The 2012 NMD/JUCY National bodyboard champs were held in Gisborne over Labour weekend 6th-9th of April. With ex tropical cyclone Daphne on route for the region, things were shaping up to be very interesting over the weekend and interesting it was with accidents, slips, fallen trees and road closures even before the comp was underway.

Registration was held over 2 nights Thursday and Friday night due to Friday being a lay day and because a few people hadn’t made it. There was a good turnout of over 50 people across all divisions. The stage was set for everything to get underway Saturday.

We all met at Pines car park at 7am Saturday morning in the rain, and were greeted by terrible conditions 4-5ft east swell and 20-25knot screaming easterly, which combined with an extreme. The call was made to move the comp to Whales were conditions where slightly better with very little or no rip.

The comp got underway at 8am with the first round of the Jucy Open Men’s, we again ran with the same format as the last few comps were everyone in the Open Men’s surfs 3 times and the top 8 progress through to the semi finals. The standouts of round 1 where the local brothers Reuben and Nathan Quirk along with another Wainui local Jarad Ferris, all three showed their knowledge in picking off the better of the waves, flipping and spinning to the beach. Other standouts were Rory Lancelles (South Africa) who came out of nowhere and took his first heat with a good flip and some combos, Duncan Smith (Wellington) was also a first round heat winner along with Bronn Foster (Port Waikato)

We went straight into round 2 of the Jucy Open Men’s next where we had pretty much the same conditions as the first round. In this round we had completely different heat winners from the previous round, winners of this round were Mitch Job (Mt Maunganui), Jarad Ferris (Gisborne), Paul Van Der Kwaak (Port Waikato) and Lucas Tride (Chile). Some very impressive riding went down in this round given the conditions. Other standouts from this round where Jamee Smith (Mt Maunganui) and Alex Elder (Dunedin).

Up next was the Surfers Skin Amateur’s semi finals, the tide had dropped out quite a bit by this stage, but these guys still managed to get a few decent waves under their belts, Navare Taylor (Mt Maunganui) was semi one winner narrowly taking it out over David Tuara (Titahi Bay). In semi 2 we saw Silas Burton (Northland) take it out with Logan Tuara (Titahi Bay) in second place. All four riders advanced into the final.

By this stage the tide had dropped out to far and conditions had worsened so the call was made to have a lunch break then meet back at Whales at 2pm.
After lunch we ran the 3d round of the Jucy Open Men’s. The tide was on its way back in by this stage and conditions had improved with the wind pulling back to about 5 knots, that wasn’t to last as it was soon to pick back up to 20 knots and started raining again. This round was to decide who was going through to the semis and who was going home. Young grommet Jamee Smith (Mt Maunganui) needed a win to advance through and he did this by winning his heat which included to ARS’s on one wave followed up with a flip to roll combo which all combined to the highest heat score of the weekend a 17.50. Other heat winners in this round were Paul Van Der Kwaak (Port Waikato), Alex Elder (Dunedin) and Lucas Tride (Chile). The top 8 who advance into the semis are Lucas Tride (Chile), Rory Lancelles (South Africa), Paul Van Der Kwaak (Port Waikato), Jamee Smith (Mt Maunganui), Reuben Quirk (Gisborne), Nathan Quirk (Gisborne), Jarad Ferris (Gisborne) and Alex Elder (Dunedin).

The last Heats of the day were the NMD Dropknee quarterfinals. Conditions were not the best by this time of the day but it was decided to run it anyway. Once the guys got out there and into it, conditions weren’t as bad as initially thought and some really good DK action went down. Standouts from the quarters were Reuben Quirk (Gisborne) who laid down a huge floater and Duncan Smith (Wellington) others to progress through were Ryan Kendall (Northland), Nathan Quirk (Gisborne), Jarred Ferris (Gisborne) and Rory Lancelles (South Africa).

It was decided to call that the end of the first day of competition with all competitors heading home for some well earned rest after a very hard and physical day.

Day 2 we all met at Pines again at 7am and were greeted by much of the same conditions but a slight drop in swell, the call was made to head back to Whales after reports it was again looking better than Pines. We arrived at Whales car park turned around and headed back to Pines. Lesson 1 – never listen to grommets from the Port Waikato for a valid surf report!

