By Ben Kennings – Surfing New Zealand – www.surfingnz.co.nz

A move to Ruapuke Beach south of Raglan was not enough to stop local Raglan surfer Billy Stairmand from claiming the Rip Curl Pro presented by Nature Valley today (Saturday, March 12th). 

The Rip Curl Pro presented by Nature Valley is the fifth of six events on the SOL Surf Series with the final event to be contested in early April. It is an invitational event for the top rated surfers in New Zealand post today’s results. 

It is the third time Stairmand has won the Rip Curl Pro, both previous victories (2008, 2009) coming at his more favoured break of Manu Bay.  Today Stairmand had to contest small 0.5 m to 1 m waves fanned by light winds at Ruapuke Beach.  The conditions could not be further from what is expected when Stairmand takes his place in the Rip Curl Padang Cup in Bali in July of this year – an invitation he receives as a result of his victory today.

Full story here 

Nothing the Kiwi’s mustered up could stop the run of the international surfers at the final event of the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour completed at Port Waikato today (Saturday, March 5th) with Taylor Jensen (USA) winning the event and Josh Constable (AUS) winning the overall Tour, the first time an international surfer has achieved the feat. 

The final day of the tour started out in clean 1 m waves before the West Coast yet again turned into a raging ocean with waves in excess of 2 m hitting the shoreline.  The rain put a dampener on much of the day but the action in the water was spectacular. 

After winning three events of three this year, Tour Champion, Constable had to settle for second place today after Jensen surfed to a 15.50 point heat total in the final.

Full story HERE

Gisborne surfers stormed to victory at the final event of the Billabong Grom Series presented by Oceanbridge completed at Piha today (Sunday, February 27th) taking three of the six divisions contested.

Adam Grimson and Jayda Martin - Fitzharris won their respective under 16 divisions in 1.5 m waves on the Piha sandbar.  The two were also joined by Dayna Story who won the Under 14 Girls Division.

Despite the Gisborne wins from Grimson and Martin - Fitzharris, the series was won by Whangamata surfers Dune Kennings and Ella Williams, Kennings making it through to the semifinals before being eliminated by Grimson and runner up Sean Kettle (Tara).  Williams placed runner up to Martin – Fitzharris in the Under 16 Girls Final. 

Upcoming events

March 19-20, Maz Quinn’s Quiksilver King of the Groms – Gisborne

March 23-29, ASP O’Neill Cold Water Classic – Gisborne

The first ISA Level 1 Coaching Course of the year took place at Raglan on the February 26 to 27.  Nineteen participants completed the course to gain their Level One accreditation.  The next course scheduled to take place is for the end of October. 

Paige Hareb has donated one of her surfboards to help raise money for the devastating Christchurch earthquake that struck the South Island of New Zealand.  To cap it off, Paige got the board signed by close to thirty of the best surfers in the world while she was competing at the Quiksilver Pro on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Check the images and action here

The 2010 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Championship held at Piha Beach, Auckland in January last year has this week been named as a finalist in the New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards.

The event, staged by Surfing New Zealand, was widely praised as the best ISA event that many nations had ever attended with praise also coming from ISA President Fernando Aguerre and his Vice Presidents as one of the most well organised events they had been involved with.