Blue Water High

Blue Water High is an Australian television drama series, broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on ABC1 and on Austar/Foxtel Nickelodeon channel in Australia and on various channels in many other countries. Each season follows the lives of a young group of students at Solar Blue, a high-performance surf academy where several lucky 16-year-olds are selected for a 12-month-long surfing program at Bilgola Beach, Sydney.^[1]

Blue Water High
Opening title card (season 1)
Written by	Shelly Birse Charlie Richardson Jennifer Mellet Kristen Dunphy Michael Miller John Armstrong Marissa Cooke Noel Price Chris Phillips David Ogilvy
Directed by	Marcus Cole Ralph Strasser Ian Watson Chris Martin-Jones
Starring	Season 1 Sophie Luck (series 1 & 2) Tahyna Tozzi Kate Bell (series 1 & 3) Mara Scherzinger Khan Chittenden Adam Saunders (Series 1 & 2) Christopher Foy Season 2 Gabrielle Scollay Lesley Anne Mitchell Taryn Marler James Sorensen Ryan Corr Trent Dalzell Martin Lynes Liz Burch Season 3 Cariba Heine Kain O'Keeffe Lachlan Buchanan Eka Darville Amy Beckwith Rebecca Breeds Craig Horner Don Halbert (series 1–3) Nell Mitchell
Theme music composer	Liam Finn
Opening theme	"Aiming for Your Head" by Betchadupa
Ending theme	"Aiming for Your Head"
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	78 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Noel Price Claire Henderson (series 1 & 2) Matt Bruce (series 1) Tim Brooke-Hunt (series 3)
Producers	Dennis Kiely Noel Price
Cinematography	Russell Bacon Brendan Lavelle
Editors	Simon Martin Patrick Stewart Michael J. Hagan
Running time	25-26 minutes
Production company	Southern Star Entertainment
Original release
Network	ABC1 Nickelodeon
Release	11 May 2005 (2005-05-11) – 25 September 2008 (2008-09-25)

There are three seasons in Blue Water High. The first two seasons aired in 2005 and 2006 and the producers did not intend to create a third and final season. However, due to popular demand by fans, they relented and made one more season with only Kate Bell returning in a main role. Season 3 ended with the closure of Solar Blue because of a lack of funding, indicating that the show would most likely not continue.

Plot summary

Season 1

The first season consisted of twenty-six episodes. It starred Adam Saunders as Heath (the relaxed joker who struggles with school), Tahyna Tozzi as Perri (resident glamour queen from the Gold Coast), Sophie Luck as Fly (the youngest), Kate Bell as Bec (the local), Khan Chittenden as Edge (the aggressive and competitive teenager), Chris Foy as Matt (the generic 'smart guy') and Mara Scherzinger as Anna (a famous German kiteboarder). At the end of the year, two of them (one girl and one boy) get a wild card spot on the pro-circuit tour. The first season was released on DVD in 4 volumes, though fans are strongly urging for a complete re-release featuring the entire season in one package, as was later done with season 2. Sophie Luck won the 2005 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Young Actor for her role in the series. The winners for season 1 were Fly and Edge.

Season 2

Filming of a second season began in early January 2006 in Sydney, with a revised cast, which included Sophie Luck (who was back as Fly), Adam Saunders as Heath (who leaves in episode six) and Trent Dalzell as Corey, Ryan Corr as Eric, Lesley Anne Mitchell as Brooke, Taryn Marler as Rachel, Gabrielle Scollay as Amy, and James Sorensen as Mike. It premiered on 28 June 2006. Sophie Luck, Adam Saunders, Kate Bell, Chris Foy, Tahyna Tozzi, Nadine Garner and Khan Chittenden have all reappeared in the second season in various episodes. The winners of season 2 were Brooke and Eric.

The complete second season was released on DVD in Australia on 1 October 2007.^{[permanent dead link]}

Season 3

The third and final season began filming in October 2007. Kate Bell returns as Bec for season 3 and is joined by Craig Horner as Garry. The new Solar Blue pupils are Guy (Kain O'Keeffe), Charley (Lachlan Buchanan), Adam (Eka Darville), Bridget (Cariba Heine), Loren (Amy Beckwith) and Cassie (Rebecca Breeds). Season 3 began screening on Rollercoaster on 3 April 2008.

