Margaret River and Yallingup surfers take on Australia’s best at national junior surf titles at Phillip Island

Surfers from the Capes region are flying the flag for WA as part of a 34-member squad that dived into competition at the Australian Junior Surfing Titles at Phillip Island this week.

Early results from the peak competition, which is expected to wrap up at the weekend, showed some of Margaret River’s rising surf stars holding their own against the nation’s best.

Among the squad were State champions Willow and Olive Hardy, Leila Fraser and Maverick Wilson from Margaret River as well as Yallingup’s Otis North and Cowaramup’s Ace Flynn.

The first days of competition this week saw mild onshore winds and 3-4ft waves.

In early results, Gracetown’s Mia Jacobs was confirmed through to the quarterfinals in her division.

“It’s a really fun competition,” the under-16s competitor said.

“It has been good to surf somewhere different.

“Getting good lefts and rights. My goal is to surf well, but also have fun.”

Surfing WA events manager Justin Majeks said it was the first time the WA team had travelled to Phillip Island since 2016.

“That was a very successful campaign, bringing home two Australian titles,” he said.

“There’s a lot of similarities here to WA and we think the team is in a really strong position to challenge for multiple titles in 2023.

“The Woolworths Australian Junior Surfing Titles is the pinnacle event of its kind in the country and one that every young surfers is striving to get to.

“Phillip Island is an exciting location with a great variety of spots and some similarities to the waves here in WA.”

The competition will feature various divisions, including under-14, u-16, and u-18 age groups, alongside all-stars and schools divisions.

Phillip Island’s surf spot Cape Woolamai was serving as the primary location, with back-up sites including Penguin Parade, Smiths Beach, Right Point, and Surfies Point.