WINNING a national competition is difficult in itself, let alone when your main competitor is in the family.
This will be the case for Gracetown brothers Jake and Rick Jakovich when they make the journey to the Gold Coast to defend their stand up paddle boarding titles in the Australian SUP Titles 2015 from October 11-15.
However, the brothers are approaching the national titles with the mentality of keeping it in the family, supporting each other to represent WA against their east coast competitors.
Rick was drawn to the SUP lifestyle by the intrigue of it, giving it a go on a friend’s board.
He’s been hooked ever since, saying the introduction to SUP is always hard, but as you improve the more you enjoy it.
“That’s the incentive, once you start improving,” he said.
The pair said the sport had a wider audience, with older generations being able to embrace the style too, rather than be “hammered” by waves when surfing.
Rick is the current national champion in the over 40s division, a title he plans on doing his best to retain.
Jake is similarly ready to retain his status as one of the best in the sport, previously taking out the WA State Champion title.
The brothers have a background in the boarding lifestyle, their father shaping boards in the South West through the 1970s.
The lighter the board is, the more they can throw it around the pair said, taking a surfing mentality to the growing sport.
For both, speed is essential to pull their tricks out of the bag, their affinity for big waves and big manoeuvres making them renowned on the SUP circuit.
“You need that momentum to balance,” Rick said.
Rick said it was an all too common occurrence for the brothers to be paired off against each other in a heat.
Even then, the brothers split the waves, dividing to conquer and happy to see each other take it in turns to make their mark on the open division.
With very different waves expected than the ones they're used to on the west coast, the pair said they were going to do their best to bring it home for WA.
