So to start off, here is a brief run- down on the only NZ one, held at Raglan from the 13th - 16th of May. For those of you , who don’t know, ,this series has 12 comps for the U20 competitors from round Australasia. The events are mainly held in Ausi but also in Tahiti and Bali. Raglan hasn’t hosted one for 2 years so it was a relief the surf was pumping despite strong onshore/sideshore winds at times. Great to see so many Kiwis entered as only 3 actually are doing the full circuit.
Thursday saw many stand -out performances from the Kiwis, giving the Ausis a run for their money, with all but two progressing to the next round of 64. There were also a few surprise knock-outs like Garret Parkes and Mitch Crews (current series leader) From my perspective it seemed like a lot of them were definitely struggling with the point break surfing, or maybe it was because Raglan is the type of wave where you really need to know which ones to pick. 
Over the four days the weather ranged from stormy, cold and rainy to hot and sunny. The Aussies couldn’t believe how hot it got; ha, ha! Friday again offered great conditions for most of the day, though once again local knowledge helped keep some of the local boys in whilst knocking out more highly ranked Aussies . Matt Hewitt who had a great 1st heat fell victim to the Raglan wave selection and got knocked out of the round of 32. Tyler Lawson came super close to making his heat but in the last minute Matt Banting (U16 world champ) caught a runner and smashed it the whole way down the point to make the heat. I guess that was a mistake by Tyler because if he had sat on him he probably would have made the heat but all in all a good learning curve and I bet he will do that next time! The event was called off later in the day due to the glare and me and Sean Peggs were the only 2 kiwis still remaining going in to the 4 man quarters.
The Saturday saw a short day but some pumping waves during the morning. In the girls division there was some great surfing going on and not surprisingly our kiwi ex-pats Airini and Sarah Mason made It to the finals. Both the girls has been stand outs all week but it was younger sister Sarah finding the right waves during the final to take it out. Shot girls! Me and Sean also surfed our next heats and both of us progressed with some good waves, however it was pretty disappointing to see Sean get knocked from 1st to 2nd in the last few minutes as it now meant I would draw him in the man on man quarter. Gutted!
Amongst stormy conditions on Sunday morning it was a real struggle to find good scoring waves. I needed a decent back-up wave with only a short time to go ,and thought Sean had beaten me for sure with 2 mid-range scores . However I managed to lock into a bigger wave late in the heat and get a few turns in , scoring over a 7 which pushed me into the lead. Sean couldn’t get the five needed in the last few minutes and I moved through to the semi. I was stoked but it was dumb we had to meet in the quarter. A sick result for Sean, though, as this was the 1st one he had done all year. Definitely showed the Aussie boys he could surf. Both the semis were really close and came down to the last few minutes. I went into the lead but knew I couldn't relax as Ryan Callanin only needed a five to make it and sure enough in the last minute he took off in front of me and got one of those ones that just kept peeling. Smashing it all the way through I knew he had it. I was pretty gutted as I was so close to making the final and that was really a big goal for me, but If there was one Aussie I don’t mind losing to its Ryan. He's a real nice kid and surfs crazy and was super relaxed and talkative during the heat
Davey Cathels ended up taking it out in the final after being the definite standout of the event but I was hoping Ryan was going to beat him after throwing a massive air early in the heat.
All in all it was a sick event and by far the best waves I have surfed out of the comps I have done this year. ( though Tahiti was sposed to be amazing) It was also so cool having all the kiwi support and my family there too. I hope everyone had the same opinion as me and we can bring it back here next year!!
The next comp on the series is Perth, coming up in a few weeks and I will be posting a blog after that.
Until then, cya!
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