First out in the water today was the Semi Finals of the Jucy Open Men’s. In Semi 1 we saw some great riding once again from Lucas Tride (Chile) who opened up with a nice loopy roll to get things started, Reuben Quirk (Gisborne) then got a nice tube on a sneaky right that came through. Nathan Quirk (Gisborne) again showed his local knowledge in picking off the best ones. Jamee Smith (Mt Maunaganui) couldn’t find the rhythm that saw him into the semi. Lucas Tride and Nathan Quirk advanced into the final.

In Semi 2 of the Jucy Open Men’s, we saw Jarad Ferris (Gisborne) have pretty much totally dominance, local knowledge really proving to be a big plus here in these conditions, Mitch Job (Mt Maunganui) was again showing he is not to be taken lightly throwing down some nice combos. Rory Lancelles (South Africa) and Paul Van Der Kwaak (Port Waikato) just couldn’t find the right waves. So advancing through to the finals were Jarad Ferris and Mitch Job.

Next out were the semi finals of the NMD Dropknee with conditions a bit better than the previous day, the guys set out to prove that they were worthy of a final spot. Semi 1 saw Reuben Quirk (Gisborne) take it out with some stylish carves and floaters, close on his heels was Rory Lancelles (South Africa) who pulled a huge floater out of the bag to progress. Ryan Kendall (Northland) bowed out at this stage.

Semi 2 of the NMD Dropknee, sees Jarad Ferris (Gisborne) start off with a massive floater but he just couldn’t quite stick the landing. Duncan Smith (Wellington) continues with his smooth riding. The two to progress from this semi to the final are Jarad Ferris and Duncan Smith. Nathan Quirk (Gisborne) only just misses out on the second position, but unfortunately couldn’t progress.
With the tide really starting to push out now it was the Isolated Shop Senior Men’s semis that were next to hit the water. Semi 1 saw Reuben Quirk (Gisborne) dominate his heat once again showing the out of town boys how it’s done at his local, he progressed through along with Alan Downing (Auckland). In Semi 2 it was again the two Locals Jarad Ferris (Gisborne) and Billy Maxwell (Gisborne) that picked off the best of the waves in the tough conditions to advance.

The last thing to run before lunch was the Surfers Skin Amateur final. These guys made pretty light work of the conditions with plenty of rolls and spins getting thrown about. Navare Taylor (Mt Maunganui) showed his years of groveling at the Mount were worth it winning this very closely followed by Silas Burton (Northland) in 3rd place was David Tuara (Titahi Bay) and 4th went to Logan Tuara (Titahi Bay).

The contest organizers then decided to opt for a venue change to North Makarori to run the Mountain Dew Open Women’s and the Seventhwave U18′s as conditions were to treacherous to run these at Pines.

Up in the Seventhwave U18 we had a 5-man final, 4 of which were new faces to the competition scene, which was really encouraging to see. The waves looked pretty small from the beach but once competitors got out there it was much better than first thought. Jamee Smith (Mt Maunganui) pulled his tricks out of the bag, even managing to chuck a couple of flips in the mix, which was impressive for a 16 year old in 2ft surf! Tyrone Simperingham (Port Waikato) Managed to take 2nd place behind Jamee, with a couple of nice waves. 3rd place went to super groom Chris Vujcich (Napier) 4th Alan Vujcich (Napier) and 5th went to Charles Vujcich (Napier).

The Mountain Dew Open Women’s was next to hit the water. The women managed to pick of quite a few good waves in the 2-3ft range. Serena Ball (Auckland) was the eventual winner showing why she has done so well in the recent Australasian National titles, with a variety of combos. Eiko Yoshimura (Raglan) finished up close behind in 2nd place. Margurite Vujcich (Napier) Took out 3rd place with an excellent showing.

Lunch was now the main focus of most competitors and everyone was to meet back at Pines at 2:30pm to run the last 3 finals.

The NMD Dropknee final was first to hit the water after lunch this was a 30 min final with 12 waves max. The waves had really cleaned up by this stage and were looking really nice 2-3ft. Rory Lancelles (South Africa) opened up his scoring by coming off the bottom, smashing a closeout and coming down perfectly with it. Backing that up with a hack to reverse. Jarad Ferris (Gisborne) was close on Rory’s heels with some very nice carves and a sharp floater. Reuben Quirk (Gisborne) produced the hack of the comp but couldn’t find himself a backup wave. Rory Lancelles (South Africa) was the winner, 2nd Jarad Ferris (Gisborne) 3rd Reuben Quirk (Gisborne) and 4th Duncan Smith (Wellington).

