The Lake House

A few years after the boys had finished school there was an opportunity to move into JJ’s dad’s Fingal house. It had previously been rented by tenants but they all moved out, so Jake James, Sam Treebs, Oscar Perkins and Ollie Foley packed up their lives in Brisbane and made the transition to far far north New South Wales; so far north that during daylight savings, our phone’s would shift between time zones based on what room of the house you were in.

Heaps of awesome parties were had, we were crafting our own handplanes, local dad Rowan started calling in on us every day, and fins went from being on the bottom of our boards, to the bottom of our feet. By the time Jack MacRae and Rory O’Rourke moved in to the house, we were committed. We didn’t know it yet, but this was the beginning of the Wommin Wompers.

2014

It was too Big

Easter Sunday. It was probably just an excuse to party. But the womp comp went ahead.

It was massive. We’re talking 8ft heavy dreamtime, freight trains. It was good, but it was too big to host an amateur bodysurfing event. As Rowan said, ‘we would have had to have been sponsored by the ambulance service’

So we moved it.

And that was the catalyst for our adaptable mentality. Everything can be changed last minute, nothing is concrete - even the date changes every year.

Fingal Beach was the new spot - maybe 500m north of the headland. It was breaking over 100m out, still about 6ft, the rip was gnarly. There was multiple take off spots, but only one that could really get the judges looking at you, if you didn’t catch the right one you’d get swept past the competitors area toward the pumping jetty.

Oscar was a stand out. He got wave of the day in the semi, big one way out back, rode it beautifully - straight through to the finals…

As you can see in the photo above - no Oscar Perkins. He was a bit tired and pulled out. Make of that what you will.

Rory O’Rourke went on to take home the bacon. From memory, Lachie Taylor and Hannah Cutts came 2nd and 3rd, although this could be wrong - our records have been destroyed.

2015

It Nearly didn’t happen

All was quiet in the lead up to Easter. The Womp wasn’t even on the radar. Just a thing that happened one time.

Nup. That’s not how this story ends.

Rowan made the last minute call. After the success of the first year, it’d be preposterous not to do it again. So we did it.

Maybe this was when we validated the whole Easter Sunday thing? Who knows.

We had about 40 people show up. It was weird choppy conditions in the corner at Dreamtime Beach, but there were waves to be had. You’d get these 2-3ft runners just peeling off the side of the headland, all lefts.

It was a pretty strong line up in the final, but no one was really setting themselves apart from the pack. That was when Rory took matters into his own hands. With a minute left on the clock, he took his chances and paddled out wide and deep.

Inevitably, a screamer rolled through. Rory rode it long and hard and took home the bacon yet again. It seemed this womp business was a bit of a one pig race.

2016

A Tragedy occurs

The day before the womp comp we were all at the beach, chilling out & getting some womp practice in. Then something far more consequential than bodysurfing happened.

We could see the lifeguards racing out the back. A young girl and her mother had been swept around the headland. A man dived in after them, he held the seven year old girl afloat as he got beat into the rocks. He saved the girl’s life, but unfortunately he was unable to be revived. This man’s name was Ryan Martin.

Ryan was a nipper as a kid, so it’s not as if he was ignorant of the dangers he was putting himself into. He paid the ultimate sacrifice. One of our competitors, John Douglas, helped to pull him ashore. We never knew Ryan, and doubt he would have been competing the next day - but having something like this happen the day before our comp highlighted to us that life is both precious and finite, and secondly, the importance of water safety.

We pride ourselves in facilitating a competition that nurtures strong swimmers with knowledge of the ocean. So that, if a situation like this were to occur again, one of us, like Ryan, could save a life.

We had randoms

It had been a big weekend. A lot of partying. 2016 was going to be our make or break year. We made a Facebook event, we made an Instagram account (@womminwompers) and we made a bit of merchandise, some dude called Todd Supertramp called us up asking if Taylor’s Mistake Handski could sponsor the event, and just like that we were sort of legitimate.

In the days leading up to Easter Sunday, the surf should have been pretty good - but it wasn’t. The banks just weren’t happening. The surf report said Monday was going to be the day. Saturday night we were having a few beers stressing over whether we should run it on the Sunday, or push it back a day.

