Chasing the Break, by Michael Panckridge

I focused on the wave. I felt the force of it coming fast and picked up my speed. As I felt it come through, I jumped to my feet, pushing my right foot back for better balance. For a moment I was up near the curl and I had plenty of speed. I got down to the bottom of the wave and turned left. I cut back and settled on the white water, letting it take me all the way in. It was an excellent ride to get in so early.

When Mitchell Grady starts at his new school, Sandhurst, he figures every school is pretty much the same – this is, after all, his third new school in five years. But Sandhurst is a school with a difference – one that is right up Mitchell’s alley. Every year Sandhurst has a Sporting Legend competition to find the student who is best across eight sports. And Mitchell wants to be that student.

The first competition is in surfing, and Mitchell knows he has a good chance, but is he good enough? The school bully, Travis Fisk, doesn’t think Mitchell is good enough – but he doesn’t want to take a chance, and will do anything to get Mitchell out of the competition.

Chasing the Break is the first title in The Legends series, which traces Mitchell’s progress through the eight sports which make up the Sandhurst School’s Sporting Legend contest. With plenty of realistic surfing scenes and a plot which ties them together, this will appeal especially to sports-mad boys, including those who may be reluctant readers.

Chasing the Break, by Michael Panckridge
Black Dog Books, 2003