The country's top longboarders have begun to arrive in Whangarei ahead of this weekend's round of the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour at Sandy Bay. The surfers have plenty to prove in the third such event of the season, with no one surfer showing dominance over their opponents in the first tworounds. Surf conditions are looking promising with swell-generating low pressure systems developing north of New Zealand. "It might not be very big but at least there's going to be some reasonable conditions on offer," Northcoast Boardriders president Malcolm Pullman said. "The swell is building and is predicted to come up further and offshore winds for at least part of the weekend should make for some good surfing," he said. The winners of the first two events, Ohope's Dylan Barnfield and Gisborne's Daniel Proctor will want to show some consistency at this event and secure good results after both having an up and down start to the year. Despite winning an event each, Barnfield and Proctor find themselves trailing the ever consistent Thomas Kibblewhite from Auckland, who holds the lead in the open men's event. Kibblewhite is the only surfer to have competed in both finals of the 2009 tour, placed fourth at the tour opener at Mount Maunganui and runner up at the Hyundai National Championships. Christchurch's Daisy Thomas, the defending open women's champion, has built up a huge lead over her counterparts after winning the first two events, and could go three from three this weekend. The Sandy Bay event draws the biggest field of entrants for any event on the tour, meaning it's a busy weekend for the event's hosts, North Coast Boardriders. "We supply a couple of the judges and organise camping and anything that hasn't been thought of, so it turns out to be a fairly hectic weekend for the lads," Pullman said.
