Local talent on display at Wavefest as Rueben Lemmes and Isi Campbell claim prestigious men and women’s titles

Albany Boardriders hosted its annual Wavefest event at Muttonbird over the WA Day long weekend, with more than 60 surfers travelling from across the south coast to compete.

2023 champion Rueben Lemmes came back to reclaim glory with a win in the open men’s and Denmark surf sensation Isi Campbell took out the open women’s category.

The event ran heats on Saturday then returned for finals on Monday, dodging unfavourable weather and swell forecasts on Sunday, and Albany Boardriders’ competition director David Beeck said high-standard surfing was on display all weekend.

“There’s a bit of a buzz going on around surfing down here at the moment, we saw some great action and some high quality surfing over the weekend, and there’s definitely more people wanting to get involved which is always great to see,” he said.

There was plenty of young talent on show in both the open categories, with Campbell taking to the waves while defending open men’s champion Zen Shepherd was back out in the line-up.

“There’s definitely a solid young crew coming up through the ranks, we’re noticing more Albany kids in there as well as some Denmark ones, and the calibre of competition they put on over the Wavefest this year was incredible to see,” Beeck said.

Lemmes clinched victory in a close fight over defending champion Shepherd, with Luke Anderson and young gun Tyce Shepherd coming in third and fourth respectively.

Campbell outlasted strong challenges in the final of the open women’s with Albany local Holly Minter snatching second spot, followed by Karina Hick in third and Sascha Roberts in fourth place.

Jess Ngeh defended her over-30s women’s title, with Hick picking up another placing for the weekend, this time second spot.

Narelle Wakefield and Maeli Cherel rounded out the top four.

Josh Coumans claimed victory in the over-35 men’s ahead of Jeff Lee who was a close second while Rhys Jones and Andy McKinnon were third and fourth in the final.

Albany surfer Darryn Oostdam won the over-45 men’s final from Beeck in second place and Jason Oostdam and Adam Wheeler coming in third and fourth.

The Southern Ocean Surf Reef is being constructed at Middleton Beach and Beeck said he believed the new break close to Albany’s city centre was going to invite even more interest in surfing.

“I think the surf reef is going to do wonders, and it already is, because the Denmark kids have Ocean Beach to surf on right on their back door, but without Middleton all of Albany’s breaks are a lot less accessible,” he said.

“I’ve been down at the new reef and seen plenty of kids riding their bikes down before school in the morning for a surf or after school, so I think it’ll bring a whole new tribe of young groms to us and open surfing up to a lot of new people in Albany as well.”