The Bells Beach 50 Year Storm
After five years of waiting, the inaugural 50 Year Storm event was held at Bells Beach yesterday. The surf was “storm surf” in the triple overhead size - 8-10ft - waves at the Bells Bowl.
Held in memory of former world junior surfing champion Shaun Brooks, the event isn’t so much about crowning a winner, but about the coming together of a community all in the name of raising awareness towards mental health issues.
There were many memorable moments throughout the morning, and three awards were handed out. Tim Stevenson took out the best surfer award and was deemed the winner - despite no sleep after working all night! “This is such a special event and I feel honoured to win this event today,"said Tim. "It was really fun, it was a storm and the reason behind the event is no joke.”
The diminutive giant killer, Angela Ball, won the Johnny Utah award with a late takeoff and then surfed all the way to the button after taking some heavy wipeouts earlier in the heat.
The oldest competitor, Jeff Sweeney - 56-years old - surfed what was considered to be the biggest wave of the day.
Lots of waves were ridden, there was plenty of stoke in all three heats, and for many it was one of the most fun events ever to be held at Bell Beach.
The field featured thirty publicly-voted local surfers, both male and female, from 16 to 56 years old. There were three heats of ten surfers, each judged on their best one wave out of 100 points. Many different surfboards were ridden from the 6ft to 9ft range.
The COVID restrictions for outside events were in place, with less than 80 people attending.
Shaun’s younger brother, Troy, a former WCT competitor, who was unable to attend due to covid restrictions said, “Our family is stoked that a bunch of Shaun’s mates have come together to put on not just an awesome memorial surfing event, but also drive support for mental health and youth suicide prevention. I was bummed that I couldn’t come down to compete in the event!”
Mental health is in the forefront of all our minds with the current Australia-wide lockdowns to stop the spread of Coronavirus. Isolation is one of the things that brings out the demons in all of us. Depression and anxiety are widespread due to social distancing, loss of income, and the fear of the virus spreading to loved ones. Talk to your mates, and ask the hard questions. Please, if you feel this way, reach out to your friends or one of our partners for help.
One in Five’s Gabrielle Sheehan said, "During COVID, we have all had resilience challenges and for some people they are experiencing mental distress for the first time. We need to do more than acknowledge mental health, we need to continue to do more to improve health outcomes. Everyone has a role to play".
Shyama Buttonshaw (Photo: Zaz)
Tim Stevenson (Photo: Steve Ryan)
Jeff Sweeney (Photo: Juc Media)
Winners, left to right, Tim Stevenson, Jeff Sweeney, and Angela Ball (Photo: Jules Smith)
Ellie Harrison, wipeout of the day
Adam Robertson (Photo: Mick Sowry)
Cahill Bell-Warren (Photo: Steve Ryan)
Boots (Phot: Steve Ryan)
Jack Perry (Photo: Mick Sowry)
Comments
Hows that Tim Stevenson bottom turn and the Robbo noon reo?!
Looked like a great event.
I agree, sick moments and shots!
love that shot of Jeff Sweeney in the power stance, coming off the high line and holding on by his tail rail and fins.
epic stuff.
There's video footage of it from Adam Robbo's dad Pete. I'll try and track it down.
This is the kind of surf comp I like. Top drawer stuff.
That was sick. How's old mate Goofy in the blue rashie about to get dished up on the button and scrambling to get away. That could have been very heavy
That was Great Swarve_man,
These crew make me feel proud to be a Victorian surfer.
Some good lads amongst that lot.
Love that first pic.
So sick, I would love to be surfing some waves like that right now!
Awesome stuff, great waves, great rides for a great cause.
'Cos if you ain't got your mental health you ain't got nothin'. As I have said before, I if wasn't for surfing (music and God) I'd be dead.
What a great event.
So good to have mental health being recognised.
And what a great lot of surfers.
Thank you for all involved and every one that helped run this successful event.
Was worth the wait
How good is Sweens? 56 and he still absolutely charges. Always seems to be in the right spot for takeoff and that bottom turn is just farken beautiful.
Great to see Shayma out doing what he does best again, dropping into huge waves standing in crazy positions on weird boards, always smiling.
Great event and it's nice to see the guys and girls openly talk about mental health. Well done to all involved.
WOW THANK YOU FOR THE VIDS AND PHOTOS MADE MY DAY
Mental Health care in Australia is a fucking joke. My daughter has told us point blank that she wants to top herself. We take her to the doctor, who gives us a referral to a psych. Next available appointment November. I tell my doc I'm losing my shit after being diagnosed with an inoperable back issue meaning I will probably never surf again, my 2nd shoulder reconstruction failed, and my family are falling apart. Referral to a psych, and I can't even be bothered following it up. But yeah, let's spend money on a football team for Tasmania.
