Capes surfers clean house in first round of WA Junior Surfing Titles at Yallingup

It was pretty close to a clean sweep of the division wins at the first round of the WA Junior Surfing Titles at the weekend.

The Yallingup competition in middling surf saw a few new entries making a name for themselves in the contest famed for driving the State’s next wave of talent.

Margaret River surfers Kaleisha Launders and Finn Lange won the top gongs in the under-18s section, with Lange in the record books for the first time.

Also scoring well were Dunsborough duo Rosie Gillett and Cruz Uros in the under-16 girl and boy cadets, while Margaret River’s Taj Small Fries winner Ily Fraser claimed the under-14 girls and micro-grom Nate Spooner flew the flag for Dunsborough in the boys’ division.

The contest at Shallows break saw Launders only narrowly claim victory over local competitor Ruby Berry – by just 0.22 points – when the final siren called.

Launders’ winning total of a lowly 8.78 out of 20 was a testament to the poor conditions rather than her performance.

“I’m stoked to get the win in some pretty tricky conditions,” she said afterwards.

“All the girls were ripping, but I was just lucky to find a couple of good waves out there.”

Lange was meanwhile stoked with his maiden gong, claiming the top division at age 15, and defeating fellow Capes chargers Okie Fraser, Cruz Sheridan and Remy North.

“There was a few lulls out there so I just made the most of the set waves when they came through,” he said.

“This is my first State title win and I couldn’t be happier right now.”

The match-up of the day came from Gillett, who snagged her under-16 title on the last wave before the buzzer.

Her victory came at the cost of Margaret River and Cowaramup surfers Olive Hardy, Leila Fraser and Grace Cook.

“It was so hard out there, but I’m so stoked to take the win,” Gillett said.

“Olive, Leila and Grace were all ripping and I’m glad that wave came to me in the end.”

The WA Junior Surfing Titles hit Trigg Beach for the next stop in May.