FOURTEEN-year-old Gisborne surfer Stella Smith won the women’s stand-up paddleboard surf final in the Longboard and SUP Open completed at Papamoa Beach yesterday. Smith is expected to line up against the best female stand-up paddleboard surfers at the world championships in Denmark in September this year.
She dominated the women’sevent at Papamoa Beach yesterday. She won her semifinal with a score of 12.8 out of 20, almost double that of heat runner-up Briana Orams (6.57), of Auckland. In the final, she scored 16.3, well ahead of Raglan’s Renee Davenport (8.53).
Gisborne surfing development manager Kelly Ryan also featured in the results. He was third in the “logger” division, beating into fourth Auckland’s Thomas Kibblewhite, the winner of the men’s longboard division and national longboard champion.
Port Waikato surfer Daryn McBride, who finished fourth in the final won by Kibblewhite, won the “logger” division with a display of precision traditional surfing, and claimed the award for best nose ride of the event.
Auckland’s Ollie Houghton had the only double success of the weekend, winning the men’s SUP division and the King of the Waves Race.
