A cool update from the weekend.
In December 2001, more than 20 years ago, Joel Taylor, once a rising star Down Under, slammed the reef at Banzai Pipeline and was paralyzed from the waist down with a spinal cord injury. The boy from Lennox Head was 21 years old.
Instead of letting that sad episode define his future, he founded Unite Clothing Company back in 2003, arguably one of bodyboarding’s most successful clothing label. Still going releasing the goods until today.
Well, these past days the man, now 43 yo, went to wear a jersey again in order to compete on the ISA Para Surfing World Championships – btw he is the currently Para Surfing 2023 Australian Champ. The event was held in Huntington Beach, California, U.S.A., and Joel was representing, of course, the Australian team.
Joel competed on the Men’s Prone 1 Division and won the final with an amazing score of 13,17 points out of 20, leaving North American Christiaan Bailey in second place with 9,83 points, Casey Pound from Hawaii in third with 8,34 points, and fellow Australian Kai Colless in fourth with 5,77 points.
This is a truly inspirational story and show us all how to never give up on our dreams.
Congrats, gold medalist Joel!