There was a lot riding on this decision, with our increased online presence we assumed we’d have a few people we’d never met before show up - we just didn’t know how many.

We couldn’t change it. It had to be Sunday.

6am, phone’s ringing. It was an unknown number.

“where is this thing?”

“ah, i dunno yet”

We get to Dreamtime Beach and there’s marquees set up and about 20 people none of us have ever seen before. What the fuck. One of them’s the world champ. What the actual fuck? On top of that the surf is proper pumping. 4-5ft clean off shore. It was gone be good.

The world champ, Tom Marr called it the best day of competitive bodysurfing he’s ever been a part of. Everyone was getting tubed. The bank out the back was just really ridiculously good.

We had a drone guy, David Hanson, out there - and Anna Kouvaras and Abby Kortlang running interviews on the beach, which was cool. The added presence of the Marr’s, Baxter’s, Short’s and Sayer’s families really gave it a more professional feel. It wasn’t just a group of mates anymore.

Tom Marr got the wave of the day early in the semi final. Big right, deep on the outer bank, rode it for about 100m into the shore. It was the best wave any of us had ever seen bodysurfed. Rowan was on the microphone, and called him in to the beach. No one was going to beat that. Express entry to the final. He got carried up the beach, wsl style, and got to try on the winner’s robe, just to see how it felt. This all happened in front of Rory.

Rory, the undefeated champion, was not coping very well. The entirety of Fingal was talking about him. Everyone wanted to see him lose - and lose he did.

The final was a close one. All the pressure was on Rory to defend his title, but he crumbled pretty bad. If Tom’s wave was ridden in the final it would have been his, but in the end it was Jack MacRae who took it out with two solid rides. Tom Marr came 2nd and D-Mac finished in 3rd.

 If you still don’t know about the wommin wompers,

the wwc016 documentary is a good place to start

THE WW - Winner winner

Whilst this isn’t especially specific to the Wommin Womp Comp, it is an important part of our story. We’d always - sort of - known that there was an Australian / global womp scene going down, but we didn’t know how it operated.

In 2016, Rikki Gilbey from WAW Handplanes started the first national bodysurfing event. It was a team based event. We were on the fence about it - to be honest, we thought we’d get smashed. But, in the end, common sense prevailed. We bought a domestic ticket and rented an airbnb in Manly.

By the morning, we were so G’d up. We were going to win it. We were on.

First heats hit the water. It was icy cold. Rory and Jake were in dt’s - which wasn’t the best play considering it was the middle of a cold Winter in Sydney. But, we won the first heat.

The next heat was the team competition - two of us had to simultaneously ride the wave - and do the same tricks at the same time. Again, the Wommin Wompers won.

The final was the fin sprint. Whichever team won the fin sprint got an extra point to their total. Mitch and Oscy sprinted valiantly, but in the end it was tournament organiser Rikki Gibley who won.

It didn’t matter. Our scores from the first two events were enough to secure the Wommin Wompers as the winners of the Inaugural Whomp Off Australia.

Shout outs must go to Whomp Social Club, who we teamed up with to beat all those uppity Sydney bastards.

2017

bigger and bigger

2017 was the first year we were truly prepared for hosting this thing. After the successes of 2016, we’d pretty much solidified our global position as professional tournament directors / male models.

Gus ‘the pig’ Williams was probably looking the hottest. He had some tight budgy smugglers on - he was looking ripped and jacked. He probably should have won the whole thing. But, The Wommin Womp Comp is a pressure cooker… and bacon tastes good.

Belly Slater flew up from Sydney to be our MC for the day. He flew back a champion, taking out the first ever Fin Sprinting event.

We also had our first ever over 50s event. Coincidently, Rowan had just turned 50…

Anyways, Nick O’Rourke had a commanding lead over the competition. He just needed the one wave to solidify his place as the first “master’s” champion.

That wave came.

A big peak and Nicko was in the perfect spot - only to be dropped in on by his brother in law - Brian ‘Skip’ Donovan. Naturally, the judges couldn’t reward either womper. In the end, it was the Mandoor, Rob Wilson who came away with the victory. Rob only caught two waves - the very first, and the very last wave of the heat. It just so happened, that those were the two best waves ridden. It was later revealed that Rob had only bought his first real pair of fins earlier that day on the way to the comp.

