An Augmented Reality Surf Contest

Last Saturday at the highly specific time of 3:01 PM the Boost Mobile Winter Jam Presented by Yeti kicked off at URBNSURF Melbourne.

You could not have asked old mate upstairs for better weather: blue sky, warm and sunny conditions blessed the good people of Melbourne for the entire day, finishing with an out of control rouge-lipstick sunset as ‘The Rivals’ surf event and Snowboard pole-jam events got to the pointy end.

The most impressive part about the whole operation was having a surf/snow/music fez on the same playing field. You could be cutting shapes to Dena Amy’s dirty techno remixes and at the same time be melting your pineal gland over Reef Heazlewood’s finners and Olympic snowboarder Valentino Guseli’s psycho technical rail bonks.

The only downside was not having a second set of eyes to watch it all with.

As someone who had never surfed a wave pool, I’ve gotta say it was a massive eye-opener. Watching the first sheet-glass mechanical tube roll in was more memorable than losing my virginity. Even more surprising was the poke of the wave. I was not expecting to snap a board in half in the pre-event freesurf.

Couple of superstars getting around the VIP area too, which added to the glow of the day. We saw celebrity appearances from Josh and Sierra Kerr, Mol Picklum, Morgan Cibilic, Sally Fitzgibbons, big time chefs, artists and athletes.

Vibes ran high until the events conclusion where Reef Heazlewood and Sam ‘Redo’ Neumann were crowned surf and snow Champs respectively. It was amazing seeing the pros do their thing and seeing how relaxed they were between heats. Rock-paper-scissoring to decide who got the first wave, sipping Young Henry and Hard Fizz tins from the hot-tub, hooting and hollering for their fellow comrades, and hand-dancing to the thumping bass from out in the lineup.

This was the first event of its kind to be hosted at URBNSURF. The next one will only be bigger and better. I suggest making sure you book yourself a ticket – we had a ball.

Gallery below