Surfing: Planets fall into line for summer session

All that's needed for a successful and enjoyable surf competition is a bit of sun, sand and surf; all of which came out for the Ocean Beach Boardriders' Steve Bowling Summer Session.

After almost being called off the night before because of a lack of swell, Northland surfers were treated to a day of entertaining surfing at Ocean Beach.

Saturday's event was the fourth instalment, proving surfing in Northland is on the rise, with the premier event, the men's open division, having numerous potential winners before Paco Divers snatched the win and the cash prize.

With two of New Zealand's top surfers, Divers and Joe Morretti, making the finals with former winner Joe O'Donnell, the calibre of surfing kept the large crowd entertained.

In the junior division, it was Sandy Bay's Manu Scott-Arrieta who rocketed over waves on his way to winning the division, showing he is the leader of a talented pack of up-and-coming Northland juniors.

Other junior finalists were Zane Hicks, Fraser Seymour and Matt McGregor, freshly back from the national surfing championships in Piha.

In the women's division, Heather Easterbrook was pushed hard to earn first place from Kirsty Andrews, Lee Orton and Elle Gibson.

The traditionally tricky over-40s' division lived up to its reputation with long-term surfers pulling out all their contest tricks. Tim Peers proved alpha as he rose to the top of the pack, combining a good variety of turns with the best waves of the final.

The longboard division allowed surfers to demonstrate their abilities to combine traditional and modern longboarding techniques, with Simon Eggington, from Sandy Bay, combining some neat footwork and surfing skills to score an emphatic win and a $200 travel voucher.

Ocean Beach Boardriders' Club president Rubert Newbold said: "There were fantastic conditions in the end. We always seem to get the right conditions for this contest."