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 The
WCT is over for the year, and the WQS has shut up shop for the holidays, but there's
one more biggy left to play out. On New Year's Day, as you're waking up God knows
where and wiping the dried spittle from the side of your face, a select bunch
of athletes will be setting off a whole different sort of fireworks.
At
North Narrabeen on Sydney's Northern Beaches, the 2006 Billabong World Junior
Championship brings together the planet's very best under 21 surfers to battle
it out for world supremacy. Just because they're young, don't underestimate this
mob. This is surfing's future on display. The contest set up is the equal of any
event on the WCT, and hell, the surfing's every bit as good. This
year, the perennial question remains - when will an Aussie male step up and nail
a World title? While our women dominate world surfing with an iron grip, our men
just cannot seem to take the last step to the top, and this hurdle is just as
high for the young blokes as it is for the big boys. On home turf, year after
year the fancied local favourites always seem to find a way to lose, and the three
WJCs to run at Narrabeen have yielded one Hawaiian and two Brazilian champs. It's
been a long, dusty drought.  The
Aussie team this year is particularly strong, but Matt Wilkinson and Julian Wilson
are probably the standout talents. Wilko is a powerful and fast surfer, with an
uncanny ability to generate speed and an impressive array of big above the lip
moves. Wilko was the most impressive of the locals last year, and he's had excellent
first year out on the WQS, finishing 83rd. Probably our best hope.
Julian's
year was equally noteworthy. His form at the start of the year in the junior series
was nothing short of amazing, and he backed that up with a victory in the ISA
world championships in Brazil. The ISA's are nowhere near as hard as this comp,
but they're not easy. A squat, compact surfer, Julian's best moves are his Taj-like
forehand lip grinds. A reasonable chance. Wade Goodall competed
in the last two WJCs without making much of an impression, but his victory in
the Aussie Junior Series this year shows how much he's matured as a complete surfer.
The heart of Wade's act is his flair in the air. Wade is a creative and unpredictable
surfer capable of surprise, but his basic bottom turn top turn combo is very solid.
His weakness is still his fragile self belief, and his lack of experience in the
WQS cauldron may tell against him, but with the wind behind him, he's capable
of taking this thing out.  South
Australian Dion Atkinson wasn't on many radars at the start of this year, but
he's been an insistent standout at all levels. Dion is all testosterone and big
hacks, an old fashioned surfer that judges understand and love, and his performance
at the recent Steamer Lane WQS woke many in the international surfing community
to his potential. From good Italian stock in spite of the anglo name, Dion is
without doubt the hairiest competitor in WJC history, but don't be surprised to
see him contest the finals.
It's been hard to ignore Laurie
Towner this year - his epic Backdoor pit last Hawaiian season and his paddle in
monster at Shipsterns show just how crazy this quiet country kid is. But that
sort of lunacy catches up with you eventually, and Laurie managed to badly dislocate
a shoulder freefalling out of a massive Off the Wall lip while the Pipe Masters
played out a hundred meters or so up the beach. Laurie has patched himself together
for this comp, but there have to questions about his readiness. Small peaky beachies
are probably not his forte anyway.  Sam
Page is here as the highest ranked WQS surfer, and that in itself says heaps.
Sam went missing for the first half of this year, but clicked into gear in July
with a couple of outstanding results in Europe. In the Hossegor Super Series,
the biggest and hardest contest of the WQS year, it took an absolutely electric
Mick Campbell to stop his inspired run in the quarter finals, and just to show
it wasn't a fluke, he backed it up with a 3rd place in the 4 star WQS in the Canary
Islands. Sam is an elegant, powerful surfer with a good smattering of innovative
moves, and his local knowledge and support from his loyal Queenscliff crew will
be an asset. His recent success in big comps make him a definite contender.
Sam
got his spot when WCT qualifier Ben Dunn chose to sit this one out. Ben would
have started this event as favourite, as he has for the past two years, but this
event has not been kind to Ben. With nothing to prove here, how can you blame
him for keeping his powder dry?  Slipping
into the high pressure favourite's spotlight is the young South African bull Jordy
Smith. Jordy blew minds this year with a stunning second ahead of Andy Irons at
the Sunset Beach 6 star last month, a third place as a wildcard at the Jeffrey's
Bay WCT, and he's the real deal. Jordy is a strong upright surfer with the fluid
ease of the best of the big guys (think a morphed combo of Andy and Parko), and
his best moves seem to come as a surprise even to him.
In
previous years, I've said that Jordy's weak link is his ability to manage himself
in heats. He's really only got one tactic - full on aggression - and in the past
he's been out thought by better strategists, as for example, Matty Wilkinson did
to him in last years duel. It's hard to know if that will happen again here, but
on surfing ability alone he will be hard to go past here. Jordy is a legitimate
WCT star in the making, and it's worth coming down here just to see a future great
in action.  But
he's not the only threat. Fellow South African Damien Fahrenfort has been successful
here before, while the entire Hawaiian team (Dusty Payne, Torrey Meister, Ola
Eleogram, Hank Gaskell, Granger Larsen, Gavin Gillette and TJ Barron) are all
good chances. With the eloquent Alex Gray out injured, the USA team looks thin,
but Eric Geiselman and Nick Rozsa are both very strong.
And
then there's the Brazilians, led by WCT star and former winner of this title,
Adriano de Souza - how do you ignore them? - and the European and Japanese contingents
also have their stars.  With
women's surfing on the verge of a big jump in standards and professionalism, the
girl's contest will be interesting. The fabulous Stephanie Gilmore is a late addition
to the line up, it's hard to see anyone else coming close. Steph is simply the
best female surfer of any age in the world today, and has the chance to set right
her upset defeat at the hands of Nicola Atherton in last year's event. But will
this event will simply be the Steph Gilmore show? Is there emerging depth in the
junior women's ranks or will she be the lone torch bearer of this seismic shift?
 Only
the other Australian look able to provide any challenge. Nicola Atherton is here
again, and gets a chance to make up for last year's final in which she muffed
a winning wave in the final few seconds. She looks to be Steph's biggest threat,
but the other Aussies, Jessica Hickson, from Boomerang Beach on the mid North
Coast, and powerful Kiwi transplant Airini Mason will both push things hard.
All
up, a surfing feast. You can catch things live on Billabongpro.com, and we'll
keep you up to date with daily reports here on Swellnet. But if you're a Sydney
surf fiend, you'd be barmy if you don't find a way to take some of this live from
atop a North Narrabeen sand dune and cheer on the team. It really is that special. | 
