,  before coming fourth in the open final.   The women’s was won by Kut, who was quite literally in a category of her own.   As a break from the competition, a Tow Expression Session was held during the middle of the day.   With all foilers in the water,  four jet skis and a boat continually whiped riders up onto foil to share party waves, creating a chaotic atmosphere of foiling fun, wipeouts and camaraderie.

Saturday morning heralded a gentle breeze and plenty of buzz for an Open Wing foil Session at Lights Beach, an exposed swell magnet.  A handful of dedicated riders took on the Southern Ocean bumps before regrouping for a downwind adventure as the wind cranked up to 30 knots and the ocean got out of control.   About 30 riders launched into a 10km paddle, wing and parawing downwind run in Wilson inlet,  which ran parallel to the howling westerly wind allowing enough fetch for bumps to build.  The SUP foilers raced, won by Chris P with Hugh Mitchell second.   The groms Kurt Mumford and Felix Pearn chased close behind.  The wingers and parawingers just enjoyed the ride on the bumps.  The event wrapped with a big community barbecue back in town at the local angling club house, with presentations, prizes and drone footage from the surf competition.   The success of this grassroots event led to enthusiastic talk of a bigger and better repeat next year,  realizing that a bigger event would need to go “legit” with factors such as authority permissions, registrations and insurance.   There is clearly demand and stoke for surf foil competitions and not just downwind and pump races.  It will be interesting to see how this develops in the future, with possibly national and international competition.

Surf Competition Results  

Open Men
1st – Jack McKinnon

2nd – Hugh Mitchell

3rd – Charlie Thornton

Open Women1st Kut

Groms – Under 21
1st – Felix Pearn

2nd – Kurt Mumford

3rd – Ruben Swart

Amateurs
1st – Gareth Mumford

2nd – Alistair Murch

3rd – Ruben Swart