“Surf Life Saving is in my blood. I’ve watched the sport as a kid on TV to becoming a nipper then my profession and now helping the sport grow again with innovation in surf lifesaving craft,”

With a lifetime passion for ocean sports, Jeremy has been at the top level as a professional ironman and ocean paddler for over 20 years. But it’s Queenscliff, on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, where it all began.

With his father Billy guiding him, Jeremy’s drive and talent saw him make a mark in the sport of surf lifesaving from an early age. Training up to 12 times a week, it was hard work for Jeremy and Billy alike, with the 5am swim squads, afternoon ski and board sessions and travelling up and down the east coast for competitions.

It paid off though, with Jeremy claiming the junior Australian ironman title as an 18-year-old. This was his launch pad to becoming a professional ironman, and ultimately moving to Queensland’s Gold Coast.

Life as an ironman

Starting out as a professional during a time when ironmen were household names meant Jeremy took on the likes of the Mercer brothers and Trevor Hendy in competitions. For over 10 years life as Jeremy knew it was a professional ironman, first as part of the Uncle Toby’s series and later in the Nutri Grain series.

During his time on the circuit, Jeremy stood on the dais multiple times – either as a winner or placegetter. It’s a period that saw him represent Australia, NSW and Queensland in the sport of surf lifesaving. He’s also the owner of multiple Australian, NSW and Queensland surf lifesaving titles. And in 2005, when the iconic Coolangatta Gold race was making a comeback he claimed second in that race, he could never quite get the event out of his head. So, in 2015 as a 35 year-old-old and 10 years into retirement, Jeremy took on the 41.8 km event once more, crossing the finish line in a third place.

While competing as an ironman and living in Sydney, the sport of ocean paddling was taking hold. The sport’s Australian founder Dean Gardiner took Jeremy under his wing, where he saw a new sporting avenue open up to him. Training sessions were paddling around Sydney’s North Head, catching runners with a strong southerly buster blowing behind. It was love at first paddle.

In his first official ocean paddling race, the King of the Harbour, Jeremy hit the water as an unknown. But after claiming third place against a top international field, he became an instant known entity in the ocean paddling world.

In what he calls his ‘second coming’ Jeremy’s been racing on ocean skis at the top level for well over a decade. The sport has seen him travel across the globe, in races of all types of testing and varying conditions, against the best ocean paddlers there are. Jeremy lays claim to winning every major Australian race bar one, is a three times Australian ocean paddling series champion and twice runner-up in the world ocean paddling series.
With a long history of racing at the elite level, Jeremy also dedicates his time to building the sport he loves from the grass roots levels up. He’s the co-founder of the Gold Coast Paddlers Club, where he runs monthly races and free training sessions.

Now a Gold Coast local for over 10 years, Jeremy’s links to volunteer lifesaving through the surf club led him to his ‘other job’ – a paramedic with the Queensland Ambulance Service.

And if life’s not busy enough, he’s also the father to two boys. Like Billy before him, Jeremy now hits the beach with his boys each weekend for nippers at Currumbin Beach Vikings Surf Club which leads him to another role as head coach of the nippers. So watch out, there could be another Cotter crossing the line first in surf lifesaving events!

CTC Surfcraft is the latest stepping stone in a lifetime of ocean sports for Jeremy. From that five-year-old nipper wading through the water at Queenscliff to today, his passion and commitment to ocean sports has never waned. His love and inspiration of seeing people achieve there dreams and having something to do with it is his main driving force behind developing craft that helps athletes get to the top.

With over 20 years’ experience as an ocean sport athlete, Jeremy knows a thing or two about helping you reach your paddling best in either board, ski or ocean ski paddling. So whether you’re wanting to improve your fitness, take up a new sport, or race against the best, Jeremy can help you get there.