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!

A few of the crew who had obviously been wave starved for some time decided to get straight out there and sample a few waves before the day kicked off and it was clear for all to see that we would be in for a treat with the morning free surf offering up some absolute gold.

We decided to truck straight in to the first round of the Open Men. Some seriously good surfing went down in this round. Stamping their authority in this round were a mix of riders who had surfed here before and some for whom it was their first time. Jacob Sims was tearing, bringing his mastery of the Coromandel to the peaks of the Far North. Luke Elliot was also in fine form and after an extended stint out of the water managed some sick tubes and a few boosts just to test out the strength of his arm. Ben McKinnon continued his run of fine form in New Zealand competition cruising through his first round heat as did Chilean rider Lucas Tride in his first competition in NZ. Flips, barrels and quick spins were the order of the morning with everyone notching up some world class waves.

Next in the water were the DK riders who absolutely went to town in the perfect conditions. Big hacks, deep tubes and some seriously sick floaters all went down as the guys blew up in the spitting peaks, Sam Peters, Jolan Kilkelly and Duncan Smith all absolutely dominated the first round of 3 heats and it was an absolute treat to watch the guys in the epic conditions.

With pumping waves still rolling through the call was made to bang straight in to the second round of the Open Men’s. With the BBSNZ tour adopting the same format as the IBA World tour in 2012 each of the riders in the Open Men and DK get to surf three rounds, before dropping down in to semis/finals, meaning most riders get to spend more time surfing, and in conditions like this everyone was lapping it up.

The Open Men paddled out for round two as conditions continued to absolutely pump. Ben McKinnon again asserted his dominance picking up another win and dark horse Sam Peters threaded some long tubes and threw in a couple of tight combos to also take out top spot in his heat. Blair Dowman also notched up another win, trying to fly under the radar a little after his win in the same part of the country in 2011. Bronn Foster, the sole Port Waikato competitor, also took out his heat with his trademark full rotation ARS’s and smooth rolls. With the day wearing on the decision was made to finish off the day and keep our fingers crossed for the forecasted increase in swell the following day.

Pumping. Epic. Solid. Sick. Day two was pretty good, and that’s probably the understatement of the year. A sharp increase in swell meant that the beachie we had surfed the day before was a bit big, with maxing 6ft death slabs rolling through so we decided it was better to continue further North up the coast in search of one of the far North’s gems. The gem was shining in full glory in the morning sun with solid 4 foot slabs rolling through and unloading on to the shallow shelf with furious cracks before spitting in to the channel. Round 3 – get in the water!! The boys got suited up, rashies on and were out in the line up, watching these intense nuggets of water roll through and unload on to the shelf. The hooter sounded, flags went up and we started to roll through the heats in perfect reef slabs. Different waves from the day before, it was awesome to see the level of bodyboarding going down by New Zealand riders in these perfect, heavy waves. John Diamond threaded long deep tubes to dominate his heat and push himself towards a spot in the semi final. Andrew Rogers got some epic reef slabs and negotiated some heavy tubes before boosting off the end bowl. Duncan Smith, Blair Dowman and Ben McKinnon all won their heats, taking a perfect 3 from 3 record in to the next round.

Next on the agenda we decided to put the Senior Men through their paces in the reef slabs. Greymouth local Adam McLean was loving the ledging reef and after spending his life in the heavy Blaketown wedges felt very at home driving through these shallow pits, cementing himself a spot in the Senior Men’s final, he was joined by Andre Apel who has surfed the wave in the past and his knowledge of the wave shone out in the now intense low tide conditions. Jolan Kilkelly dominated his heat with some late drops and textbook scoops and hot on his heels was local ripper Jake Burton who surfed a solid heat to make his way in to his first BBSNZ Tour final.

After consultation with the riders the call was made to get the DK riders out in to the hectic ledging waves, with three rounds available to the riders everyone was pretty relaxed about taking DK to such a hectic wave with the potential rewards far outweighing the heavy beatings that were about to go down. The approach to these hectic waves was interesting with some riders deciding to sit on the peak and look to lock in to some of the deep pits on offer while others decided to sit further towards the shoulder to try and pick off a few decent turns. It was always going to be a bit hit and miss but the guys gave it a solid nudge. Sam Peters was air dropping in to thick ledge barrels, getting to the bottom and bottom turning before getting obliterated by the lip but it was insane to watch, Blair Dowman took the safe approach, linking a few turns on the shoulder to take out the heat but Sam’s hard charging approach still secured him the second spot. Duncan Smith and Bayden Barber battled it out in the second heat of round two with Duncan just edging out Bayden, Luke Elliott struggled on his backhand to take out third in the heat. The next heat was one for the history books. After trading a few heavy beats downs early in the heat Jolan Kilkelly spotted a gem on the horizon, he stroked in to it, quickly got up on the knee and drove off the bottom in to one of the deep aqua pits, he rode the shocky all the way down the line before being spat out on to the shoulder, perfect 10’s and one of the finest DK waves ever witnessed on a bodyboard in NZ. The rest was history however, Jolan completely dominating the heat with Jacob Sims taking second and John Diamond settling for third after failing to stick one of his many insane backside air drops.

