The Auckland Region Scholastics Surfing Champs third and final event was 80% completed at South Piha when a bizarre thick fog crept in off the Tasman reducing visibility to mere meters (at least it wasn’t snowing like it had two weeks back!).  The fog forced organisers to postpone the last set of semi finals (Boys U16&18) until the following Sunday. Up until that stage reasonable waves had been on offer though the swell increased in size through the day, testing the skills of the enthusiastic competitors.

Come the next weekend it looked like Piha would be a tad big so a great call was made to venture down to South Auckland and surf at Port Waikato.  Both Boy’s U16 and U18 semis and finals were held in fun 2-4ft conditions.  

Results Event Three

Bodyboard
1st Adam el Gana

U14 Girls
1st Millie Crew
2nd Lauren Walker
3rd Emma Rzepecky

U14 Boys
1st Blake Haven
2ndsam Morgan
3rd Isaac Mennie
4th Dan Matheson

U16/18 girls
1st Gaby Sansom
2nd Bianca Sansom
3rd Ruby Meade
4th Lauren Holehouse

U16 Boys
1st Taylor Louie
2nd Tom Mason
3rd Mitchell Kent
4th Sam Klein

U18 boys
1st Stefan Gross
2nd Darren Celliers
3rd Olly Le Noel
4th Caleb Lemkus

Many thanks to Kate ,Olly and their team from North Shore Christian Boardriders for hosting the event, the great food, sounds etc, Piha Boardriders (formally Wildcoast) for facilities and their helpers, Gavin Bisman for head judging, our sponsor for the event Quiksilver, Duncan from Piha Surf Lifesavers for being on duty throughout the day, parents and volunteers.

This concluded an outstanding tri-series that gave dozens of kids from all over the Auckland region a chance to compete in a surf event, many for the first time, meet other like-minded keen surfers, see the many surf options Auckland has to offer and to have a whole heap of fun.  The Auckland team will be announced next week.