In the far less competitive opens event, things were kind of weird - Tom Marr and Sam Christopher both got knocked out of the semi-finals with high scoring heat totals. Gussie was unstoppable, the favourite to take it out was certainly a force to be reckoned with. Jack MacRae quietly dominated. Rory was getting high heat totals. Todd Supertramp lived up to his reputation. Liam Short and Dmac were as consistent and as threatening as ever, and Wilson Clark and The Bird Man, Stu Bird, both came out of nowhere to gain finals birth. It just seemed like the womping was too high quality. So the judges, in a controversial move, put Tom and Sam into the finals - despite being kicked out in the semis.

The crowd loved it, the competitors hated it. Especially Gussie, you could physically see his brain disintegrating under the unfairness of it all.

After that turn of events, it seemed like this was going to be a competition for second. Jack MacRae just shot out of the blocks and was in the lead from the get-go. The judges silliness wasn’t going to affect his performance. He never looked like losing, and lose he did not.

Crazily enough, after the event had finished we had even more drama. Tash, who designed one of our T-shirts that year, got caught in a rip right as everyone was leaving the beach. Her boyfriend at the time, Andy, swam out to save her - and also nearly drowned. Thankfully, there was a few wompers there who realised what was going down, and Saxon dove in after them with a longboard. By the time everyone cottoned on to what was going on - they had been saved. All was okay in the end, but it serves as a gentle reminder that the ocean is forever unpredictable.

2018

womp or die!

The 5th Wommin Womp Comp ran at Fingal Beach; this was the first time the event had been run there since WWC1, back in 2014. It was held in 2-3ft wedgey conditions on the southern tip of Fingal Beach. Starting at 7am, running through to 1:30pm. High tide was at 9am, and it was probably peak conditions an hour later during the repechage round - awesome for all those knocked out in the opening rounds.

It was an event that highlighted the growth and inclusive nature of the WWC. Every event had more entrants than any other year. We had 72 competitors in the opens, 8 in the juniors, 15 in the over 50s and 14 in the womens event. A grand total of 109 competitors. The biggest bodysurfing event in Australia!

A big congrats must go to all the other individual winners as well. Lewis Churchill took out the under 15s. Phoebe MacTaggart took out the Women’s & John Baxter took out the over 50’s. We also set a new world record in the ladies event, with 14 girls simultaneously bodysurfing a single wave.

The finals of this event were full on. From the Semi onwards, it could have been anyone’s. The standard was just so high. In the end, Adam Bishop scored the gnarliest barrel, and highest scoring wave of the final - but couldn’t get the back up score. Rory O’Rourke got two absolute crankers from deep - but it was Jack MacRae, much to the disdain of everyone, who took it out again. He got a crazy barrel right in front of everyone, then went out and and got an even better one on the very next wave. Legend has it, he knew he’d won when he looked toward the shore and saw Rowan kicking a rubbish bin over out of frustration.

He has cemented himself as the best bodysurfer in Fingal history. He did the unthinkable and went back-to-back-to-back. A three time winner and a true champion.

2019

STRAIGHT OUTTA WOMPTON

This year probably shouldn’t have turned out as well as it did. The weather was shit. Friday was a full-on storm, and Saturday was wet and cold and gross. The reports said Sunday would be no different. 6AM we arrive, the wind’s already picking up and sure enough, a big gust comes through, and with it - rain. Lots of it. Enough to cripple our set up.

There were 100 people huddled under 5 tents getting to know each other, sharing looks as if to say ‘this isn’t going to be fun’. The generator wouldn’t start, we had no power, we forgot the air horn - it was bad. 

And then, all of a sudden, it wasn’t. The rain just stopped and never came back. The generator powered on, and the air horn was suddenly in Rowan’s hand. It was time to womp!

The surf was 3 to 4ft… but it was messy. It was onshore, peaks were randomly popping up everywhere, it was pretty hard to read but you could get some sick waves with a bit of luck.

The first round was 10 heats of 6 people, 60 in total. The top womper got an express pass to the semi-final. Number 2 & 3 went into Round 2, the heat of death - and the bottom 3 wompers got knocked out, and have to fight their way back in through the flipper run, or the repechage round.

