Keanu Asing stands tall in the pit. All Action Pics: ASP/ Robertson

Newly crowned ASP World Champion Joel Parkinson was in, so too was women’s champ, Steph Gilmore. For veteran contest director Warren Smith, and his crew (of which I was to become part of once I made it to Newcastle) – Surfest 2013 looked set to be a cracking week. 

On top of a healthy turnout of World Tour surfers and pre-event media coverage a rather ominous storm was situated off Queensland and promising solid swell for the weeks end.

Little did the Surfest crew (or I) know in a few days history would be made thanks to that storm and a Newcastle Harbour super session? The running of a professional surfing event at the extremely rare and dangerous – thanks to steel rods and God knows what lurking among the boulders below – right-hand slab, a world first.

A rough look at the rough conditions (things did improve).

Aside from that history-making day of extreme spitting-slabs, wild-wind and sandy-rain, little did they (or I) know that I too was about to make a little Surfest history of my own?

Doing the dumbest thing you’ve “ever done in your life,” isn’t like losing your virginity – you actually get a second chance. In fact you can do over and over again. Unfortunately.

My estimation is that it happens about once every five years. Despite being on a pretty solid non-stupid period hot-streak for some time, I had no idea that simply by pulling Tracks’ shinny new silver Isuzu D-Max 4×4 in for a tank of gas I was about to re-set the idiot clock to zero.

Like the sunny outlook shinning down on Surfest 2013, up until this point, I was flying. Omitting nothing but positive vibes. The double shot coffee I’d picked up at Ruby’s was world class. I had two brand new DHD sticks waiting for me to try out at Newcastle and best of all, I was to be out of our Sydney office for a week and living in a beachside apartment and calling world class surfing.

Then, without fanfare or conscious thought, I pulled off the F3 for that fateful tank of gas.

Matt Wilkinson hits the lip (L), your writer, smacks his face (R).

Diesel engines have a certain noise to them. It’s unmistakable really. But when you have Slayer’s ‘Seasons In The Abyss’ playing at full volume and a-million-and-one other things running through your mind all engines sound the same.

So, with my selective attention now wholly focused on saving our mother company money I grabbed the low-end budget 10% ethanol / unleaded bowser and pumped that beautiful diesel vehicle full of the WRONG petrol. And oh how I suffered. But my little precursor of pain (and inter office wrangling to clean up the mess) was to be nothing compared with what the Surfest crew would endure to put this event on the historical surfing map in its twenty-eighth year. It may not have reached the dizzy legendary heights of Big Bells ’81 or The Intense Wave Invitational South Oz ‘09 but the Burton Toyota Pro 2013 – Newcastle Harbour session – was still one of the books.

With the event called of on the Friday afternoon due to cyclonic winds and wild surf things were looking grim for the Saturday, but a light went of in the organises collective heads when word got out that Parko had jetted out to the Harbour that very evening to put on a tube riding clinic amongst Harbour hungry locals. If the weather persisted (which it did), they’d do what they could to run a few heats in the sketchy but quality right.

Frenchman Marc Lacomare revelled in the powerful rights on his backhand.

So it goes, Warren and the crew managed to secure clearance to run the comp provided they keep cars and people on the break wall to an absolute minimum. Along with agreeing to do that organises were in turn promised no big ships would enter the harbour. Thank ‘Captain Ahab’ for that. The sea would’ve put a stop to that anyway.

The sea was angry that day my friends, and for the hundreds of spectators that braved the elements and the staff that worked in the sandy-sideways-rain there was buckets of suffering, but for surfers like Marc Lacomare, Joel Parkinson, Dion Atkinson, Keanu Asing, Willian Cardoso, Julian Wilson, Pat Gudauskas, Alejo Muniz, Jay Thompson, Nick Squire, Dimity Stoyle, Courtney Conlogue, Sally Fitzgibbons and Bianca Buitendag it was an historic day of pits and pleasure never to be forgotten

Brazilian power-hound Willian ‘nice guy’ Cardosa up on rail.

Following Saturday’s Harbour sessions the event was moved to the safety of Merewether for the traditional Surfest Sunday where event standout’s Joel Parkinson and Dimity Stoyle respectively took top honours.

It was just rewards for staff and spectators to enjoy the world-class surfing from the comfort of the Merewether walk way with a flat white in hand, rather than a wet weather poncho.

Suffering aside, it was a great week, and Surfest Newcastle has again solidified its place on the Australian leg of the ASP tour… I can even report that after having it’s stomach pumped Tracks’ shinny silver Isuzu D-Max was returned as good as new – and I drove home as positive and pumped as the day I arrived.

Phew.

NOTE: For more details from Surfest visit HERE