Waveski NZ Champs - Dave Mitchell
Quality never ages.
Dave Mitchell can prove it.
The 47-year-old has won numerous national waveski surfing titles over his 30-year career, many of them in Gisborne. He knows the place well and he picked up two titles again on Saturday at the Whales break, beating fellow former national champions Nigel Bryant, of Napier, and Justin Parry, of Auckland, in the open final with trademark flourish and carving turns.
As well as retaining the open New Zealand title he won here last year, he beat Bryant a second time to win the masters age group.
For a “delighted” Mitchell, it had meant a journey by way of Auckland from Queenstown, where he manages the AJ Hackett Bungy NZ operation, and a week of surfing at Auckland beaches Piha and Bethells in preparation for his title defence.
Comebacks are nothing new to him. As a teenager he was runner-up at the world championships. He repeated that a quarter-century later at the worlds in Gisborne in 2008. He had worked overseas and had a long stint away from competition.
His more recent comebacks have come while having to travel to the Catlins or Riverton to do most of his board, waveski and SUP surfing in the deep south. Windsurfing, wave-sailing . . . he does it all, but waveski and board are his passion.
“I just love surfing.”
He did not have it easy in the tricky Whales break.
“We all struggled,” he said. “There was no flashy surfing today.”
He was less confident this time and knew he faced a tough semi against visiting Frenchman Maxime Le Tallec, a slashing surfer with strong credentials in France, where waveski surfing is strong.
Mitchell had already met and hosted the holidaying Frenchman in Queenstown, where “we threw him off a bridge”.
“I knew Max was going to be tough to beat. It was a matter of making it past him into the final three or coming nowhere.”
He won their semi, with Bryant beating world veteran champion Steve Gibbs, of Gisborne, and former world junior champion Justin Parry beating Terry Rillstone, of Hamilton, to reach the three-man final.
It was a close-fought final, with Bryant aggressive on every wave he caught on a break he knows well from his days of living just along the road.
It was the same top-two result in the masters final. Rillstone was third and Pey Geldenhuys, of Auckland, fourth.
Parry defended his senior title, beating Le Tallec in a clash of similar slashing styles, while contest director Gibbs beat clubmates Chris Vincent and Dave Conway to keep his iron grip on the veteran title.
Mitchell’s future? He intends to defend his titles next year but, living inland, he feels he is not able to be at his best at a world championship level.
He will continue to surf out at the coast when he can, throw more tourists off bridges on elastic bands, and convince his wife and kids that Gisborne is the place to be again next Easter.