It was a feast of micro grom action on the first day of the Billabong Grom Series presented by Oceanbridge event held at Whangamata today (Saturday 9th February) with conditions testing the fortitude of the surfers in the Under 14 Boys and Girls Divisions.
The surf remained contestable all day with a solid 1.0m – 1.5m of swell and moderate onshore winds.
With sixty surfers alone across the boys and girls divisions, they occupied the best part of seven hours of action as they were whittled their way down to the final four surfers in the girls division and eight surfers in the boys division.
Sophia Brock (Mnt) surfed to the highest heat total in the girls division on her way to the final with a 12.33 point heat total. A slick 8.5 point ride for a cleanly-surfed lefthander in the semifinals saw her top event one winner, Asia Braithwaite (Gis), who advanced in second place.
In the second semifinal it was Brock’s older sister Anna who advanced out of a low scoring heat with a 6.77 point heat total which was enough to win her heat over Amanda Gouldsbury (Tara) who advanced to her first ever national final in the division.
Whangarei’s Tai Erceg – Gray continued his good summer form on day one of the event. After winning the first leg of the series at Mount Maunganui, he kept his hopes alive for back-to-back wins today advancing through to the semifinals posting an 11.0 point heat total. Erceg – Gray had a close tussle but got the nod over Bill Byers (Piha) in his quarterfinal with the two surfers set to match up again in the semifinals on Sunday where they will meet Kalani Louis (Tara) and top performing local surfer Daniel Cox.
The first semifinal of the Under 14 Boys Division will see National Champion Navryn Malone (Rag) face off against Ryder Pennington (Tara), Mathias Thompson (Piha) and Cooper Roberts (Mnt).
Late in the day the event advanced through to the Under 16 and 18 Divisions. The first major upset of the day occurred in the Under 16 Girls Division when current rankings leader Natasha Gouldsbury (Tara) found herself on the wrong side of a tight heat which saw Auckland surfers Alice Westerkamp and Summer Carkeek advance. Liv Haysom (Auck) and Ava Henderson (Chch) also advanced through to the semifinals of the division with heat wins.
Raglan’s Jayden Willoughby got the Under 16 Boys Division off to a flyer with the highest single scoring wave of the day – a 9.6 point ride as he pushed through to the Quarterfinals alongside Te Kauwhata Kauwhata (Whngrei). Jacob Buckle (Whngrei) and Jacob Saunders (Mnt) advanced out of the second semifinal. Heats are expected to run through until 8pm tonight to get through as much of the event as possible.
The surf is forecast to increase significantly throughout Sunday and max out bay at Whangamata. A call in regards to venue and order of events will be made first thing on Sunday morning when an assessment of the conditions can be made at dawn.
Please see below for results from day one of the second event of the Billabong Grom Series presented by Oceanbridge held at Whangamata today (Saturday 9th February 2019).
Under 14 Boys Division Round of 48
Heat 1
Tiger West-Hill (Gis), 7.83, 1, Otis Baxter (WGM), 6.2, 2, Jacob Walker (Auck), 1.9, 3, Jimmy Cleland (Auck), 1.67, 4
Heat 2
Ryder Pennington (Tara), 9, 1, Noah Camburn (Ohope), 5.9, 2, Levi Waller (Pauanui), 3.83, 3, Tom Curteis (Auck), N/S
Heat 3
Tava Santorik (Mnt), 12.17, 1, Dale Cromhout (Hbay), 7.23, 2, Luke Mitchell (Auck), 5.7, 3, Mali Millen (Tai), 4, 4
Heat 4
Braedon Webster (Ohope), 6.67, 1, James Charlesworth (Auck), 4, 2, Taylor Mainwaring (WGM), 2.6, 3
Heat 5
Tyce Schumacher (Mnt), 4.03, 1, Noah Jakich (Auck), 3.6, 2, Lucian Martin (Auck), 1.8, 3
Heat 6
Tana Clapham (Rag), 11, 1, Daniel Cox (WGM), 5.23, 2, Taj Dal Bosco (WGM), 4.3, 3, Hunter Ussher (WGM), 2.1, 4
Heat 7
Riku Gordon (Mah), 6.1, 1, Rory Bathhurst (WGM), 5.57, 2, Harley Waller (Pau), 3.6, 3
Heat 8