Next up was the Isolated Shop Senior Men’s final. This was once again going to be a battle between the local boys Jarad Ferris (Gisborne) and Reuben Quirk (Gisborne) these two guys have battled it out time and time again, it was how ever Reuben Quirk who came out on top this time but only just over Jarad Ferris. 3rd Place went to Alan Downing (Auckland) who narrowly beat another local -Billy Maxwell (Gisborne).

The last final of the day was to be the most anticipated, the Jucy Open Men. This was one action packed final. Within a minute of the start of the final Lucas Tride (Chile) busts a massive ARS, he then chooses to come in run back up the beach and paddle back out. Nathan Quirk (Gisborne) picks of a nice right and manages to flip off of a closeout, which gives him a good score with the judges. Its Jarad Ferris (Gisborne) turn next and he gets a tasty left and lays down a smooth ARS. Mitch Job (Mt Maunganui) picks one off and manages to do a roll and a couple of spins to the beach. It was how ever Lucas Tride (Chile) that managed to back his top wave up with another high score when he came off the bottom and pulled out a super stylish invert which would seal the deal for him with a win in the 2012 Jucy NMD Bodyboarding Nationals, 2nd place went to Jarad Ferris (Gisborne) 3rd Nathan Quirk (Gisborne) and 4th went to Mitch Job (Mt Maunganui).

We would like to thank everyone that helped out over the weekend all the BBSNZ crew, Judges, Flag boys, locals and of course to our sponsors because with out you guys we couldn’t do this. A huge thanks to Seventhwave, Isolated Shop, Jucy, NMD, Surfers Skin and Mountain Dew.

We now look forward to the BBSNZ South Island Champs 19 – 22 October (Labour Weekend) 2012 – 5* Rated which are to be held in Dunedin. The championship is still up for grabs with many hands on it at the moment. Book your flights NOW we hope to see you all down there!!!!

Results

Surfers Skin Amateur Men
1st Navare Taylor (Mt Maunganui)
2nd Silas Burton (Northland)
3rd David Tuara (Titahi Bay)
4th Logan Tuara (Titahi Bay)

Seventhwave U18
1st Jamee Smith (Mt Maunganui)
2nd Tyrone Simperingham (Port Waikato)
3rd Chris Vujcich (Napier)
4th Alan Vujcich (Napier)
5th Charles Vujcich (Napier)

Mountain Dew Open Women’s
1st Serena Ball (Auckland)
2nd Eiko Yoshimura (Raglan)
3rd Margurite Vujcich (Napier)

Isolated Shop Senior Men’s
1st Reuben Quirk (Gisborne)
2nd Jarad Ferris (Gisborne)
3rd Alan Downing (Auckland)
4th Billy Maxwell (Gisborne)

NMD Dropknee
1st Rory Lancelles (South Africa)
2nd Jarad Ferris (Gisborne)
3rd Reuben Quirk (Gisborne)
4th Duncan Smith (Wellington)

Jucy Open Men’s
1st Lucas Tride (Chile)
2nd Jarad Ferris (Gisborne)
3rd Nathan Quirk (Gisborne)
4th Mitch Job (Mt Maunganui)

As the title says, check it out. Event two of the BBSNZ Tour for 2012.

This one will be a cracker, 4 days of Gizzy epicness – come along and get amongst it!

Dates: 6-9 April (Easter Weekend)

Registration: At 299 Valley Rd, Mangapapa, Gisborne at 7-9pm on Thursday 5th April.

Event starts 7am on Saturday, Sunday & Monday. Mobile around the Gisborne Coastline.

Entry Fee $60 Extra Division $20

Divisions: UNDER 18, SENIOR MEN, AMATEURS, OPEN MEN, WOMEN, DROPKNEE

ANy more info contact Kev on 027 425 6992 or email bbsnz@xtra.co.nz

With the reports lining up favorably from early in the week, a solid crew of bodyboarders descended on Kaitaia for the 2012 Jucy/NMD North Island Bodyboard Champs. After over 50 entries across the 6 divisions after the Thursday evening check in at The Orana everyone was set to go with a 7.30am meeting the following day.

Up bright and early and greeted by perfect conditions, the call was made to head to a lesser known beach break which was sure to be offering up some tasty peaks for the day. After a short drive North and after coming up and over the last set of dunes we finally had our eyes set on the scene of the first days events, and what a day it would be, 3-4ft perfect peaks, reeling and spitting down the line, perfectly groomed air bowls, tidy fast ramps and more pits than you could shake a bodyboard at!

