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 Surfing 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 semifinals to qualify for the final, which he finished with an amazing score of 13.17 points out of 20.

Joel Taylor surfed five rounds over six days at Huntington Beach in California against the world’s best para surfers. Credit: ISA / Sean Evans

Joel said he dreamt of being a world champion since he was 13 years old, when he first 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 surfing 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.

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’ flipped him out of control and forced him down feet first onto the shallow reef below him, injuring his spinal cord and leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

He has been confined to a wheelchair ever since.

Surrounded by family, Joel secured his long held dream of winning a world championship title. Credit: ISA / Pablo Franco.

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 surfing 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.”

Joel Taylor finished the final round with an impressive score, which put him on the winner’s podium. Credit: ISA / Sean Evans

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 thing – para surfing.

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 fitness 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.

Lennox Head para surfer Joel Taylor claims the 2023 ISA World Para Surfing Champion title. Credit: ISA / Pablo Franco

While, claiming the ISA World Para Surfing 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.

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Carrs Dr development approved on appeal

By Tim Howard

Clarence Valley Council continues to approve developments on land that is in danger of flooding.

At its October meeting the councillors overturned their decision in April to knock back a proposal for a six-lot subdivision at 181 Carrs Dr, Yamba.

The council was asked to review its decision after the developers amended the DA to address the issues raised in April.

They were:

a) The land being a wetland (swamp forest of swamp oak) making it unsuitable for the proposed development;

b) The nine submissions raised major concerns about the potential for flooding, impacts of stormwater runoff and clearing of natural vegetation.

c) The likely impacts of the development on the natural environment;

d) Impact on areas of C2 zoning for some infrastructure.

In a report to the October meeting council staff recommended the DA be approved as the amended document address the reasons for refusal.

The proposal for six large lots, with a minimum lot size of 5000 square metres, was zoned R5 Rural, with a section of the sixth lot zone C2 Conservation.

Councillors objected to effluent disposal on the C2 area, the blocking of a wildlife corridor through the site for the Yuraygir and Bundjalung national parks and the flood prone nature of the site, which had been inundated during the 2022 floods in February and March.

The developer requested a review of the refusal after making changes to the DA which removed infrastructure on the C2 area as well as restricting the building envelope for structures on the other lots.

The developers also argued the site was not a mapped wetland or located with 100m of a wetland as indicated by State Environmental Planning Policy.

In a Biodiversity Diversity Assessment Report, it said the plant community type, swamp oak forest, did not constitute a wetland community type, but rather, was vegetation aligned with swamp oak forest.

There was a similar rationale to account for the presence of a paperbark swamp forest located nearby but not affected by the development.

The land was considered suitable for the proposed development because the biodiversity impact could be offset under the terms of the Biodiversity Offset Scheme.

Subdivision plan showing location of building envelope outside of C2 zone

Other issues of flooding, impacts on the environment were also considered to have have been satisfactorily amended.

Cr Karen Toms, who supported the original development, moved to also accept the revised DA.

Cr Debrah Novak wanted to know what changes had had been made and director environment and planning Andrew Cameron answered.

“All infrastructure for the proposed lat six has been relocated outside the C2 environmental conservation zone and a reduction in building envelope size for the proposed lots two to six from 20 by 20 to 15 by 20,” he said.

“So they’re the two main changes that have been made in response to the previous council report.”

Cr Greg Clancy was not convinced changes were sufficient.

“While, I note that the there is no map wetlands on the site or being impacted, the fact that there were swamp oaks of coastal lowlands of the NSW North Coast bio-region and there’s 0.415ha to be impacted, flags to me that the site is a very low lying site and would be subject to flooding,” he said.

“And this was an issue that I was concerned about during the original DA when it was before council previously.

“I still have concerns that it is too low lying and it is basically a swamp even if it’s not mapped as such.”

He said there needed to be changes to stop people building in flood prone areas.

“I do not think we should be approving housing in areas which are most likely to be flooding,” he said.

“And I think that might be one in 20 or something like that rather than one and 100. So, to me, it’s not good planning to be putting houses in areas that are quite likely to flood.”

But Cr Toms said the rules were the rules.

“Under the Environment Planning and Assessment Act 1979, people have an opportunity for a review under Section 8.28 of that Act. And that’s what has happened,” she said.

“The applicant has requested a further review of their determination and they have made some changes to to rectify the concerns that were caused that caused the refusal the last time.”

“So they’re tweaked to make concessions to their subdivision to satisfy the reasons why it was refused last time. So that’s the process. That’s their lawful right.”

The council voted 7-2 to approve the DA.

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Lawrence power to win over Iluka

By Tim Howard

Wet weather and player unavailability played havoc with the the Clarence Valley’s Premier League and first grade cricket matches at the weekend.

In Premier League Brothers have forfeited to Harwood when they could only find five players to take the field for the game scheduled for Harwood Oval on November 11 and 18

Harwood skipper Ben McMahon said the club got the call from the Brethren that they had to forfeit ahead of the game.

He said it had shocked him that a club as strong as Brothers had fallen on hard times.

“Before we left the premier league a few years ago, Brothers was one of the strong teams in the competition,” he said.

“Now they’re struggling to field one team in the competition and could only get five players for Saturday.”

McMahon said it was fortunate for some of the team they were selected in the North Coast Zone team to play in the Country Championships over the next weekend.

“We’ve got the buy in the next game so there could be a long break without some cricket,” he said.

Only one game completed was in first grade, between Iluka and Lawrence, at Iluka Sportsground.

Lawrence proved too strong for the hosts, dismissing Iluka for 103 and chasing down the total for the loss of two wickets.

Iluka could not support middle order batter James Duff, who scored 45 and captain Beau-Dean Oestmann, 20.

No-one else reached double figure and the innings was over in 22.3 overs.

Nathan Anderson had the best figures for Lawrence with 3/26 from seven over and Ben Shaw and Christopher Townson each took two wickets.

Lawrence openers Mark Ensbey, 39 and Ben Hill, 30, sliced a big lump from the chase before Rowan Green 22no and Darby Rouse, 4no, finished it off.

Dean Bartlett with 2/16 from seven overs was easily the pick of the Iluka bowling.

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