Ahi lining up a solid one
New Zealand bodyboarding had a new, epic page written in to its history books over the two days of Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th April 2011. Two days that will define New Zealand bodyboarding and will be talked about for years. This little story is about how the NMD Northland Event saved competitive bodyboarding in New Zealand.
With a good turnout but nothing epic, 25 riders from around New Zealand met in Kaitaia for the registration on Friday evening, a few Mountain Dew’s were shared about, talk of the days fun waves and even more talk of what could be over the coming two days. The call was made to meet at 6.30am the next morning to get the best of the tide.
Blair gunning through one with a sick line
630am the following morning and after a short 5 minute drive North from Ahipara we were at our location and the conditions on hand were nothing short of awesome. Perfect 4ft waves unloading on to a shallow rock ledge, a bigger set rearing itself every so often before unloading on the reef, peeling down then spitting once, sometimes twice much to the bewilderment of the riders who had made the trek North. History was about to unfold.
After the success of the recent adapted IBA event format the call was made for BBSNZ to trial the format at this event, each rider in the Open Men’s division surfing 3 times, against differing opposition, with heats of 4 people. 1st place in each heat received 6 points, second place received 4 points, 3rd place received 2 points and fourth place received 1 point. Each rider surfed 3 times, with a maximum score of 18 available, a minimum score of 3 available.
The call from Head Judge Kevin McAlister at the beginning of the day was that deep, clean tube rides would score in the excellent scale, as would powerful maneuvers off of heavy, critical sections. There would also be solid reward for technical surfing as opposed to ‘safe’ surfing.
With such amazing waves on offer the call was made to roll straight in to the first round of the Open Men. Floyd Smith had surfed this break several times in the past and paddled deep in to the line up. He picked off bomb after bomb but had lined himself up too deep, with some of the other riders surfing the wave for the first time they decided to stick closer to the peak/shoulder and managed to get a few good rides. Floyd put himself out there for the excellent scores but just fell short. Usually that would have spelt an early exit but thanks to the new format Floyd had two more ‘lives’ in the epic waves.
Dunc Smith eyeing the channel in the final
With the tide slowly pushing up making the wave slightly more predictable but still as heavy as a sumo at a pie eating contest, Ahi Newby stamped his authority with some mind blowing, balls to the wall surfing, late, heavy drops in to 5ft bombs, late scoops in to perfect pits and solid, loopy, critical rolls out of some of the most intense sections of the wave made for a display of pure raw power bodyboarding.
As the first round rolled through so did the sets, waves now in the 4-6ft range, unloading on to the sharp reef and grinding, hollow and powerful the whole length of the shelf, most waves spat, some twice and a few even four times, this was truly some of the most epic waves imaginable in NZ, let alone during a competition. Standouts in round one were Blair Dowman, who knows the wave like the back of his hand and showed with several excellent deep, throaty tubes, Duncan Smith who’s precise, flawless surfing went down a treat as he slotted in to deep, square chambers and emerged with perfectly timed carves and flips. The younger contingent also stood up, opting more for the fun end bowls and Jamee Smith, Mitch Tombleson, Luke Elliott and Willy Nepia Murray all excelled in the perfect conditions.
After the first round there was a lot of talk around the leader board and what the cutoff might be, early predictions were around 10 points and those riders with first round wins were looking good with 6 points in the bag early on.
Round two was a nearly carbon copy of round 1, with the heats reshuffled the Open Men swung back in to it. The only difference was a slightly increasing swell and the tide pushing in. The surfing was still outstanding. In heat 1 Richard McKenna put his foot down and started pushing deeper on the peak, pulling off a few sick ones from behind the peak and using all his speed to weave through some of the gaping tubes on over before flipping his way out of the bowl. Duncan Smith managed to pick up a perfect 20 point hat score with two insane deep barrel rides followed up by huge flips out of the end bowl, flawless riding in the flawless conditions.
