For this comp I had moved up in the world. Upstairs into the commentary booth to MC the Billabong Pro Jnr alongside good mate Cale Tolley.
Four days of talking the talk, informing the surfers, debating the judges and generally trying not to swear so that AJ didn't have grumpy parents or locals up in his face.
Too fuckin easy!
After a late night drive down from Dorkland with Elite surf coach,Leeroy Ryan, and our blow-in-one-eyed south-islander, the ever smiling Mr Lewis J, we hit Rags late and settled into the pimped out cabin that would be home for a nite or two.
Day 1 dawned with 2-4ft of swell and charcoal skies but as the haze split open to reveal a sunny day the waves pulsed and showed some form as did the first round of these next generation surfers.
Round 1 heats consisted of lots of average surfing and close call heats, alot of them being decided in the closing minute and on the last waves of the heat. Round 2 was full of upsets, Mitch Crews gone, Garrett Parkes pushed out. It was game on for the lower ranked surfers now to try and catch up to some of the top seeds who found themselves done and dusted early.
By the early arvo the tide had dropped right out, the wind had gone to gale force side-shores and the glare had everyone guessing which surfer it was who had just hit the sunlight lit lip? I still don't know. So we wrapped the day up, we had enough heats tapped by 2:30pm to flag it and some headed for the chillybin while myself and a few other crew paddled out to grovel for a few mush-burgers at Manu Bay.
As it got darker it got better, best wipeout went to Mr Joyce on the wrongboard taking a 5ft ledge wave on the head!
Standout in the freesurf though was definetly David Vlug, bullshit skills in the air and huge turns!
Home for fish n chips, a few surf dvds and a cruzy kicked back night. Livin the dream.
DAY 2 was a fun lookin 2-3ft swell with the ladies being put out to get in the mix and show off their skills.
Naomi Stevic was easily the best young female surf performance of the day, that chick ripped Manu Bay apart as if she was a life-long local. Insane.
Sarah Mason, Niki Van Dijk and Airini were all surfing well too.
Then the rest of Round 2 of the boys were back out to surf the peeling 3 footers. Matt Hewitt flaired, Keone Campbell fought, Jerome Forrests' smooth style, Matt Bantings' speed, Wade Carmicheals' power and Dean Bowens' solid performance were all standouts.
Chris Friend and Blake Ainsworth were knocked and with most of the top seeds gone from the top ten it was critical for the remaining surfers to capitilise on the opportunity to gather up the cash and the rankings points up for grabs.
Ladies quarters followed and didn't dissapoint. Nikki, Airini and Phillipa Anderson surfing with speed, power and flow. Sarah Mason snuck thru into the semis, very lucky. Naomi got lost at sea in this round and was bailed out, unfortunate, but she will be a force to contend with when she gets it right.
Round 3 of the Pro Jnr Mens, the round of 32 was back out into the low tide dredgers and it was a great finale to the days events.
Kiwis' dominated the arvo session! Sean Peggs was in fighting form and surfed with such style. Alex Dive was RIPPING! One of his waves was a standout of the whole event. Ozzie lad, Ryan Callinan was surfing with the innovation the judges were looking for and earned himself an 8+ score for a huge air reverse and Chris Salisbury was another ocker who surfed strong to impress. David Vlug featured again in the standouts, his reo's were HUGE and inverted.
It was also AJ Matthews (Bong Team Manager and Event organiser) birthday so after a long day at the beach we all headed back, shit, showered and some shaved and hit the pub for dinner and lots of messy drinks! I'm not drinking at the mo but it was classic to watch the chaos unfold and when I finally hit bed at about 2am, most of the crew had stumbled home and Damon had gone bush-bashing in the Amazon. A classic nite on tour.
Day 3. Pumping. Manu Bay 4ft rollers, only the best 16 remaining in the mens and the top 4 ladies left it was a day of champions and critical surfing.
Heavy eyes, hazy heads and seedy minds cleared and we enjoyed some of the best surfing to grace our shores.
Both Mason sisters were too strong in their respective semi-final heats so it was to be an all-kiwi girl final, epic!
The lads surfed well but some surfers still struggled to understand the tricky conditions that Manu Bay can produce.
Divey was again on fire, just throwing down big turns to impress. Peggsy wasn't to be out-done either, and stole a second place to meet his fellow kiwi mate in the man on man quarter final. Both brothers, Ty and Jordin Watson, surfed well and made it into the quarters without the aide of a sponsor.
The Girls final was to wrap up todays events, a short day but action packed. The Mason sisters let their surfing do the talking and it was a pretty even affair until Sarah locked down a 9.0 ride with a series of smooth turns. Airini fought back but as the minutes lapsed so to did her chances to overtake her younger sibling.
At heats end it was Sarah Mason who was the Billabong Pro Jnr 2010 Ladies Champion!
The presentation done, the comp site packed up for the day, we all headed back to the hotel to chill, marinate and catch up on sleep.
Lazy arvo in the rain..
Day 4. Cold weather but hot surfing. Quarters, Semis and Finals action!
1st up was Alex Dive vs Sean Peggs. It was awesome to see both the kiwi boys in the Qtrs and knowing one would make it to semi-finals but it was unfortunate that they had to meet each other, if only we could have had them up against some of the oz lads. The young pros surfed with poise but by heats end it was Divey who emerged as the victor. Peggsy was stoked with his run of form and it was cool to see the boys smiling and shaking hands as they emerged from the water together.
Ryan Callinan was back to his best again, Davey Cathels won a very close heat against Jordin Watson, much to the disgust of young Mr Watson, he thought he'd done enough but the judges didn't agree. Tough at the top son. His bro went on to win though, Ty out-surfed James Woods in the last of the quarters. Semis were too close to call, both heats down to the wire. Divey making a costly mistake in the dying minutes of his heat and unfortunately it was tactics not surfing that had him beat. Chin up though bro, you made it that far and made all the kiwi crew proud champ!
Davey Cathels disposed of Ty Watson in semi 2, much to the dismay of Ty, again not quite agreeing with the judges decision but thats the way it goes pal. Both Watson lads surfed well but they could both do with a few lessons in being better losers.
Finals! Ryan vs Davey! A closely fought battle for thirty minutes had the lead change several times and it looked like Ryan had it under wraps but with nothing to lose Davey scratched into a wave under priority and demolished it, stealing the lead and becoming the Billabong Pro Jnr 2010 Champion! A great final.
The official presso did its thing while we packed up the contest machine. Shakas and handshakes were thrown around and while some hit town, headed for motels and airports we hit the road in the Elite Surf-coaching mobile and headed home. An awesome weekend of talking bollocks and watching sick surfing. Stoked.
Chur to AJ, Dan,the Bong Crew and Cale for a mint weekend. Thanks to Lee Ryan and Lewis Joyce for the good times.
Sea you soon at a shore near you..
Above: sarah Manson Carving her way to victory. Photo: Hannah.
N.B. Too much to Leone @ Quiksilver for the glad-rags and Fraser @ Odyssey 20/20 for the optical barriers. Mean.
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