The GoPro Blast Off Is A Global Grassroots Grom Comp With Sick Prizes

1988 World Champion Barton Lynch was choking on ginger ale when we called. He was surfed out from a three-day pulse of 12-15ft swell on the North Shore, his place of residence since October 2019. 

“Hawaii’s home now, the waves are amazing, my kid is settled at school. I have no desire to go back to Oz, honestly”, says Barton. 

BL hasn’t been idle since moving to the Hawaiian Islands. He’s been super busy actually, post-Olympic commentary booth, Barton’s been busy developing a surfing video game based on a World Tour (more info to come soon), and hosting the 2021 BL Blast Off presented by GoPro digital event. 

“Last year we transitioned to an online video challenge. We had the physical events planned for Sydney and Bali but then all this COVID stuff happened and the writing was on the wall. The video challenge was a real success last year and we’re going great guns again this year. Over 100 videos and counting, there’s been some amazing surfing from kids all around the globe.”

The GoPro Blast Off runs from October 15th – November 26th. “We run more on the side of a coaching program, every video that comes in gets analyzed and the kids are offered coaching advice. There’s the winning side of it as well. It’s open for all kids under 14, all abilities and everyone gets the same level of attention.” 

There are stoke awards, high performance, best tube, best air, best wave, MVP, and worst wipeout for multiple divisions 14’s, 12’s, 10’s, and 8’s, boys and girls. Winners could score a trip to Surf Lakes at Yeppoon, and the high-performance winners are judged by the panel of experts and get great prizes (Last years winners got a trip to the Maldives). 

The expert panel last year consisted of BL, Jack Robinson, Mahina Maeda, Vahine Fierro, Kyuss King, and Eli Hannemann. This year’s winners will be announced at the end of the event window in a four-part series hosted by BL. 

You can check out all the comp info here.