Foreword & questions by John Streit. Answers by Evan Micele. Photos by Paula Bickford, Tyler Boyce, Jeremy Boyce, Alex Barker, Jeanine Judalena & Micele.

When Surf & Adventure team rider Evan Micele told me he was planning on traveling to Australia to participate in the Noosa Festival of Surfing, I was elated for him! Outside of the trip being Evan’s first outside of the United States, it was also an amazing opportunity for the talented young longboarder to experience one of the iconic waves for that style of surfing. A long and nearly section-less right hand pointbreak, the wave is perfectly suited for Evan’s graceful regular foot approach. As it turned out, surfing was just one aspect of the trip’s excitement value for Evan, who made friends with locals and immersed himself in the local culture. Also, the opening and closing portions of his trip featured fun sessions across Southern California as well as reunited with best friend Alex Barker for a few days of climbing, camping and adventuring California’s dramatic terrain. We caught up with Evan to learn more about his epic adventure!

Surf & Adventure: Before you jumped the pond to the Land Down Under, you spent some time in a place you are very familiar with, Southern California. Tell me about your sessions out there and how they prepared you for Noosa?

Evan Micele: It was nice to spend a few days adjusting to slow, point-style waves again. The waves in Southern California weren’t exactly what I dream about — it was a little colder than usual out there and the waves never got above three feet, but it was a lot of fun anyway. One of my last days in California it was 75 and sunny, so I put on sunscreen and paddled out. Then, a cold front came in and it started down pouring rain — which didn’t bother me — but then it started hailing really hard, about the size of a quarter so I took shelter and we called it a day! The waves in California were much slower than the waves in Noosa, but we surfed Church in San Clemente a few times and that was a little bit faster and helped me dial in my setup, but nothing would come close to what we were about to score in Noosa!

S&A: I understand your trip to Australia was your first outside of the country. What culture shock did you experience right away? What aspects of Australian life are very similar to America?

EM: The first thing that hit me was driving on the left side during our two-hour ride up the coast from Brisbane to Noosa Heads — it was strange! Also, the speed limit signs saying “110” kinda scared me until I realized that was in kilometers and was only about 60 mph. Once we got to Noosa, everyone was so nice and social! Within the first hour, we became good friends with a few of the locals, who ended up chilling with us almost the entire trip.

 

Noosa, Queensland, Australia. Photo: Micele.
S&A: Who all did you travel with from the U.S. over to Australia? Also, tell us about the friends you made over there!

EM: On my way to California, I was with (fellow S&A team rider) Ricky and Jeanine Judalena, then we met up with our friends Michael and Kai Takayama. The five of us all had this beautiful apartment in a little cove. In Australia, I made so many friends, but no doubt most of our time was spent with Tyler: a local ripper who we converted into a longboarder during our two-week visit. His brother Jeremy was also one of the coolest guys around! They took us over the headland to Sunshine Beach and helped us out with knowing where to go. They were just all-around cool dudes! We had luaus at our house almost every night with Tyler, Jeremy and their girlfriends. We would all sit, BBQ and Kai and I would play ukelele. We tried teaching the Aussies — Jeremy started getting the hang of it! Tyler helped me find some climbing. The weirdest thing was they thought I had an accent! We had so much fun just sitting around impersonating each others accents! We all just really bonded, it was cool.

S&A: Tell us about your surfing experience at the Noosa Surfing Festival — one of the world’s iconic surfing events.

EM: Everyone in the event really rooted each other on! The waves were a bit slow at the beginning of the week, so they moved us to a beachbreak that was about a two-mile walk with our boards from the house, but it was still fun! It kind of reminded me of some of the gem spots we have in Sandbridge. Once First Point turned on, it was insane! Everyone was surfing was so good — I would’ve hated to be a judge, because each wave was so flawless that everyone surfed so good, allowing for everyone’s style to show through.

S&A: Noosa is regarded a “dream wave” for longboarding. Describe how this right hand point breaks and the canvas it provides for pure longboard lines.

 

EM: My favorite spot to surf was from the top half of Nationals, which is the third point up from Noosa’s main beach, through to Little Cove. Once the swell really started coming in, you could surf a wave for so long with no sections, it was kinda weird! Most waves I caught here would wrap into Little Cove and I wouldn’t be able to see where I took off from where I kicked out. It’s almost hard to know what to do with a wave that perfect — it’s like you just walk to the nose and keep as much speed as you can for as long as you can, then come off, do a minor rail adjustment and do it again! The wave is so fast, the hardest part is keeping up with a few of the racey sections!

 

S&A: What did you enjoy most about Australia outside of the surf?

EM: Oh, that’s a really hard question! I guess probably the friendships with the people we met. Noosa also had the best ice cream I have ever had and the Tim Tams were so good! I also tried kangaroo steaks my friend Tyler cooked up, and they were delicious! Throwing a boomerang was pretty fun as well, but we decided to stop after I got it to work and almost decapitated some people on the beach — not to mention getting hit by a boomerang that Kai threw, hahaha! It hurt, but it gave me a cool scar for a few weeks.

S&A: How did the long legs of travel treat you? Any major jet lag?

 

EM: Actually, it wasn’t bad at all. Our flights landed in the morning both times, and I’ve always had a gift for staying up for long periods of time — almost 72 hours once. Also, with the excitement on the way out there, I was pretty much running on stoke!

 

S&A: Ah, to be young! Just as you opened the trip, you returned to Southern California for some fun sessions in the San Diego area as well as some rock climbing opportunities. Tell us about this last leg of the trip.

 

Spring flowers bloom at Church, San Clemente, Calif. Photo: Micele.
EM: I had so much fun those last few days. I got to travel down to Coronado and stay with my best friend Alex, who used to live in Sandbridge before moving to San Diego. We had a blast camping, climbing, and all sorts of adventures around Southern California. We surfed Blacks really good one morning, but I forgot my fins, so I surfed my SUPERbrand Head Shifter finless and leashless at five-foot Blacks, which was actually alot of fun! I also got to surf Tourmaline for the first time and the waves were good there as well.

 

S&A: How has international travel changed your perspective on the world?

 

EM: It was definitely interesting to see how the Australian system worked. I am a little jealous of their currency. It was very easy, because the store prices have taxes included and most of it is rounded. There are more coins, which i kind of liked. It definitely opened my mind to other ways of thinking, as well because the mindset towards their government and how it should be run is entirely different than my personal views and the way our government should be run. However, their system actually seamed to work really efficiently and smoothly, but at the end of the day, I’m still proud to be an American!

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