As the waves kept pumping the competition kept rolling and the call was made you rock right in to the third round as the waves just kept on cranking. With several riders now sitting on between 8-12 points after round 2 things were starting to heat up, with 10 points still looking to be the cut those sitting on around 6 points knew they had to pull out all stops in the third round. Blair Dowman was sitting on 8 after a couple of hard heats and knew he needed a good score to get through, another second place for him was enough and he slotted in to 12 points and in to the semi final. The cut ended up being 9 points and with three riders tied on 9 points the count went back to the highest individual wave score. It was Luke Elliott’s 9.6 which won out over Floyd Smiths 9.4 pushing Luke through to the semis also. Joining Blair and Luke was Ahi Newby, Richard McKenna, Mitch Tombleson, Willy Nepia Murray and the only two riders to gain perfect 3 round scores of 18 points, Jamee Smith and Duncan Smith.
With the tide now pushing up a bit far the move was made about 15 minutes further north to a fun reef which worked through the higher tide and produced some mechanical left hand barrels and bowls. The U21 riders hit the water for the first of the two semi finals and reveled in the mechanical waves on offer. Long tube rides, big flips out of the fun bowls in between the wash through sets made for some top surfing from the younger competitors. In the first heat Willy Nepia Murray and George Van Der Beek held out a late charge from Paul Van Der Kwaak to progress to the final. Luke Elliott locked in two solid waves to win out his semi and Mitch Tombleson and Matt levy battled it out for second with Matt just edging in to second and through to the final.
Ahi on a solid one after the comp on day 1
Hitting the water directly after the U21′s were the Amateur Men. With some excellent conditions on hand it was great to see these guys enjoy the conditions, with some of them in their first contests ever. Carlos Wilkinson dominated his first heat with two excellent tube rides and joining him from Semi one through in to the final was Byron Seon. There was some excellent tube riding in the semi finals which was a reflection of the skill level of some of the riders, couple with a fair swag of local knowledge. Joe Werner and Ryan Kendall were first and second both threading through some long tubes and hitting some loopy rolls off the end section, joining them in the 5 man final was Andrew McKay.
With conditions starting to get a bit low for the reef the DK riders hit the water to get the best of what was still on offer. The riders all did really well in what were rather tricky conditions, heaps of late drops, some made and some resulting in a quick trip to the reef! Duncan Smith did the best in the waves on offer and threaded some long rides, one long cover-up being the wave of the heat. Duncan took the final from Richard McKenna who smacked a few good turns on his backhand. Luke Elliott finished up in third after just missing out on a good second wave. Blair Dowman struggled to find the right waves and took fourth from Ryan Kendall in 5th.
The two Under 16 finalists hit the water as conditions started to get quite difficult with a lot of big sets and a lot of current running. Jamee Smith managed to lock in to a number of good long waves that ran down the reef and he was able to bust several of his trade mark ARS’s to get a solid heat score. George Van Der Beek wasn’t to be outdone and got some great waves of his own. Jamee took out the Final with better, bigger waves and cleaner maneuvers with George picking up 2nd and giving it a solid nudge in the waves that couldn’t be any different to his home break of Mt Maunganui!
With the tide now too low to continue on at this break competitors headed back to the right hander to decide what to do with the remaining heats. With only the Open Semis and U21 and Amateur Finals left to run it was decided to hold off until the following morning and the optimal tides. The waves were now in the solid 6 – 8ft region with some huge wash throughs. Some of the keen crew headed out and scooped in to some bombs. After seeing how difficult the conditions had become organizers were happy with the call of starting back the following morning bright and early.
