The groms got spoilt last week. We had a day up our sleeves after the South Island Grom Series rolled into the Catlins and it coincided with perfect conditions for a heaving barrel session or two at a favourite break. It's one of my favourite beaches because it's good for the kids out the front and a little further down the beach it is often twice the size – perfect for mums and dads.
We had a few of the Kaikoura groms lurking around with their father, none other than big wave surfer Dave Lyons. You may remember him from this epic session last year. His boys, Reuben and Sonny are deadset rippers – on par with our best Dunedin groms. They had a friend, Tyler Perry, with them – he's also pretty gifted in the surf contest stakes. A bunch of our young surfers were keeping them honest with Luke Rogers, Nixon and Jaya Reardon, the Owens brothers, Bailey Pearce and Ben Sinclair among others.
We hit the beach at the peak of the swell, but instead of the kids surfing in the corner they paddled out into the biggest peaks and traded set waves with the adults. It was about that point I realised they may be groms, but they surf better than most of the adults out there.
Reuben, 14, got some incredible barrels, making it into a lot and out of just a handful, but one was wave of the day. His younger brother Sonny is a feral little guy with a wild glint in his eye. He's just 9, but working hard to step out of the shadow of his older brother. That's a good place to be if you're really driven to give surf contests a shake. Keep an eye on both of them. Add them to the rest of the talent pool of the south and I'd say we have a pretty healthy new crop of surfers on the horizon.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS Huge congratulations to Ella Williams who won her first WQS event over the weekend at Tuncurry, NSW, and in pumping waves. Kehu Butler and Billy Stairmand also went ballistic with both making the semis and claiming third place in the Men's. Full story right here over on New Zealand Surf Journal.
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