The Auckland Scholastic Tri Series takes place from this weekend (20th May) with the first of three events taking place at Piha.  The Tri Series also visits Maori Bay with an East Coast option for each event.  Rain days are also set out on the official entry form.

The events will help select a team of young surfers to represent the Auckland Region at the national Scholastic Surfing Championships to be held in the Taranaki region at the start of October (1-5 May).

The best two results from the series will count toward each surfers rating.

Check below for all the detail on the events and entry process.

Event 1:
DATE: 20th May rain day 27th May
VENUE: Sth Piha or East
Contact for this  event: Kelvin Louie 021736676

Event 2:
DATE: 10th June rain day 24th June 
VENUE: Maori Bay or East  
Contact for this event Peter Haven 021-344-660

Event 3:
DATE: 22nd July rain day 29th July
VENUE: East or West Coast   
Contact Kate 021 272 3920

Start times 7.30am Sundays.  Check email (at address you have given above) for postponement / relocation or ring contact for event on Saturday afternoon pre event

Entry Fees: $50.00 incl GST Covers 3 events
General Enquiries David Thompson Mobile: 027 4467799 or Email: davidleigh@xtra.co.nz

After weeks of analyzing swell charts and considering weather patterns, the decision was made for the Nicaragua ISA World Masters Surfing Championship to be run in the world-class beachbreak waves at Colorado Beach at Hacienda Iguana. "We had three fantastic venues to select from. After considering the time of year and all of the other variables that go into producing waves, Colorado proved the best venue for the top over-35 surfers in the world," said Fernando Aguerre, the President of the ISA. "With former world champions and big-name pros expected to attend and compete on this world-class wave, we expect some of the highest levels of surfing this event has ever seen." Ideal in tides both high and low, and offering both lefts and rights, the break should allow plenty of opportunity for the likes of five-time world champion Tom Curren (USA), eight-time world champion Layne Beachley (AUS), four-time world champion Juan Ashton (PUR), two-time world champion Heather Clark (RSA), Ross Williams (HAW), and Fabio Gouveia (BRA) to put on display the level of surfing that has established them as some of the finest talents the sport has ever seen. "The waves at Colorado are one of the most sought after by the international surfers because of its perfection, consistency and warm water," said Lucy Valenti, the Executive President of Gray Line Nicaragua, which is helping to organize the event. "The setting at Hacienda Iguana is perfect, the beach is practically virgin, the tropical forest surrounding it makes it exotic, and the accommodation infrastructure is first class. The local people enjoy surfing and know how to take care of the visiting surfers. Playa Colorado at Hacienda Iguana is an ideal place to hold the ISA World Championship." Located on the south end of the country, the wave is groomed daily by the country's non-stop offshore winds, which are caused by the Lago de Nicaragua effect. Due to the lake's large expanse of water, winds blow offshore on the Pacific side of the country more than 300 days out of the year. The waters are warm and the outside air temperature is even warmer. The event is supported at the highest level of government in Nicaragua. Negotiations were held with the Minister of Tourism, Mario Salinas, who has confirmed the full support of the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega. The Masters features the top over-35 surfers in the world. Last year's event in El Salvador brought together over 120 competitors from 21 countries, many of whom were former professional surfers and world champions. Be sure to check in to www.isasurf.org for further updates about the event as they are released.

In a solid four metre swell and steady offshore winds today, New Plymouth surfer Kane Rowson won the inaugural Bog Works Big Wave Invitational.   Out of the field of 20 surfers who entered the surf competition, Rowson also won the prize for the Most Committed Take off, and The Biggest Wave, collecting a total of $2,500 in prize money.   The prize for the Deepest Tube went to Taranaki surfer, Bachelor Tipene who also took out second place overall behind Rowson. Meanwhile Taranaki surfer Jarred Hancox won third place.   With a swell size that peaked at up to triple overhead on the big sets, Surfing Taranaki’s executive officer Craig Williamson says the event created some surfing history.   “This is the first time Bog Works has been used as surf competition arena, and it’s the first time New Plymouth has been able to stage a surf competition on its downtown foreshore,” says Williamson. “It’s also the first time there has been a dedicated Big Wave competition in New Zealand for some time. A great crowd turned up to watch, and I’m sure more than a few office workers were following the event just by looking out their window!”   The $5,000 prize package was broken down into $2,000 for the winner, $1,000 for the runner up, $500 for third, $250 for the, fifth and sixth place getters, along with awards of $250 each for the Biggest Wave, Most Critical take-off and Best Tube Ride of the day.   If sponsorship funds allow, it is likely another Bog Works Big Wave Invitational will be staged again next year as part of the TSB Bank New Zealand Surf Festival.

