Veteran competitor Paul Dupuy clinches title in over-50 final at Australian Surf Championships

Albany surfing gun Paul Dupuy added a national shortboard title to his extensive list of accolades after a sparkling performance at North Haven Beach in Port Macquarie last week.

Dupuy secured his maiden title at the Australian Surf Championships against competitors from NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.

Fresh off his senior wavefest title earlier this year, Dupuy impressed the judges to finish with a score of 14.25 out of a possible 20 in the over-50 men’s final, pipping NSW’s Glen Valaire who had a score of 12 and finished in second place.

Dupuy recorded scores of 8 and 6.25 to give him a winning two-wave combination.

NSW’s Ian Spencer (10.2) and SA’s Christian Lock (6.7) rounded out the four-man final.

Dupuy recorded a score of 10.95 in his first heat and backed it up with a 13.90 in the semifinal to earn his place in the decider.

State hosts NSW dominated the finals across the week, taking home seven of the 11 Australian titles on offer.

The 53-year-old from Albany was the only WA surfer to emerge victorious at the event.

“I’m very stoked, I’ve never won an Aussie title so I was over the moon really,” Dupuy said.

“I think with the talent in the competition, just about anyone could have won it from what I saw throughout the heats.

“Basically I was just lucky to find two good waves in each heat and get a bit of rhythm on them.

“I guess in surfing terms I’m a little bit bigger than a lot of people.

“On the East Coast the waves are pretty light on, they don’t have the sort of power like they do down on the south coast of WA.

“It took a fair bit of adjusting to get used to what you get over there but fortunately the swell seemed to get bigger and bigger each day so I guess it helped me.”

Dupuy was unsure if he was going to make it across to the tournament but said the support from his friends and family spurred him on.

“I wasn’t meant to be going over, three or four months ago. I had a lot of back issues and I actually wasn’t thinking I was going to compete,” he said.

“But I did a lot of physio and a lot of hard work over the last few months and I was feeling pretty good by the time I got over there.

“The support that I received from the WA team and then just everyone back home, it’s been quite overwhelming to be honest.

“Every-one’s been really stoked for me and I can’t thank them enough, it was like the cream on the cake.

“It made the whole thing a whole lot sweeter.”