With the tide starting to push up a bit and the waves still epic, we rolled right in to the Open Men’s semis. With the top 8 from the first 3 round progressing, 12 points ended up being the cut off, and with one rider on 12 points having to be cut, it was Andre Apel who unfortunately had to miss out, with the other two riders securing higher wave scores through the first 3 rounds. Up in the first Heat were Blair Dowman, Luke Elliott, Ben McKinnon and Bronn Foster. The guys traded wave after wave in the perfect slabs, Blair showed that he has most waves in the far north wired and locked in deep pit after deep pit before exiting with big rolls and ARS’s to book his place in his second final in two years. Bronn Foster got some amazing pits and was willing to throw himself off the pitching end section to take second and progress to his maiden Northland final. Luke Elliott and Ben McKinnon both struggled to exit more than one decent wave and had to settle for third and fourth respectively.

Up in the other semi final was last year’s finalist Duncan Smith, ex international competitor John Diamond, Chilean ripper Lucas Tride and the old warhorse and versatile shredder Jolan Kilkelly. Duncan blasted out of the blocks with a heavy take off to deep pit and rolled out of the end section, it was obvious he wanted to take out top spot in 2012. John and Jolan traded waves before Lucas stamped his mark on the heat with one of the highest scores of the day, driving through a deep barrel before slipping a textbook ARS off the end section. Lucas and Duncan battled it out for first and second spot with Lucas eventually taking it out, Duncan however eased in to second and made his way to the final once again. John and Jolan both surfed well but couldn’t find the right set waves to get the scores required to make it through to the final but both went home with a smile on their faces. From here we ran straight in to the Open Men’s final, pumping, heavy reef break waves – why wouldn’t we, but we will get back to that later….

Day 3 dawned and there was a serious drop in swell. The decision was made to head to another part of the coast which would hopefully be picking up a bit more of the small swell still on offer. Turning up at the beach was a little disappointing after the previous two days pumping waves, but it was still super contestable with some fun peaks rolling through. The Dropknee riders in Round 3 paddled out to do battle in the beach break peaks. It was a bit of a change of approach from the past couple of days with wave selection all important and the points from this round more than likely having a big impact on the placing of the finalists. Duncan Smith found the required waves to again take top spot in his DK heat with smooth carves and spins linking him through the sections. Sam Peters got one of the waves of the morning with 4 solid hacks on one wave, showing the rest of the crew that there were still decent waves on offer if you could pick them. John Diamond needed to take out his final heat to have any chance of getting through to the final and was lucky enough to nail a couple of sweet tail drop floaters on the lefts running down towards the rocky outcrop. John took first, relegating Bayden Barber to second place and securing the results for the five man final.

Hitting the water next were the Open Women, unfortunately only a couple of ladies entered but they still lapped up the fun conditions on offer. Serena Ball showed no prisoners after solid form in the past two years including finals appearances in Australian Tour Events. Serena surfed well with smooth spins, big rolls and even a sweet cover up to take the final out. New competitor Marguerite Vujcich managed to get some long waves with some nice carves and took out second.

Straight in the water after the ladies were the Amateur Men. These guys were ripping in the conditions on offer with some big loopy rolls and tight combos. The final result ended up being extremely tight with less than half a point between second and first. Taking out the heat was a local lad now residing in Hamilton in Silas Burton, Andrew Rogers from the Wairarapa took out second and another local lad Joe Werner had to settle for third.

The dropknee boys were in the water next after a bit of a rest. It was a five man final due to a tie on points, and with the ability to extend out the final as we had plenty of time up our sleeves we ran a 25 minute long, 5 man final. There were still plenty of waves coming through and the boys hooked in to some good ones. After dominating the earlier rounds Sam Peters really struggled to find anything with decent scoring potential and had to settle with 5th. Jake Sims got a couple of workable waves and threw in a couple of tidy turns but ultimately could only muster 4th in the final. Duncan Smith was probably the most at home in the smaller conditions and although he got a couple of decent waves under his belt the waves on offer meant he had to settle for third on this occasion. The battle ended up being between two good old mates in John Diamond and Jolan Kilkelly, one goofy footer and the other natural footer. Ultimately Jolan is more at home in the heaving beachbreak wedges of Blaketown although Johns most recent batch of waves has been courtesy of a 5 month stint in Indonesia. In the end it came down to the better waves being on the left of the peak and John was able to pick up a couple of slightly higher scoring waves to give him the win. Jolan admirably took second and would have been stoked in the knowledge he had tucked a wave under his belt the day previous that would have many of the world’s top DK riders frothing!

