Aerial surfing master Taj Burrow (Yallingup, W.A.) will compete in his first ever Airshow against twenty of the world’s best high-flyers at the Boost Surf Show presented by LG at Surfers Paradise, Australia, on 13-15th April.
Often credited with redefining aerial surfing, Burrow’s prowess is known to set him apart from his fellow world tour surfers. The current world no.3 won’t have it all his way though with fellow ‘Aerial Aces’ Kelly Slater (Florida, USA) and Josh Kerr (Gold Coast) also included in the twenty man field.
However it’s the lesser known aerial experts that Burrow is excited about taking on at the ground-breaking event which will unveil a new surfing format from April 13th–15th on the Gold Coast. “I’ve never competed in an Airshow, but I think they’re great! It’s what people want to see, surfers going big, either making big punts or having big stacks,” said Burrow.
“I love that the event is encouraging innovative surfing. I love that its crowd orientated. I can’t wait to mix it up with all the air show guys,” added Burrow. Burrow has tipped good mate and renowned Aerial surfer Wade Goodall (Sunshine Coast) as the one to watch out for, but also threw out a cheeky challenge to the 2006 ASP Australasian junior surfer.
“I think Goodall is dangerous if he’s feeling confident, if he’s not he’ll fall on every turn and start punching himself in the head,” said Burrow.
Sunshine Coast sensation Julian Wilson is another expected to be amongst the events top challengers. The 18 year-old has enjoyed an impressive run of results this year including a win over Slater in the opening round of the Gold Coast world tour event before the eight time world champion came back to win their round three rematch.
Wilson also recently posted a victory in New Zealand on the highly contested ASP Australasian junior circuit. The talented young gun is now looking forward to contesting the Boost Surf Show. “I think this event is going to be a lot more cruisy and exciting to watch compared to the other events. All the surfers are going to be far more relaxed and not scared of throwing down the big stuff,” said Wilson.
Wilson predicts that former Pipeline Master Jamie O’Brien (Haw), West Australian wiz Ry Craike and local star Kerr are all capable of an inaugural event win. “I think the main few guys are going to be Ry, Kerrzy and Jamie. They seem to be busting the biggest stuff and having the most variety of different airs but we will have to wait and see,” added Wilson.
The Boost Surf Show will pit the world’s best surfers against aerial dynamo’s such as American ace Tim Curran (California, USA), Dave Reardon-Smith (Coolum), Ozzie Wright (Narrabeen, AUS), Dion Agius (Currumbin, AUS), Yadin Nicol (Western Australia, AUS) and Dru Adler (Gold Coast, AUS). All have been invited with direct access to the main event on Sunday 15th April and are expected to be flying high in the winner-take-all tournament.
The three day surf show will open with the Boost Mobile Surf Show schools ‘teams’ challenge on Friday 13th of April; a teams format open to 16 schools nationally. The winning team will walk away with national glory and an all expenses paid trip to Perisher Blue to watch the Boost Mobile Snow Show in September ‘07.
Each team will consist of two under 16 surfers and three open surfers. The action continues on Saturday 14th of April with sixty of Australia’s finest aerial exponents fighting it out for AUD$10,000 and one of six spots into the AUD$20,000 Boost Mobile Surf Show. The format is as per a standard Airshow with six surfer heats.
Wrapping up the exciting, all weekend surfing festival will be the invitational Boost Mobile Surf Show presented by LG on Sunday 15th of April, 2007. Twenty of the world’s best aerial surfers will surf against each other in a one day; winner takes all AUD$20,000 surf show. With $30,000 prizemoney on offer, all focus will be on the Gold Coast when the innovative tournament gets underway.
Adding to the already high stakes is the Boost Mobile Jet Ski Tow-In Expression Session. Aided by a jet ski, Boost’s global surf team consisting of Kelly Slater, Taj Burrow, Julian Wilson and Garrett Parkes will attempt to launch themselves as high as possible off a wave into the air, completing a technical aerial move at the same time. This session is bound to be a crowd pleaser!
On top of all the action in the water there will also be a bunch of entertainment on the beach. Friday night will see a surf movie festival, surfer come entertainer, Tim Curran, is scheduled to play on Saturday and wrapping up the event will be a Boost Beach Bash after party. Saturday’s music festivities are scheduled as part of Gold Coast City Council’s A-Venue: Youth Music Initiative.
The A-Venue: Youth Music Initiative is joint funded by Arts Queensland and Gold Coast City Council. It is designed to bridge the gap that young people experience between education, training and employment in the arts, cultural and creative industries. The Initiative specifically aims to assist young and emerging musicians and music industry workers to develop their skills and professional opportunities in the music industry.
All the entertainment kicks of after each days surfing from 4pm onwards. Boost Mobile have stepped up to ensure the locals are blown away with the event, including a 80m by 40m beach structure, 4m x 4m mega screen, global webcast and an integrated music event on site at the beach on Cavill Ave on the Saturday night.
Format
The format will be based around a large spinning wheel (Boost Mobile Surf Show Wheel) that will dictate the aerial tricks to be performed. Four Surfers in the water will have only 10 minutes to perform each trick spun on the wheel. Every 10 minutes a new group of four hit the water and the wheel will be spun again to find the next new trick.
Surfers’ manoeuvres will be given the thumbs up, or thumbs down by a three guest judge’s panel; two out of three thumbs up signifies a completed aerial trick.
Any surfer who completes an aerial trick will receive a letter. Surfers are aiming to spell “B-O-O-S-T”. Once 25 qualification heats are completed, the top 8 surfers with the most completed aerial tricks (B-O-O-S-T) will enter the Boost Mobile Surf Show final. The final will feature only 3 spins of the wheel, with each spin eliminating half of the surfers who are slowest to complete the trick.
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