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