PHILLIP Island’s Bernard Huigsloot was on top of the podium at the 2024 World Waveski Surfing Championships held in East London, South Africa.

Branded as “Reef Royalty”, Bernard competed in the Legends category for men over 60 and secured the title.

“It was held at a place called Nahoon Reef and I went because I like surfing windbreaks,” he said.

“It was a 10-day competition, which included a whole lot of different age groups, including an adaptive category, which was really good to see.”

Bernard first competed in the open section, but was knocked out early.

“I got through two heats and then bang, I was out. It was small on the day, and I don’t surf smaller waves well,” he said.

“In my category – which was the over 60s category called the Legends – I only had to surf once. They put us all in one big, long heat.”

Bernard came out on top and won the Legends title and was nicknamed ‘the Comeback Kid’.

“I haven’t gone in a contest for a lot of years. I went in the World Titles in 1987 – that was the last time I competed in a World Title,” he said.

The allure of ‘Reef Royalty’ motivated Bernard to compete in South Africa this time around. 

“It was a fantastic experience. For us, Tania (Bernard’s wife) and I did a bit of sightseeing in Cape Town initially, then we drove down towards East London,” he said.

“East London has a reputation of being a major reef break and significant waves were promised. I just turned 60 last year and I thought ‘Let’s give it a crack’. I thought I had a good shot at it.

“It was a pretty big thing. Prior to the contest, they had a massive display where they got all the contestants – around 120 all up – and they had a massive flag parade that went down the beach and through town.”    

South Africa has been a competition location on Bernard’s list for quite some time.

Eight years ago, he had tickets booked for a competition but suffered arm dislocations in the lead-up.

Four days before he was due to head out, he suffered a shoulder dislocation and opted out.

“He’s had a few more dislocations and two shoulder surgeries, so it is a pretty mean feat to go from that and still be dedicated enough to do the training to get back out there,” Tania said.

Bernard only started doing push-ups again last Christmas.

Tania encouraged him to ‘get serious’ about training if he wanted to go to the World Titles.

“I had the surfing down pat, so I started weight training. I started seeing a personal trainer (Chops) at the Phillip Island Leisure Centre.

“Basically, I said to him ‘I want you to train me as hard as you can, or I’ll probably do an injury just trying. I want you to show me the right techniques and I want to go hard.’

“It wasn’t until the last two or three weeks that I could actually hang with my body weight and not feel like my shoulder was going to give out. I just turned a corner, and I was ready to go.”

Bernard originally discovered waveski surfing through his involvement with the surf lifesaving club in Tasmania.

“I had a pretty bad injury when I was seven years old. I fell on a rusty nail and got tetanus. My knee was really bad – I nearly lost it. Tetanus stunted the growth, and my parents wanted to do the best for me, so they pushed me into exercise. Swimming was the main thing. I didn’t like it much, but I was a good swimmer. I went on to play water polo and there were some guys who were in the surf lifesaving club,” he said.

“I was very interested in that, so I went to the surf lifesaving club and as a junior I used to go into Malibu, surf ski and swimming events, and even an Ironman.”

Though he won a couple of titles, Bernard said taking on the sport professionally was not something he had considered, as often competitions are held on smaller waves and beach breaks.

Instead, he found his home on Phillip Island, enjoying the waves and the country lifestyle.

“I became a chef, and chefs work on weekends so I couldn’t go into contests. Then kids came along and life changes,” he said.

“I still surf locally. I won a Seniors title on the Island even though I was about eight years older than the category. Eight years after that, I went into another one on the Peninsula and won the Masters Title.

“The person who won the world title was in that Masters category, so I had beaten the current world champion. I take that with a bit of pride.”

Bernard is highly rated around the world, not just for competition performance, but for his appearances in surfing photography.

“My photos used to be amongst the best in the world – kudos to the photographers. They’ve won awards and I’ve posted them online. Some of the French surfers follow me and there’s a great mutual respect there. They try to emulate my style,” he said.

“My style revolves around the board I ride. I’m one of the only guys to ride polyurethane boards instead of epoxy boards. My board weighs twice as much as those do. Other surfers are able to do more aerials, whereas I do more carving manoeuvres.”

Bernard thanked Island Surfboards for its services over the years – particularly for shaping his skis.

He also thanked Phillip Island Leisure Centre for its support in helping him get competition ready.