The Senior Men were next to hit the water and the old lads did not disappoint. Picking off plenty of good waves the Senior Men showed what they were made of with some sick combos in the smaller beachbreak conditions. Jolan Kilkelly kept his earlier form alive with smooth powerful combos and was looking good throughout the heat. Adam McLean was surfing really well and his form of old was obvious as he dominated some of the small right hand peaks. As the heat progressed Jake Burton failed to get the waves he needed to cement the top spot and had to settle with fourth. Adams clean, crisp style wasn’t enough to get him two high scoring waves and he ended up third. Andre Apel was a bit of a surprise and had crept through his earlier heat under the radar but was only able to manage a second in the final with Jolan Kilkelly taking the top spot in a well surfed final and a well-deserved victory.

So now jump back to day 2, a heaving reef ledge offering up air bowls a plenty, heavy, hectic tube rides and we have 4 guys about to do battle in these epic conditions. Two finalists from last year in Blair Dowman and Duncan Smith, an ex-New Zealand representative in Bronn Foster and a new kid on the block, all the way from Chile in Lucas Tride. The final started out in fine fashion with each competitor trading off a solid set wave. The channel off to the side of the wave was packed with local spectators sitting out there getting a great view of what was going on. Blair managed to thread a deep tube early in the final as he looked desperate to repeat his win from 2011. Duncan Smith drove through some crisp barrels and punched some heavy rolls and inverts off of the end section, the desire to go one step further than 2011 was obvious in the way Duncan was approaching each wave. Lucas had been on fire all throughout the earlier rounds and had dominated his semi final, but in the final he wasn’t able to lock down a solid second score and had to settle for 4th, a valiant effort from the young lad who will no doubt be a regular fixture on this year’s tour. Bronn Foster pushed Duncan and Blair hard with some sick ARS’s and solid tube rides but had to settle for 3rd, an excellent result for Bronn and a great way to start the competitive year for him. So the battle for first and second was once again down to Duncan Smith and Blair Dowman, both experienced competitors and great bodyboarders, one from one end of the North Island and one from the other. After trading tubes, bowls, ramps and frequent trips to the reef over the past 2 days there could only be one victor, and again, as it was in 2011 Blair Dowman took out the 2012 Jucy/NMD North Island Bodyboard Champs. Duncan had to settle for second again but was stoked to get to surf pumping waves in a remote part of New Zealand for two days straight. At the prize giving Blair was almost speechless and it was fitting to see one of Northlands finest once again take out the title on his home patch.

Final Results:

Open Men
1st Blair Dowman
2nd Duncan Smith
3rd Bronn Foster
4th Lucas Tride

Dropknee
1st John Lee Diamond
2nd Jolan Kilkelly
3rd Duncan Smith
4th Jake Sims
5th Sam Peters

Women
1st Serena Ball
2nd Marguerite Vujcich

Senior Men
1st Jolan Kilkelly
2nd Andre Apel
3rd Adam McLean
4th Jake Burton

Amateur
1st Silas Burton
2nd Andrew Rogers
3rd Joe Werner

U18
1st Lucas Tride
2nd Tully Colonna

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

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

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!

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!

Just a bit of an update on this event, as per previous posts it is all go for Easter Weekend, more details below:

When: 22 – 25 April 2011 – Easter Weekend

Where: Based at Ahipara but this is a very mobile event, with potential to go East or West Coasts an hour or so away. If you have a 4WD bring it along, we will try to have as much 4WD transport available as possible for competitors.

The event runs from 6am on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th April. If there is no swell on Saturday/Sunday to run the event we will look to run until about mid day on Monday 25th April – this is a last chance option and we should be done by Sunday night.

Registration is from 4pm – 8pm on Friday 22nd April

Entry Fee is $50 and $20 for extra divisions.

Divisions are: Open Men, Open Women, Dropknee, Seniors, Amateurs, U21 and U16

Any questions please post here or email bbsnz@xtra.co.nz

Cheers

Kev

On the first morning of the contest competitors were greeted with 1ft of swell and howling onshores due to a passing cyclone. The call was made to postpone the event until the next day with swell looking bigger and winds lighter. This gave competitors a free day with some of the field making their ways through some heavy flooding to the east coast and some very heavy 6ft offshore barrels!

