Smorgasboarder_23_Feb_2016-s
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
NIC BREWER<br />
BURNS<br />
BRIGHT<br />
WORDS: PHIL JARRATT | PHOTO: KATRINA MCDONALD<br />
For Noosa junior longboard sensation Nic Brewer 2015 was a stellar year. He took out<br />
the Junior Logger national title at the Australian Surfing Festival in August, won the<br />
Under-18 Alexandra Headland Winter Classic, and posted high placings in a string<br />
of other events. And the 16-year-old High School student from Castaways Beach is only just<br />
beginning. According to his mentors, he has the right combination of natural talent and positive<br />
attitude to go a long way.<br />
A lifelong waterman who started out surfing with his dad on a boogie board at age three, Nic<br />
developed his confidence in the surf as a Nipper at Sunshine Beach Surf Club. During his early<br />
years, a friend loaned him a seven-foot single fin and Nic realised that retro and longer boards<br />
suited his developing style. Nic started turning heads a few years ago in Noosa Malibu Club<br />
competitions, with his stylish turns and go-for-it attitude. When he began competing seriously,<br />
he soon became a regular finalist in the Under-15 division events. In 2014 Nic accumulated<br />
some impressive results including winning the U15 division of the Noosa Festival of Surfing and<br />
posting second place in the Queensland Longboard Championships. He achieved a creditable<br />
fourth place at the U18 Austalian Longboard Titles at age 14 and finished the year as Junior<br />
Champion of the Noosa Malibu Club. Nic’s excellent form continued throughout 2015.<br />
Nic joined Fuyu Surfboards, operated by Sunshine Beach shaper Paul Winter, as a team rider<br />
a couple of years ago. This association has seen him flourish in competitive and free surfing,<br />
and he has taken a growing interest in helping create what he rides, giving a lot of credit for<br />
his improvement to the ongoing development of the Fuyus under his feet. He says: “I really<br />
enjoy the process of refining my boards with Paul, and spending time in the shaping bay with<br />
him. I feel much more confident knowing that each board is made specifically to suit my surfing<br />
and to improve it.” Nic’s great results are partly attributed to understanding his boards and the<br />
conditions each is suited to.<br />
Fuyu Surfboards is proudly local, supporting events such as the Noosa Logger and Wrecks and<br />
Relics, and with a Noosa-based team in Nic, Gavin Robinson and Jackson Winter. It is also one of<br />
the few grass-roots surfboard companies still resisting the mass-production trend and producing<br />
custom handcrafted quality boards.<br />
Nic has also benefited from being coached and mentored by former world longboard champion<br />
Josh Constable, and hot free surfer Jackson Winter. Recent international travels (to the<br />
Maldives in 2014 and Samoa in 2015) have given him experience in the more challenging reef<br />
breaks endemic to those regions. Nic can also be found indulging in his other great passion of<br />
fishing whenever the surf’s not happening.<br />
Finishing school is top priority, and Nic was a recent recipient of the ‘Sunshine Coast Young<br />
Achiever’ award for his sporting and academic excellence. The money he received from<br />
this award will help with costs involved in attending future competitions, including Nic’s<br />
ambitions of winning another Australian title and having a crack at a longboard world title. It<br />
seems that Nic has what it takes.<br />
Article courtesy of fuyusurfboards.com<br />
32<br />
SMORGASBOARDER | SUMMER <strong>2016</strong>