Vette 49th-equal at ISA Games

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

Gisborne’s Saffi Vette  had to settle for a top 50 finish at the ISA World Surfing Games which finished in Puerto Rico over the weekend.

Vette was eliminated in repechage 3 of the women’s competition at the event which was also the final qualifier for the upcoming Paris Olympic Games  (Vette has already qualified).

She placed third in her repechage with a score of 8.4 (4.57, 3.83)  for her two best waves. Japan’s Amuro Tsuzuki won with 12.86 and Chelsea Roett, of Barbados, was second with 9.37.

Vette’s fellow Kiwi Paige Hareb was also knocked out in repechage 3.

Earlier in the contest, Vette  dropped into the repechage rounds after placing third in her Round 1 heat with a 4.30 (2.5, 1.8) score — just 0.37 behind heat winner Danielle Powis of South Africa.

Vette won her repechage 1 heat with 8.06 (4.23, 3.83) and her repechage 2 heat with 12.83 (6.83, 6.0).

Australian Sally Fitzgibbons won the women’s final with 13.1 from Brazil’s Tatiana Weston Webb (12.24),  France’s Johanne Defay (12) and Spain’s Nadia Erostarbe (9.57).

Three-time world champion Brazilian Gabriel Medina won the men’s final with 16.40 from Morocco’s Ramzi Boukhiam (15.34) and Frenchmen Kauli Vaast (14.33) and Joan Duru (7.1).

The ISA Games featured 266 surfers from 55 nations.

More than a dozen earned one of the 48 Olympic Games spots including 14-year-old Yang Siqi — the first Chinese surfer to qualifying for the Olympics and youngest overall.

The Olympic surfing competition is being held at the famous Teahupo’o break in Tahiti — over 15,700 kilometres from Paris.

 

Lola wins NZ Festival open title at just 12 years old

Twelve-year-old Pauanui surfer Lola Groube claimed the open women’s title at the New Zealand Women’s Surfing Festival at the weekend to become the youngest winner of a national surfing event.

Surfing in home waters on the Coromandel Peninsula, Groube also won the under-18 and u16 divisions, a feat only achieved once by a Kiwi at a New Zealand surfing competition.

The festival was held across the weekend at Pauanui Beach with the small surf conditions no deterrent to a friendly, fun two days of competition, connecting, skating and witnessing the public premier of surf film Over the Undertow.

The final day of the event was touch and go as the surf further decreased, but New Zealand’s top female surfers pushed through the conditions to bookend a great weekend.

At 12, Groube eclipses fellow finalist Grace Spiers, Ava Henderson and former Gisborne surfer Airini Mason as the youngest winner of an NZ Surf Series event. The other three won at the age of 14.

In yesterday’s final, Groube posted a 15.0 heat total for her two best waves in the final, relegating Spiers to runner-up after having control of the majority of the final.

An 8.5-point ride featuring a three-turn combo on her forehand turned the heat Groube’s way with two minutes remaining.

“Its pretty cool to win all three (divisions).  I’m pretty stoked,” Groube said.

Piha pair Leia Millar and Gabi Paul were third and fourth respectively in the final.