The next day brought a slightly better situation with lighter winds but now a big swell. The call was made to move the contest into the ‘cove’ at the far end of the beach which would decrease the swell size and offer some protection from the wind. Waves in the 2ft to odd 3ft range with the odd hollow sections were up for grabs if competitors could put themselves in the right place at the right time.

Stand outs in the early rounds were Port Waikatos Willy Nepia-Murray with some big air rolls, Luke Elliot and Mitch Tombilson with big projected rolls and a new Grommy on the scene Jamee Smith who showed riding ability years ahead of his age with good spin to roll combinations and speed of riding. Ben Mackinnon and Richard Mckenna showed their years of experience and finding rare sections to invert and loop roll off with power.

By the time finals had rolled around the tide was rapidly dropping causing more wash through sets but a more hittable section for aerial based moves.

First up was the Under 16′s with Mount Manganui’s Jamee Smith dominanting his division with linked spins and rolls in the difficult conditions followed closely by a consistant Port Waikato local, Carlos Purua. Tre barber and Zachariah Holtslag worked had during the heat but were over taken by the two others riders experience.

Next was the Amateur Men’s with Deon Myer finding the slightly heavier waves in some testing conditions to take if from Mount Manganui’s Campbell Carter, with Holtslag, Morgan and Butler struggling to find the set waves.

Senior Men’s hit the water with some good waves on offer. Reid and Downing got off to a great start with Ben Mackinnon and finding nothing substantial. With 8 minutes to go Mackinnon found a wave offering a big looping roll but he was still out of contention with only one wave. Then again with 2 minutes to go he found a waves offering a powerful hack reverse section into two projected rolls linked on after another to take the win over a, up till that point, dominant Downing.

The Drop knee final was dominated right from the start by Richard McKenna getting an amazing first wave for the conditions linking strong hacks and a floater at the end. This left the others hard pressed to follow as McKenna backed this up by another wave with big backhand snaps. Elliot and chased hard with good turn and spins, but it just wasn’t enough to pass McKenna who took control of the heat at the gun. Hastings/ Napier’s Baden Barber was unlucky to find the larger and longer waves as did Frances Pierre Nather and Daniel Holtslag.

Under 21′s showcased some great surfing. Luck Elliot and Mitch Tombilson took control of the heat early on with big rolls and fast spins with Elliot keeping the upper hand. Unluckily for Tombilson he got what was probably the wave of the contest just after the hooter executing a nice backflip meaning he was pushed into second place. Paul Van Der Kwaak and Matt Haldane were left to play catch up to the two dominant Mount Riders.

The Open Men’s was always going to be a very competitive affair with Wanganui’s Richard McKenna and Ben Mackinnon doing battle once again as they are done so many times over last year’s tour. Luck Elliot and Jamee Smith were also not to be discounted as it was anyone’s game. Waves were hard work, but sections were there for those that could luck into them. McKenna started off strong with fast spins and rolls as did Jamee Smith leaving Luke Elliot and Mackinnon to play catch up. Elliot found a good roll and a small ARS to push into second place. Again Mackinnon was left with no score with 8 minutes to go. A position he had been in many times during the contest. Finding two good loop rolls put him back on the board, but he was still in last place. Opting to run the beach and paddle back round he got back into the line out with one minute to go. McKenna looked like he had it all sown up, then in the dying seconds Mackinnon found a strongly bowling wave in which he projected a decent ARS out of the just skim into 1st, with one point separating 1st place to 4th.

Prize giving was held at a local house with many great prizes from Mountain Dew, NMD bodyboards, Isolated Shop. Thanks to all those that attended and made the effort to get out to what was a hard competition wave wise as well as the organisers and volunteers who made the day happen.

Overall Results

Under 16′s
1st – Jamee Smith
2nd – Carlos Purua
3rd – Tre Barber
4th – Zachariah Follet

Amateur Men
1st – Deon Meyer
2nd – Campbell Carter
3rd – Daniel Holtslag
4th – Storm Morgan
5th – Paul Butler

Dropknee
1st – Richard Mckenna
2nd – Luke Elliot
3rd – Bayden Barber
4th – Pierre Nather
5th – Paul Butler

Senior Mens
1st – Ben Mackinnon
2nd – Allan Downing
3rd – Graeme Reid
4th – Daniel Holtslag

Open Womens
1st – Eiko Yoshimura

Under 21′s
1st – Luke Elliot
2nd – Mitchell Tombilson -
3rd – Paul Van Der Kwaak
4th – Matt Haldane

Open Mens
1st – Ben Mackinnon
2nd – Richard McKenna
3rd – Luke Elliot
4th – Jamee Smith