Smorgasboarder_23_Feb_2016-s

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