The judging was awesome this year. Because of the crazy tides, everyone had to leave their tents and come to the water’s edge. This meant we had hundreds of people voicing their opinions in the judging vicinity. Judging was split up into two sections on either side of the crowd, with three judges per section. Anyone was allowed to judge.

At some stage, Pat McNally suggested we commandeer the lifeguard tower - which proved to be a masterstroke. It was great that we had the Keel Down Under water polo caps this year, but Wommin rules still applied - if you don’t claim, you don’t get the score!

Next, we ran the hotly contested over 50’s, the kid’s event, and the women’s event. It was pleasing to see so many bodysurfers volunteer to be in-water lifeguards during the under 15s heat. In an unfortunate turn of events, a huge rip tore through the competitors' area during the kid’s heat. Half got swept to the left and half got swept to the right. Thankfully, our lifeguard team were there the whole time. In the end, it was Allana Glowaski who came away with the win in the under 15s, besting Koby (2nd) and Lewie (3rd).

We had 14 wompers in the over 50’s and 14 women too, so we effectively ran these heats as semis. The top 3 from each heat got to go into the grand final. The chicks went off, it was awesome. In the over 50’s, the crowd favourite, and forecasted event winner, Nick O’Rourke broke his ribs in the first few minutes of the Over 50s. His campaign was over.

After that, we had the fin sprint. Belly Slater popularised finsprinting way back in the days of 2017 with a dominant debut victory. In 2018, we forgot to do it. Come 2019, a new champion rose to take Belly’s title. Ex-Australian 100m champion, the Dutchman Mitch Van Deurse used those long ass legs of his and took it out. Unfortunately, our fin sprint event was only meant for those who had been knocked out of the competition & Dutchy was still in it - so his title became null and void. Meaning second place, Alex Power, is our new Wommin Finsprinting Champion. The lesson in all of this is if you’re going to cheat, make sure you get away with it.

Next, we had Round 2, which - to be honest, no one can remember what happened. It was the losers round. Some losers became winners. And some losers stayed losers. I just remember Alex Power, who hadn’t actually entered the comp because ‘he wasn’t very good at bodysurfing’, winning his heat and getting into the semi.

After Round 2 was the repechage. The repechage is basically an event for anyone to try and get into the semis. The way it works - if you catch a wave you think is good enough, you have to run out of the water and up to the judges, get on your knees and plead with them to “PUT ME IN COACH!”. Three bodysurfers get to go in. The first was Connor Gibney, just cause he was the keenest. He literally caught the shittiest wave and sprinted back up the beach after about 30 whole seconds. It was an absolutely hilarious tactic, and totally deserving. Then Pat McNally and Eddie White both got sick ones and left us no choice but to add them to the fold.

The ladies final was next. It was easily the fiercest final we’ve had since the inception of the ladies event three years ago. The inaugural champion Holly Nation got some epic waves. Jaime Baxter (the daughter of 2018 over 50’s champ, Backa!) got some even more epic waves and managed to secure herself second place! For a girl who only signed up because ‘dad made me do it’, she sure did well.

But the grand champion, and our Womper of the Day goes to Allana Glowaski. At 13 years old, she took on seasoned wompers, and smashed them! She becomes the first person to ever win two events in the one day. A feat very unlikely to be achieved again - unless of course, she goes back to back next year! Allana took home a pair of DMC fins as well as the Garage Handplanes / Mabo collaboration “Garbo” handplane for her achievements.

We then ran open’s semis. We had 3 semifinals with 6 competitors each. The top 2 wompers go through from each heat. Some big names didn’t make it through to the finals this year - Swimlords Jacob & Jae Marr, The Van Deurse Brothers, Olympian Ned McKendry & D Mac to name a few. But none bigger than Jack MacRae.

Jack went up against Ollie Churchill and newcomer Harry Gordon. Unfortunately for Jack, and fortunately for everyone else - these two put on the highest scoring affair of the entire event. To put things into perspective, a 10 point heat total would get you through in most heats. Ollie scored 14.5 and Harry G scored 15. It was a masterclass.

