NINE-year-old Naala Wright scored a perfect ten on a wave at the Naru Surf Gathering held recently in Coffs Harbour.

Naala’s Indigenous language name is Nganggulaawan, which means ‘Evening Star’, and she is from Yaegl country, living in Karangi.

Her father, Joe Rattray, also a surfer, told NOTA, “She was the only one out of every division to score a perfect ten on one wave, which means every judge gave her a ten, which is unbelievable!

“It’s the highest you can achieve.”

Joe owns Waves into Wilderness, a Coffs-based tourism company which teaches surf lessons and takes people on nature-based tours.

Joe taught Naala to surf when she was just four-years-old.

Often his daughter joins the beginner surfers to rally them on and is very encouraging, even with the sixty-year-olds!

The final of the Naru competition in which Naala competed had four girls, three of which Joe taught to surf at his surf school.

“A perfect ten means basically you surf the wave to perfection, there’s not anything else you can do on that wave.

“There might have been three judges on that panel and in pro surfing, there’s five judges,” said Joe.

“They drop the lowest and the highest score when there are five judges and average out, so for it to be a ten, it needs to be every judge scores a ten.”

The ‘Karangi Kid’ is still over the moon with her result.

”It was a set wave, so it was a lot bigger than any of the other waves that had come through, and you get more points on wave selection as well, and she did four really good turns and surfed it right into the beach,” Joe said.

Naturally athletic, Naala has also won Junior Girl Champion for both Athletics and Swimming at Karangi Public School.

“She loves the Naru contest, and now she wants to be a pro surfer, so I think she’s going to take me around the world!” Joe said.

By Mary KEILY