  Kane Rowson - Image Daisy Day         

The medals have been awarded, t-shirts and hats exchanged between athletes and coaches from different countries, and the board bags have been packed for the long commutes home. The line-up at Playa Venao is back to its quiet, picturesque self. Eight days have come and gone and the 2012 DAKINE ISA World Junior Surfing Championship Presented by Billabong is just a memory. “It’s always a bittersweet feeling when an event comes to a close, especially one as wonderful as this ISA World Juniors in Panama,” said Fernando Aguerre, the President of the ISA. “It’s a long week full of emotion; you’re physically and mentally exhausted by the end. But so many great memories and new friendships are made. Those are the aspects that motivate us to make each event bigger and better every year.” In conditions that ranged from overhead, roping walls to closeout aerial ramps to chest-high “Lowers (Trestles) right,” according to USA’s Griffin Colapinto, athletes from 31 nations contested at Playa Venao with hopes that at the end they were able to call themselves an ISA World Junior Champion. For the likes of Hawaii’s Koa Smith, Portugal’s Vasco Ribeiro, USA’s Jake Halstead, Japan’s Hiroto Arai, or South Africa’s Dylan Lightfoot or Sarah Baum, the 2012 edition was a chance to win another medal, and hopefully one step better than they’d won previously. For other surfers, like New Zealand’s Ben Poulter, USA’s Quincy Davis or Barbados’ Chelsea Tuach, who’ve finished in the top 10, it was a chance to reach the allusive podium. At the Opening Ceremony in nearby Pedasi, the 31 nations marched through the streets, waving the flags and wearing the colors of their country. Each team sent a flag bearer and a representative onto the stage for the traditional Sands of the World Ceremony, where sands from home beaches are poured into a glass container, representing the peaceful gathering of nations through the love of surfing. Over the course of eight days, the record-number 303 surfers competed in three divisions, working to advance toward the best possible result. Those who were able to win heats and continue advancing, stayed in the Qualifying Rounds. Those who fell to the bottom of a heat, were relegated to the Repechage. The unique double-elimination format of the ISA ensures that every surfer, whether a contest veteran or a newcomer has at least two chances to prove themselves. On Day 6, competition ended early, and the event shifted its focus to the ISA Aloha Cup, a unique ISA event which uses five surfers per team and a tag-team exchange to send team members into the water – the format is one that the ISA believes surfing can use whenever it is in the Olympics. At the end of the hour-long Final, Brazil had one surfer remaining in the water and an opportunity to take the lead over France, but no scoring waves came as the time clock expired. On the shore, the French contingent was ecstatic, jumping and singing the songs of their country. While the ISA Aloha Cup proved to be “the most exciting one that I can remember,” according to ISA President Aguerre, the next day, the teams and athletes went right back to focusing on the primary goal. With the best junior surfers in the world competing at the largest and most important under-18 surfing event in the world, upsets happened and new talents were discovered. That’s been part of the history of this event. Past champions include Jordy Smith, Owen Wright, Jeremy Flores, Stephanie Gilmore, Carissa Moore and Coco Ho, all of whom are at the top of their profession on the ASP World Tour. Dax McGill may well join that elite group. Coco Ho even commented on an Instagram photo of McGill being chaired by teammates: “Congrats Dax! I never even made the final in all my years competing in ISA!” At just 14 years old, McGill had an initial goal of making the third round. Just making the team was a huge honor for her. But once she began competing in Panama, she wasted little time exerting herself as a major threat for the Final. She was taking risks in critical spots on a wave, making stronger turns and simply surfing beyond her years. She was a part of a contingent of female Hawaiian surfers that proved to be some of the strongest in the division. In the four-person Final, McGill was joined by two teammates – Mahina Maeda and Tatiana Weston-Webb. In the Girls Under-18 Final, she managed to survive a late-heat comeback by Australia’s Ellie-Jean Coffey – who was undefeated in the event heading into the Final – answering her heat-changing score with one of her own. McGill locked up the heat, the Gold Medal and her name in destiny. Her teammates, Weston-Webb and Maeda finished with Bronze and Copper, respectively. In the very next heat, Kalani David managed to maintain the momentum Team Aloha