Shakira Westdorp Wins an incredible 7th Australian SUP Title at this past weekend’s Aussie title event held on the Gold Coast. This is great news as the Dream Team Rider displays great form just weeks ahead of the highly anticipated 2018 ISA SUP World Champs to be held later this month at Riyue Bay, Hainan Island – China. Shak will be representing Australia in both the Women’s SUP Surfing and SUP Racing events at Worlds.
The 2018 Australian SUP titles kicked off on Saturday, 10th November, at Duranbah beach on the Gold Coast, due to a small waves forecast. “Dbah”, as it is commonly called, picks up the most amount and was protected from the moderate SE winds.
2018 Australian SUP Titles – Open Women’s Surfing from Australian Paddle Surfer on Vimeo.
Shakira Westdorp‘s 2018 Australian Women’s SUP Title Wrap-up;
“There were some nice 2 foot ‘wedgey’ rights coming through for the entire 3 days off competition.
I had received my new 2019 7’0 x 24 Pro and was excited to test it out in a contest.
The first heat I had trouble picking the right waves and had a win, it was an ugly win but a win none the less and straight through to the semifinals.
Sunday semifinals day brought slightly cleaner conditions and I just got into a nice rhythm with the ocean. Had a few nice waves with a total score of 15.35. That heat gave me a lot of confidence and I felt great on the board and ready for the final.
Monday finals day had the swell holding in there and some nice rippable right-handers. I was feeling a bit nervous but really wanted to surf to my best potential and redeem myself from my worst result ever in the APP event in NY.
The final started with a bit of a lull in the ocean but it awoke half way through giving all the girls a good amount of waves. I managed a couple of set waves and surfed then all the way to the beach mixing up a few different manoeuvres. With a score of 16.25, I had the field combined and took out my 7th Australian SUP Surfing Title.
I was so stoked to win but it was also awesome to put on a good performance and complete in a good heat.
Feeling good now with ISA world titles in China only a couple of weeks away.”
— Shakira Westdorp
