Taking to the waves at Ocean Beach

Budding talent will be on display at the Ocean Beach Boardriders Club Summer Session - a new open competition for Northland surfers.
Ocean Beach Boardriders were established five years ago, and Sunday's competition at Ocean Beach will be the first open contest, and the biggest, the club has hosted, club secretary Wendy Newbold said.
"There is so much talent up here in Northland, especially among the youngsters, we thought we would open a competition right up for anyone to enter. There is not much of an arena in Northland for competitive surfing and people have to travel a long way to contests," she said.
"We want to raise the profile of competitive surfing and show people it's a fun thing to do."
While the Ocean Beach Boardriders competitions were not particularly cut-throat, it provided an outlet where people could push their surfing.
North Island over-40s and 50s longboard champ Viv Treacy, as well as the NI women's longboard title holder Kirstie Thomson, will head their respective divisions at the event on their home beach, along with club president Rupert Newbold and Clinton Ashill, who have competed on the national circuit previously. Registration is at the Ocean Beach lookout from 8am on Sunday, before junior heats (under-18s), women, longboard, seniors (over-40) and open divisions
heats get underway. The contest is open to all and the club want to keep the entry fee low, so it is $5 per division for non-club members.