Saffi Vette in action.
The New Zealand junior surfing team bowed out of the 2017 Vissla ISA World Junior Championships in Japan after the three team members still in the event came up short in their afternoon heats.
Gisborne’s Saffi Vette contested two heats of the under-16 girls’ division during the day, advancing out of her fifth-round match-up in second place before placing fourth in her last heat and finishing 11th overall.
“My last heat was a shocker,” Vette said.
“I just fell off most of my waves and made a couple of mistakes. But that’s surfing. You win some, you lose some.
“I definitely think that the previous two heats I had Bob Senior looking over me and sending me some last-minute waves to make my heat,” Vette said, referring the late Bob Hansen, an icon of Gisborne surfing and previous coach of the team, who died in March.
Describing her performances as “up and down” throughout the event, Vette felt that she had done some of her best competitive surfing, thanks to the motivation coming from all the other girls in the event.
“I have definitely gained a lot of international knowledge competing in this comp and I now realise that I need to step my game up in and out of the water to be the best surfer possible,” she said.
“I’m hoping to take this experience over to Australia next year and do some Pro Junior events and maybe a couple of QS events.”
The New Zealand team are 11th but their final placing depends on other teams’ fortunes. They could climb as high as ninth. Last year they were 10th.
New Zealand’s top-ranked surfer was Mt Maunganui’s Raiha Ensor, who finished ninth in the under-18 girls’ division.
Ensor was the only Kiwi who went into Day 6 with two lives left. But in her first heat of the day she finished fourth and fell back into the repechage rounds where she finished third to Hawaiian powerhouses Summer Macedo and Brisa Hennessy.
“I would have liked to make it further in the competition and better my result of seventh from last year, especially as it is my final year in this event,” Ensor said.
“I think the level of surfing has increased since last year, though, so I’m relatively happy with my result.”
Big workload for Kehu ButlerMt Maunganui’s Kehu Butler had the biggest workload of the day, surfing through two rounds before falling in his third heat of the day to surfers from France and USA.
Butler finished 11th overall and felt that it was wave selection that hindered his performance as much as an awkward fall midway through the heat.
“I slipped on my front foot and quickly pulled my elbow up to block the board hitting me,” Butler said.
“It didn’t really hinder my performance.”
The World Junior Surfing Championships event has been held every year since 2003. New Zealand has competed every year, and also competed at the World Grommet Titles, as the event was formerly known, from 1989.
Overall team points so far: 1 USA 8020, 2 Hawaii 7860, 3 Japan 6833, 4 France 6785, 5 Australia 6438, 6 Brazil 4918, 7 Costa Rica 4500, 8 Argentina 4113, 9 Portugal 3793, 10 Peru 3780, 11 New Zealand 3750.
Results of heats that included New Zealand surfers —
Under-18 boys, Repechage Round 6, Heat 3: Marco Mignot (FRA) 13.17, 1, Kehu Butler (NZL) 13.04, 2, Joseph Méndez (CRC) 12.27, 3, Bouaouda Aboubakr (MAR) 11.16, 4.
Repechage Round 7, Heat 2: Kehu Butler (NZL) 14.67, 1, Samson Coulter (AUS) 14.23, 2, Yuri Ogasawara (JPN) 11.63, 3, Zouhir Sélyann (MAR) 11.6, 4.
Repechage Round 8, Heat 2: Noah Hill (USA) 14.67, 1, Marco Mignot (FRA) 13.73, 2, Hiroya Miwa (JPN) 12.2, 3, Kehu Butler (NZL) 11.7, 4.
U18 girls, Qualifying Round 4, Heat 1: Minori Kawai (JPN) 17.64, 1, Neis Lartigue (FRA) 13.67, 2, Rachel Presti (USA) 11.2, 3, Raiha Ensor (NZL) 10.4, 4.
Repechage Round 6, Heat 2: Summer Macedo (HAW) 16, 1, Brisa Hennessy (HAW) 13.17, 2, Raiha Ensor (NZL) 11, 3, Anat Lelior (ISR) 8.33, 4.
U16 girls, Repechage Round 5, Heat 2: Mathea Olin (CAN) 13.27, 1, Saffi Vette (NZL) 10.40, 2, Sophia Fulton (AUS) 6.57, 3, Coral Wiggins (CRC) 6.26, 4.
Repechage Round 6, Heat 2: Minami Nonaka (JPN) 12.10, 1, Daniella Rosas Vega (PER) 11.77, 2, Kana Nakashio (JPN) 11.17, 3, Saffi Vette (NZL) 9.87, 4.