February 8th 2022: 2022 Otago Champs

I've never been a big fan of surf contests, but I do love the local ones at St Clair Beach. They're kind of done in style – the esplanade creates the perfect grandstand and the restaurants, cafes and food/ice cream trucks usually get behind it all. Pattis and Cream even go as far as sponsoring a bunch of the young surfers. When you're 12 you can't get a better sponsor than a boutique ice creamery!

This year Hydro Surf Shop joined the fray as title sponsor for the 2022 Hydro Otago Surf Championships. They offered up a heap of prizes for the finalists – so good to see the local surf shop get behind the event. It's one of only a few surf shops left that stock a good range of boards and wetsuits ... and it's right there at the beach.

The Hydro Otago Champs is pretty special and for 2022 it drew some big names back to the contest arena. The legendary Felix Dickson re-emerged along with the mega-talented JC Susan. They were joined by a bunch of new Otago residents: Kai Woolf, of South Africa, Nakai Gaglione, of Hawaii, and Ese Picard, of Tahiti. At the other end of the scale we had nine-year-old Jordy Elder pull the rashie on to take the fight to Max Wooffindin and Kalani Summerton in the groms U10s and U12s.

That depth speaks volumes and echoes a path taken by surfers like eventual Open Men's champion Josh Thickpenny and women's Open Champion Kai Woolf. The two days of competition were expertly run by the team at South Coast Boardriders Association. The popularity of these events is on the rise and the new technology that puts the live heats into the hands of everyone, anywhere the instant the judges lock in their scores is bringing something truly special to spectating the sport.

Here's a bunch of faces from the 2022 Hydro Otago Surf Champs ...

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS I decided to enter the Over 45s division at the Otago Champs this year – really just to experience what a heat was like for my kids. It was my third surf heat ever in my life. I learnt five things:

1) The kids and rippers make it look easy, it's not.
2) Fifteen minutes feels more like 5 minutes.
3) I was out of breath for the full 15 minutes and I only caught one wave.
4) The nerves pre-heat are nothing compared to the nerves during the heat, and they're miniscule compared to the nerves once the five-minute flag goes up.
5) Nick Mills's pre-heat advice was to treat it more like a wave-catching contest, that didn't fully sink in until after my heat.