Watch: Morgan Cibilic // Five Days in May
As a CT rookie, Morgan Cibilic is still waiting to surf his debut heat, yet rather than letting six months of nerves wear him down, he's used the time to his advantage.
"Earlier this year I was feeling a bit of pressure," says Morgan of his jump onto the CT and into the world surfing spotlight, "but having all this time off has allowed me to come to terms with it."
"Every time I surfed there were lots of eyes on me, I wasn't used to that, but now I'm OK with it."
From his Yamba base, Morgan's been making regular missions north towards the border where his coach, Bottle Thompson, can, thanks to Queensland border control, cross into NSW and give his young charge advice.
"Having the time to work on technique and boards has been great," says Morgan. "We've been nutting things out. Working on little tweaks."
Had COVID never happened, the CT would currently be swinging out of the Javanese jungle and heading towards Saquarema. Morgan didn't bother checking the G'Land forecasts to find out what he missed, instead staying focussed on the job at hand.
But it must be hard staying motivated without comps to go to?
"Nah....it's been pumping." says Morgan. "It's easy to get up and go to work when it's like this."
And his boards?
"It's another benefit of the delay," explains Morgan. "At the start of the year we [he and shaper Will Webber] were in two minds with my equipment, but we've settled on it now."
What they've settled on is a shape Will and Morgan call the Wundabat, and which Will describes as, "Just like Homer's enchanted baseball bat, so too is Morgan's mystical new short board."
Comments
Looks like Toonalook Waters has had a nice Autumn.
2nd time I’ve seen this kid surf .. absolutely love his style .. mix of parko-fanning about it.. hope he does well in the CT will tear it up .. whenever it returns?? Any word on when ??
Nah. Speaking with Al Hunt earlier this year and he let slip that they'd give themselves till September to run an abridged tour - so four comps from Lemoore onwards. But I can't see that happening, as even the Oz/NZ tourist bubble won't start till September at the earliest.
Rate it's going even next year will be impacted.
Cheers Stu thanks mate ..
I think he looks the goods.
good fluid power game.
Not often you see a full clip now a days with only 1 air!! Quite refreshing!
Wow Swifty! Was gonna say exactly the same...word for word
Heaps of style, smooth, confident, beautiful lines - clearly spot on tour deserved but its hard to see anything from those clips that would tip him into any sort of world champ contender position. Maybe hes just getting started.
if he went from a total unknown to cementing his position that would be a huge achievement.
Rips! Lotta power, little old-school.
Kinda with Lost so will reserve judgement, but hope he does well when the tour gets started. Looks like it's within him.
No doubt he has the talent, but with his quick rise through the ranks I'm guessing he was sharp and competitive in a heat with a strong mental aspect. I wonder what 12 months of no competition will do to him, and to others also.
style-wise on the backhand, he looks like italo. not at that level tho
Sure he rips but nearly every bottom turn he pumps/adjusts the rail. Any comparison to Parkos smooth style is off the mark.
A lot more gouges, hacks and lip blasts than the usual CT comp head, not as refined though. Personally I prefer slightly messier, slightly out of control power hacking explosive surfing cause its more interesting to watch but it usually doesn’t seem like the CT tower feels the same way.
Incredible talent! But he needs more mongrel in his surfing. I prefer to watch my mates surf than the CT guys
nice to see some real power surfing from a young fella! kinda reminds me of Occy - that power from the legs/bottom turn. great to watch...and not doing an air every 5 seconds thank christ.
Coming up short in the variety dept
CT surfing style seems a bit hard to watch after some time off the airwaves. Good luck to old mate tho
Not unlike Danny Wills, all the best young fella!
good rail game, nice
Anyone know the tune?
Filmed nine years ago when Morgan was eleven!
He was on a Will Webber board then too.
There must be something in the water there....so many really good surfers from such a small part of the world. An A-grade right point, A-grade slabs and A-grade beaches may have something to do with it.
Good to see a grom with a power approach, too, though it's always nice to see a young pro get guillotined, so props to the boys for including that.