Papamoa's Kodi Harman and Mount Maunganui's Jamie Banhidi both made beach flags finals on an abbreviated day at the Australian surf lifesaving championships today.
Harman eased through the under-17 rounds and booked himself a spot in Saturday's final.
The Mount College 16-year-old, who stunned the sport last month by becoming the youngest
winner of the New Zealand open beach sprint title - will need to back up after also making today's under-17 beach sprint final at Kurrawa.
Banhidi has form on the Gold Coast, grabbing silver in the under-19 division behind Australian representative Benjamin Mispelhorn.
He struggled with his starts but still comfortably qualified for the eight-man final.
Only the march-past and part of the flags programme were held yesterday, with jittery officials sticking rigidly to a 4pm finish - a move dictated to them by event insurers after last year's drowning of teenage ironman Saxon Bird.
