Meet Our(New)Messiahs.

The Rusty Gromfest is the benchmark for pro micro-grom competition. Mick Fanning has won it. Steph Gilmore has won it. So has Julian Wilson, Owen Wright and Ben Dunn. Adriano De Souza hasn’t. Waves was recently at the 2010 Rusty Gromfest at Lennox Head and paid particular attention to five micro-grubs who could hold the key to the future for Australian surfing. Here they are.

Check out all the epic action from the Rusty Gromfest here.

Footage courtesy of Dave @ Skuff TV and Rusty.

Cooper Chapman

16 years old. Natural-footer. Lives at Narrabeen; home of Chris Davidson, Davey Cathels, Nathan Hedge and Noodles Webster. Earlier this year Cooper competed in the Boost Airshow and kicked six shades of shit out of nine-times world champion Kelly Slater. On the weekend he competed in the Rusty Gromfest and came third in the 16s final. While it mightn’t have been the result many people predicted early in the competition he certainly wasn’t a slouch either. Powerful backside belts were done with ease. Earlier in the competition, he competed in the Kerrazy Airshow Invitational and beat six jump-happy kids for the winner’s purse.

Mikey Wright

13 years old. Natural footer. Younger brother of Owen, Tyler, Kirby and Tim. Currently resides in Lennox Head after making the move north from Culburra. Mikey competed in the 14s division of the Gromfest and looked almost certain to win from the get-go. He threw out hucks that would make his elder siblings happy and slightly scared at the same time. He was selected to surf in the Kerrazy Airshow Invitational but failed to pull out his best punts until after the hooter. Expect to see more of this kid.

Jack Robinson

13 years old. Natural footer. Margaret River local. He’s been touted as one of the best under-15 surfers in the world and has no hesitation to pull into six-foot North Point or Supertubes. He recently joined Taj Burrow, Mick Fanning and Julian Wilson while they were shooting for Julian’s forthcoming profile flick. He was unfortunate not to make it to the final of the Rusty Gromfest but put in a stellar effort in the Kerrazy Airshow Invitational. Look out in the next issue of Waves to see more of Jack.

Zac Wightman

Goofy footer. Currently lives at Lennox Head. Competed in the 12s division. Zac came in the competition as a virtual unknown (at least to a lot of people who lived outside the Lennox area) but excelled throughout the course of the comp.  To be frank, a lot of the surfers in the 12s division didn’t hold a candle to him.

Soli Bailey

15 years old. Natural footer. He currently lives at Suffolk Park; home to Garrett Parkes and Keiren Perrow. He is also the owner of a caramel complexion that’d send women wild. In the final he kept a safe lead in front of Cooper Chapman and Zac Scott and ended up taking it out with an epic display of fast frontside slides and hacks. In the not-to-distant-future he could grow to become the new young, tanned Danny Wills. Time will tell.

All photos by Steve Robinson/Surfing Australia