The winners are Bridget and Adam, but Bridget decides to go to university instead of joining the Pro Circuit, so Loren gets the wild card after Cassie literally 'draws the short straw' (as they both have the same number of points in the final surf-off, so they decide who gets the wild card this way). In the last episode, Simmo makes a surprise return as one of the three judges in what is described as "one of the best finals Solar Blue has seen", saving the day as he pulls "not a rabbit out of a hat, but an elephant", ensuring that the winners of the final surf-off still get a wild card invitation.^[2]

Cast

Season one

Series 1 cast of Blue Water High, from left to right: Back Row: Bec, Heath, Matt, Simmo, Deb, and Anna. Middle Row: Perri Front Row: Edge and Fly

• Kate Bell as Rebecca 'Bec' Sanderson
• Khan Chittenden as Dean 'Edge' Edgely
• Chris Foy – Matthew 'Matt' Leyland
• Sophie Luck as Fiona 'Fly' Watson
• Adam Saunders as Heath Carroll
• Mara Scherzinger – Anna Peterson
• Tahyna Tozzi as Perri Lawe
• Martin Lynes as Craig 'Simmo' Simmonds
• Nadine Garner as Deborah 'Deb' Callum
• Liz Burch as Jilly
• Matt Rudduck as Joe Sanderson
• Clae Whitelaw as Simon Heart
• Don Halbert as Mr. Savin

Season two

Series 2 cast of Blue Water High, from left to right: Back Row: Amy, Fly, Eric, and Corey Front Row: Rachael, Mike, and Brooke

• Ryan Corr as Eric Tanner
• Gabrielle Scollay as Amy Reed
• James Sorensen as Michael 'Mike' Kruze
• Lesley Anne Mitchell as Brooke Solomon
• Trent Dalzell as Corey Petrie
• Taryn Marler as Rachael Samuels
• Adam Saunders as Heath Carroll
• Sophie Luck as Fiona 'Fly' Watson
• Kate Bell as Rebecca 'Bec' Sanderson
• Martin Lynes as Craig 'Simmo' Simmonds
• Joe Ireland as Dave Jones
• Liz Burch as Jilly
• Natasha Sitkowski as Greta
• Don Halbert as Mr. Savin

Season three

Series 3 cast of Blue Water High, from left to right: Back Row: Garry, and Bec Middle Row: Bridget, Cassie, and Loren Front Row: Guy, Adam, and Charley

• Kain O'Keeffe as Guy Spender
• Lachlan Buchanan as Charley Prince
• Eka Darville as Adam Bridge
• Cariba Heine as Bridget Sanchez
• Amy Beckwith as Lauren 'Loren' Power
• Rebecca Breeds as Cassandra 'Cassie' Cometti
• Craig Horner as Garry Miller
• Kate Bell as Rebecca 'Bec' Sanderson
• Tom Fisher as James Cassidy
• Erol Cimen as Michael De Santa
• Don Halbert as Mr. Savin

List of episodes

Series one (May–November 2005)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Featured character	Original release date
1	1	"The Contenders"	Heath	TBA
6 teenagers have been selected for the 1 year long training at Solar Blue academy, Rebecca "Bec" Sanderson, Dean "Edge" Edgely, Matthew "Matt" Leyland, Fiona "Fly" Watson, Perri Lawe and Heath Carroll. The seventh and last is supposed to go to a male contender, but at the last minute Solar Blue decides to pick their own candidate who happens a German girl named Anna Peterson. Bec is upset because her brother, Joe, was supposed to compete for the last spot.
2	2	"Winners and Losers"	Anna and Bec	TBA
Anna feels pressure as Bec continues to be upset at Solar Blue deciding to pick Anna. So much as that Anna decides to have in a surf competition with Joe to decide who get to stay at Solar Blue.
3	3	"Trouble in Paradise"	Matt	TBA
The group has their first day in school where they find themselves in representing the School's surf team. When They found out that their competition happens at same time as a contract party organized by Solar Blue, they have to decide where their priorities lie.
4	4	"Fly Takes a Dive"	Fly	TBA
Fly is feeling homesick and inadequate, being the youngest in her family and the contesters.
5	5	"Anna Loses Her Way"	Anna	TBA
The teens discover where Simmo keeps the coaching files and that their weakness are written in them. They debate if they should there individual files to make their training easier.
6	6	"Edge Wipes Out"	Edge	TBA
Edge has been losing competitions and gets in a dangerous situation after overestimating his abilities.
7	7	"Friends in Need"	Heath	TBA
Heath copies Matt's homework project after falling behind in school, causing them to both lose points in school and in the surf competition.
8	8	"Brothers and Sisters"	Bec	TBA
Bec is struggling with her relationship with Joe when he starts hanging out a group of people pestering the Solar Blue team.
9	9	"Sharks in the Mind"	Matt	TBA
Matt's father wants Matt to join him in the crayfishing businesses.
10	10	"Timing Is Everything"	Perri	TBA
Perri is low on money when she gets offered a modeling contract.
11	11	"Out of Control"	Matt and Edge	TBA
Matt and Edge's rivalry for the top of Academy scoreboard escalates when they accidentally put Bec's little brother, Ben, in danger.
12	12	"Dreams and Dramas"	Fly	TBA
Fly is nervous as she realizes she has feelings for Heath.
13	13	"Life on the Line"	Perri	TBA
Perri bonds with a surfer she saves from drowning.
14	14	"Bad Boy Heath"	Heath	TBA
Heath falls for a girl, making Fly jealous.
15	15	"Joker's Wild"	Fly	TBA
16	16	"It's Hard to Be Normal"	Anna	TBA
Anna decides to focus on having fun instead of constantly training.
17	17	"Perri Lies Low"	Perri	TBA
Perri faints due to her diabetes, which she has been hiding to not get disqualified
18	18	"Winning Isn't Everything"	Edge	TBA
Edge races in an endurance test alone.
19	19	"Right Dance, Wrong Partner"	Matt	TBA
20	20	"Big Wave Fears"	Bec	TBA
21	21	"The Kiss"	Perri	TBA
22	22	"Behind the Scenes"	Heath	TBA
23	23	"Tough Choices"	Anna	TBA
24	24	"The Band Plays On"	Bec	TBA
25	25	"Suspicious Minds"	Heath	TBA
26	26	"And the Winner Is..."	TBA	TBA

