South West youngsters ride waves of success

The Jaffle Shack Oceania Youth Wave Titles wrapped up last Sunday after four days of competition and coaching, with several young South West wavesailors reaching the podium.

Over 50 young athletes from 8 to 20 years of age gathered at Coronation Beach in Geraldton to fight for Australasian Regional Titles and five-star world ranking points.

The event attracted competitors from NSW, Queensland, South Australia and overseas.

Winning the U18 Boys and coming in second place by less than one point in the U21 Pro Junior was Margaret River local, 17 year-old Jake Ghiretti.

“I’m super happy to have won and the waves in my U18 heats were really good,” the 2023 World No. 4 said.

“A main focus in the lead up was to work on my competition tactics, and I really put them to use in the heat.

“This led me to getting some good waves.”

A focus on his final year of schooling means Ghiretti has had to temper his international aspirations for 2024.

“My priority going into this competition was to win the U18 division, because it’s part of the regional titles,” he said.

“Due to ATAR, I can’t travel overseas this year, so it’s really important for me to win that division here.”

Rounding out the U18s in second place was last year’s winner, Ben Ilett (17, Perth). Tyler Wallrodt (15, Albany) impressed in third place and also won the wipeout of the event award with a nasty landing on his gear after a loop attempt.

In the U21 Pro Junior, a tightly contested final saw Oliver Desforges (18, Fremantle) narrowly beat Ghiretti to continue their see-saw battle of swapping first place.

Quinn Auricht (19, South Australia) and Valters Videneiks (19, Latvia) finished close behind in third and fourth place.

Event organiser and current World No. 6 female wavesailor, Jane Seman said, “The rise in our local competitor’s standard from last year’s inaugural event to this one has been huge and several show genuine potential to become some of the world’s best wavesailors.”

Fifteen year-old Sarah Kenyon from Geraldton won both the U18 and U21 Pro Junior Girls division with some committed loop attempts and good wave riding. This was the first time Sarah has beaten last year’s winner and current world champion in LT Windsurfer Class, Jaiya Marns-Morris (17, Perth).

Busselton local Santina Pillonel was consistent in third for both the U18 and U21 Pro Junior Girls.

A standout in the younger divisions was Isaac Gill, who can now call himself the Regional Wave Champion in both the U13 and U15 boy divisions.

At just 10 years of age and from Attadale in Perth, Isaac showed jumping and waveriding skills that were well beyond his age.

Margaret River local Max Ford wasn’t far behind, finishing second in the U13 Boys and third in the U15 Boys, just behind Igor Panagushin (Perth).

Thura Van Essen (14, Perth) won the girls U15 Regional Championship in a good battle with Sophie Brazier, (12, Perth).

Many of the young athletes will now head down south for the Margaret River Wavesailing Classic in February, where they will battle it out for final points to decide the U18 Australasian Regional Wave Champion.

These events are the most important Australian events for youth on the Professional Windsurfing International Wave Tour.