The Ty Delaney Big Wave Classic

A day to lament loss, a day to celebrate life.

It's been a few days since the Ty Delaney Memorial Contest ran at Sandon Point and I'm still marvelling at what happened. Equally, I'm still feeling melancholy about what it represents.

Surf culture has changed over the years, anything goes these days, yet there are some rituals that persist and which ought to make surfers feel proud. The paddle out is one, solemn and communal, while the memorial contest is another. An annual chance to remember those who will grow not old.

In October 2020, 25-year old Ty Delaney was killed in an accident while driving to work. Since then, a memorial contest - The Steel City Classic - has been held every Easter Friday. The contest is hosted by Sandon Point Boardriders, yet usually runs at Thirroul Beach as a teams event.

At left, Ty standing on the rock platform at Sandon Point not far from where his nameplate now lies (portrait photo by Aaron Hughes)

In the week leading up to Easter Friday 2025 , Tropical Cyclone Tam was whirling like a dervish in the Coral Sea, before shifting south into the cooler waters of the Tasman while losing little of its cyclonic structure. All indications were that the waves were going to be big; too big for the beaches.

"We faced a tough call," says Petra Delaney, Ty's mum. "On Wednesday afternoon, Jason Gava and Dru Parkinson," the contest organisers, "raised concerns about the potential wave size we might face. Their excitement was palpable, but it also became clear that we needed to make a decision quickly."

After a short pow-wow, Jason made a decision: "We're going ahead with the contest, but we'll be doing it differently." Thus the contest shifted to Sandon Point and the focus shifted away from performance.

With just 36 hours till the first hooter sounded, Petra and Denim Budai - Ty's brother - had to postpone the teams event while informing 100 competitors of the decision, then create a new competition with new rules, heat draw, and payment system, all while planning the BBQ, raffle, and after-party.

Jason and Dru, meanwhile, hopped on the forecast rollercoaster and prayed like zealots there'd be no downgrade.

The new comp sold out in two hours. On Thursday night 64 names were drawn from a hat to run in eight heats of eight surfers, Eddie Aikau-style. Four surfers progress, then two, then the Final. It'd be a long day of competition.

With one sleep to go the anticipation was red-lining. Was it the right call? Would the swell hang in? Would the seabreeze stay away?

Satellite map 16/04/25 showing the bands of cloud wrapping around ex-TC Tam. The strongest winds were across the southern flank, blowing due east towards the Oz East Coast.

Alarms were set early as headlights cut across the carpark illuminating figures huddled under the Norfolk Pine. The predawn gloom highlighted each person's disposition.

The pessimists: "It's only four foot."
The optimists: "It's ten feet and getting bigger."

Dawn broke on the optimist's side with eight to ten foot sets giving every impression they were the proverbial lemons against the pie.

Wind? Not a zephyr. Swell direction? Due east. Every Sandon local has their preferred direction but the one thing all agree on is that if it's big enough to break on the back boils then cardinal east is the one.

Mannix Squiers dropping into a clean one early in the day. In his first heat, Mannix shared the water with his old boy Nic Squiers, with both Squizzas progressing. (Tesscali Images)

"Commitment is the only criteria," said Jason Gava emphatically. "Commitment to the drop, commitment to the barrel."

The simple criteria didn't make board choice any easier. Go long and wait for the sets, or shorter for reaction time setting up the barrel?

In the second heat of the day, Parrish Byrne - shaper at Byrne Surfboards - settled on a 6'6" 'Sunset special' and promptly laid down the gauntlet, scoring the day's only 10-point ride for a wave that connected the outside takeoff, stood up across the bowl, allowing Parrish a deep backside barrel.

Morning glare made documentation hard but it was a stellar example of how to link Sandon's premiere features - the outside drop and the inside barrel.

Clockwise from top left, Dru Parkinson in a beautiful backlit barrel, Lenny Golding streaking, Phil Byrne jnr. - no relation to Parrish - on the suds, and Harrison Steele arcing off Third Peg (all photos Ray Smith/Waxheads)

Sandon Point Boardriders' trailer took the best bit of real estate, while behind them the festival apparatus sprung to life: sausages and bacon on the griddle, a fresh white wall to spray graffiti, thumping speakers, cold drinks, temporary shade, plus an abundance of sun for the Vitamin D devotees.

Tens of people at first light quickly turned to hundreds and the numbers stayed that way all day.

In the morning the crowd squinted into the harsh sunlight and in the arvo they lounged in the warm rays.

Heat 8 hit the water just after midday. The swell marched with intent as the wind puffed listlessly. The crowd equally awed by great rides and baying for bloody wipeouts. Rohnin Henry Micale gave them the latter in one of the day's best moments - see video below.

Hanging on long after the cause was lost, Rohnin survived intact.

"I landed on my feet," said Rohnin later. "I thought I'd made it." Fair to say we can put Rohnin in the optimist's camp.

His board, a 6'5" from DP, survived and he surfed into the next round.

(Video Mathias Decker)

Whenever Sandon Point is big Nic Squiers surfs it with style and a healthy serve of bloody-mindedness. When other surfers choose longer boards, Nic rides a shortboard. When other surfers paddle the deepwater entrances, Nic picks his way flamingo-like to the dangerously exposed jump rocks for access. He always pulls it off too.

