Win secures Grom Series title for Vette

GROM SERIES WINNER: Finn Vette in contest-winning action during the King and Queen of the Point competition at Raglan over the weekend. Vette won the under-16 boys' division, and the points gained from the victory were enough to secure him the 2020 New Zealand Grom Series title in that age-group. Cory/NZ Surfing Magazine picture

A last-gasp ride earned Gisborne surfer Finn Vette victory in the under-16 boys' division of the King and Queen of the Point competition at Manu Bay, Raglan.

The ride, in the last 10 seconds of the final, earned Vette 6.5 points and an overall score of 11.57.

Until that ride, he had trailed Raglan surfer Jayden Willoughby for almost the whole of the final. Willoughby also led the New Zealand Grom Series coming into the event.

Vette's victory at Raglan yesterday also secured him the Grom Series title, as he was one of three closely grouped surfers — Willoughby and Raglan's Kora Cooper being the others — who could take the series by winning at Raglan yesterday.

On the podium, Vette paid tribute to his father, Andy, who died in September.

Willoughby finished second yesterday — and in the series — with a heat score of 10.8. Raglan's Navryn Malone (son of Gisborne's former national open champion Chris Malone) finished third yesterday, with 9.43pts, and Cooper was fourth, with 5.64pts.

Vette's elder sister Saffi went no further than the semifinals of the under-20 women's competition, while Gisborne-Mahia surfer Ricardo Christie was eliminated from the open men's event by eventual winner Billy Stairmand (Raglan) and Shane Kraus (Piha) at the semifinal stage.

South African-raised Kai Woolf, formerly of Gisborne and now based in Raglan, comfortably won the women's u20 division.

Paige Hareb won the open women's competition, while Stairmand's victory in the open men's competition also secured him the truncated 2020 New Zealand Surf Series — his fourth consecutive title.

Billy Stairmand (Raglan) 16, 1; Taylor Hutchison (Rag) 13.4, 2; Dune Kennings (Whangamata) 12.16, 3; Shane Kraus (Piha) 10.37, 4.

Paige Hareb (Taranaki) 14.8, 1; Ava Henderson (Christchurch) 10.4, 2; Ella Williams (WGM) 10.3, 3; Aimee Brown (Great Barrier Island) 6.93, 4.

Kehu Butler (Mt Maunganui) 16.73, 1; Caleb Cutmore (Hamilton) 15.24, 2; Kora Cooper (Rag) 12.57, 3; Josef Jungwirth (Rag) 9, 4.

Kai Woolf (Rag) 12.3, 1; Brie Bennett (Rag) 9.93, 2; Aimee Brown (GB) 8.46, 3; Ava Henderson (Chch) 6.56, 4.

Finn Vette (Gisborne) 11.57, 1; Jayden Willoughby (Rag) 10.8, 2; Navryn Malone (Rag) 9.43, 3; Kora Cooper (Rag) 5.46, 4.

Ava Henderson (Chch) 12.5, 1; Liv Haysom (Piha) 9.6, 2; Natasha Gouldsbury (Tara) 4.97, 3; Sophia Brock (Mnt), 3.83, 4.