Lennox Head para surfer Joel Taylor wins world title

By Sarah Waters

Not many people can experience a devastating, lifechanging injury and then go on to be a world champion.

But in a story of unbelievable triumph, Lennox Head para surfer Joel Taylor, 43, has done exactly that.

Joel is now the 2023 ISA World Para Surfng Champion.

The competition, held at Huntington Beach in California, attracted 184 of the world’s best para surfers from 27 countries, who competed over six days for the champion title.

Joel competed in the Men’s Prone 1 Division and got off to a strong start, topping the leaderboard in the two qualifying rounds.

He pushed himself to the limit in round three and the semifnals to qualify for the fnal, which he fnished with an amazing score of 13.17 points out of 20.

Joel said he dreamt of being a world champion since he was 13 years old, when he frst saw Australian bodyboarder

Michael ‘Eppo’ Eppelstun win the bodyboarding world championship in 1993.

“I’m so stoked and really proud - and kind of relieved,” he said.

“I’ve been focused on winning this contest pretty much since I started para surfng just over 12 months ago, to do so, with my family on the beach, is a dream come true.”

What made Joel’s victory so remarkable was that up until last year, he hadn’t been in the ocean for two decades.

Little Souls Wellness Centre is a multi-disciplinary Allied Health hub with offces in Tweed Heads and Bangalow.

Providing a positive and warm environment where parents, children and individuals feel supported and uplifted.

At 21-years-old he was Australia’s rising star of bodyboarding.

But things went horribly wrong for him in the lead up to the 2001 Pipeline Pro bodyboarding competition in Hawaii.

A ‘shockwave’ fipped him out of control and forced him down feet frst onto the shallow reef below him, injuring his spinal cord and leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

He has been confned to a wheelchair ever since. Despite the dark years that followed the accident, as Joel tried to process his new reality, he managed to launch a new business venture, Unite Clothing Company.

It has gone on to be one of the country’s top bodyboarding brands and a formidable clothing label in its own right. The thought of surfng again at a competition level was pushed aside as his life was consumed with work.

Eventually, he met his wife Lorin, and they had two young boys, Jay and Sunny, who he wanted to introduce to the ocean.

“We have world renowned beaches and surf spots here in the Northern Rivers,” Joel said.

“I was lucky enough to grow up here too, so I wanted to give my young sons the same lifestyle that I had growing up.

“That was my main motivation.”

Last year, Joel decided to get back on a board and enter the ocean again.

The ocean gave him a renewed sense of freedom and energy that he hadn’t felt for 22 years.

It wasn’t long before his competitive spirit came back and although he may not have been able to bodyboard like he used to, he adapted his style to the next closest thingpara surfng.

Joel trained at the gym almost every day and surfed as much as possible at Northern

Rivers beaches, which had similar waves to Huntington Beach in California.

“My arms are pretty strong from pushing a wheelchair around for the past 20 years and chasing my boys around in it,” he said.

“But it took me about four months to get my paddle ftness up again.

“I knew if I trained hard and prepared well, I’d have a good shot at claiming gold, so I did everything I could beforehand to make it happen,” he said.

While, claiming the ISA World Para Surfng Championship title may have secured Joel’s long held dream of becoming a world champion, the competition also proved to be a great eye-opener and inspiration for him.

He is now going to enjoy time with his family without the pressure of competition on his shoulders.

He also wants to explore the boundaries of what’s possible for a paraplegic surfer and is looking at adjusting his surfboards so he can ride bigger waves, like the ones he used to as a bodyboarder.