Brad Valenti Memorial ?08
By Jed Smith
Out of a surfing lottery punctuated by five foot closeouts, seven foot clean up sets and the odd four foot gem, Perth Standlick showed there is very little left to chance in his surfing by dominating the 2008 Brad Valenti memorial contest.
Amidst the throbbing beats on the hill at South Bondi, around 100 competitors and spectators gathered to watch surfers battle a pulsing southerly swell. Held in honour of former Bondi great Brad Valenti, the contest is a premier event on the Boardriders’ calendar and this year Boardriders’ president Beau Sevastos believes ‘was the best one we’ve had yet’.
On land an indigenous ceremony marked the celebration of Brad Valenti’s life, followed by competitors paddling beyond the breakers to form the customary circle and engage in a minute’s silence.
Despite the strongest field of competitors assembled all year, including formerly sponsored surfer Eddie Ryall, multiple Boardriders’ champion Ian Wallace and former professional surfer and Bondi Boardriders founder Matt Elks, Standlick’s victory never looked in doubt.
On a day of large, at times out of control, surf the teenager managed to find a six foot, stand-up tube during his morning free-surf as well as perform a mesmerising three reverses on one wave, the final one performed on his backhand as he rebounded out of the second and directly in front of an exposed Bondi reef.
The day also unearthed a new talent in the club in pharmaceuticals man Richard Carter. The quietly spoken, unheralded goofy footer put on a display of radical backhand surfing that saw him place runner up in his first ever Bondi Boardriders contest.
The final standings had Standlick 1st, Richard Carter 2nd (on debut), Ian Wallace 3rd and Eddie Ryall 4th. In the juniors it was Christian Quinlan 1st, Sol Liebesman 2nd, Nathan feller 3rd and Jack Priest 4th, with Jack Campbell beating Ben key in the cadets.
