Surfing: Bay surfer steals show in backyard

Waimarama Beach

Bronson Primmer is as much an unsung hero on the surfing scene as he is when locking the Havelock North premier rugby team's scrum.

But yesterday it was Primmer's turn to upstage more established Hawke's Bay surfers Jeremy Evans and Ben Hazelwood with his semifinal finish in the Backdoor BayBash at Waimarama Beach, the final national series competition of the year.

"When you take into account I'm 90kgs; 20 or 30kgs more than my opponents and the swell was no more than 1.0m throughout the weekend you can understand the significance of the feat. I'm the best surfer in Hawke's Bay undisclosed at the moment," Primmer said.

The 32-year-old father of three is a second generation surfer who has surfed for 19 years and he is looking forward to his children becoming third generation surfers in the family.

"Hopefully the surf will be bigger when the Bay hosts this event for a third time next year," he added.

Both Hazelwood and Evans, who were second and third respectively in last year's event, were eliminated on Saturday.

Hazelwood beat Evans in the first heat before bowing out in the quarterfinals.

Mount Maunganui's Kehu Butler claimed his first open men's division title of his career with his victory. He also claimed the title in the under 20 boys division to join Whangamata's Ella Williams who also completed the double in the open women's and under 20 girls divisions.

Day two of the event saw a vast improvement in conditions with a building 1.0m swell throughout the day and light onshore winds.

Fifteen-year-old Butler posted a 13.73 point total in a final where all four surfers were from the junior ranks. Butler took until the 15-minute mark before he could surpass fellow Bay of Plenty surfer Callum Chuter who had opted to surf a bank to the south and had extended a healthy lead over his competitors. Chuter ended up with the 12.87 point heat total, finishing runner-up ahead of Raglan's third placegetter Taylor Hutchison.