Huge props must go to MacRae, a three-time champion. The true testimony of a champion is not how he handles the victories, but how he handles the losses. There was a lot of pressure on Jack, and when he got knocked out he was humble in defeat, kept on having a good time and didn’t go weird. And then he threw an awesome party. Congrats on your epic achievements over the last three years bro, seriously impressive and everyone’s jealous haha… must suck that Rowie’s kid was the one to get ya though!

On the topic of Rowie - the over 50’s finals was dominated by one man - Rowan Churchill entered both events and had won every single heat he had entered. As much as it pained Oscar to say it “Rowie was smashing it”. This next section is a direct quote from the man himself:

“It was a day where you had to chase hard to get your waves, and even then sometimes they didn’t come. I felt this way about my Open’s semi where I watched Oli getting good waves right near me while I couldn’t find one. Convinced myself that I should just let it go and play for a win in the 50s...I would’ve pulled out of the old boys had I made the final. Blessing in disguise. Happy to get 3 firsts and a fourth (open semi) for the day, walk with a title, hit the party hard, and dodge a trashed house...but I didn’t get to change the ‘scoreboard’ on the wall of my old kitchen!”

 It must be noted this is the first year Rowan wasn’t the favourite to win - Rob Wilson, Backa and Nick O’Rourke were all higher on the pecking order. But this was also the first year he has competed with two flippers on. Congratulations to the big man, MC Rowie aka Rinse Staples aka Willy Wompa is one of the key driving forces behind the comp - he has been yearning for it since the inception and he’s finally snagged a Womp Comp Victory. On ya Rowie! Just needed that underdog status to perform.

Next was the Grand Final. Gus Williams, Jake James, Rory O’Rourke, Harry Gordon, Ollie Churchill and Tom Marr lined up in what would be an epic affair. It must be noted that all finalists received a pair of DMC fins. It was a 20-minute heat. Most competitors caught around 4 or 5 waves. Ollie Churchill (eventual second place) got an absolute banger early on riding it all the way to the shore, which won him the wave of the day & a garage handplane… but then he went quiet. Jake James and Rory O’Rourke (tied 3rd) were steadily plugging away, both having one high scoring wave, and one lower scoring wave.

Tom Marr on the other hand, caught over 10 waves. He didn’t get the highest scoring wave or the longest, but he got two waves in the excellent range - and it was enough to secure him the win. Tom is entitled to a lifetime of free accommodation at any Big K Hostel. A huge congratulations mate, so stoked for you.

The Marr clan (as well as Shorts, Baxters & Sayers) are as close to being foundation members of the Wommin Womp Comp as you can be, without actually being foundation members. They were the first ‘randoms’ we ever had, and it’s awesome that we are now friends. Always look forward to seeing you guys on Easter, and hope to keep the tradition going.

Tom started his WWC Campaign by coming 2nd to Jack Macrae in that epic 2016 final. He has been there every year since, and after 4 long years - he has won it. 

Tom started his crusade slowly, a third place in the opening round relegated him to the Round 2 knock out heats. Meanwhile, younger brother Jacob Marr won his opening round and got direct entry to the Semi Final. Tom made his second heat just scraping through with a 2nd place. From there, we had three semi-finals with the top 2 competitors making it through to the grand final. Again, Tom came second - just making it. At this stage, Tom had done the absolute bare minimum in each heat to make it through - pretty much every other finalist had won at least one of their rounds. Was it luck? or was it tactics?

Probably just luck - but he competed the hardest in the final, and is a deserving winner.

Thanks must go to everybody who contributed to this year's event. As it grows larger, we need more and more people to make it work - and it’s awesome to see everyone who shows up getting into it. I think the nicest part of this event is the inclusivity when it comes to involvement. We are never going to have a completely structured event, but that’s what makes it special. You can show up knowing nobody, and get amongst it and become the unofficial head judge - As Joko Tulikoe did. P.s. thanks so much to this guy, but who are you and where did you come from?!?!