and he had built up the past couple days. Using an all-out aerial attack, David distanced himself from the competition in the Boys Under-16 Final. Reserved in previous interviews, the 14-year-old Hawaiian was all smiles and praise. “I’m super stoked right now. It means the world to me to win the Gold Medal,” David said. “Being in a contest with junior surfers from all around the world, it definitely is something I’ll remember forever.” In the last heat of the day and the event, a pair of Brazilians dominated, reinforcing why Brazil is considered a surfing superpower. Combining innovative maneuvers with powerful turns, Matheus Navarro and Deivid Silva distanced themselves from the other two finalists and battled for the Gold Medal. With the final minutes of the clock ticking away, the two had an exchange that represented the type of surfing they’d done all week. On a right-hand wave, Silva found speed in unexpected places, floating over multiple closeout sections before landing a backside reverse with no grab, for a 9.33. A short while later, the regular-footed Navarro – who needed an 8.3 to catch Silva – found a long right and executed every maneuver he could think of. He mixed vertical snaps with polished, swooping turns and closed the wave with a two-hand first-pump. His excitement, and that of the Brazilian team – which went running down the beach toward Navarro – were justified. The judges awarded him an 8.43, which was just enough to move him into the Gold Medal position, with a two-wave total of 16.90. Silva finished in the Silver Medal spot with a 16.80. “It was a really long week, I think I competed in over 10 heats and made it all the way to the final. I lost in the second round and fell to the Repechage, so it was really tough to face that. But one of the coaches told me that in this event in Portugal 2007, Jadson Andre had the same luck and ended up winning the Gold,” said Navarro, who carried up the beach by his team as the new ISA World Junior Champion. Following the final heat of the day, the festivities transitioned to the medal podium and the Closing Ceremony. Each of the four finalists received their medals, and it was announced that Hawaii had won the Team Gold, its first since 2005. With all 31 nations surrounding the stage, and photographers and videographers packing the press area, the ISA President shared some words expressing his overwhelming joy after a near-perfect event. “Surfing and the ISA love Panama. I want to thank the organizers of the event, Tuti de León and Patrick Castagnet. They have organized three wonderful events for the ISA in 20 months. [President Ricardo Martinelli, who was present for all the Finals and distributed medals during the Closing Ceremony] has confirmed that he wants us back next year with one of the ISA major events, so we may meet each other again,” Aguerre said. “Thank you so much everybody and I want to leave by saying something really important: some of you are going back home with a medal and others not, but each one of you are champions and this experience will remain in your hearts for the rest of your life.” With the historic and record-breaking DAKINE ISA World Junior Surfing Championship Presented by Billabong coming to an end, the world is now anticipating the 2013 edition. The world’s best juniors will gather again for eight days of competition, camaraderie and to show the future of surfing. ISA Aloha Cup Final
Gold: France – 58.46
Silver: Hawaii – 57.77
Bronze: Brazil – 48.07
Copper: Peru – 37.43 Girls Under-18 Final
Gold: Dax McGill (HAW) – 12.60
Silver: Ellie Jean Coffey (AUS) – 9.20
Bronze: Tatiana W-Webb (HAW) – 8.53
Copper: Mahina Maeda (HAW) – 8.24 Boys Under-16 Final
Gold: Kalani David (HAW) – 13.50
Silver: Takumi Nakamura (JPN) – 13.40
Bronze: Noe Mar McGonagle (CRC) – 11.34
Copper: Josh Moniz (HAW) – 11.17 Boys Under-18 Final
Gold: Matheus Navarro (BRA) – 16.93
Silver: Deivid Silva (BRA) – 16.83
Bronze: Vasco Ribeiro (POR) – 11.77
Copper: Joshua Hay (AUS) – 11.37 Final ISA World Juniors Team Ranking
Gold: Hawaii
Silver: Australia
Bronze: Brazil
Copper: USA
5. Japan
6. France
7. Peru
8. Portugal
9. South Africa
10. New Zealand
11. Costa Rica
12. Tahiti
13. Argentina
14. Great Britain
15. Venezuela
16. Barbados
17. Panama
18. Mexico
19. Germany
20. Ecuador
21. Uruguay
22. Puerto Rico
23. El Salvador
24. Spain
25. Guatemala
26. Jamaica
27. Italy
28. Chile
29. Canada
30. Switzerland
31. Nicaragua The DAKINE ISA World Junior Surfing Championship Presented by Billabong is made possible with the support of the following event partners: DAKINE, Billabong, Panamá, Super Deportes, Mini, Dollar Rent A Car, Copa Airlines, Extreme Surf & Sport. The media partners are Surfea Panama, FOX Sports, Surfersvillage and Surfos. The Official Forecaster for the event is Surfline.