Series two (June–December 2006)

Episodes of season 2 were not named but were numbered from 1 to 26.

No. overall	No. in season	Featured character	Original release date
27	1	Fly	TBA
28	2	Amy	TBA
29	3	Amy	TBA
30	4	Corey	TBA
31	5	Eric	TBA
32	6	Fly	TBA
33	7	Rachael	TBA
34	8	Eric	TBA
35	9	Rachael and Corey	TBA
36	10	Brooke	TBA
37	11	Amy and Eric	TBA
38	12	Brooke	TBA
39	13	Eric	TBA
40	14	Amy	TBA
41	15	Amy	TBA
42	16	Amy	TBA
43	17	Edge	TBA
44	18	Brooke	TBA
45	19	Mike	TBA
46	20	Rachel	TBA
47	21	Eric	TBA
48	22	Brooke	TBA
49	23	Corey	TBA
50	24	Amy	TBA
51	25	Fly	TBA
52	26	TBA	TBA

Series three (April–September 2008)

Episodes of season 3 were also not named, but were numbered from 1 to 26.

No. overall	No. in season	Featured character	Original release date
53	1	Cassie	TBA
This episode focused on the beginning of the year in Solar Blue for the new 6 intakes for the year, introducing them all: Bridget and Charley (known as "The King") both very seriously intense and engaged to learn and train; Guy, a laid back "surfing machine" that is clumsy the second he steps out of the water; Loren, an extremely friendly yet overly anxious girl with low self-confidence; and Cassie and Adam, two "wildcards" that Simmo had found on offshore beaches that he thought has potential. Despite Cassie's excitement to being in Solar Blue for the year, the day didn't start off well. Solar Blue gets bought by a large corporation, which is mostly represented by "Mr. Lee". Mr. Simmonnds, the renowned coach, decides to leave Solar Blue, and Bec gets offered a job as an administrator for running Solar Blue due to her experience. Cassie and Adam arrive early at Solar Blue to find it wrapped up at the same time; hence finding themselves at the police station for the night after failing to contact those in charge at Solar Blue. The following day, the other 4 arrive and the two do so too, and after careful thinking, Bec decides to take the job in running the academy.
54	2	Charley	TBA
In this episode, Charley openly talks about his generally cold manner towards the others due to his determined strive to do well. In choosing an appropriate surfing coach for the students, Bec decides to leave it to be chosen via voting by the students themselves at Solar Blue, causing heat and rivalry. They meet the two shortlisted candidates - Dave Stretin and Garry Miller; both ex-pros of the Pro Circuit of 10 and 4 years respectively. After the interviews, they find that Dave has a more fun-filled approach, talking about fun stories of his time in the Circuit whereas Garry is brief and almost curt about his past, encouraging good discipline and a boundary-set relationship between the coach and the students. Adam, Cassie, Loren, Guy, and Bridget all vote for Dave, but Charley researches and despite backlash, decides on Garry. In the end, after explaining his reasoning behind his choice, they all go for Garry, and his attitude opens up, and he attempts to be more friendlier to the other intakes.
55	3	Loren	TBA
Despite the kickoff and thrill to be at Solar Blue, Loren begins to look around her at her competitors and is completely overwhelmed. Comparing herself with Bridget and Cassie, she finds herself out of place and realizes that she should drop out. After talking with Bec about it, she decides to wait until the competition that was coming the next day, but in her final heat, she rode a beautiful wave, wanting to finish off her time here and making the most of it. An inexperienced competitor, however, drops in on her wave, making her unable to perform at her level best, intent that she should leave Solar Blue. Just as she was about to give up, Bec gives her the score sheet of the judges' marks in the previous heats and she finds that she got a 9 before the final heat, higher than Bridget and Cassie both. This boosts her confidence and she decides to stay.
56	4	Adam	TBA
In order to make sure the 6 surfers have what it takes, Bec and Garry decide to push the surfers to the hardest, trying to find whether they wanted to be here. Adam gets frustrated after being 2 weeks in at Garry's attitude as it got built up. On a hot day of 35 degrees Celsius, Garry decides to put them all on tracks carrying heavy dead weight for 4 hours, splitting them up in teams of 2 but offering training points in return. Adam lashes out and refuses to partake in the activity, but when Garry puts Cassie's training points on the line, too, he decides to do it anyway. That following evening, he complains loudly to Bec and Garry, and they admit to pushing them to their hardest right before the term started as a test, so Adam understands and decides to stay at Solar Blue.
57	5	Bridget	TBA
Similar to Charley's episode (episode 2), this episode is where Bridget talks about her overcompetitiveness - not only in the water but from academic achievements to something as simple as dishwashing.

