Mid West surfer Sophie Butcher can’t wait to carve up more waves

Mid West surfer Sophie Butcher has missed competing but with surfing back in WA, it shouldn’t be long before she and other board riders can hit the waves in earnest. Plans to compete and travel overseas were put on hold because of coronavirus, and a trip she made to Indonesia in March had to be cut short. But the Geraldton Board Riders season is expected to start this weekend, and while overseas travel is out of the question, WA offers a good alternative. Butcher said the lockdown started when she was in the Mentawai Islands. “We weren’t sure if we’d get stuck — even though we wouldn’t have minded getting stuck over there,” she said. Organised by model and surfer Julia Muniz, who is dating West Aussie tour competitor Jack Robinson, the surf trip she was on was meant to last 12 nights but was cut short after five or six. Then, Surfing WA postponed events across the board, delaying the start of the competition season. The surfing body has also cancelled the State round due to run at Flat Rocks, south of Geraldton, due to a crowded calendar for the rest of the year. “I am missing competitions, and just being able to see my friends,” Butcher said. She had planned a trip to Indonesia to compete in a World Surf League Qualifying Series event in Nias and surf the Telo islands. Asked if her ultimate goal was to try and make the tour, she said she was “just happy surfing and improving”. “Surf comps are just good exposure and good practice. “I’m not really sure, because everyone there (on the tour) is really good. “That would be a dream.” With overseas travel on hold, WA offered a local adventure. “In the school holidays I’ll probably go up to the Bluff,” she said. “I’ve been going up every year for the past four years or so, I love it up there.” Red Bluff, off Quobba Station in the Gascoyne, offers a quality left-hand reef break. Butcher said one of her best friends was Coral Durant, the under-18 Australian surf champion who lives at Red Bluff.