To everyone who brings a tent, everyone who brings a competitor a coffee, to Paige who made the records, to Powers, Ellen, Bryce and Chels who did sign on and video, to Lucas who took all our amazing photos, to our sponsors, to everyone who just brings a good attitude and contributes, to everyone who picked up a pen and judged a heat, to everyone who wakes up at 5am to be there, to the kids and Rosco who fixed up the sign when the tide got too high, to Jack and the residents of the lake house who threw an awesome party, to harry for your crazy dragon, to the bands who performed, to Tommy for the shirts, and Tash for our designs, to Jamesy for the Big K bags & Gussie for the stubby coolers, to Rowan for always bringing the stoke and MC-ing and lastly to the Wommin Wompers who we get to share this amazing event with. Thank you so so much.

 The 2020 Wommin Womp Comp almost didn’t happen. It was meant to be the God year… before God intervened. The cancellation of our usual Easter Sunday event was described, by many, as the worst thing to happen in 2020. But in these moments of adversity, we found the light. Months passed as we toyed with a prospective wetsuit edition. Winter blossomed into Spring, and Spring gave way to Summer. Before we knew it, we were in December… and we sure as hell weren’t going to have a year without a WOMP COMP. 

It was the 31st of December, the last day of the year, New Year’s Eve. It wasn’t Easter, but given the circumstances, it was pretty much the same thing, ..especially as the full moon fell on Dec 30. The only real difference is we were celebrating Jesus’s birthday and not his death. The day started as normal, by waking up. After that, we set up camp at the Southern end of Fingal Beach. The surf was a heaving 1ft straight hander with a gentle 20-knot onshore wind. It was perfect conditions for womping.

Due to Covid restrictions, we couldn’t host as many bodysurfers as normal this year. The opens had 36 entrants, and the over 50s had 9 enter. The ladies event had 16 entrants this year, which is our personal record.

The first 6 rounds were 6 man heats. Top 3 from each heat went through. We saw strong performances by some of the usual suspects - O’Rourke, MacRae, James, Van Deurse, and Whately all won their designated first-round heats. Churchill won his heat, then promptly retired realising his best chances were on the microphone and saving himself for the over 50s. This gifted Goldie Sliders nutjob Simonsen a place in the next round, an opportunity he grasped all the way to the final. 

After that, we saw the first round of the Women’s event. The two 8 person heats saw the top half from each goes into the final. One thing was clear, the quality of the girls was better than ever. In the words of former champion Holly Nation, this year was defined as “extravagant girl power”, to which she added “I’m not sexist but we would beat the men. It’s good the women have their own competition because they’d probably flog the opens.”

The girls also re-broke their world record for most girls bodysurfing a single wave. This year we had 16 ladies simultaneously womp a wave. We have not emailed Guinness yet, but we sure as hell got it on camera this time.

The repêchage round was next, all the losers who got knocked out get another go. Yay. Most remain losers, but 2 losers became winners again. Can’t remember who… 

Directly after that, the Flipper Race took place, and one of the other losers got to taste victory not from the supremacy of their whomp treachery, but the rapidity of their flipper’d trotters. That winning loser was Tubey McGuire, congrats on winning the fin sprint.

The ladies final was intense. Super gruelling, it was neck and neck the entire heat. Therese, Lynda and Hannah all put in crazy efforts, but to no avail.No one could break away from the pack until Ellen was given a fright by a swarm of stingrays. She managed to briskly fight them off and pull into a big heffer to get the wave of the day. Special mention goes to coach Rory, who was so impressed with the wave that he took her home for an afternoon shag, before the party. Congratulations to Ellen for taking out her debut Wommin Womp Comp. 2nd and 3rd go to previous winners Holly Nation and Allana Glowaski.

Now the event we had all been waiting for, the Master’s Derision… Rowan insists it is in fact a ‘division’ but we haven’t seen any evidence to suggest this is true. The over 50s saw the same old suspects pullout the same old bag of tricks, just another year older… it never fails to disappoint. The highly coveted ‘Former Mister Wompable’ title has been a merry-go-round of title holders with not one man being able to assert any semblance of dominance… Until now. 

Barrelo Pork has always been a potential title holder, and this year, he lived up to his potential and combo’d the rest of the competition. Nicko came out of not one, but two barrels in the final to secure his spot on the top of the podium. Yesterday’s champs, Rowan and Rob came 2nd and 3rd. Both thought they’d won.

