Reef Hawkes Bay Champs Surfing Competition took place on Saturday 14th May, 21011 at Waimarama Beach. With small conditions predicted the comp organisers were pleasantly surprised with how the conditions improved during the day to 3 to 4 foot of good contestable waves.

In the Under 18yrs division we saw some new faces added to the picture and in one of the most explosive exchanges of the day the final put on a display of quality surfing with the lead changing a couple of times towards the end. Jordan Dyer started strong with a good left hander being the single highest wave score of the final but it was Ian Wessels who answered back with a strong backhand floater followed by a couple of good turns. Jesse Trafford battled it out to come second and 15 year old Logan Owen also surfed well to finish in fourth place.

In the highly anticipated Open Men’s Division we saw Jeremy Evans facing off against Troy Riley, Ben Hazelwood and Francois Sneedon. Francois Sneedon did himself and a lot of his mates proud by finishing in 4th place. Jeremy Evans and Ben Hazelwood both surfed well to finish in second and third respectively, but it was Troy Riley who became the 2011 Hawkes Bay Champ by pulling off a critical backhand floater at the start of the wave followed by a combination of manoeuvres on his last wave to take it out.

Results -

Under 18yrs boys
1 - Ian Wessels
2 - Jesse Trafford
3 - Jordan Dyer
4. Logan Owen

Open Mens
1 - Troy Riley
2 - Jeremy Evans
3 - Ben Hazelwood
4 - Francois Sneedon

Pictures can be found on www.zikoproductions.co.nz contact Marty Dick for copies

Open Men's Finalists