Ocea Curtis and Dane Henry Win Surfboard Empire North Narrabeen Pro Junior Presented By Florence

NORTH NARRABEEN, NSW / Australia (Sunday, April 26, 2026) - Today, Ocea Curtis (AUS) and Dane Henry (AUS) won the World Surf League (WSL) Surfboard Empire North Narrabeen Pro Junior Presented by Florence. Finals Day delivered after a big week of action that also included the Surfboard Empire NN Ripper Presented by Veia, a Surfing Australia Junior Series event. On a stunning autumn day, the iconic lineup at North Narrabeen provided clean two-to-three foot peaks for the winners to be crowned.

Dane Henry (AUS) and Ocea Curtis (AUS) won the Surfboard Empire North Narrabeen Pro Junior Presented by Florence. Credit: WSL / Matt Dunbar

Curtis and Henry joined a long list of notable historic Pro Junior winners at North Narrabeen, including Kelly Slater (USA), Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), Tom Carroll (AUS), Laura Enever (AUS), Mark Occhilupo (AUS) and Sierra Kerr (AUS).

The only surfer in the women's Final with prior WSL podium experience, Lennox Head's Ocea Curtis (AUS), overcame a strong challenging contingent of first-time Finalists to claim her first Pro Junior victory. Curtis held off a late charge from North Narrabeen local Ruby Trew (AUS), who came within reach in the closing minutes. Though Trew and Talia Tebb (AUS) both held rides in the 7-point range, Curtis was able to hold her ground on the strength of a 7.73 (out of a possible 10), the highest number of the Final. Tebb placed runner-up, with Trew coming in third ahead of Grace Gosby (AUS) in fourth.

"I'm stoked, the girls were ripping in the Final," Curtis said. "I'm staying with Ruby Trew at her house, and it got close at the end. I was nervous, but I knew either one of us was gonna win in that last exchange. But I'm stoked, I'm so happy. I've been doing these Pro Juniors for a while and I'm glad to finally win one."

Following a Wildcard appearance in his first CT event at Bells Beach, reigning WSL World Junior Champion Dane Henry (AUS) returned to junior competition, delivering some of the standout performances of the event on his road to the Final. The 19-year-old saved his best for last however, landing what has become a signature move, a backflip, to post the highest single-wave score of the event, a 9.87. Combined with an existing excellent score of an 8.00, Henry left the remaining three Finalists, Ocean Lancaster (AUS), Sammy Lowe (AUS) and Isaiah Vaealiki (AUS) needing two scores to defeat him despite high scores being earned by all three.

"It was such a sick comp," Henry said. "It was a real long Pro Junior because it had all the groms, but it was a sick day. I watched a bunch of the grom heats, saw Lachlan Arghyros, we're from the same boardriders at Kingscliff. He took the win and it really fired me up to go out. The wind puffed up perfectly for me, so I just wanted to surf how I want to surf and surf how I like to surf and ended up getting two real good scores. So I'm really, really excited and happy."

A runner-up finish for Lancaster, the reigning ISA U/16 World Junior Champion, placed the 17-year-old Novocastrian on top of the regional rankings as the race for qualification for the 2026 WSL World Junior Championships continues. On the women's side, Curtis' win moved her into the No. 2 position, just 5 points behind rankings leader Ava Arghyros (AUS).

The Surfboard Empire North Narrabeen Pro Junior presented by Florence and Surfboard Empire NN Ripper presented by Veia ran from April 22 - 26 2026, at North Narrabeen Beach.