The hopes of a best-ever finish for the Northland team in the national scholastic surfing championships rest squarely on Paco Divers' shoulders.
The current under-18 boys champion hit top gear in the competition on Thursday and continued that form yesterday, to get through to the final.
Divers' performance helped his team into
fourth place at the end of yesterday's competition but if he can win the final it will give the side a real boost after fellow Northland contenders Paul Moretti and Oliver Bone were eliminated.
Divers posted 16.67 in competition on Thursday, after the under-18 boys made a decision to head out to the point break at Middleton's Beach in Opunake.
A grunty two-metre swell obviously suited Divers, who was surfing on his backhand in the last heat of the round. "Yeah it was a good call to change the arena to the point break, it was a bit bigger and more punchy with huge walls to attack. If you were lucky you could also link through to the inside, where there were these wicked little ramps you could finish on."
Divers has stayed back in New Zealand to defend his title instead of competing on the Australasian Pro Junior Series. ``It is my last year (in the U-18s) so I thought it would be awesome to go out with a bang, defend my title and stay at home, chill out and have a bit of a rest before heading to the worlds in France later this month.'
Bone exited the U-18 boys competition, while Moretti was knocked out of the U-16s and Kaitaia's Jessie Anderson in the girls' U-18 semi-finals. Demi Poynter survived to reach today's final, while Patxi Scott-Arrieta in the under-14 boys, could still help Divers lift the Northland team's performance.
