Long-boarding to the world champs

Gisborne’s Hannah Kohn shows the style that won her the open women’s title at the New Zealand Festival of Longboarding contest at Papamoa over the wekeend. Picture courtesy of Coastal Surf Images.

Gisborne surfer Hannah Kohn saved her best to last and booked a trip to the ISA world championships at the New Zealand Festival of Longboarding contest at Papamoa on Sunday.

Kohn, 27, won the open women’s title  while fellow Gisborne surfer Dan Croskery was third in the open men’s final and second in the over-40s men’s division.

Another Tairāwhiti surfer, Te Waiotu Fairlie, was third in the under-18 girl’s final.

Kohn’s win earned her a place in the New Zealand longboarding team for the Internatonal Surfing Association World Longboarding Championships in El Salvador in April.

The final day of the event (Sunday 18th February) was played out in clean 1.0m waves at the Papamoa Domain —the perfect platform for New Zealand’s best longboarders to show their talent.

Kohn dominated proceedings to win the final with 15.30 (7.3, 8.0) out of a possible 20  for her two best waves.

It left her opponents requiring a combination of scores to catch her.

“Papamoa turned it on — fun waves, warm water, offshore most of the day and a really good vibe overall, and it was good to meet some of the legends of the sport here this weekend with me being new to the scene in this area,” Kohn said.

“In the final, the ocean really provided for me. I lucked into a few that ran and managed to put two scores together.”

Gabi Paul (Piha) secured second with 9.73 which was enough to see her also gain selection, alongside Kohn,for the New Zealand longboard team .

Earlier in the festival, Kohn won her quarterfinal with an 11.10 total, with Tolaga Bay teenager Fairlie second. The pair met again in the semifinals with Kohn coming out on top with 14.24 and Fairlie third on 8.46.

Auckland’s Matt Newdick won the open men’s final with 13.77 — just 0.6 ahead of Whangārei’s Tom Kibblewhite — and also earned a spot in the New Zealand team for the worlds.

Croskery was third on 10.53.

Kibblewhite was leading late in the final but Newdick sneaked past with a 6.67 ride to go with his earlier 7.10.

“It was a pretty special weekend away. It’s the people at the event that make it, all the guys that made it happen,” said Newdick,

“I think every heat that I had was pretty scrappy so it was nice to hear that final score of mine come out over the speaker and for me to take the lead late in the final and eventual win.”

Newdick also won his semifinal with an impressive 17.13 score while Croskery was second with 16.24.

That semi featured the highest single wave score of the contest — 9.13 by Newdick.

Whangārei’s Phil Morris won the over-40s final with 16.73, highlighted by a nose ride into a powerful drop knee cutback for an

8.50 wave.

Croskery was second on 14.50 and Kibblewhite third on 13.94.

Fairlie qualified for the u18 girls’ final with an 11.54 total for second in her semifinal.

She posted 8.36 in a closely-contested  final won by Christchurch’s Lucy Macefield with 9.83 from local Ariana Walker (8.63).

Meanwhile, Gisborne’s Saffi Vette and the rest of the New Zealand team headed to Puerto Rico for the ISA World Surfing Games, starting at the end of the week.

The New Zealand team are Billy Stairmand (Raglan), Kehu Butler (Mount Maunganui) and Elliot Paerata-Reid (Piha) in the men’s divisions and Paige Hareb (Taranaki), Pia Rogers (Whangamatā) and Vette in the women’s division.

Team coach is Matt Scorringe and manager is Michelle Rellis.

The Games are the final Paris Olympic Games qualifying event. Vette has already made the New Zealand squad for the Games surfing being held at Tahiti’s Teahupoo break.