O’Neill NZ is amped to announce it has signed up two future NZ surf stars to be a part of the O’Neill NZ Team.

Both Jordan Griffin (Mt Maunganui) and Harrison Whiteside (Christchurch) have been selected to join the team ranks, for not only their recent competitive success but also their free surfing abilities.

“Both the groms are good kids, the fact they live in the North and South has a good national vibe to it, their ability to flair in the water and the street steez they posses made it an easy decision to support them in their surfing endeavours” states Team Manager Gavin Bisman.

“They’ve been on the radar for awhile and impressing at their local beaches and now that they’ve both been selected to represent NZ at the ISA World Jnr Champs in Panama we decided it was time to support them and get them to represent the O’Neill brand”.

“We wish them all the best for Panama and in the future here in Aotearoa”.

They join Team O’Neill members Tim O’Connor, Braedon Williams, JC Susan, Jacob Kohn and Sam Dunfoy.

Day 6 of the event in Panama started in a very different way than those that preceded it. With all 31 of the delegations before him, lined up in the shape of a circle, ISA president Fernando Aguerre shared some heart-felt words on the passing of David Lilienfeld, a Team South Africa bodyboarder. Lilienfeld was the victim of a shark attack in South Africa 48 hours earlier. All the participants observed a moment of silence honoring his memory. Once competition began, heat after heat, teams watched as their medal chances rose and fell. Coming into Day 6 of competition, the defending Gold Medal team, Peru, was sitting comfortably with all of its 12 surfers still in contention, the only full team in the event. By the end of the day on Friday, eight of those surfers were out of the DAKINE ISA World Junior Surfing Championship Presented by Billabong. That’s how quickly and unexpectedly fortunes can shift when the best junior surfers in the world are on hand, and the waves are firing from sun-up to sun-down. With only Repechage heats on the schedule for the day, every heat was do or die. The morning began with 116 athletes in the three divisions, and by the time the final horn had blown, just 44 remained. Fortunately, for those who were competing today, Mother Nature sent constant opportunity for high scores and last-minute, heat-winning waves. Due to the tide high, the four-to six-foot sets were presenting long walls on which the talented array of surfers were able to put their full repertoire of maneuvers on display. “With the high tide, if you get one in the right zone, it’s a perfect, perfect bowly right or left,” said Jake Halstead, a former ISA Silver Medalist, and one of two Americans fighting through the Boys Under-18 elimination round. “Coming into the Repechage, you start the grind; you’ve got a bunch of heats to make. I try not to worry too much, you’ve just got to go out there and not hold anything back.” Halstead won his heat, while his teammate, Colin Moran, also advanced into Repechage Round 7. Team USA remains in medal contention, with seven of its 12 athletes still competing. While Peru was struggling, Hawaii and Australia situated themselves out front in the race for Team Gold and the IOC President’s Trophy. The Aussies have eight athletes remaining, while the Hawaiians have nine, including Koa Smith, who won one of the most exciting heats of the day. Smith relied on fierce, gouging turns on some of the choice waves of his heat, holding off a late-heat charge by Australia’s Eli Steele. Both surfers advanced. “The 15 minute heats are so difficult. I’m used to doing them back home, but especially with the live scoring, they can’t keep you updated because everyone’s getting constant waves. You’ve just got to be in