Continue reading →

Hey everyone

We hope the Summer so far has been treating you well and you have managed to get a few waves under your belt.

Just getting in touch to give you a bit of info about the 2012 Jucy/NMD North Island Bodyboard Champs – Kaitaia which is the first event of the 2012 BBSNZ Tour and runs from the 3-6th February 2012 which is Waitangi Weekend.

Registration from 6-9pm on Thursday 2nd February at the Orana Motor Inn Conference Room, 238 Commerce St, Kaitaia. Early registrations contact bbsnz@xtra.co.nz

Every competitor receives a competition T-shirt, entry pack and goes in to the draw for spot prizes

The event starts 6.30am on Friday 3rd February and is mobile around the Northland Coast so be prepared to travel out from Kaitaia.

Entry Fee is $60 which includes a $10 BBSNZ membership fee and extra division $20

Divisions are:

Jucy Rentals Open Men
Mountain Dew Open Women
NMD Dropknee,
Seventhwave U18
Isolated Shop Senior Men
Surfers Skin Amateurs

The Orana Motor Inn has offered us some excellent rates for those involved in the event; they are offering their queen or twin studios priced at $80 per night for multi-night stays.

These rooms are very comfortable for 1 or 2 people, and include free Wi-Fi access and SKY TV. For 2 people to share they work out at $40 per person per night.

If there are 3 people wanting to share together, they have some 2 room units with 3 beds that are also price at $40 per person per night for multi-night stays.

Over $6,000 in prizes from our awesome sponsors:

NMD

Jucy

Mountain Dew

Seventhwave

Isolated Shop

Surfers Skin

For further info please email us at bbsnz05@hotmail.com

Cheers

Kev and the Crew @ BBSNZ

Ok guys and girls, you asked for it and here it is, the 2012 BBSNZ National Tour. This tour was formulated with ideas from you – the New Zealand bodyboarding public. We have taken as much info as possible from you and put it together in to this new tour for 2012. This tour will look to rotate the number of events in each of the North and South Islands from year to year.

There are 3 Events, BBSNZ North Island Champs, BBSNZ South Island Champs and BBSNZ National Champs. The actual event ‘names’ may change, or assume the name of previously held memorial events. Each event has a 4 day competition period in which to get the best conditions. All events are mobile around the region they are held in.

These are the only 3 rated BBSNZ Events. Best two results from the three events will count towards your BBSNZ Ranking.

Running on the IBA Super Tour Format. Divisions with enough entires will surf Three (or more) Rounds, and then go from there to round of 16, quarters, semis etc depending on number of entries.

Divisions will be:
Open Men
Open Women
Dropknee
U18
Senior Men
Amateur

Events are as follows:

BBSNZ North Island Champs – 3-6 February (Waitangi Weekend) 2012 – 5* Rated – Northland

BBSNZ National Champs – 6-9 April (Easter Weekend) 2012 – 5* Rated – Gisborne

BBSNZ South Island Champs 19 – 22 October (Labour Weekend) 2012 – 5* Rated – Dunedin

Along with the BBSNZ National Tour we are about to go out to a number of the clubs around New Zealand and look to start assisting them with local clubs competition to starting building bodyboarding competiton from the grass roots up in NZ.

If you have any questions in regard to the 2012 BBSNZ National Tour please email me at bbsnz@xtra.co.nz

Cheers

Kevin McAlister
BBSNZ President

When: 12th – 13th November 2011, Rego the night of the 11th, meet 7am on the 12th at St Clair carpark

Where: Mobile around the Dunedin Coastline

How (much): $35 + $15 per extra division, heaps of prizes but no comp tees for this one

Divisions: Open Men, Women, DK, Seniors, Amateurs, U21, U16

More details to come soon! Last event of the year before we move in to the condensed tour in 2012!

The 2011 NMD Taranaki Pro was run on the 4th June at Backbeach, New Plymouth in punchy 2ft offshore waves.

With a good turnout over the long weekend this event really pulled the bodyboarders keen to finish high on the BBSNZ tour and looking to take their overall division titles with one event left in Dunedin in November.

Using the new IBA GSS format as was successfully used at the NMD Northland contest in April where each riders gets three heats then the best 8 riders with the highest finishing places go through to the semi finals.

