Surfer and former Survivor star Felicity Palmateer is hoping to break a world record using her board on land – and she’s calling on her fellow West Australians for help.
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The 29-year-old from Margaret River is taking on the challenge in order to raise money for cancer support charity, Solaris, and is enlisting 800 West Australians to join a mass line-up on February 19 for Boards up for Cancer.
Felicity hopes to draw a crowd big enough to stretch 2km from Scarborough to Trigg, where she grew up. If successful, they will officially beat the Guinness World Record of 1.6km set in New York back in 2016.
“It was a no-brainer for me to want to be a part of it,” she said to the West Australian, explaining that the cause is close to her heart after dad Warrick was diagnosed with cancer two years ago.
“My dad actually taught me to surf. He’ll definitely be down there and hopefully, be a part of the big board lineup,” she said, adding, “The beach and surfing are just a way of life in WA. It’s amazing to see the surf community come together and get behind such an amazing cause.
“I reckon we could smash it. I think we’re definitely going to get over 800 people, we’re going to break that record.”
Boards up for Cancer was founded by Ricky Robertson to support his friend Rhianne Miller when she was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in 2018 at the age of 32.
Surfing WA chief executive and former Solaris ambassador Mark Lane said he was looking forward to the record attempt.
“Having used the Solaris services during my own cancer battle, I’m glad I can repay their support by helping with this event,” he said.
Felicity has previously spoken of how her dad influenced her love of surfing, telling USANA, “My dad, he’s a really keen surfer, and I have three younger brothers. He was actually taking my brothers out for some father-son time to teach them how to surf. But I was like, ‘hey, I want to learn.’ So I grabbed a boogie board and started to try t.o stand up by myself.”
Felicity starred on Survivor: Brains V Brawns last year, during which her mother passed away early on-set dementia at the age of 52.
At the time, she made the difficult decision to stay on the show instead of flying back to her home in Western Australia, explaining, “It was so hard because talking to all of my family, they all tried to encourage me to stay, saying that that is what my mum would have wanted me to do.
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“I thought I would have at least another year and a bit with my mum. I had been grieving my mum passing away for a long time, with dementia, you begin to grieve for them while they are still alive. (It) is a difficult thing to come to terms with,” she said in an interview with PerthNow.
Felicity added that her fellow Survivor contestants were supportive as she competed in midst of grieving.
“I couldn’t have asked for better people (around me),” she said. ‘My family would have been amazing to see, but these people, honestly, they feel like my second family.”
She added that making the decision to stay on the show was “me living for my mum, honoring her and the ‘reason I wanted to play (Survivor) in the first place.”
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