The Opens Final was the last heat of the day. JJ refused a wildcard to the finals, offered due to the fact that half his big toe was hanging off, having severed it a few day’s earlier whilst performing his host duties. JJ had made the finals under his own steam, having decided to participate despite the greater well being of his toe.

This bravery and his seemingly unhindered form was rewarded with the scores required to make the Grand Final. He remained burdened by history, as no after-party host has ever won a womp comp.

The only other podium finisher from 2019, Rory, confirmed himself as a spent force at WWC being unable to navigate the trying conditions, and find a way to the final. His dominance of the early years of the contest all but forgotten, he basked in the reflected glory of girlfriend and father alike.

Perennial performer and self-described womp legend, Jack Macrae, had scrapped his way into the final, avoiding a few scares with some better waves late in his Semi. Media whore and star of breakfast television, Corey Sainsbury, lived up to his reputation with solid performances through his heats and Semi, despite his unfamiliarity with waves under 15 ft (Hawaiian). Fingal local, Pat Illingworth, having served his apprenticeship in years previous surprised few by forcing his way into the big one. He was joined by yet another local product, Ed White, who has continued to knock on doors and run. His reward being a well-earned place amongst the greats that will feel threatened for years to come. Facebook identity, Sven, took his opportunity to gain the recognition of the judges and round out the final 6.

As conditions continued to deteriorate, the judges struggled to find a position on either side of the fence and delivered the closest scoresheet in living memory with a solitary point separating first and last. To everyone’s delight, Jake James had finally put the ghosts of previous failures behind him spurred on by injury and ignoring the after-party voodoo to finally take the title he has for years coveted. Pat took second to the delight of the assembled locals and radiated appreciation and respect for what lays in his future. Jacky-boi was pleased to have made the podium and was last heard mumbling something about gratitude and humility. Rory was helping him with this.

2020 was challenging for everyone. It had all the ingredients to kill the Wommin Womp Comp forever. The Wommin Wompers are growing up, and bodysurfing doesn’t command our attention like it used to. There are times when putting on this event seems like too much effort, or too irrelevant, or too frustrating. But as 2020 came to a close, it was evident there was a piece that was missing. We have always stated - the rules can change at any time… so last year we broke our own tradition and changed the date. In a quasi-religious turn of events, the WWC highlighted to us the importance of tradition. The world is changing and the WWC is changing with it… and that’s okay. The womp’s significance to so many people remains.

Womping is a beautiful way to celebrate humanity, and it was super lovely to get the turn out that we did, especially given the late notice. Thank you to everybody turned out, it makes for one of the most special days of the year. We look forward to seeing you at the 2021 comp on Easter Sunday. April the 4th.

 In 2021, we changed the rules again.

For the first time ever, we left Fingal.

We hosted the first ever Stradbroke Island Edition, the ‘Minjerribah Womp’. And it was perhaps, the best womp comp we’ve ever had.

Everyone wanted to change the date. We’d accidentally timed it as the same time as The Straddie Salute Triathlon. The island was at full capacity. There were no houses to rent. All barges were full. Like all new endeavours, the event was going to incur some trial and error. Perhaps the date was our first error?

Our initial plan was to have it 2km down the beach at Access Track, like we would if we ere to do it at Fingal. But the triathlon people told us to fuck off. They’d booked the beach (lol) and we were feeling defeated. It turned out to be the greatest blessing in disguise in womp comp history.

JJ was standing on the headland, watching these fat - but entirely wompable - 4ft peaks rolling through just thinking to himself, ‘what the heck do we do now?’ … That’s when local bloke, Pete Kelleher, rocked up and said ‘why don’t you just do it here?’, before mumbling some expletives as he walked off towards the horizon.

Was that allowed? Could we just take the best headland in Queensland for the womp? I suppose if triathletes can commandeer and entire beach, we could set up on the headland. A few more local guys showed up and we ran the idea past them, to which they said it’d be perfect - do it.

So JJ & Fisha checked with the clubby - and he was just chilling… so we did it.

We had, without doubt, the best viewing spot for a womp comp that had ever existed. We also had really good surf, and nobody was out. All the blow ins were there for a triathlon, and everyone else had just had a week of perfect surf… and truth be told, the surf didn’t really suit board-riders as well as it did bodysurfers.