Meeting again at 6.30am the crew headed back to the right hander to see what was on offer. Conditions were almost slightly better much to the disbelief of the crew and after watching a couple of sets roll through things got in to action. With such amazing waves on offer the Open Semis were extended out to 25 minutes and the boys didn’t waste any time getting stuck in. Jamee Smith continued his great form of the earlier rounds with some more big ARS’s and a few good barrels, Willy Nepia Murray was trying to pick off the slightly bowlier ones but was unable to pick up the scores he needed to progress, Richard McKenna got a few good waves but once again was unable to back up his good opening wave with another solid score. Ahi Newby kept powering through with deep, long tube rides and some crazy boosts off the end section, although Ahi didn’t have a strong second wave he did enough to progress through alongside Jamee Smith in to the final
In the second Semi Final were Blair Dowman, Duncan Smith, Mitch Tombleson and Luke Elliott. Local lad Blair Dowman had this place wired and knew exactly where to sit and which ones to pick off. He drove his way through several great tubes in the semi and cemented his place in the four man final. Mitch Tombleson couldn’t back up his great surfing from the earlier rounds and was unable to find the good barrels and ramps he was able to find earlier in the day. A hard charging Luke Elliott had to also settle for a place outside the top 4 as his late air drops didn’t eventuate in to the deep tubes he was hoping for. The standout of the event so far Duncan Smith used his smooth, technical surfing to his advantage with more time in the green room and more time flinging himself in to the air off of some of the tasty air bowls on offer and was sitting pretty on his charge towards the final.
Blair stalling for a sick one
The Senior Men’s division was next to hit the water with Brad Dennison and Alan Downing the two men who had made the journey north to contest this division. Both of the two riders took different approaches to the waves on offer with Brad choosing to sit deep and try to pick off the bombs and Alan happier to pick off the smaller inside waves and use the length of ride to his advantage. Unfortunately Brads approach didn’t pay dividends and he was unable to emerge from any of the barrels he had dropped in to. Alan picked up a couple of smaller waves but was able to link together some maneuvers to eventually take out the final.
Hitting the water next was the U21 final. Luke Elliott got out of the blocks early with a really nice deep tube ride and a roll out of the end bowl, the perfect start to the final for Luke. Willy Nepia Murray picked off some of the smaller sets and got a small cover-up to push him in to second place. Matt Levy decided to try to pick off the longer inside waves and although he was able to link up a number of maneuvers the smaller wave wasn’t what the judges were looking for. Luke backed up his initial tube with another late in the heat to grab himself the top spot which he held on to right till the end of the heat, Willy’s good tube and combos gave him the second spot ahead of Matt in third. George Van Der Beek was unable to make the final and ended up in fourth.
Ahi hitting a solid section in the final
So it had come down to this, a day and a half of amazing waves, glorious, deep tubes, high scores, massive punts, broken leashes and plenty of blood spilt and a now 30 minutes between the four most consistent riders of the competition. The Open Men’s final was 30 minutes long and the waves on offer were absolutely world class. The opening exchange pretty much summed up the entire event, Ahi Newby take off deep, drives around a section and boosts a huge roll in the most critical, heavy section of the wave. Blair Dowman take off even deeper, drives through a deep, wide keg and just gets swiped by the foam ball as he tries to exit. Next up Dunc Smith takes a smaller wave and pushes through the foam before a hacking reverse on the shoulder. Not to be outdone Jamee Smith take off on a smaller wave, turns around the section and boosts out in to an ARS’s just coming unstuck on the landing. The final was a tradeoff of deep, deep tubes, technical punts and smooth flowing riding. Not one of the finalists left anything to chance with all of them racking up heat scores of over 15 out of a possible 20. The riding was intense; the waves flowed through consistently in the 30 minutes on offer.
Blair Dowman picked off the biggest and best of the waves and used his local knowledge to his advantage, threading through some amazing tubes before driving in to the lip. Duncan Smith flowed with every single wave he caught, easing in to barrel after barrel and hitting the lip as he exited with the spit, Ahi continued to charge like a mad man and had no fear in throwing his board at the lip on any size wave. Jamee surfed really well but was unable to really cement a big enough wave/score in the final and had to settle with 4th, an excellent achievement from the young guy. Ahi Newby was one long, deep tube ride away from glory but didn’t quite have what was required in the final to push him past a very respectable 3rd.
It was down to two, the local charger with the inside knowledge and the old head with all the technical skill required to dominate these waves. It was close, really close, less than 1 point separated 3rd and 1st. In the end it was down to the size of waves and the deepness of the tube ride with Blair Dowman emerging as the winner and Duncan Smith just being edged in to second place. It was an outstanding result for the local lad, his first BBSNZ Tour Event victory and one he will savor for a long time to come!
