Comment
Share
Posted on Friday February 19th 2010 at 6:00 a.m.
Tweet
There was not much swell on the coro but enough to get cool pics.
We found an awesome cave to shade our southern white pins from the sunshine.
Billabong Pro at Whangamata hosted the first contest on my calendar and the second of the Surfing New Zealand Summer Shortboard Series. What a mouth full. Last year this very contest was postponed to a later date as the waves were not offering anymore than a knee high grovel. It was a shame to travel as far as I and others from the south did but you can't help natures plan and this time Huey wasn't willing to cough up any waves for the weekend. Twenty Ten on the other hand is another story, we were blessed with plenty of waves for the entire weekend and although onshore, the waves were still super fun.
Having a contest on a beach break with so many variables including random peaks, big paddle outs (unless you timed it perfect) and unpredictability gives it so much more excitement as the athlete really needs to be in perfect sync with the ocean and work really hard to make it through to the next challenging round. The highlight during this weekend I felt was seeing the level of females. Having a break over winter and coming back to the scene to find the young ladies who were surfing well last summer and starting to step it up have really stepped it up.
In action at Billabong Pro. Cory / NZ Surfing Magazine.
I came out with a 2nd place which was a cool start to the season. Tom and I then moved on up to Sandy Bay in the far north for the 1st leg of the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour. Waitangi weekend, and unfortunately it fell on a Saturday so there were no long weekends for some but again, just like every year in Sandy Bay there was a swell pumping through. The surf was to be gradually dropping during the week. It was a solid 4ft the whole week until the Saturday where it had dropped off quite considerably to 2ft and it stayed that consistency through until Sunday when the finals were held and the competitors blew up!
Sandy Bay Peeler. Image by PhotoCPL
I didn't feel quiet on form during my heats, it wasn't until I changed my fin set up and put the secret combo in the back of my Mickey T high performance model longboard that I started feeling much more comfortable and in sync with turning and running to the nose. Being comfortable on your equipment and having something that works for you is key, it takes a wee bit of experimenting but once the combo becomes clearer your surfing becomes a whole lot easier. The final consisted of Mischa Davis, Nava Young, Claire Norman and myself. I felt relaxed and content and surfed my way to first place. It must have been a close final, Meesh was ripping, linking smooth turns all the way through. It was pretty tough surfing in the deteriorating conditions.
On a separate note, off the subject of surfing, yesterday was a rather big day for me as I caught my very first fish fishing! Tom's uncle Chris took us for a good mission around the beautiful bays on the coromandle where the golden sand glows white and the turquoise ocean reflects the light, clear as I saw a stingray glide on by and the cheeky seagulls were trying to steel the bait as we sat patiently for a bite. I liked it, it was my first real time fishing and I felt being a kiwi lass I should really know how to fish. We are currently on our course south so it wont be long until it is back home to cooler waters.
Take It easy!