Kiwi Surf Magazine

Gav's RIP CURL PRO round up

This event was a three day event but due to other work committments I could only make the two days of the weekend. The friday had delivered epic conditions with 4ft pumping surf thru-out the days action so I was slightly gutted to have missed out but still stoked to be a part of this prestigous event. The draw was full and stacked with the best competitive surfers in NZ such is the mana that this event holds. Kudos from winning this comp is massive amongst the pros.

Saturdays action was all about the Women and Junior divisions as the friday had been all about using the perfect conditions to get thru four rounds of the open mens draw.
The day started with some pretty lackluster surfing from the early round surfers but as the day wore on and the sun started to blaze the crowds on the point, the action heated up in the water too.
Early standouts for the ladies included Rosa Thompson, her surfing seemingly having matured as she lay down solid turns, Mischa Davis was relishing the conditions, and local lass Jess Santorik looked comfortable at home locking in some good scoring rides. Up and coming grom surfer Ella Williams was ripping too, her surfing has definetly become more powerful and refined this season.
The juniors seemed to struggle and really failed to fire but Ben Poulter was surfing with power, a few of his strong backhand reos looking the goods.
Diminshing surf due to the low tide and sea breeze effected swell made the last few hours of the day a lottery for the women and juniors. Jayda Fitzharris even unlucky enough to knock a fin out on her bottom turn during her second wave.Jess Santorik seemed more comfortable out in the water and out-performed her counter-parts.
The Junior quarters at days end were run in horrible conditions but it was guys like Paco Divers with his ability to create speed in his turns and Alex dive with his smooth style that shone thru.

The "after-party" at the YOT club that nite was mint, Rip Curl and Export Gold had the brews flowing and the tunes pumping and the nite was full of fun times..

Sunday delivered despite the Tsunami warnings  and seedy heads and we had 3-4ft walls of water grace us and the sun lit up the aqua dancefloor. Game on!
Open Quarters were a sight to behold. Maz was surfing sick, just laying rail and throwing fins. Luke hughes smashed some inside-out turns at the crtical section of the wave and was looking dangerous.
Luke Cederman has to be the guy who constantly challenges the judges and their scoring I reckon and as usual he surfed powerfully and threw down huge tail wafting turns backed up by massive punts!
Jay Quinn also surfed amazingly, the guys top to bottom reos are bullshit to watch.
The sun rose higher in the skies and as the punters lining the point got roasted the surfing went from strength to strength. This event has man on man heats from the quarter final rounds so with only two guys out at pumping Manu Bay its a treat for the amassed crowds and judges alike to watch the best of NZ tear apart one of the most renowed surf destinations in NZ. EPIC!
Luke Cederman, yet again, was surfing insane. Luke Hughes was on fire. Jay Quinn locked down two 8+ scoring waves. Chrissy Malone silenced the crowd with his smooth style and Morehu Roberts opened his heat with a 9.0 and backed it up with a 7.75, sick!
The semis provided even more heat than the sun and debate raged about the heat between Luke Cederman & Jay Quinn with Jay stealing it in the dying minutes. Many thought one of Jay's waves was overscored. I personally believe the overall scores that came thru were correct and fair but everyone has an opinion. On my sheet Luke actually had it by 0.3! Thats how close it was!
With six judges on the panel, there are four on for every heat. All four judges lock in a score for a surfers wave. The highest and lowest scores are dropped, the other two are added together then divided by two and this is the actual score the surfer receives. It sounds a bit shambolic but what it does is give the surfer the fairest score. Usually the judges are all within 1.5 points of each other too so its always going to be close when you get two of Aotearoa's best surfers surfing a heat! Heavy stuff.
Morehu "Mootz" Roberts vs Chris "Buggsy" Malone was a little more one-sided with Buggsy never quite hitting his stride. Morehu scored a perfect 10 and comboed Chris to win the heat.

FINALS!
This event also plays host to the Rip Curl Gromsearch Season Finals and with trips to Bells Beach on the line the groms cut loose.
The Girls surfing was awesome and some of the best we have seen from the grom level in NZ. Rosa, Alexis, Grace Spiers and Jayda lit the place up but it was Alexis who took the title and trip.
The Boys started slow but when the sets reared up the boys threw down. Tane, Todd, Sean and Alex going wave for wave with Tane stealing the show and keepin his spono happy with the win.
The Junior U20's final was entertaining too from all accounts but I had it off and was sussing out other surfing endeavours so all I can tell you is that Paco Divers claimed the cash. My bad.
The Open Womans final saw the girls surfing strong and powerful. Rosa, Laura and Mischa all had a shot at the title, especially Rosa, but it wasn't to be as Jess Santorik dominated at home to seal the deal.

The Open Mens Final was all that you want from finals action. Lots of tense moments and critical waves under pressure. Oh, and some of the sickest surfing you'll see!
At the start of the heat both surfers fell on turns or take off in the low tide conditions so with ten or so minutes gone neither had a decent score locked in.
Then the ocean went FLAT! FOR TEN MINUTES! Its rarely flat out west but for ten whole minutes of the final not a wave rolled thru. WTF?
Then it started, and the sets pumped and for the remainder of the heat the lads were wave for wave, the lead changing over six times as they threw down bigger turns and the scores kept rising.
Into the last minute and the lead changed twice again and in the last 8 seconds of the heat Morehu caught a wave that would deliver to him the score he needed. But could he surf it to victory?
YES HE COULD! It was so heavy and nerve wrecking but he smashed that wave to pieces and as the hooter went he surfed his way down the point and off to Padang Padang and $3,000!

I bailed soon after to head home and surf, I was so amped on surfing this week beacause of the weekend.
Catch you all next week after the Longboard Tour and Nationals hits Whanga. IINAMI.

N.b. Thanks to Odyssey 20/20, Quiksilver and Kiwisurf!