Water Skiing: Teen skims into nationals

Northland elite skier Toni Atkinson became the first female to take out the Head to Head slalom competition at Kai Iwi Lakes on the weekend. Photo/Supplied

Dargaville's Baden Curel is a natural when it comes to water skiing and he showed it on his home turf at the 2014 Allied Petroleum Kai Iwi 3-Event Tournament and Head to Head.

The 13-year-old was one of a bunch of Northlanders to return top results at the tournament, qualifying for the New Zealand Nationals in all three events - quite an achievement as he is still in his first year of tournament skiing.

"It's important for the Kai Iwi [Club], and Northland Water Skiing, [to have someone like Baden]," Northern Region Water Ski Association president Glen Williams said.

"All our skiers are based in Whangarei ... it has been a while since we had a good young junior come out of Dargaville. He's only just starting, but has some talent."

Williams added that Curel was likely to be part of the Northland team to travel to Auckland at Easter, looking to defend their national title for the fifth time.

"He'll be part of that Northland team which will hopefully defend their title.

"There's not many teams who have done it five times."

Joining Curel as one of the standout performers in the weekend's competition was Northland elite skier Toni Atkinson who took out the Head to Head slalom competition, along with the top cash prize and the honour of being the first female to win.

Atkinson headed off eight other competitors in the final, after the top eight slalom performances qualified for the ski off on Saturday evening.

Other Northlanders featuring in the Head to Head were Curtis Williams, third, Vaughan Williams, who came sixth, and Sarah Wainwright, eighth.

Courtney Williams, of Puhipuhi, achieved a personal best of 5.5 at 49km/h in the slalom, and 2390 in trick, in her first year in the junior girls' division.

Younger brother Mitchell also excelled with 3 at 40km/h in slalom, and 990 points in trick, in the sub junior division.

In the same division, Maddie Wainwright, of Kamo, also did her best slalom score of 5 at 37km/h and tricked 580 points.

Organisers were thankful for the weather turning for the better after gale force winds hammered Kai Iwi Lakes on Thursday and Friday last week, before calm and sunny conditions returned on Saturday - with many skiers achieving personal best scores.