your own mind,” Smith said. “I do think about [my competition in a heat]; having an Australian (Steele) in a heat, an American (Trevor Thornton) in a heat, and a guy from past champion Peru (Joaquin del Castillo), that’s as stacked as you get, so it feels good to come out on top.” Steele’s last wave bumped him into advancing position over Castillo. “I’m still shaking,” said Steele, minutes after coming out of the water, and waiting to hear his scores. In Boys Under-16 competition, Michael Wright was one of the other standouts for the Aussies. He competed in and advanced through three Repechage rounds over the course of the day. His older siblings, Owen and Tyler, are both former ISA Gold Medalists and are competing on their respective ASP World Tours. “[The family ISA legacy is] in my head; they’ve been sending little things and rooting for me,” said Wright, whose voice was coarse after engaging in two ‘Ring of Fires.’ After every Aussie heat win, the team circles around the athlete screaming “Aussie-Aussie-Aussie,” followed by a piercing “Come on!” Wright found himself in the middle of the circle on two occasions Friday. In the Girls competition, much like Wright, Chelsea Tuach battled through and survived three tense heats in the Repechage. She is the lone surfer representing Barbados still in the event. “This is where I wanted to be. Every heat [in the competition] is going to be better and better,” said Tuach, who finished in the top 10 last year. “I just want to make Barbados proud and get us as far up [the rankings] as we can get.” Tuach is one of just five athletes who are the lone surfers remaining representing their country. The others include Ella Williams of New Zealand and Lucia Cosoleto of Argentina in the Girls division, and Costa Rica’s Noe Mar McGonable and Portugal’s Vasco Ribeiro, who are still in the Main Event in the Boys Under-18. Only 13 teams of the original 31 nations still have surfers in the fight for the podium. Surfing action resumes tomorrow morning, April 21, with Boys Under-16 Repechage competition. The event webcast will be live beginning at 7:40am local time (5:40am PST; 12:40pm in London) at www.dakineisawjsc.com/live. At 1:00pm local time, competition in the ISA World Juniors will cease, and the first heats of the ISA Aloha Cup will begin. The unique event will include the host country, and the top seven nations from last year’s ISA World Juniors event in Peru. Each team will have five surfers, with four boys and one girl. Tagging one another into the water, each surfer is allowed to catch two waves and the total combination of scores determines the winners. Two four-team semifinal heats will be followed by a four-team final. This original and dynamic format for surf competition is one that the ISA believes surfing can use whenever it is in the Olympics. Team Points After Day 6:
1- Hawaii. 7770
2- Australia. 7440
3- USA. 6700
4- Brazil. 5970
5- Peru. 5163
6-France. 4980
7. Japan 4498
8- South Africa. 4325
9- Portugal. 3623
10- New Zealand. 3590
11- Costa Rica. 3160
12- Argentina. 2866
13- Tahiti. 2473
14- Barbados. 2440
15- Great Britain. 2220
16- Venezuela. 1926
17- Panama. 1856
18- Mexico. 1852
19- Germany. 1732
20- Ecuador. 1688
21- Uruguay. 1480
22- Puerto Rico. 1436
23- El Salvador. 1160
24- Spain. 1040
25- Guatemala. 952
26- Jamaica. 904
27- Italy. 720
28- Chile. 692
29- Canada. 544
30- Switzerland. 384
31- Nicaragua. 336 The DAKINE ISA World Junior Surfing Championship Presented by Billabong is made possible with the support of the following event partners: DAKINE, Billabong, Panamá, Super Deportes, Mini, Dollar Rent A Car, Copa Airlines, Extreme Surf & Sport. The media partners are Surfea Panama, FOX Sports, Surfersvillage and Surfos. The Official Forecaster for the event is Surfline.