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Written by Ben Kennings
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Tuesday, 27 May 2008 |
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Ryan Hawker - Image Organoff/ISA
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The Rip Curl New Zealand Junior Surfing Team under 18 boys and girls surfers excelled on day two all progressing through their heats. The under 18 boys were particularly impressive as they moved through to the third round and will now battle it out with the top 24 surfers at the event.
Conditions remained good on day two with clean 1.0m waves at Seignosse, France. The tide continues to have a big impact on conditions which change by the hour. The boys podium was put on hold over the full tide when waves became incontestable.
Queensland based Eli Jacobs (formerly from Taranaki) came to the fore on day two posting a 17.26 point heat total – the third highest of the event to date. Up against surfers from Hawaii, South Africa and Peru, Jacobs the consummate professional and all round top team member posted individual wave scores of 8.93 and 8.33. His high scoring waves left his competitors requiring a combination of scores to get close to his lead. South Africa’s Chad Du Toit finally grabbed a slight advantage to advance alongside Jacobs.
Both Matt Hewitt (Mnt) and Paco Divers (Sandy Bay) had to go to the air in their heats to ensure progression. Hewitt held down a slender second placing before busting his fins free to score a 7.0 point ride late in the heat to move into first place. Likewise Divers pulled an aerial manoeuvre to score 5.33 on his last wave and advance in second.
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Blake prepping - Image Organoff/ISA
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Ryan Hawker (Piha) got off to a good start posting a 7.00 point ride early in the heat to hold down first place until his last wave of 4.70 which extended his lead further. Hawker now faces two American surfers in his next heat however on the flip side of the coin Hewitt and Jacobs meet each other in their round three heat and will hope to team up on their opponents from Hawaii and France.
New Zealand title contenders Airini Mason (Tugun) and Paige Hareb (Tara) advanced in first place dominating their opponents. The two girls have both placed in the finals of this event before – Mason in 2006 and Hareb in 2007. High scores of 16.00 and 12.67 respectively proved that their favourite tags are well and truly in place.
Alexis Poulter (Rag) also won her heat and was the first Kiwi girl to advance posting 7.84 for the heat win. Rosa Thompson (Auck) also advanced to the second round scoring 7.77 to finish second in her heat behind the Japanese surfer.
The younger of the team members – the under 16 boys did not have it all their way after impressing on day one. Johnny Hicks (Gis) was the sole Kiwi surfer to progress to the third round while Damien Norman, Alex Dive (Mnt) and Blake Myers (WGM) all faltered after locking in one good wave but being unable to find backups.
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Haka - Image Organoff/ISA
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While Hicks moves through with the top 24 surfers the other three will have to settle for the repercharge rounds where it becomes ‘do or die’. The repercharge rounds are what is known as the ‘long road’ where surfers have to surf through ten rounds to make it to the final compared with the surfers progressing in the qualifying rounds who have to surf six times. Therefore the grommets have plenty of heat time up their sleeves in the coming days.
The 2008 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Championships takes place from the 24th of May through until the 1st of April. Live action can be viewed via the following website: http://www.isaworldchamp.com/. Action commences at approximately 6.00pm (NZ time) each night. Day three includes the second round of the under 18 girls division for New Zealand with all four girls in the water. The boys will have a rest day.
Media releases on the teams performance will be distributed daily throughout the event. For further information regarding the Rip Curl New Zealand Junior Surfing Team, please contact Ben Kennings at Surfing New Zealand 07 8250018, 0212278732 or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz.
All surfers heats have been logged and can be viewed on http://www.isaworldchamp.com/ by clicking on ‘heats on demand’.
Support faxes can be received by the team in France through the following fax number - 0033 825 380 370.
The 2008 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships is an annual event having been held since 2003. New Zealand has competed at the event since its inception as well as competing at the World Grommet Titles as it was formerly known since 1989. New Zealand has been one of the top nations at each event with Jay Quinn (Gis) securing New Zealand’s first World Championship in the Under 18 Men’s division in 2001. New Zealand also placed fourth in 2007 – it’s highest placing since 2001. The 2007 team were aided by finals berths for Matt Hewitt who placed third in the under 16 boys and Paige Hareb who placed fourth in the under 18 girls. 28 countries are competing at the event in 2008.
The tour would not be possible without the support of Rip Curl, New Zealand Community Trust and Surfing New Zealand.
Surfing New Zealand are proudly partnered by
Corona
Hyundai
SPARC
Smokefree
Ends
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