“You’re Getting Comboed By These Old Boys Who Have The Joint So Dialed; It’s Honestly Rattling”

Victoria has been the best surfing state on Australia’s East Coast this past week. 

“It was pretty cooking,” #3 on the Challenger Series, George Pittar told Stab. “Surfing Bells for a week is always a marathon. You’re putting on so much rubber—you can’t just throw on some boardies and go for a quick paddle. It’s a mission. When you take off on a clean, six-foot offshore right, it almost feels like you’re snowboarding down the line in slow motion. It’s a whole different type of surfing compared to what we do up here (Tweed Heads).”

Pittar broke down the differential approaches required to rip the slopey breaks of Bells and Winki with the cuppier, tubing points of Cooly. “Up here, you’re chasing it—trying to jam in a couple of quick snaps. At Bells, you’ve got so much more time. You have to match the pace of the wave, and that’s a fun challenge.”

The standouts were the local old boys, according to George. “They come in with their seven-foot boards from way out the back, get every good wave, do eight turns down the line, and paddle straight back out. You’re just sitting there getting comboed by these guys who have it dialed. It’s honestly rattling.”

The MVP awards however, were awarded to his Rippy teammate Xavier Huxtable and perennial style guru Asher Pacey.

“There was one morning Jacob and I were out there for two hours, and Xav rocks up for a quick 40-minute session, gets better waves than we had all week, and then heads off to play an AFL game in Lorne and kicks four goals. Yeah he’s got it pretty dialled,” he laughed. “Asher Pacey drew some pretty sick lines too. His surfing suits that wave really well,” he surmised.

The GST was fripples recalled George, who spent the first decade of his life surfing empty righthanders in the balmy Vanuatu, where his father owned a beach resort.

“The water was freezing. I’m a bit of a softie living on the Gold Coast, but even for the locals, it was cold. You’ve got this 40-knot offshore wind howling in your face as you paddle out. You’re freezing your nuts off.”