Early round stand outs were Duncan Smith surfing with clean lines and plenty of power and speed, Sam Wells driving powerful carving reverses, Richard Mckenna combining on many waves with spins, rolls and small inverts, Ben Mackinnon finding the odd big roll, ARS and invert bowls as well as a very rare air reverse section. Recently returned to NZ Brendon Dorman found the rare cover ups and Jeremey Gantley punching strong projected rolls out of the bowl.

The higher tide brought with it more size but less bowls as the lower tide later in the day for the finals brought more sections but an aggressive drift and a lot of wash through sets.

First up was the Amatuer Mens final with Daniel Ruri taking control with spins and rolls with Rawiri Paewiai trying to find some powerful sections and Sebastian Lopez with fighting a very strong current and deteriorating conditions.

The Womens final turned into and exercise in hard paddling with a few of the women forced to walk the beach to escape the drift. With a right hand bank out the front of the judging area and a left down the beach the girls were spread out. Local girl Courtney Graham managed a solid roll in the drifty conditions. Australia’s Rio Clark (now living in NZ) managed to find the open waves with a smooth cuttie forward and another forward to take it in the last minutes and another local girl Rebecca Skedgwell finished third after fighting a strong current and unable to find a really good scoring wave.

In the Senior Mens Ben Mackinnon found a big looped roll out of the bowl in some tough conditions as well as a rare full body invert section. Sebastian Lopez was close behind combining well with spins and the two local boys Rawiri Paewai and Rangi Bissoe finding the odd open face and plenty of hard paddling to take 3rd and 4th places respectively.

The DK final was a close battle between Richard McKenna and Duncan smith trading hacks and spins in fat then suddenly hollow waves making landing moves off the lip hard. In the end it was Mckenna taking it from Smith with Gantley close behind in 3rd and Benji Farrell in 4th.

Finally in some rainy and cold weather the Open Mens hit the water. A hard final with unfortunately the most difficult conditions of the contest. Ben Mackinnon found a projected roll in the first few minutes to open his account with the others getting caught by the long lull in sets after. Ahi Newby found a nice small invert section to fight back with Richard McKenna struggling to find anything more then a few spins on the face. Mackinnon lucked into a rare bowl which he took full advantage of and hit a clean and tight ARS. Duncan Smith found a few spins and small rolls and plenty of paddling for most of the heat and struggled to find any sections after being a standout in the earlier rounds. In the final 5 minutes Mackinnon hit a reverse spin high by the lip into a projected roll to secure his win in this years NMD Taranaki Pro.

Prize giving was held at Icons Sports Bar in conjunction with the BBSNZ AGM with plenty of Mountain Dew being consumed by the stoked competitors.

A big thanks goes out to all the riders who made the effort as well as the sponsors who make this event possible:

NMD
Mountain Dew
BBSNZ
Seventh Wave
Isolated Shop
Surfers Skin
Creatures of Leisure
Icons Sports Bar New Plymouth

Results

Amatuer Mens
1- Daniel Ruri
2- Rawiri Paewai
3- Sebastian Lopez
4- David Lee
5- Mason Jenkins

Womens
1- Rio Clark
2- Courtney Graham
3- Rebecca Skedgwell

Senior Mens
1- Ben Mackinnon
2- Sebastion Lopez
3- Rawiri Paewai
4- Rangi Bissoe

DK
1- Richard McKenna
2- Duncan Smith
3- Jeremy Gantley
4- Benji Farrell

Open Mens
1- Ben Mackinnon
2- Ahi Newby
3- Duncan Smith
4- Richard Mckenna

What: 2011 NMD Taranaki Pro presented by Isolated Shop

Important dates/times:
Friday, June 3 at 6:00pm – 8.00pm registration at Icons Sports Bar, New Plymouth
Saturday, June 4 at 7.00am – Event Starts

Where: Taranaki – Mobile Event, be prepared to travel up to an hour away.

More Info:
4th Event of the BBSNZ Tour for 2011. Mobile event along the Taranaki Coastline. $50 entry and $20 for extra divisions. Open Men, Women, Dropknee, U21, U16, Senior Men, Amateur. Sponsors are NMD, Isolated Shop, Seventh Wave, Mountain Dew, Surfers Skin, Icons Bar, Creatures of Leisure – any questions hit me up at bbsnz@xtra.co.nz

We have an awesome prize pool for this event, please come along and support this event in the Taranaki region and BBSNZ! Support the sponsors and those that support bodyboarding!

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!