THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 24 #32 Tuesday, January 19, 2010 Mullumbimby 02 6684 1777 Byron Bay 02 6685 5222 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au www.echo.net.au 21,000 copies every week
Byron Region Community College course guide in this week’s Echo CO LO U R , F L AV O U R S , A D D I T I V E E 410
Fast ’n’ furious at woodchop Near-fatal accident prompts calls for surf safety Victoria Cosford
The near-fatal accident of a young experienced surfer at Byron Bay’s The Pass has re-ignited the issues of safety measures and the need for regulation within the surfing industry. Ten year old Pascal Dattler, pictured below, received critical head injuries when he was hit by a learner’s stray surfboard. According to his father, Thomas Dattler, ‘The operation went really well and it looks like there’s no damage. The doctors are really amazed.’ He told The Echo that his son has been ‘surfing for five years now and he surfs at The Pass quite a lot. The same day [as the accident] he also got hit in the eye by another surfer.
There’s been a lot of close calls recently with all these people in the water. If it had been another centimetre he’d have been dead.’ Greens MP and surfer Ian Cohen has been surfing The Pass for 40 years. According to Ian, ‘surfing is like a lost frontier without regulation. Surfers can be difficult to organise but we all have a responsibility to ourselves and others in the water.’ Ian’s solution is a surfing helmet which he has been using for years. ‘When we have accidents similar to Pascal’s we are reminded of the importance of protective helmets for surfers. Statistics show that 80% of injuries in surfing are head injuries. continued on page 2
Tony Parnell lets fly in the standing block event. Photo Jeff ‘Got Wood’ Dawson Eve Jeffery
Last week’s Brunswick Heads Woodchop saw 104 axemen and women compete in over 170 heats and finals at the historic 50th anniversary of the event. Though the current men’s and women’s Champion of Champions, the husband and wife team of Jason and Karyn Wynyard, were late withdrawals from the carnival, the chop still featured a glowing list of Australian and world champions and crowds had plentyof entertainment, with the top notch athletes in the ring. Mitchell Hewitt, part of the famous Hewitt family from Queensland, made a welcome return to Bruns for the 50th. Mitchell, who has won five world titles and is the current world champion, was one of the highlights for both audience and competitors. Not sur-
prisingly, it wasn’t a walk in Banner Park for Hewitt who had plenty of stiff competition from his peers, including brother Lindsay who pipped him at the post a couple of times. The final night of the chop saw hundreds of spectators line up for a good view of the action and none were disappointed as the best of the best brought out the big guns for the Saturday night crowd. Tension mounted through several event finals, until the ring filled with axemen for the state of origin relay event. The Brunswick Heads ring crew, who are deemed one of the greatest in the country, took several minutes for their elaborate warmup before conducting the traditional pre-origin ‘it’s-not-a-Mexican-Wavebecause-that-would-be-illegal’ audience interactive event.
Once the axemen began, it was literally blow for blow in the first leg of the Dave Moss Memorial state of origin chop off, but at the end of the first standing block challenge, it was clear that Queensland were slowly pulling away. By the end of the third underhand leg, there was no chance of NSW catching up and the trophy will go north until contested again next year. The big trophy winners for the carnival were Kyran Laurie who won the men’s and Kate Christensen who won women’s Champion of Champions and the overall point score winners were, for the men, Matthew Stratton and for the women Emma Maxwell. For more information and results of the event, visit: www.bhwoodchop. com. ■Emma Maxwell’s story, page 16
BOOT CAMP
FREE BOOT CAMP STARTING JANUARY â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ENLIST NOW! HEARTANDSOULHEALTHCLUBS COM AU s "ANGALOW 2OAD "YRON "AY s #ALL 6685 5640 <echowebsection=Local News>
B Y R O N B AY