Top female surfer unhappy no women's division at Mount surf festival

Mischa Davis competes in the Open Women Final in the National Surfing Championships held in Piha in 2013. Photo/File

A top female surfer is disgusted there is no female division for a surfing competition being held in Mount Maunganui this weekend.

Surfer Mischa Davis said there was no woman's division in Billabong's second traditional surfing competition, Salt Circus, to be held at Tay St on Saturday and Sunday.

"If women want to compete, they must do so against the men," she said.

But the organisers told the Bay of Plenty Times the event was about fun, style and grace so gender was no disadvantage.

When Ms Davis contacted Billabong about the event, brand manager Jason Neely told her they would not include a women's division and to make the event more inclusive to women they would change the judging criteria to include the word fun.

She said Billabong had stepped up the competition this year adding twin fin and longboard divisions, an extra day of competing and had increased the entry fee from $30 to $50.

"This is a rare specialty event and I am saddened that the only way that myself and my female peers can participate in it is by being pitted against men," she said.

"Women are flooding into surfing at a high rate these days, however last year the event had 57 competitors, one was a woman."

"The surfing community is small in New Zealand and surfing competitions are limited, I personally enjoy riding traditional boards most of all."

Billabong general manager Jason Neely said they ran a lots of pro-surfing and sporting events across different age groups for both men and woman.

"This event is different.

"This event is a celebration of surfing, the ethos and culture of surfing."

The event was supposed to encapsulate the saying: the best surfer in the world is the one having the most fun, he said.

The competition would be judged on that criteria, fun, along with style and grace, he said.

"If you are judging it on the criteria of fun, the best surfer in the world doesn't have to win.

"This isn't a normal competition, we want to gather a bunch of people, for them to bring down their old surfboards, put them out on display and hang out."

Mr Neely said they were running it as a competition to give the days structure and for people to stick around.

"Surfing is not all about high performance, it's about getting fun and laughter, people at the beach, riding a wave.

"It could be won by an 8-year-old boy or 80-year-old grandma."