Nic's a former QS warrior who dedicated fifteen years to chasing the series, finishing as high as 26th. He still approaches every session as if it was a heat, so it was no surprise to see him make the final on Friday.

Nic Squiers drawing out his bottom turn on the way to a fifth place finish (Tesscali Images)

Speaking of fathers, speaking of sons. Kevin Parkinson - RIP - was the Illawarra's first surf star. In his memoir, author Phil Jarratt tells of young KP paddling out at Bellambi with a lit dart in his mouth, shooting the piers, then blowing a smoke ring as he exited the other side. Too cool.

Son Dru has similar flair and fewer vices - though he's been known to claim rides and he loves to hold the talking stick.

On Friday, the only time Dru was off the mic was when he was surfing. This early morning barrel was during his first heat and helped him to progress.

(Video Mathias Decker)

If the criteria was simple - just commit - then the priority rules were even simpler - there were none. "Remember why you're here," said Jason Gava to the surfers, "and sort out the priority amongst yourselves."

Sandon Point locals are known for many things but manners and decorum ain't among them. There are exceptions, of course, and Nathan Savill is one of them. Rarely heard but always noticed, 'Sav' lets his surfing do the talking, and on Easter Friday it took him to a second-placed finish.

Switching between outside drops and inside barrels, Nathan Savill chose well as conditions changed throughout the day. Here, Sav comes 'round the corner to set up the inside (Tesscali Images)

Ten boards were broken throughout the day, most of them guns or step ups. Eddy 'The Egyptian Prince' Hamaty chose something different: a 6'2" fish shaped by Dylan Perese.

The decision meant he had to sit inside and play cat and mouse with the sets, though the final result shows he was more predator than prey - came fourth overall.

(Video Mathias Decker)

Just after 4pm the finalists assembled at the base of the headland, while the crowd cheered and 8 foot sets continued to pour down the point.

Big swells on the East Coast usually mean a mix of energy from various directions. Rarely do big swells hit as they did on Easter Friday, where single vectors of energy unloaded with concentrated power, followed by fifteen or so seconds of quiet as the wave base was drawn into the next approaching pulse. 

A pure swell of towering height and impeccable direction.

...and eight worthy finalists to decide the winner.

The Finalists (from left): Harry Steele, Ryan Bailey, Nathan Savill, Aidan Chamberlain, Taj Air - at 16 the day's youngest competitor - Dylan Perese, Eddy Hamaty, Nic Squiers.(Tesscali Images)

Nathan Savill got away to an early lead and kept hunting for another number. Mid-way through the heat, Harry Steele rode the highest scoring wave but, like Sav, couldn't back it up.

Meanwhile, Taj Air was marginally ahead with twenty to go, yet the result was far from sealed. Late sets would decide it.

Taj rode two of those late sets and both scores went into his top two. He extended his lead as the clock counted down, and it stayed that way till the end.

"I didn't know how serious to take the contest," says Taj a few days later. "Like, the waves were so big in the morning, so good, and everyone was so excited. It wasn't like a typical contest."

Taj had a warm up before the contest that set him on his way. "Oh, Parko stepped me off [via PWC] into a really big one, from way out the back."

"I was on a shortboard and I could see the lip pitching but couldn't get under it, so I straightened out which wasn't a good idea - it landed right on me."

It may not have been a good idea but the subsequent thrashing put him in a good head space." I came up," says Taj, "and was like 'Right. If that's as pumped as you can get then it's not too bad.'"

Still, in his first heat the conditions got the better of him. Judges were only scoring the outside, yet a perfect wave is a perfect wave, and Taj rode one perfect wave far down the point, well beyond sight of the judges.

He sharpened it up to win his Semi-Final and of course the Final.

The win sits alongside a number of Taj's victories, most recently the Red Herring Pro Junior in Tasmania and the Illawarra Junior Series. As for goals, the quietly spoken fella says this year he'd like to "reach the top five in the Australian Junior Series." He's currently 14th with most of the big contests to come.

In the days afterward I'd bump into people who were there, either in the water or spectating from the headland, all with the same response: 'How was that?!' 

Rarely do the elements align in such a way. When I ask Jason Gava, who first surfed Sandon as a 7-year old and has witnessed many eras at the point, how the day stacks up he stops and gives a Rodin-like pause. He thinks, runs the thoughts around in his head for a while, then answers.

"The Skipp Oceania Pro-Am in '88 was pretty good," says Gava, "and we had an Illawarra State Titles in the early-nineties that pumped, plus the first Konica Skins was really good."

We're digging way back into the memory banks here, which tells you something about how good it was.

But what about the family of Ty Delaney? What did all this sunshine and pumping waves mean to them?

"It was so good to look around and seeing everyone smiling," says Denim Budai, Ty's younger brother.

"It was just the sort of day he would've loved."

// STU NETTLE

PS: All proceeds from the contest go to mental health organisations, plus the family also give to Bulli High Surf Academy, and "donate to local causes that are close to our hearts."
PPS: Today - the 29th April - Ty Delaney would've turned 30.