James Noble had the world at his feet. The gifted athlete was a junior professional surfer with a brilliant future. Until drugs intervened. Jane Metlikovec reports.

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Stephen, 23, with no film experience, has produced an emotional tribute to his dead brother, James.

Whitecloud -- its title is taken from James' unusual middle name -- created such interest the Wonthaggi cinema had to put on two premieres last month.

Hundreds of South Gippsland people squeezed into the screenings not only to celebrate James's life but to try to understand how he ended up dead on a train track after fleeing a hospital psychiatric ward.

"A couple of months before James died I thought about making a movie about him and our local area," Stephen says.

"He was a really talented surfer and there were no surf movies about this region, but I didn't really think I would have the motivation or the means to do it. But then James died and it was a huge shock to the community.

"About 450 people came to his funeral and there were a lot of unanswered questions about his life. I thought about that and decided to make the movie."

The documentary chronicles James's life -- from catching his first wave at five to footage of a gangly teenager clutching a Bells trophy after winning a junior title at the famous surf break. It ends with James's final days.

The one-time Australian junior champion first "crashed" after a drug binge in mid-2002, aged 21.

He went for 10 days without sleeping after taking a cocktail of marijuana and ecstasy. It began a gradual descent into drug-induced paranoia and eventual breakdown.

Only one week before his death on July 15 last year, James went on a marijuana binge and had visions of himself going to hell.

Two days before he died James swam 400m around picturesque Kilcunda point off South Gippsland before jumping in his car and driving naked to nearby San Remo.

Police stopped him and found a disoriented young man behaving bizarrely. James refused to speak to police and would communicate only through hand-written notes.

Despite desperate pleas from his parents, Ian and Sharyn, to release him into their care, James was taken to the Flynn ward at Latrobe Regional Hospital near Traralgon.

Also a talented cross-country runner, he escaped from the mental health ward at noon on Friday, July 15, and ran more than 110km to Narre Warren along the train track.

Exhausted after running non-stop for hours, James was hit from behind by a Melbourne-bound train and died instantly.

The Noble family are devout Christians who have accepted James's death as God's will. However, they say the mental health system let their boy down.

"We told them to send him home, not to take him to Traralgon," Ian Noble says.

"We are loving parents who were willing to look after him. All his friends wanted him home but they didn't listen to us.

"We knew what he was capable of. He was a professional athlete. It was nothing for him to break out of the hospital and jump the fence."

James's life and tragic end was a hard story for his brother to tell.

"I was a little nervous at the screening but the reaction was really positive," Stephen says.

"One of my friends said James's life will be like a lighthouse to the youth of this generation, to show them what and what not to do.

"People told me they liked how the movie was honest and didn't hide anything.

"Now I think the impact this story will have on the youth of this generation will be quite great.

"James was an amazing person and his legacy will live on through this film. When he was doing his best he was at the top of his game. He was having an incredible time."

A ND an amazing life it was. In August 2000 James Noble, then 19, from the tiny coastal town of Cape Paterson, came from behind for his first victory in the Billabong Junior Series in Sydney.

It sent him to No. 10 on the Australasian junior circuit. It also opened the way to the Billabong World Junior Championships in Hawaii. He was on top of the world.

"A Victorian surfer hasn't won a junior event for a couple of years, so that felt great," he said at the time.

"My goal was to finish in the top 10 this year; to make the Hawaiian event would be a huge bonus."

James went on to win the Billabong-Boost Junior Series in the final at Bells Beach. He began packing his bags for Hawaii.

Surfing Victoria executive director Max Wells says James had a natural affinity for Bells and was a joy to watch.

"The year he won the Billabong junior series was an incredibly tough year because there were some great surfers in the competition," Max Wells says in the film.

"It was quite unusual for a kid from the other side of the coast, but James was a great Bells surfer. His style and the way he attacked the waves that day was perfect."

At the Hawaii junior championships, James toppled then-current world No. 7 Australian Joel Parkinson on his way to finishing fourth after twisting an ankle during a turn on the waves.

"I've had a good time surfing here. I had a good heat in the semis, so I was really happy and stoked to just make the final," he said as he sat on the shore with an ice pack strapped to his leg.

That year, the year after he finished high school, James's future looked assured. He became Victoria's most successful junior surfer -- an honour that still stands.

"He could have gone anywhere with his surfing and you see that in the movie with James and Joel (Parkinson)," Stephen says.

"They were equally as talented as each other and Joel went down one way and is making millions now. And then you have got James, who made some different decisions."

James began taking marijuana when he was 19 but still blitzing surf contests.

"There is a lot of peer pressure out there to experiment with drugs and alcohol at parties and everyone tends to have a bit of a dabble. Marijuana really didn't agree with my brother at all," Stephen says.

His father Ian adds: "Everywhere James went he was being tempted by drugs. People loved James because of his talent -- he was such a fantastic surfer -- and he would always be offered drugs. For him it was a complete poison."

James's parents saw him in a tailspin of marijuana and harder drugs and devoted themselves to getting their son back on track.

"When he started taking drugs he just couldn't stop," mum Sharyn says.

"He would go on these binges and it would get worse and worse, and every time he came off it he would worry about things. He became paranoid about little things."

Ian Noble describes it as a frustrating and heartbreaking time for the tight-knit family.

"I was trying to make a future for him all the time," he says.

"I would get him going off the drugs, get him surfing again and then it would happen all over again and he would crash."

J AMES turned to God to help him cope with his drug problem and his inner demons and encouraged his family to renew their faith.

"I was going through a hard stage in my life with drugs and alcohol too," Stephen says.

"And James showed me the Bible and that was enough to make me stop and recommit to Christianity but it was a real struggle for James."

In his last two years, James slipped in and out of drug abuse.

"He really wanted to follow his faith and his No. 1 love was Jesus, but then the temptation of his old lifestyle would become too great and he would hang around the wrong people and take drugs again," Stephen says.

His father says James had a constant battle between doing the right and wrong thing.

"He thought he was going to hell for what he did. He was trying to make it right," he says.

WHITECLOUD is available at the Islantis surf store, Phillip Island.

Källa: Herald Sun