NATHAN HEDGE
It took five long flights to race Nathan “Hog” Hedge home from the Quiksilver Saquarema Prime to compete in a Queensland Champion Circuit event on the Sunshine Coast. After landing at 10am on Saturday, Hog paddled out for his first heat at around midday. He then proceeded to school his junior counterparts in a little power-surfing 101. I figured, if this is how much energy he had left in the tank after five flights from the other side of the planet, then we’d all be in serious trouble after he’d had a full night’s sleep.
I grew up watching Hedgey tear across perfect left-handers in bright, fluro orange and yellow boardshorts alongside his good mate, Chris Davidson in Rip Curl Search videos. It was his raw energy and power that grabbed me, and years later, it hasn’t let go. Hedgey’s surfing is still sharp and powerful, and the trademark Hog grin is still firmly planted across his grill.
Nath’ went down to fellow goofy, Nick Vasicek in the final of yesterday’s Sunshine Coast Pro, but the rampaging Hog can’t be stopped. For a good read on the second-coming of Hog, check out the latest issue of Tracks.
Hedge-Hog Barrelling
B R E N T D O R R I N G T O N
Will someone please sponsor Brent Dorrington? Put me out of my misery. Dorrington’s contest results in the past six months speak for themselves. Highlighted on that list should be Brenno’s ramp up to a wildcard into the opening WCT event of this year, the Quiksilver Pro. Here’s how he got there.
- In the Quiksilver Pro Trials for the Trials, Dozza had to beat 55 fellow surfers to place second or first to win a spot into the Quiksilver Pro trials in January. He placed second alongside Samba Mann, taking down World Junior Champ, Jack Freestone along the way.
- March 1st – After scraping into the trials months earlier, Dorrington goes and wins the trials and banks his wildcard into the main event. He’ll have to surf against mate and World Champion, Joel Parkinson in a local showdown.
- Parko may have got the upper hand of that exchange, but one could only imagine that if Snapper had been the location and had been pumping, the result may have much closer.
The measured formula of any surfer worth their stickers used to be; contest results+ small-wave act + innovative surfing and style multiplied by the cojones they had demonstrated in Hawaii. The result was a well-rounded surfer that you could rely on to impress the masses and sell your product.
For mine, the Coolangatta kid possessed the whole formula, but lost his major sponsor, Oakley a year or two ago after falling victim to budget cuts during the GFC. And, well let’s be honest… Brenno’s got short hair and rides standard thrusters in waves of consequence…
In many situations, the formula required of a surfer to place a sticker on their board today has changed, and in my opinion, marketability and style have taken precedence.With the shake up, Dorrington joins a long list of surfers without a major sponsor who are simply amazing surfers.
Brenno’s mates at the Mad Huey’s have taken matters into their own hands and simply created a company that fits around Brenno. For now he has a sticker on his board and t-shirts on his back. If he can bank enough cash out of contests and keep his head on straight, there’s no telling what Dorrington can achieve, especially in situations that require more than a mess of hair and a few extra cojones.
Brenno shows how he can mix it up in the sky with the best of them
