Surfing: Mount surfer stars at world junior champs

Mount Maunganui's Kehu Butler has advanced through to the third round of the under-16 boys' division at the Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship in Ecuador. Photo/File

The New Zealand Junior Surfing team has been pushed along by two great performances from Kehu Butler (Mount) and Elliot Paerata-Reid (Piha) at the Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship.

The nine-day event being held at La Fae Beach, Salinas, Ecuador endured some more challenging conditions with a good 1.0m-1.5m swell and light onshore winds which made wave selection crucial for all surfers.

Butler and Paerata-Reid advanced through to the last 24 surfers in their respective qualifying rounds of the under-16 and under-18 boys' divisions.

After surfing the second podium on day one of the event, Butler got to surf at the main podium on day two; a lefthand point break that offers up some great sections among some tricky rock outcrops and flat sections.

Butler posted a 7.50 point wave score on one wave - the highest single wave score of the heat and equal highest wave score of the round.

Despite the one high scoring wave, the heat remained open with Butler backing up with an average 3.20 point ride, which eventually proved enough for first place and progression into the third round alongside Malakai Martinez (CRI).

"Judges seem to like the finishing moves, but a long wave with powerful moves will still get the big scores," Butler said after his fine performance.

Paerata-Reid surfed a textbook heat in the under-18 boys' division, opening up early with a heat-high 6.67 point ride.

He then went about putting the pressure on his opponents by building around his first wave until he sealed the heat win with seven minutes to go with a 6.40 point ride. He finished with a 13.07 point total to progress alongside Portuguese surfer Thomas Ferreira.

On the second podium the girls made a clean sweep on their heats - all progressing through to the second qualifying rounds.

Jasmine Smith (Gis) won her match-up while Britt Kindred placed second. In the under-16 girls' division Elin Tawharu (Mount) won her heat while Kea Smith placed second in hers.