International broadcasts

Country	Channel	Year
Italy	Nickelodeon (Italy), Italia 1 and Boing (Italy)	2006–2010
Mexico	Boomerang	2005–2008
New Zealand	TV2	2007–2012
Australia	ABC TV	2005–2010
	Australia Network	2014–
Sweden	SVT1, Barnkanalen[3]	2007–2011
Poland	ZigZap, TVP1 and Filmy+	2007–2010
Germany	KI.KA	2007–2010
Ireland	RTÉ Two	2007–2010
Spain	La 2, Neox and Clan TVE	2007–2010
France	Filles TV/June	2007–2010
	France Ô	2012–2015
Norway	TV2 Zebra	2007–2011
Portugal	SIC and SIC K	2009–2019
Netherlands	RTL 8	2009–2013
Brazil	Boomerang Brazil and TV Brasil	2006–2014
British Virgin Islands	Falkland Islands Television Service	2009–2013
South Africa	Go	2009
	Magic World 112	2010–2013
Great Britain	Boomerang and Pop Girl	2006–2012
Belgium	Ketnet	2010s
Russia	Teen TV	2011
Romania	Megamax	2010s

Africa

In South Africa, Blue Water High was aired twice a week on Go on the local satellite system, DSTV. After DSTV added more MNET channels, Blue Water High started airing every weekday at 19:30 on Magic World 112 from 1 July 2010.

Europe

In Germany, the series is called Blue Water High, die Surf-Akademie (which means "Blue Water High, the Surf Academy") and is broadcast on KI.KA (a children's channel). In Ireland Blue Water High was broadcast on RTÉ Two as part of The Den and, in Spain, the show was broadcast on La 2, Clan TVE and Neox. In France, it was broadcast on Filles TV as Blue Water High: Surf Academy in 2007 and France Ô has started re-airing the series on 12 November 2012. In Norway the show aired on TV 2 Zebra. In Portugal, SIC also bought the first season, and it aired in the country from Monday to Friday at 5pm in Summer 2009; the show was named Mar Azul ("Blue Sea"). It also started again on SIC K in December of that year, where it has, since, been airing, on and off. The series also began airing on RTL 8 in the Netherlands from 2009 onwards. In the United Kingdom, it was broadcast on Boomerang and later on Pop Girl.

North America

Blue Water High was broadcast online in USA through the former The WB Television Network, which was resurrected by the Warner Bros. television arm as a website in 2008.^[4] Currently, the series is now streaming on Tubi.

Oceania

In Australia, the country of its origin, Blue Water High aired once every week on ABC3. In New Zealand, Blue Water High currently airs every Saturday afternoon on TV2

South America

In the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, the show is titled Blue Water High, Escuela del Surf, which translates as "Blue Water High, Surf Academy", and is broadcast on Boomerang Latin America. In Brazil, it is broadcast by Boomerang Brazil and TV Brasil under the title Galera do Surfe (The Surf Crowd). In Falkland Islands, Blue Water High was aired on Falkland Islands Television Service Tuesdays to Friday at 15:00 and Saturday at 11:30.

Home media

DVD releases

Season 3 was not originally released on DVD, but in October 2020 a complete collection boxset was released, which included all three seasons.

Title	Format	Ep #	Discs	Region 4 (Australia)	Special Features	Distributors
Blue Water High: Season 1	DVD	26	04	9 February 2007	None	Roadshow
Blue Water High: Season 2	DVD	26	04	2007	None	Roadshow
Blue Water High: Seasons 1-3	DVD	78	12	7 October 2020	N/A	Via Vision Entertainment/Madman Entertainment

Online streaming

All Seasons of Blue Water High are currently streaming for release on 7plus.

Title	Format	Ep #	Release Date	Distributors
Blue Water High: Season 01	Streaming	26	2019	7plus
Blue Water High: Season 02	Streaming	26	2019	7plus
Blue Water High: Season 03	Streaming	26	2019	7plus