Surfing Australia

Local knowledge boosts Callinan's hopes

Thursday, 4 March 2010

BORN and bred local Ryan Callinan claimed the biggest individual wave score on day one of the $15,000 Chiko Pro Junior at Merewether beach in Newcastle.
Less than 48 hours ago, Callinan was piloting pits at Pipeline on Hawaii’s North Shore.
The goofy-footer is fast becoming accustomed to life on the move, having been home just 10 days this year due to the dual demands of competition and sponsor commitments.
Conditions on offer today were far removed from barrelling tubes on Oahu, but the 17-year-old wasn’t fazed one bit.
“That’s what you have to do when you surf in competitions,” Callinan said with all the philosophical resignation of a seasoned pro.
“It wasn’t that great out there today, but I have surfed the point like this hundreds of times,” the apprentice landscaper said.
Merewether point is holding a lot of sand at the moment, resulting in considerable differences in the quality of waves according to the tide.
“It’s been sanded up for ages since we had a big north swell last year and it really needs a massive southerly blow to sort it,” Callinan said.
Callinan should know what it takes for Merewether to work - he can see the break from the balcony of the nearby family home.
That southerly may well happen early next week, in time for the 4-star Burton Toyota Pro, as a south-westerly change has been forecast for Sunday.
Callinan, seeded 15th into the Chiko Pro Junior, managed to find the wave of the day to rack-up an 8.5 and post the day’s second highest heat result with a 12.40. 
The day’s top heat honour went to Brent Savage, who posted a 14.75.
That’s impressive in the context of the overall scores recorded today, where just a handful of surfers were able to post double figures.
Other surfers to impress today include ASP Junior ratings leader and the event’s number one seed Mitch Crews, along with Ricardo Santos and Matt Lewis-Hewitt.
Action recommences Friday morning, with the second half of the round of 64 getting underway at 7.30am.

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The 2010 Burton Toyota Surfest  (March 2-14) is based at Merewether beach in Newcastle, New South Wales. It has attracted more than 650 competitors from 12 different countries. The main event is the WQS 4-star $US85,000 Burton Toyota Pro (March 10-14).