What’s The Most You’ve Ever Spent On Boardbag Fees?

You may remember Mia McCarthy as the trials winner who knocked Tatiana Weston-Webb out of the 2021 Rottnest event. 

Though she isn’t a full time QS scrapper (it’s hard to be when you grow up in WA’s aquatic playground), she’s managed to convincingly win three of the Margaret River trials events (’19, ‘21, ‘22). 

This year, however, she had to miss her beloved trials event because of a concussion and neck sprain.

“That first session in the clip, the water shots, that was my first time surfing waves of consequence since I injured myself,” she tells me. “I’d gotten a bad concussion and had brain fog for like three months. That was not a good time. I had to miss out on the Margaret River trials and I was still doing uni, which was hard with brain fog. I’m not the smartest person even when I have a good brain [laughs.] So that session really helped me believe in myself a bit more after having a tough few months.”

She filmed the above clip in about two weeks — thought it cost her a bit more than anticipated. On a JetStar flight to Bali, her and her boyfriend ended up spending near $2000 AUD on boardbag fees.

“That was so messed up. I can only really afford to go on one trip a year, and then that really blew everything out. I paid for the oversize bags in advance, but didn’t pay for kilos — the instructions were kinda dodgy, and unclear. When we got to the counter, they told us they were going to charge us 25$ per kilo, and my boyfriend and I brought five boards each so it ended up being $1800. We didn’t really have any options.”

More proof that airlines hate surfers.

The final waves in the clip made the expenses (mostly) worth it — two empty days of emerald tubes.

“That last session was just my boyfriend and I. It felt like that scene from Surfs Up when they’re all surfing perfect waves by themselves. So sick.”