Surfing: Primmer Bay's best again

TRICKY STUFF: Mount Maunganui's Georgia Weatherall on her way to third place in the under-20 girls division. PHOTO/PAUL TAYLOR

SOMETIMES surfers have to submit to the power of Mother Nature and Hawke's Bay's Bronson Primmer did at the weekend.

However the 32-year-old father of three still did the best of the Hawke's Bay starters in the third annual Backdoor BayBash which began at Waimarama on Saturday and finished at Te Awanga yesterday. After finishing second in his heat Primmer was eliminated with a fourth placing in his quaterfinal.

It was the second consecutive year Primmer, a Havelock North premier club rugby player, had done the best of the Bay surfers in the open men's division. Last year he reached the semifinals.

"Things started off alright on Saturday when my heat was staged in a one-metre swell at low tide. Then that cold weather came in and messed up the swell. It was hard to contend with ... mother nature won," Primmer said.

He was impressed with the calibre in the men's open division and he intends to compete again next year.

"It's important we keep supporting the event so it keeps coming here. Eventually some of the youngsters we are teaching to surf will be ready to compete and it will be neat for them to surf in a major event here in the Bay."

Hawke's Bay's more fancied open men's division surfers Jeremy Evans and Ben Hazelwood didn't compete. Evans is still recovering from shoulder surgery and Hazelwood injured some ribs while training for the event.

The Bay's only other open men's entrant, Jesse Trafford, was a late withdrawal. Hawke's Bay's Marguerite Vujich, who regularly competes at masters level on the national scene, finished seventh in the open women's division.

More than 100 entries across seven divisions were received for the weekend's comp which was a combined New Zealand Pro Series and Grom Series event. Mount Maunganui's Matt Hewitt won the open men's division and Muriwai's Britt Kindred the open women's title.

"She was a bit of a slow start today, I only got my first wave with 12 minutes to go in the final but when you actually got the waves they were good. It is good to surf different waves and to come down here is cool, it is a great little city, we stay with family friends and get to check out all the art deco buildings etc. I am stoked to actually win the Backdoor BayBash, it has been a long time since I have won anything so that makes the trip down all the better," Hewitt said before the prizegiving.

"I had a rough start in the under-20 girls division this weekend but that fired me up to do better in the open women's division, so it was good in the long run and it made me determined to win. I am happy with the win, it is my second of the year after winning the South Island champs. Last year I got a lot of runner up finishes so it is good to convert them into wins this year. Te Awanga was super fun today, I am used to going left all the time so to be able to surf a right hand point break has been real fun today," Kindred said.