February 9th 2021: Otago Champs

We may have been a bit ripped off as far as weather goes this summer, but hard to fault Waitangi Weekend in the south. It also happened to be the Otago Surf Champs weekend with an interesting swarm of swells making the surf conditions at Blackhead pretty much perfect for comp surfing.

Held over two days the competition was fierce with some huge controversies arising from some of the more savvy competitors. They seemed intent on pushing the rule book to its breaking point. It's not nice to be on the receiving end of one of these moments, but I have to say it does make you realise just how much of a mental game a surf heat is. Local ripper Luke Murphy was the central villain in a couple of exchanges – exploiting the rules on one occasion to have another surfer penalised. In the process he created a huge debate along the shoreline. Was he in the right? Was he within the rules? Was it sportsmanlike? Did the judges make the right call? All exciting stuff that is testament to just how competitive it gets out there hunting waves against each other.

In the second exchange, Luke on Reuben Peyroux, both were burdened with a double interference – that bascially means you have almost no chance of winning a heat with your second-best score halved. Both were at fault, but Luke, ever the competitor, gave Reuben a serve that rattled the one surfer who had been so consistent all through the preliminary rounds. Luke had got to him.

The mind games aside, the surfing was incredible to watch – including an all Queen's High School Open Women's final with three students pitted against their teacher, Tash Civil. Anika Ayson managed to take the prime Open Women Championship title (along with the Junior Women's title) with Jack McLeod winning the Open Men's.

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS Full results right here over on the South Coast Boardriders page.