Tight tussle for scholastic surfers

CHAMP: Kalani Hanson from Kaitaia College on his way to winning the final event of the 2016 Scholastics Surfing Series. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Ahipara surf delivers epic competition

High school surfers from across Northland converged on the famed points of Ahipara to compete in the third and final event of the 2016 Northland Scholastics Surfing Series.

Clean 1-1.5m waves fanned by offshore winds provided the perfect canvas for the event.

The U14 Girls started the day surfing in Shipwreck Bay across the high tide.

They enjoyed nice shoulder-height waves and it was very closely contested between Ely Backhouse (Bream Bay College) and Kayla Carter (Bream Bay College) with Backhouse taking the win.

The first round of U14 Boys was held at Shipwreck Bay while event organisers waited for the tide to drop so they could get around Tauroa Point.

Once the tide allowed for it the event was relocated to Mukerau Beach, offering clean peeling head-height waves that got faster and more critical as the tide dropped.

Event organisers ran all of the remaining heats then took a break across the low tide to let the water fill in before running the finals in pumping overhead conditions.

Grace Pevats (WGHS) and Billie Scott (WGHS) showed just why they are unbeaten in the U16 and U18 girls divisions respectively.

Both picked off the bigger waves and built good totals which proved too much for their competitors to pull back.

Pevats attacked a bomb wave and finished off with a big reo floater to stamp her authority in the U16s, while Scott showed the line speed and style to stay in front in the U18s.

In the U14 Boys Final there was just .35 points separating first and second place.

Oscar Harper (WBHS) and local shredder Taj Broughton (Kaitaia College) battled hard in the final.

Both surfers have contrasting styles with Harper all power and flow on his forehand and Broughton attacking and owning every wave on his backhand.

In the end Harper took out the division.

Whangarei surfer Billy Gilbert (WBHS) placed third.

The U16 Boys Division was dominated by Tom Norton (Bream Bay College), Max Brunker (WBHS) and Joseph Critchfield (Rodney College), all winning their early heats convincingly.

When the final came around, Norton stayed on the inside/wider and caught a handful of runners while the other surfers got into a paddle battle and took each other too deep to catch good waves without realising what Norton was doing.

Critchfield woke up with about six minutes to go to collect a couple of good waves and pull clear of the other two but couldn't pull Norton back.

Norton deserved the win and turned tables on Nubby Critchfield who had beaten him in the earlier rounds.

The U18 Boys final saw two locals in Kalani Hansen (Kaitaia College) and Callum Mekkelholt (Kaitaia College) turn up the heat on the others.

It was the aggressive backhand surfing of Hansen that came out on top.

Hansen left no doubt that this was this home break.