The heats opened up with the open mens. Rory O’Rourke made a statement with other first round victors being Cal, JJ & Fisha, with notable performances by Brook, Matt, another Rory, Fergus, Hugh & Jack. Special mention must go to Frankie as well, who somehow duped the judges and got into the semi final even though he didn’t catch any good waves. Notable omission was the Brazilian Bodysurfing Champion - Rom - who kooked the first round.

The women’s event was SAVAGE and FIERCE. Which is the new norm for women’s bodysurfing. It was challenging conditions, a long and rippy paddle-out, with consistent and solid 4ft wedges. As mother nature would have it, the women’s semi saw the best conditions of the entire day. The first heat was challenging. A lot of wipe-outs. In the end, Wommin Champion, SWELLen got a RIPPER which secured her the top spot with Mika and Shaunie making it through as well.

The second women’s semi was an entirely different ballgame with excellent rides being scored throughout. Coolum Legend, Lynda, was putting on an absolute clinic and Mina was impressing the judges with her local knowledge and elegant style. But it was Fingal local, Paige, who came out trumps on an absolute bomb, riding for 40m before launching off the wedge to do a 360 on the end section and riding out. The wave of the day & the highlight of her life.

Gus Williams, better late than never, appeared out of nowhere just in time for the repechage round. Inspired by Paige’s efforts, he immediately made his presence known with another hot contender for wave of the day, and secured himself a place in the semis. The Brazilian Champ, Rom, also showcased his womp treachery to solidify his rightful spot in the semis. Nye joined the party rounding out the semis.

We had three semis in total, with the top 2 place-getters from each going into the final. In obscure fashion, all three of the repechage round guys made it through to the Grand Final. They were joined by JJ, Rory and Fisha. Fergus was very pissed off, but who cares.

Now for everyone’s favourite event, the Golden Masters. If there is one thing in life that’s guaranteed, it’s the old bastards bringing disagreement, disappointment, dissension and disputation. Special shout outs must go to the the Over 75’s World Champion, the self proclaimed geriatric’s geriatric - Pipeline Paul. You brought a great energy and liveliness to the competition, and it was really nice to have you there. Stay stoked. There was some contention for 3rd place this year. Pete thought the judges robbed Rob of the highly sought-after Bronze Rock, and that they only gave him a place on the podium because he was a local. Fair call.

The winner, to nobody’s surprise, was Darren from the Coolum Crew. He caught a wave in the final that challenged for wave of the day. It was certainly the longest wave caught that day. He came in straight after, he knew he’d won. 2nd place was our very own Rowan, who put in a steady albeit trivialised performance.

The women’s final was hard fought - there were not a whole lot of amazing waves on offer, even though a lot of waves were ridden. The girls were feeling more confident, but fatigue was evident. The peaks were split, with Mika, Paige and Linda sitting out deep right peak. Ellen, Mina and her auntie Shauna were on the closer in left peak. The water was amazing, and there was good energy - all the girls were sharing laughs. In the end, it was the girls out deeper on the rights who took the podium. Coolum legend Linda was the standout, taking yet another trophy up north. Paige from Fingal continued her strong form to place second, and Straddie local Mika took out third with a timeless display of bodysurfing.

The men’s final, and final heat of the day, was a WOMP spectacle for the ages. Gus opened the account early with a high scoring wave. Fisha was also putting in consistent scores. JJ was spinning as fast as the wheels on a Nissan Pulsar. Rory was biding his time, yet to score a wave before controversially dropping in on Nye and coming out of a barrel. It was later revealed he had priority, and Nye called him into it. The scores were tight, a high scoring wave would have seen a lead change at any given moment. In the end, it was Rory who came out of two barrels to solidify his spot as the virgin slayer, and inaugural Minjerribah Womp champion

We couldn't have done any of this event without the help of our longtime sponsor , DMC Fins. Who provided minibord handplanes for all of our semi finalists and flippers for each winner. It must be noted that this year's winner was rocking DMCs... AGAIN. Also, big ups to Fisha for being our man on the island and helping with everything behind the scenes.

We hope this event continues to run in to the future, and we thank everyone who was a part of an epic day.