2025 Sunny Coast Search

Nazzareno Picchianti
4 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 11 hours ago

The year for the Australasian region finished where it all began in spectacular fashion – the site of the IBSA World Tour Finals that everyone is still talking about – Cartys. The Search mobile formula has proved a winner with competitors and the crew couldn’t believe their luck when again the conditions lined up for Cartys to fire – the first time in three months. Excitement was palpable through all the chat groups the night before.

This was the site that greeted the competitors as the competition commenced…

Competitors emotions were off the charts, caught between “I can’t wait to get out there” and “what’s my strategy when I do?”

Adam Baldwin, working it all out pre-heat

With the double-elimination format we run in all Australia-Asia IBSA tournaments, everyone had a minimum of two swims to put their best fin forward. Contestants were whittled down until we had our finalists.

The women’s finals featured all members of this year’s Osprey team – Anne-Lei, Ally, Lyla and Pipi. This contest was especially important for Ally and Lyla as they only had one contest to date counting for the qualification positions. The action was hot and the rides superb.

It was dramatically tight. At the final siren, less than 0.6 points separated all four and the decision could have gone any way. All had their best rides of the day but after the dust settled, Ally squeaked the win with her highest scoring ride on the last ride of the final. Anna-Lei finished in second followed by Pipi and Lyla.

The 2025 Australasian Champion produced the most unlikely a result – a three-way tie. Ally, Lyla and Katy Collins all finished the season with a win and a second place and shows how tight competition is in Womens bodysurfing is in this region.

2025 Search Womens Final

1. Ally Zillman 8.34

2. Anna-Lei Petit 8.24

3. Pipi Cathcart 7.87

4. Lyla Crouch 7.73

The men’s final featured the guys that all performed the best throughout the day, current world champ Ando returning to the scene of glory, the two Jacks and Jay VD who continued his return from a year-long injury.

This was the heat of the day – there were 15 scores of 5-plus in it. It was really a battle-royale.

Jack Macrae had been surfing beautifully all day, winning every heat on his way to the final, his fluidity a real standout. He just couldn’t find the best waves in the final though. World champ Chris had his game on but could find the knock-out blow. Jay’s scoring waves featured really explosive moves – huge El-Rollo’s and off the lip specials that sent the crowd crazy. However, Captain Jack proved untouchable with rides that are the epitome of competitive bodysurfing – speed, flow and flawlessly executed new-age manoeuvres.