With many of the established names missing from the line-up (due to travel and competitive commitments) the 2011 Sitka/Sanuk Auckland Scholastic Surfing Team had a fresh look about it this year. With the lack of contest experience amongst the team, prior to the event many observers were already writing them off, saying things like “Nevermind, it’ll be good experience for the young ones anyway”. Trouble is, someone forgot to tell the team members that!

With the first couple of days of the contest being held in pretty solid, pumping 3-5ft waves at The Bluff (half way up 90 Mile Beach) this pack of frothing groms charged the biggest and heaviest waves available and, at the end of day 2, found themselves in 2nd place. Giant Killer Ruby Meade (Western Springs College) showed the rest of her team that reputations mean nothing on the way to posting the highest heat score of the contest at that stage.

Day 3 and The Bluff turned it on again with more solid 4-5 ft waves and strong offshores. And once again the Auckland team showed little regard for reputations as they took down some of the more fancied names on the NZ contest scene. In the death-match of Round 2 (Under 16 Boys) Ware Wano (Green Bay High) came up against two of the top seeds and ruthlessly went about schooling them on how to surf waves of consequence. By the end of the day this team of underdogs had not so quietly surfed themselves into 1st place.

Day 4 greeted us with a change of venue (Rararawa Beach on the East coast) and, although the conditions were once again almost flawless, a drop in size (2-3 ft) took some of the advantage away from our hard charging bunch of overachievers.

Still, despite losing a few surfers throughout the course of the day who came agonizingly close to making it through, the team was still sitting in 2nd place with 6 of our surfers still in either the semi’s or finals and one day of competition remaining. The highlight of the day was a little excursion down the beach at Henderson’s Bay where the whole team shared an isolated, perfect bank for a couple of hours with no one else in sight. Barrels and big moves were the order of the day before a fun bit of off-road driving to get back off the beach and back to our incredible nightly feast laid on by the travelling parents.

Shippies was the call for the morning of the finals and, with the forecast calling for a big swell, everyone was psyched for the day ahead. Unfortunately the swell didn’t really arrive and what greeted us was fat, onshore 2-3 ft Pines (not exactly our favourite conditions). Our finalists all put in huge efforts but, in what became a day for tactical surfing, our inexperienced crew struggled to find the waves they needed.

So, in the end we came up a little short, finishing in 6th place (still ahead of a couple of the big name teams) and, with the leader board so congested, a podium finish was literally only a couple of waves out of reach.

On a personal note - to all those who gave their time, effort, and product (especially Sitka who supplied the team uniforms and Sanuk who supplied the team footwear) thank you for getting involved. We couldn’t have done it without you! To the team itself, thanks for a great week. You guys were outstanding, not only in the water, but in your support of each other (by far the loudest, funniest, most vocal team in the country). In the short time that the team was together the improvement in performance was obvious and we can’t wait to work with you all over the coming months to build on the progress you’ve made so far. The rest of the country had better watch out for the Auckland team next year!

2011 Sitka/Sanuk Auckland Scholastic Surfing Team Results:

Under 18 Boys:
Stefan Gross (team captain) (St. Kentigern’s) – 9^th
Olly Le Noel (Takapuna) – 19^th

Under 18 Girls:
Ruby Meade (Western Springs) – 3^rd

Under 18 Bodyboard:
Adam El Gana (Dilworth) – 2^nd

Under 18 Longboard:
Damien Tafu (Dilworth) – 4^th

Under 16 Boys:
Wade Kindred (Kristen) – 7^th
Taylor Louie (Green Bay) – 9^th
Ware Wano (Green Bay) – 9^th
Tom Mason (Takapuna) – 25^th

Under 16 Girls:
Hannah Kohn (St. Cuthbert’s) – 4^th

Under 14 Boys:
Blake Haven (Kaipara) – 9^th

Under 14 Girls:
Millie Crewe (Kaipara) – 3rd