Bay coach Ady van der Beek says the Bay team has had the title for five of about six years and although another team being able to claim it is good for competition, the locals will be looking to claim it back.
"It's nice that they've been rewarded," he says.
But, he says he jokingly, told the Canterbury team that they "better look after it" because "we're coming for it again next year".
He says finals day started with perfect waves at Makorori Beach in Gisborne, allowing surfers to put on a good show but in the last 90 minutes, onshore winds arrived and deteriorated conditions for the last heats of the event.
"It did come down to a little bit of the luck of the draw, if you could find a wave."
"Leading up to the finals everyone got waves and the best surfing was on show."
But that's the nature of surfing, he says.
Auckland's Aimee Brown claimed the upset win of gold medal in the Under-18 Girls' Division over Tawharu, who finished finished the event second, with Christchurch's Tegen Bishop in third.
Bay of Plenty's Jacob Saunders finished his final in third place in his first ever final and in the Under-16 Girls' Mount Maunganui's Georgia Wederell placed second.
Coach van der Beek says all surfers competed well in the competition, which allows inidividual surfers to represent their region and be part of a team.
"It's a point of difference for this competition."
Having been part of the competition from the start 30 years ago, the biggest change he has noticed in that time is the growth of support from families competitors have now.
2018 National Scholastic Surfing Championships
Canterbury: 8008 pts
Auckland: 7590 pts
Bay of Plenty: 7565 pts
