Surfing: Hareb happy to relax at home

Taranaki surfer Paige Hareb. Photo / File.

Going home for a hot shower and some home cooking is not something top Taranaki surfer Paige Hareb gets to do very often, but this week the World Women's Qualifying Series (WQS) is in town.

Yesterday morning Paige's second place in her heat at the Port Taranaki Pro at Fitzroy Beach was enough to get her into round five of the event, along with fellow Kiwis Ella Williams and Sarah Mason.

It's a more relaxing pace than her hectic global schedule, which sees her surfing in six WQS events and 10 World Championship Tour (WCT) events held in exotic locations such as Hawaii, Portugal and next week's competition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

For the past three years the Taranaki event has been a WCT event (where just one Kiwi wildcard was able to compete), but this year it is a WQS event, something about which Paige is pleased. "It's great that there are more people here from the province able to compete in the event." The top six finishers in the WQS each year get to be among the 17 women competing for the WCT, of which Hareb has been contesting for the past six years.

Still just 23, Hareb's six years on the WCT was preceded by years of competition to qualify for the WCT tour, making her a veteran of the circuit. It's a lifestyle for which she still has to pinch herself. "When I first qualified at 17, I didn't realise that I was the first Kiwi woman to do it. Looking back it's been pretty amazing - there has been so many great moments on tour."

The youngest in a family of three, Hareb's parents have been instrumental to her success, both for moral and financial support. "Especially the years in which I was competing in the WQS events I was solely reliant on my parents." This year, however, things are looking up. "The ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals) has new ownership, and they've doubled the prize money for the women's events." Hareb estimates that it costs her around $75,000 per year to stay on the tour, so results are crucial. Her current ranking is 12th out of the 17 women on tour, with her best result to date an 8th place in 2009.

The other big change in the WCT is the meteoric rise in standard of women's surfing. "Over the past decade, and even more so in the past five years, the performance level of women's surfing has increased exponentially," says Dane Jordan, general manager, ASP, Australasia. "In fact, the progression level has been quicker than the men's."

This year the WCT event at Cloudbreak, Fiji could see the women competing in 8-10 foot waves over shallow coral reefs. "The women go out in conditions I would think twice about," says Jordan.

It means Hareb has to not only be super fit, but also able to hold her breath for long periods underwater. "When you fall off in really big waves you have to be relaxed, because it's like being in a washing machine underwater for ages, and you can't do much about it. I do a bit of breath-hold training - holding on to weights underwater as long as I can."

Hareb is critical of the way the ASP has treated the women's tour compared with the men's championship in the past. "For a couple of years I was starting to get a little bit bored with it - I wasn't too happy about the events we were going to and the poor quality waves that were surfing. The new ASP has promised us good waves and better equality, because the women usually get the worst waves if both women and men are at the same event."

But Hareb is optimistic about the state of women's surfing in New Zealand. "Over the last few years there has been a huge increase in the numbers of girls in the surf. It's great to see."