12:00a.m. 11th May 2008

The smile on Rebecca Gibb’s face was even wider than usual last night when the Dicky Beach lifesaver took out two titles at the 2008 Conrad Jupiters Summer Surf Girl quest on the Gold Coast.

After an exhausting 12 months of fundraising, the bubbly 19-year-old was named the competition’s highest fundraiser.

In an incredible effort, she accumulated $93,537.81 for Dicky Beach Surf Life Saving Club.

She also grabbed the coveted title of Summer Surf Girl Innovation – an honour based on the way in which she went about her fundraising and promotional work, which involved taking the time to write a surf safety column for Sunshine Coast Sunday’s sister paper, the Caloundra Weekly.

The Summer Surf Girl program has run for the past 44 years and this year 17 young ladies represented surf clubs from Picnic Bay in north Queensland to Rainbow Bay in the south.

Rebecca was one of four Sunshine Coast entrants, with Emily Champness representing the Alexandra Headland club, Melanie McKinless flying the flag for Kawana Waters and Jemma Tresise doing Met Caloundra proud. Overall, the 17 entrants raised a record $783, 927.66.

Prior to leaving for the Gold Coast last week, Rebecca said she was inspired to do well in the quest because a Sunshine Coast girl had not won the Summer Surf Girl crown in 17 years.

“The last girl who did was from North Caloundra SLSC – which is now Dicky Beach, my home club,” she said.

“I’ve been a Dicky Beach member since I joined as a nipper.”

Rebecca and her fellow contestants arrived on the Gold Coast on Wednesday and spent time taking part in beach activities and enduring one-on-one interviews with the judging panel.

Rebecca’s win was announced at a gala ball where Surfers Paradise entrant Megan Crockford was named winner of the overall Summer Surf Girl title.

Share this