Wave Rally World Championships: Windsurfing stars shine on the windy shores of Coronation Beach near Geraldton

The windy shores of Coronation Beach were packed with spectators at the weekend to watch the best in the windsurfing world compete in the inaugural Wave Rally World Championships.

The three-day event ran from Friday to Sunday.

Event organiser Paul van Bellen said it was a major success.

“It was great, really had it all a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions but it was awesome,” he said.

“Just a great turn out of people and everyone really enjoyed themselves.”

With the weather a major factor, van Bellen and competitors had their fingers crossed for good conditions. However, Friday was overcast with not a great deal of wind.

“It was a bit worrying when I was driving to the event because I could see a small amount of rain falling on my windshield,” van Bellen said.

“The participants rode on inflatable boards to combat the average conditions for the first two days of the comp.”

Sunday was a turning of the tide with the sun coming out and wind picking up, competitors were able to take to the water for the finals.

Winner of the men’s lightweight world championship, Anton Pain said the event was a great show for Geraldton and windsurfing.

“Wave Rally was awesome, Paul did a great job and doing it all off his own bat is impressive,” Pain said.

“It was a great event for windsurfing in Geraldton and at Coronation Beach, I mean you can’t really beat that.”

The event raised a staggering $46,000, but van Bellen said he can’t do an event like the Wave Rally World Championships by himself.

“We need support from people outside of volunteers, we need the council and government to lend a hand,” he said.

“Everyone really enjoyed themselves and it motivates me to want to do it all again.”

WORLD CHAMPIONS

Women:

Maria Schaln 1, Tania Holldack 2, Onike Basile 3.

Men:

Light Weight - Anton Pain 1, Ben Ryan 2, Mat Robertson 3.

Middle Weight - Albert Pijoan 1, Thewes De Boer 2, Logan Haggerston 3.

Heavy Weight - Mat Moerman 1, Tim Fitzgerald 2, Aiden Grove 3.

Wave Rally - Albert Pijoan 1, Thewes De Boer 2, Peter Kenyon 3.