SURFING - Sparkling North surfer fades in finals

Top Northland surfer Paco Divers moved up to No6 in the Crown Series ratings at the weekend after making the open men's final at Tay St, Mount Maunganui.
Divers was in sparkling form over the three days of competition, dominating the heats of the open men's competition and the under-20 men's competition.
After dazzling everyone with an exhibition of small-wave surfing at Tay St, his luck and his strength ran out in both finals.
He finished behind experienced Gisborne surfer Bobby Hansen, who was the best surfer in the final, posting 15.0 points to pip second-placed Gauranga Ormond by a mere 0.10 points.
Divers was obviously feeling the effects of his five heats on Sunday. He looked electric in his performances but fell several times and the better waves simply did not come his way.
Raglan's Luke Cederman, the biggest finalist, finished fourth.
Ormond leads the overall points series, with Gisborne's Maz Quinn second, Cederman third, Hansen fourth and Matt Hewitt fifth, all ahead of Divers at the event's halfway stage.
The new Under-20 Men's Division was dominated by Mount Maunganui juniors with Hewitt edging out Alex Dive and Tim O'Connor to take the win.
The lead changed several times throughout the final with O'Connor holding on for much of the heat. Hewitt came back with a string of manoeuvres on one small righthander that netted him 6.9 out of a possible 10 to jump into the lead.
Dive rode the very next wave requiring 6.8 points. He came up agonisingly short, scoring 6.65 that jumped him to second place on 13.25 points, only just ahead of O'Connor on 13.10.
Divers could only manage a 9.75-point total heat score in the final, to finish fourth.
Raglan surfer Jessica Santorik won the women's division yesterday after also winning the first event of the season.
Surf conditions never improved throughout the weekend with a small 0.5m-0.7m wind swell at Tay St. The sea breeze slowly built up during the day but had little effect on the small waves that rippled in.
Santorik has extended her already significant lead in the Corona Crown Series. She sits 1400 points clear of her nearest opponent, Gisborne's Jayda Martin-Fitzharris, who placed fourth. Raglan surfer Alexis Poulter was second and Piha's Mischa Davis finished third.