Lots of talent on those waves

Sandy Bay's Manu Scott-Arrieta continued to ride the wave of success when he dominated the Under-14 Boys division at the Hyundai National Surfing Championships at St Clair Beach in Dunedin.
The 13-year-old took out the youngest national age group title contested at the four-day event in colder and wilder waters than he is used to in Northland, but he did so with vigour and style.
Scott-Arrieta's final on Sunday was highlighted by a long righthander which added to his total heat score of 14.0 to pip Gisborne rival Korbin Hutchings for the win. A dejected Hutchings finished in second place ahead of Christchurch's Harrison Whiteside in third and Jack Wilson in fourth.
"It was a pretty good competition. It was cold and there were seals in the water. It was fun. There were only two surfers from the North Island in my division and the rest were from the South Island. It was a tough contest," he said. "The first couple of days were pretty big and then it turned small and messy, I was competing on the last two days of the competition and coped well with the conditions."
Last year, Scott Arrieta won the Billabong Grom Series Under-12 Boys' division and this weekend he will go into battle in the first event of the 2011 series at Mount Maunganui.
Other Northland performers included Mimiwhangata's Joe Moretti, who had a successful nationals campaign. He placed fourth in the Under-18 Boys division on 7.47 points, behind Raglan's Ben Poulter on 13.87, Piha's Tane Wallis on 12.17, and Gisborne's Jacob Kohn, on 10.93.
Joe's younger brother, Paul, performed well at the nationals, and was runner-up in the Under-16 Boys with 8.63 points to Whangamata's Dune Kennings, who had a clear lead in the division with 13.5 points.
Mangawhai's Matt Cockayne was also runner-up in the Men's Longboard final, finishing behind Auckland's Thomas Kibblewhite.
Meanwhile, Gisborne's Jay Quinn surfed to his second national title in four years, defeating his brother, Maz, in the process, stopping his run for a record five titles.
Jay Quinn was unstoppable in the Open Men's final posting a near-perfect 18.0 point heat score out of a possible 20 points in a dramatic final. Quinn has now won the first two events on the SOL Series and takes a big ratings lead over his Kiwi counterparts.
Quinn's run of form has been exceptional of late after winning a SOL Surf Series event at home in November and now the nationals to remain undefeated. He opened the final with a 9.17-point ride and held the lead for the 25-minute duration before scoring an 8.83 on his last good wave to extend his lead further.
NZ's highest-ranked surfer at 65th in the world, Richard Christie from Mahia took to the air on several waves to match Quinn but came up short with a 16.53-point heat total finishing in second place. Maz Quinn finished with a 14.07-point heat total, needing a near-perfect 9.94 point ride that was always going to be challenging in the fickle, wind- blown 0.5m waves.