Sailing: Tauranga's Veerle ten Have and Max van der Zalm secure top spots at 2019 New Zealand Windsurf Slalom Nationals, Lyttleton

Tauranga's Veerle ten Have and Max van der Zalm with their trophies from the Windsurf Slalom Nationals in Lyttleton. Photo / Supplied

Just a few weeks ago Tauranga's Veerle ten Have did not have any windsurf slalom gear of her own.

Fast forward to this week and the 18-year-old has secured two titles at her first windsurf slalom nationals competition, winning the Youth Female and Overall Women's titles. She took the title after winning 10 races and finishing second in two others.

That feat was made even more impressive given ten Have, a secondary school student studying via correspondence, only managed to buy herself some second hand gear just over three weeks ago after working over the festive season.

The teenager was one of two talented boardsailors who took top honours at the 2019 New Zealand Windsurf Slalom Nationals in Lyttleton, held between January 9-13.

Max van der Zalm also managed to secure his third Youth Male title at the competition, and finished seventh overall.

Ten Have said the nationals was "really fun", and enjoyed being able to take part in an event where she was able to "do something different".

The windsurfer competed in a number of international events in 2018 competing in the RS:X Olympic windsurfing class including the Youth Olympics in Argentina in September.

Earlier in the year ten Have was 2nd in the RS:X 8.5 event at the Youth Sailing Worlds at Corpus Christi in the US. This year, ten Have will travel to Japan, Holland, Italy and Germany for the World Cup Series.

Ten Have said being able to compete in a national windsurfing slalom event was a nice change from the international events, being able to take part more for the fun side of the sport after trying out some slalom gear over summer.

This week, ten Have is back into full training for her 2019 season.

"I've had a bit of a tiny break from hard training on the water. I've done lots of coaching and lots of gym.

Van der Zalm said the windsurfing slalom nationals was a great event to be able to connect with Kiwi athletes in a local setting, while also being able to face strong competition.

"It's real good to see everyone again," van der Zalm said.

"The competition was pretty good ... in the open event there was a strong fleet."

He said there were moments that he struggled at the nationals but he wants to push harder next year for a top placing overall.

"Next year I definitely want to push the podium, I was definitely close this year."