Surf Report with John Veage: Wanda's Nicholas Fox is off to Hawaii the hard way in the 20th annual Molokai-2-Oahu Paddleboard World Championships

The 20th annual Molokai-2-Oahu Paddleboard World Championships is on Sunday with men and women from more than 20 countries to face strong currents as they navigate the 52-kilometre Ka’iwi Channel.

Top athletes can complete the crossing in less than five hours, riding mid-channel waves that crest more than 12 feet and carry paddlers hundreds of meters. The M2O starts on Kaluakoi Beach on the northwest shore of Moloka’i and finishes in Maunalua Bay on the southeast shore of O’ahu. The annual race is a deeply personal experience, challenging every paddler’s physical and mental endurance.

Fox, a former lifeguard from Cronulla, is competing in the Stock Solo division, paddling 12 ft surfboards.

Fox placed second overall in the two man Stock team in 2014 with fellow Wanda paddler Mitchell Allum. He then went solo last year and placed fifth in the Stock division.

“I've been in Hawaii for three weeks now training, catching up with friends and getting prepared.” Fox said.

Fox placed first in the Stock division at the Da Hui paddleboard race from Turtle Bay to Waimea Bay on July 4. Five days later he raced in the Cline Mann Memorial Ko`olaupoko paddleboard race – 17 miles from Makai Pier to Outrigger Canoe club. 

“I was lucky enough to win the Stock division as well as place first overall, becoming the first ever Stock paddler to do so. I am very honoured to have my name on the trophy next to such great water men as Jamie Mitchell, Brad Gaul and Jimmy Austin,” he said.

Australia again dominated the overall leaderboard at Molokai last year as Jordan Mercer got her fifth straight victory.

The 21-year-old powerhouse has repeatedly dominated the women’s unlimited paddleboard race, finishing in a time of six hours, nine minutes and 19 seconds.

“Each year it’s a totally different journey and I’m a new person each and every time,” Mercer said.

On the men’s side, newcomer Matt Bevilacqua, 23, surprised the men’s field with his victory in his first attempt.  

Cronulla Boardriders’ Jay Brown was crowned NSW under-16s champion at the Ocean and Earth junior state surfing titles in clean two-foot waves at Port Macquarie. Jay saved his best performance for last, overcoming a rampaging Mikey McDonagh (Lennox Head) to claim the under-16s boys final. Brown posted an 11.90 heat total to take the title and earn his position in the NSW team for the upcoming Australian junior titles at Phillip Island.

The Ocean and Earth NSW Junior Surfing Festival wrapped up in tricky one-foot peaks at Bonny Hills  as competitors surfed in two-man teams in an attempt to claim an NSW MR Shield Title for their school and earn a spot in the Australian Junior Titles.

In the Under-16 Boys MR Shield , Woolooware High School (Jay Brown – Cronulla and Finley Padman – Cronulla) finished second behind Central Coast Grammar (Lennox Chell - Avoca and Caleb Tancred – Avoca)

Cronulla surfers have had everything this week-small clean waves last week a decent weekend of waves and big solid waves at the start of this week-and today its almost flat.

Coastalwatch  predicts the South groundswell to ease to about 2 to 3ft on Tuesday afternoon before fading to small to tiny levels by Wednesday morning. A series of new, small to mid-sized S pulses follow from Thursday to Sunday under a predominant westerly wind-regime.

I took today's pics at Wanda on Monday afternoon mainly,where the swell was in full flight.The beaches are almost devoid of any decent banks so the reefs were where the action was-this obviously caused another problem because 30 guys out there doesn't help either!

In the USA , the Vans US Open of Surfing, Stop No. 6 of 10 on the 2016 Samsung Galaxy WSL Championship Tour , saw the world’s best female surfers take center stage on the southside of the Huntington Beach pier in two-to-five foot  waves. The first day also saw intense heats in the Men’s QS10,000 event as all competitors battled to avoid an early elimination in Round 1 and the first five heats of Round 2.

Connor O’Leary’s contest is over with a hard fought loss in heat 11, once again he had to surf against Leonardo Fioravanti-its the way the draw goes.He also got the US’s Granger Larsen who took the heat out.

The highly anticipated debut of wildcard selection Ethan Ewing (AUS) proved worthwhile as the 17-year-old Australian posted two heat wins with incredible performances. Earning one of the highest single-wave scores of the day with an 8.50 behind Pat Gudauskas’ (USA) 8.73, Ewing showcased his stylish power surfing early on and continued that momentum into the next round -- taking down Men’s CT competitor Julian Wilson (AUS) in the process. Though admitting he’s not ready for the Championship Tour, Ewing’s surfing at Huntington Beach is on point.

Closer to home,the Australian Surf Festival is set to start with a bang in Coffs Harbour when the Open SurfMasters hit the water to get the festival underway on July 30 for three days of action packed performance surfing. 

Attracting names like former WSL World Tour competitor Danny Wills and young gun Reef Heazlewood amongst a host of other well-known Aussie competitors, the Surf Masters will be a hotly contested division to kick start the festival with in 2016. 

“Getting the opportunity to surf against the best Aussie opens doesn't come along every day so I'm frothing to have the chance to surf for an Australian title again, it's such an honour. It will be tough but I'm going to do my best to take some big names down,” said Heazlewood.

Nearly 500 surfers are set to throw on the competition jersey at this year’s festival in the wave rich Coffs Harbour region which will again play host to the biggest gathering of surfers in the country from July 29-August 15 with National titles to be decided in Open Surf Masters, Longboard, Logger and Bodyboard divisions.

Anyway-another week of solid surfing coming up -stay tuned for some big news on the Woman's QS