Over the next week, Mount Maunganui will be home to New Zealand’s first Wingfoil World Tour event.
Global competitors were welcomed at Whareroa Marae on Friday night with a special opening ceremony to mark the start of the competition.
Dutch competitor Bowien van der Linden arrived one week ago.
“I’ve been to Raglan, I’ve done some hikes, so I’ve been enjoying the beautiful country.
“I’m excited. I’ve never been here before.”
Spanish wingfoiler Ancora Sosa has spent the last four days travelling and practising for the start of the competition.
Asked about his chances of winning, Sosa said: “We will see depending on the conditions. But we will try our best.”
One competitor, 14-year-old Josh Collins from Whakatāne, can’t wait to compete with his idols.
“This competition is the GWA Wingfoil World Tour and it’s coming to Tauranga, which is awesome. It’s all the top riders from the world,” he said.
Collins described the sport as being like surfing, but with a totally different kind of balance.
“With surfing, you’re only catching waves, and you have to wait for them. But wingfoiling … if you’ve got some wind, there’s endless opportunity. You can ride waves and [get] big air.”
While the sport is relatively new, its popularity is growing fast.
“I’ve been doing wingfoiling for three years. We got one of the first wings in the market; it wasn’t great, but we just got out there every single time there was wind,” he said.
“I’ve done so many sports before and tried to find my groove, my sport, and I’ve finally found my buzz. Every single time I go out wingfoiling, I come back smiling.”
Collins says there’s no shortage of great spots for wingfoiling in the Bay of Plenty.
“Mount Main Beach is where most of the waves are, but when it gets really rough and the waves get too big, I like to hide in the bay in the harbour and go to Kulim Park at high tide,” he said.
“Ōhiwa Harbour is a really good place to learn how to wingfoil - that’s where I learnt how to wingfoil. Coastlands Beach in Whakatāne is really fun, and Ōhope Beach is really good for waves.”
The future of the sport looks promising, with organisers hoping to see it become an Olympic event in the future.
“I just want to take it to the next level. I want to compete in the world tour and eventually take it to the Olympics. That’s absolutely my dream,” said Collins.
The Wingfoil World Tour runs until Friday, March 10 at Mount Maunganui’s main beach.
The jury's marathon deliberations ran for two weeks.