The last time Brooke Shergold lined up on Kurrawa Beach, she came up chewing sand, pounded in the tumultuous surf at last year's tragic Australian championships.
Yesterday was like deja vu for the Mount Maunganui lifeguard, although at least there was a silver lining, on a decent day for the Mount
contingent on the Gold Coast.
Shergold and double ski partner, Emmanuelle Bescheron, qualified for Sunday's final at this year's championships, although she was mourning a cracked seam in her precious new single ski.
"I was pretty gutted after my ski race - I got smashed in the shorebreak and stuck under my ski against the finish pole when I was sitting in fourth and by the time I got out, I could only get ninth and missed the next round," the 20-year-old said.
"But the double ski was definitely a bonus and it's great to be racing a final on Sunday."
Conditions on the Gold Coast weren't nearly as bad as the cyclone-fuelled swell that claimed the life of teenaged ironman Saxon Bird last year, though they were still challenging.
"The sweep along the beach was so horrible - one of the hardest parts of the race was just holding my ski steady at the start," Shergold said.
Bescheron joined the Mount this year after competing at the International Surf Challenge.
The 25-year-old has been part of the French national team for the last eight years, showing her value yesterday when she also qualified for the open women's surf race final.
And yet another Mount female made a final, when schoolgirl Jess Miller finished second in her under-15 tube race semifinal.
Others to progress through heats included Papamoa's Natalie Peat (under-17 surf race), Mount's Cara Ryan (under-17 board race), Cameron Witney (under-17 surf race) and Jamie Banhidi and Andrew Roy (under-19 ski race).
Andre Lee made it through heats in the under-15 board and rescue tube races, while Callum Knox (under-17 ski), Andrew Newton (open men's board), and Arna Wright and Kendall Elliott (open women's board) all progressed.
Today's action sees Sam Shergold compete in the under-19 2km beach race, while exciting Papamoa sprinter Kodi Harman will start his campaign in the under-17 beach sprint.
