In a week where Australia's Stephnie Gilmore claimed the world's biggest prize in womens' surfing, another rising star from Anglesea was making waves in a different category.
Sam Suendermann's qualification for the World Longboard Championships in China was so unexpected she phoned her mother to check no one was playing a prank on her.
Earlier this month the 21-year-old was wrapping up a year studying in Suva, Fiji, when she received an email telling her she had qualified based on her ranking in the Longboard Qualifying Series last year.
The Victoria University student was taking a break from surfing, despite choosing Fiji for her student exchange because there are waves, and the world title was the last thing on her mind.
Suendermann most recently competed at the national titles in August, 2013, where she was in first place until the last 30 seconds when she was pushed down into third.
"I was disappointed in myself and chose to have a break from competition," she said, despite winning the Victorian state title the same year.
"I haven't been in a competition since and I've been living in Fiji and adjusting to a slower lifestyle."
Suendermann reckons the relaxed approach to her longboarding career may be just the reason luck shone on her.
"You can try really hard and sometimes the universe doesn't deliver," she said. "Other times you can relax and the universe will give you what you want."
Because Suendermann finished fifth in the 2013 series, and qualification for the world titles goes to the top-two ranked surfers, she assumed she was out of contention. That was until she learned one woman dropped out, one earned a wildcard entry and one qualified through another contest, meaning fifth place was high enough for entry to the titles, which start December 4, at Hainan Island.
"It totally came out of the blue," said Suendermann, who has been in Vanuatu training for the past two weeks. Now she is the only Victorian and one of four Australians hoping to make their dreams come true on the world stage.
Suendermann's focus has been to get plenty of time in the water, often enjoying three-hour surfs, and relying on the locals – many of whom know she's headed to the worlds – to provide a competitive push each day in the busy waves.
"It's like you're practising being hassled in a contest," she said of the busy lineup.
Suendermann says her friends and family are her inspiration "by
how caring and generous they are".
"And living in the Pacific, it's such a different lifestyle.
"(My host) family and friends have taught me so much. They don't have much but what they give with their hearts is so amazing.
"They can teach me much more than a celebrity I don't even know."
While Suendermann is excited to be representing Australia, she is also keeping a handle on worrying about the outcome.
"I like to just go in and not think ahead … to just kind of live in the moment," she said. "Every now and again I get really excited but then I try to tone it down and not worry about the future."
Suendermann's Fiji adventure followed two months in South America volunteering for children's charity Mision Mexico,where she helped out in an orphanage and taught surfing to the kids. She has also runs surfing days in Fiji for both children and adults and has a particular passion for getting women involved in surfing.
Because she has been away from Australia and not earning an income, Suendermann has to rely on her family to support her bid for world glory. While she is sponsored by Pieter Surfboards – who provides her boards – and SHE Project, where she is a team rider, everything else comes out of hers and her supporters' pockets.
"It's really hard because we (women longboarders) are bottom of the rank," she said, adding how grateful she was to her sponsors and supporters and without a hint of a whine. Instead she talked about her surfing love affair which, she said, officially began when she was 12 years old, although her mother Kate Sullivan first took her out on a board when she was four.
Eight years later, on a memorable day, she finally understood the joy her mother talked about.
"It was at Thirteenth Beach (near Barwon Heads) and, before that, I'd never been on really good waves," she said.
"It was perfect. The sun was out, the water was clear and, while the waves weren't really big, they were peeling out perfectly.
"Since then, I've always just chased that perfect wave."