Can you try to get a referral to a different psyche?
Take care, mate.
Mental health care wait lists have gone berserk over recent years, with GPs being forced to do more and more to try and lighten the load. Hope you're able to reach out to the other support organisations and they can do something for you all.
If possible send her to Joondalup hospital mental health clinic in Perth. Ive got nothing but good things to say about them in that clinic i stayed there for about 5 weeks to really sort my shit out. I was in real bad shape mentally hearing and conversing with people who didnt exist at work in front of my boss who said that's physically impossible to hear from people 1 km away. i was looking at helicopters who seemed to be following me around every day in Perth and got into fights with my room mates for selling quality cannabis clones out of my bedroom in a share house with room mates who were heroin junkies.
They almost dobbed me into the cops but let me off if i stopped. but i thought i was in a sting and was on high elert listening to voices a km away.
Anyway i was in real bad shape, drinking to get to sleep instead of taking my meds and my room was filled with empty vodka bottles and beer cartons when i went to the hospital. In the hospital they asked me to stay there for a few months in a mental clinic where i met all sorts of over worked over stressed people of all ages. One girl tried to hang herself several times in there.
The doctors were great and the nurses were very helpful. Once i saw people in worse shape than me i quickly got over my own shit and went back to work within a few weeks.
Ive got nothing but good things to say about that place, good food good respectful staff and made many friends in there. I recommend it for your daughter if you live in WA or even if you dont. all other clinics are filled with dickheads, (grey lands is one filled with psychos)not this place.
Anyway i wish the best for your family.
If she is dependant on alcohol or taking drugs perhaps a clinic to detox . Best wishes and said a prayer to my Uni Spirit for your pumpkin . I have 2 and youngest (16) one was in tears this morning due to stress .
Well said mate …
This fucked up world we’ve been corralled into doesn’t care about bleeding hearts …
Are you ok ?..
Nope no ones ok anymore …..
But yeah Anna we can pay for the Olympics???
Footy stadium no problem ?
Old mate strugglin ?
Get to the back of the queue …
Breaks my heart reading your post bro. I hope things get better in some way for your daughter and yourself. Worst nightmare stuff.
Sending good vibes your way.
Oh man, so shit to hear. But try and stay strong and take care. All the best for your daughter as well.
Try talking to someone else for a mental health referral for your daughter. It’s weird, when you feel a bit beaten, sometimes you just want to give up especially if you talk to someone who doesn’t seem to care. But I reckon there’s a lot of chance in it; 50/50 you speak to someone who could make a really good change and who does care. So my two bobs worth is please try again for your daughter. There are some really good people out there that can and will help, but finding one might take a bit of work - but it’s definitely worth the effort if you can find one. Where I live there’s a group called headspace and another called the sanctuary and there’s more. Keep trying man, there’s lots of people like me who are 100% behind you in spirit mate. Stoked that you were brave enough to voice your feelings about it!! Good luck man!
Stongly concur. Had issues with one of my kids, multiple threats of suicide etc, went to one psych for many months and got no where. Changed psychs, diagnosed the issue nearly straight away (autism - we had no clue), immediately we started making headway.
if you can't surf with your injury, find something you can do daily to burn off some energy. It really does make a difference to mental state. I spent a long time out of the water with an injury and got quite depressed, then took up running and found that whilst it was tough work it made me feel great for a number of hours afterwards. Maybe you cant run with a wrecked back but find a plan b that works.
Love that gash board! I got o.g 6'6" gash .. what a weapon. Great to hear it was finally run. Great pics.
now that's surfing!
Really enjoyed article, photos,video and positive comments.
What was Shayama riding?
Well done to all involved
Not surprised at all to see Tim win. Great bloke and charges. Loved the pics. Thanks
Great photos. Great footy. Great event.
Glad to see they got the event up and running this year and that Huey delivered.
Special mentions to the water photog that was out there in those conditions and the young charger Ange for this effort
That wave of Ange was sick, and I've seen her speech at the presentation event. What a quality person she is.
+1.
10 point commitment, great to see.
Love the man-yells at Ange's top turn. And I love that the community are making this happen. We're behind the 8-ball in Australia when it comes to mental health. But you champions are leading the way and hopefully the pollies will realign their funding priorities soon.
As the single most important and fundamental move in surfing, I think there should be a Bottom Turn of the Year Award, and I'm kicking off with that one of Tim Stevenson's.
Sniffing the water with 8ft of rail buried at Mach 2. And styling.