George Pittar’s Road To The CT Was Anything But Easy

Born and raised in Vanuatu, George Pittar was naturally a pre-pubescent charger — hurling himself over the ledge at Cloudbreak during Melanesian Cup heats when he was just eight or nine years old.

A couple of years later, he moved to Sydney, only to realize that his shallow reefbreak education didn’t count for much on the wonky inner-city beachies. Still, that didn’t stop him from winning regionals and slapping Rip Curl stickers on his grom sticks — which to this day, remain firmly attached to the high-visibility portion of his surfboards.

As the story goes, George qualified for the CS via the regional QS. “No matter what the results were, I wouldn’t believe that was where I was meant to be.” A mindset that shifted at Newcastle, where he realized he was good enough to take any scalp.

But let’s rewind to Snapper, where his qualification year began. Packing an obscene number of turns into the turquoise walls stretching down to Greenmount for mid scores was a bit of a wake-up call — an indicator to turn it up a notch. Which he did, for a minute, in Ballito, earning a consensual digital golf clap. The world was watching, but the attention didn’t exactly work wonders for the rest of his event.

At the US Open, the kinks got ironed out and a breakthrough performance materialized. The result — a fifth-place finish — spurred a move to the Gold Coast, where he bunked down with former wonder rookie Morgan Cibilic and surrounded himself with the type of surfers he aspired to be.

It was only a matter of time before his main sponsor rang him up and threw him into the trials at the Bells CT. Yeah, he won that. Finished his first CT in 17th. Then headed to Margaret River as a wildcard on a rampage — only to be stopped by John John in the semis. “I was just frothin’, being out there with him.”

The CT carriage quickly reverted to a CS pumpkin, and George was knocked out in Round 1 of the last two events of the season. Luckily — or not really — a string of solid results earlier in the year bumped him into this year’s CT.

Crack one open, take a seat, and get a glimpse into the mind and journey of George Pittar as he reflects on his coming of age with CI/Onboard’s good vibe distributor, Luca Elder.