40th national crown to Gisby

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Gisborne surfer John Gisby claimed his 40th national title when he won the men’s over-70 division at the national championships at Dunedin yesterday.
Gisby caught five waves in the final, and his two best were the second (for 5.50 points) and the fourth (for 8.00pts), giving him a 13.5 heat total.
Gisborne Boardriders Club surfers swept the podium, with Ross Moodie taking second place with scores of 2.75 and 5.15 for a total of 7.90, and Benny Hutchings taking third with a score 
of 6.75.
Four surfers entered the division. Fourth placed was Lion Rock Boardriders’ Clive Barron, with a score of 2.75.
Gisby won his first national title at Gisborne, when he took the senior men’s division in 1984, the year Iain Buchanan won the second of his five consecutive open men’s titles.
Gisby’s last title before this year was at Piha in 2021, in the over-60 division. He has won two titles at the same national championships 11 times, by entering his own age group and at least one age group below.
In other results from yesterday, former Gisborne surfer Reuben Woods, now a member of Papamoa Boardriders, won the over-40s men’s final with a score of 13.95 — only 0.25 ahead of the runner-up. Woods was also third in the over-30s final. 
Hutchings was eliminated in the semifinals of the over-60s division.
Gisborne’s Stella Smith is in action today in the final of the women’s stand-up paddleboard.