Mount Maunganui's Jonas Tawharu won his heat at the World Junior Surfing Championships in Ecuador. Photo/Supplied
Mount Maunganui's Jonas Tawharu won his heat at the World Junior Surfing Championships in Ecuador. Photo/Supplied
Several of the New Zealand Junior Surfing Team progressed through their early morning heats on day three of the Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship before a shark sighting halted play at La Fae Beach, Salinas, Ecuador.
The shark sighting came mid-way through a heat with all action being haltedimmediately. After originally going on hold, the decision was made to call off the day because of concerns around athlete safety.
The nine-day event saw the smallest conditions to date yesterday, swell under 1.0m with light winds. The swell is expected to build for the remainder of the event which is promising for the Kiwi team, especially the Mount Maunganui surfers.
Progressing through to the Qualifying Round 3 was Mount Maunganui under-16 girls surfer Elin Tawharu, who is the youngest of the team at 13 years of age. She placed second in her heat scoring a 5.17 point total and progressed alongside a rampaging Leilani McGonagle (CRI) who ran away with the heat.
"The conditions were tricky but I managed to get a couple in my heat," said Tawharu. "My heats haven't been too hard yet but some of the girls here are ripping and I am really glad to have made it into the top 12 of the qualifying rounds so far."
Tawharu will face off against defending event champion Dax McGill (HAW) in her next heat along with surfers from US and Argentina. Elin was joined by older brother Jonas (Mount Maunganui) who got his campaign back on track with a heat win in the repechage round. Tawharu sat in third for much of the heat but came back with a 4.67 point ride to jump from third to first.
He was joined by Manu Scott-Arrieta (Sandy Bay) who also won his heat, scoring a 9.13 point heat total. Scott-Arrieta stuck completed several big turns in his heat clearly having shaken off the nerves of surfing in the prestigious event for the first time.
The team suffered two defeats in the girls division yesterday but both came in the qualifying rounds which means Britt Kindred (Mur) and Kea Smith (Mount Maunganui) get another chance at competing yesterday.