Bill Byers (Piha), 13.5, 1, Marcus Fraser-McKenzie (Mnt), 7.54, 2, PJ Klein – Ovink (Auck), 5, 3, Kaden Littlejohn (Katikati), 3.4, 4
Under 14 Boys Division Round of 32
Heat 1
Tiger West-Hill (Gis), 12.3, 1, Beau Woods (Mnt), 11.3, 2, Jack Tyro (Chch), 7.64, 3, Noah Camburn (Ohope), 5, 4
Heat 2
Ryder Pennington (Tara), 13.4, 1, Mathias Thompson (Piha), 9.77, 2, Theo Morse (Orewa), 3.97, 3, Otis Baxter (WGM), 1, 4
Heat 3
Tava Santorik (Mnt), 10.57, 1, Cooper Roberts (Mnt), 6.53, 2, Ben Milne (WGM), 5.2, 3, James Charlesworth (Auck), 2.57, 4
Heat 4
Navryn Malone (Rag), 15.7, 1, Dale Cromhout (Hbay), 5.53, 2, Charlie Harris (Mnt), 3.07, 3, Braedon Webster (Ohope), 2.33, 4
Heat 5
Tai Erceg-Gray (Whngrei), 9.5, 1, Daniel Cox (WGM), 3.57, 2, Lachie Cruikshank (Auck), 2.93, 3, Tyce Schumacher (Mnt), 0, 4
Heat 6
Will Hardie (Piha), 11.1, 1, Eden Mainwaring (WGM), 7.94, 2, Tana Clapham (Rag), 6.9, 3, Noah Jakich (Auck), 2.43, 4
Heat 7
Kalani Louis (Tara), 7.93, 1, Marcus Fraser-McKenzie (Mnt), 7.3, 2, Riku Gordon (Mah), 4.56, 3, Leo Hobson (Auck), 2.6, 4
Heat 8
Rory Bathhurst (WGM), 6.16, 1, Bill Byers (Piha), 4.33, 2, Indica Corcoran (Mnt), 3.4, 3, Tao Mouldey (Mnt), n/s
Under 14 Boys Quarterfinals
Heat 1
Cooper Roberts (Mnt), 8.33, 1, Ryder Pennington (Tara), 8.23, 2, Tiger West-Hill (Gis), 8.07, 3, Dale Cromhout (Hbay), 4.6, 4
Heat 2
Navryn Malone (Rag), 8.93, 1, Mathias Thompson (Piha), 4.6, 2, Beau Woods (Mnt), 2.57, 3, Tava Santorik (Mnt), 2.37, 4
Heat 3
Tai Erceg-Gray (Whngrei), 11, 1, Bill Byers (Piha), 10.3, 2, Marcus Fraser-McKenzie (Mnt), 8.93, 3, Will Hardie (Piha), 3, 4
Heat 4
Kalani Louis (Tara), 7.16, 1, Daniel Cox (WGM), 2.77, 2, Eden Mainwaring (WGM), 2.2, 3, Rory Bathhurst (WGM), 0, 4
Under 14 Girls Division Round 1
Heat 1
Sophia Brock (Mnt), 7.16, 1, Amanda Gouldsbury (Tara), 4.77, 2, Ariana Walker (Mnt), 3.96, 3, Chloe Groube (Pau), 3.03, 4
Heat 2
Asia Braithwaite (Gis), 8.03, 1, Mahia Braithwaite (Gis), 6.6, 2, Alani Morse (Orewa), 4.3, 3, Lily Honeycombe (WGM), 2.04, 4
Heat 3
Anna Brock (Mnt), 10.3, 1, India Kennings (WGM), 3.5, 2, Coral Woods (Gis), 2.43, 3, Lola Groube (Pau), n/s
Heat 4
Jess Haysom (Piha), 5.9, 1, Amelie Brady (Mnt), 4.26, 2, Pia Rogers (WGM), 2.9, 3, Naobi Nishida (Auck), 2.2, 4
Under 16 Girls Division Round 1
Heat 1
Liv Haysom (Piha), 8.93, 1, Brie Bennett (Rag), 7, 2, Ava Smith (Gis), 5.77, 3, Alice Webb (WGM), 2.23, 4
Heat 2
Alice Westerkamp (Auck), 4.5, 1, Summer Carkeek (Auck), 2.67, 2, Natasha Gouldsbury (Tara), 2.5, 3
Heat 3
Ava Henderson (Chch), 10.43, 1, Hannah King (Gis), 8.76, 2, Daizee Rawles (Gis), 2.63, 3
The 2019 edition of the Billabong Grom Series presented by Oceanbridge is split into three divisions for boys and girls ranging from Under 14 through to Under 18 in two year increments.
It is the fourteenth year that Billabong has sponsored the series in partnership with Oceanbridge who have been a proud long-time supporter of surfing in New Zealand.
Entry into the final Billabong Grom Series presented by Oceanbridge event can be completed here:
Event 3, 23 – 24 February, Piha Beach, Auckland
Further Information
For further information on the 2019 Billabong Grom Series presented by Oceanbridge please contact Surfing New Zealand’s Ben Kennings on 021 2278732 or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz.
Event Hotline
The Surfing New Zealand event hotline is 0211134506. This will be updated daily at approximately 7am with venue, divisions contested and conditions for the day.
Partners
Generous support from Billabong, presenting sponsors Oceanbridge, Kustom, Da Kine, Von Zipper and Amazon Surf has made this series possible.
Thanks to Whangamata Boardriders for hosting the event.
Follow the event
Follow the action via social media @billabong on Instagram and @surfingnz across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. Follow the series hashtag – #BillabongGromSeries.
Surfing New Zealand is proudly partnered by:
Sport NZ
SunSmart
Water Safety NZ
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