Flick from her film Facing Fear.
Felicity Palmateer has competed in Championship Tour events, has faced the grind of the Qualifying Series, and charged the heaviest waves on the planet on the Women’s Big Wave Tour. She put those competitive days behind her several years ago and now most surfers see her regularly as a member of the WSL’s broadcast team, but Palmateer is jumping back into competition next month as the sole female invitee at the Four Seasons Maldives 2026 Surfing Champions Trophy.
For a surfer who’s seen it all — years of competing in every condition imaginable, chasing World Tour dreams — Flick is a perfect fit for a unique event like the Surfing Champions Trophy. The format famously challenges its competitors across three divisions, which include heats on single fins, twin fins, and thrusters. Palmateer admits her “hyper-competitive days” are behind her, but says all those years of surfing for judges has left one aspect of her game fully intact.
“I’d love to give a more left-field answer, but I just love surfing a thruster,” she says of the diversity of shapes ahead of her. “I’m also a goofy and Sultans is a right, so I’m conscious that twin fins can be harder on your backhand.”
Flick surfed in the Women’s Big Wave Tour’s Pe’ahi Challenge in 2016 and 2017, ending third in the 2016 event. Her last full slate of QS competition came in 2019, but she hasn’t faded out of the surfing world spotlight since. She’s appeared on shows like Australian Survivor and in recent years she’s been a regular in the announcers’ booth at WSL events. Now, for one week, at least, she’ll be back in a jersey.
“The best part about surfing without the pressure of rankings and results is that I’ve come full circle,” she says. “I’m surfing for the exact reason I fell in love with it in the first place – for the love of surfing itself, the ocean, and the way it makes me feel. That freedom has made me enjoy surfing now more than ever.”
