Swansea-Belmont teenager Kye Taylor will take huge confidence and valuable experience into trials for next summer's professional ironman series after matching it with the sport's elite in his debut campaign.
The 19-year-old finished the six-round series on Sunday with 10th place in the last race, held in brutal conditions at Kurrawa. It gave Taylor 16th overall in the 20-man series, which he qualified for with victory in last summer's under-19 Next Gen competition.
He missed a top-10 spot to requalify but showed his potential to be a series regular.
"Top 10 was the goal that I set for myself, but obviously it was going to be hard being first year and the youngest in it, so I just did the best I could and I was really happy with how I went," Taylor said. "It was a massive learning experience so you take what you get out of it and move forward."
As well as the strong finish in big seas and high winds on Sunday, Taylor was a semi-finalist in the wave-cross format at North Bondi last month and won the board leg of the specialist round on Saturday.
"I've never been out in surf like that, especially on a ski, so I was just happy to finish," he said of Sunday's round.
"I know some of the boys were really struggling to finish. It was tough out there, so it was a learning experience and it was good to say you were able to do it.
"I was pretty happy with [winning the specialist board], it shows I can match them in that. Matty Bevilacqua was there, the Australian open board champion."
Taylor has the final round of the Summer of Surf series on the Gold Coast this weekend before focusing on the state and national titles. Next summer he will push for another shot at the ironman series via trials, where seven spots are usually on offer.
"I'm not sure where it is yet, but hopefully there's a bit of surf and you can take the skills you got from the weekend into that," he said of the trials. "It was a massive confidence booster for me."
Redhead's Daniel Collins, 25, had a career-best series, coming fourth overall. Taylor's Next Gen win and Bella Willliams' (Swansea-Belmont) call up as an injury replacement for four ironwoman rounds gave the Hunter three competitors on the series in a promising sign for the region.
Collins, who has been on the series since 2017, said Taylor "did a great job" on debut.
"We obviously had quite a number of years with not a great deal of representation in the professional series, but I think in Newcastle, our surf sports athletes are definitely some of the best in the world," Collins said.
"My clubmate Justin McMorland was third in the open board at the Australian titles last year, so we've got some really good athletes and it's good that we're getting a bit more of a presence in the series."
