Kiwi Junior Surfing Team Rally Late To Push Through

Photo - Surfing NZ

The New Zealand Junior Surfing Team made a late afternoon charge at the 2015 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship today (Friday 16th October) to progress half the team through to the fifth day of the event.

In small 1.0m waves affected by light onshore winds, the Kiwi’s got the day off to a slow start losing several surfers by lunch time before Kaya Horne (Mnt/Aus) and Kehu Butler turned the team fortunes around with heat progressions in the Under 16 Boys Division.

Butler had a contentious heat win after the waves he caught on the starting hooter were missed by the judges.  The waves were subsequently reviewed and scored, Butler posting an 11.47 point heat total to advance to the third round. 

The mix up did not bother the talented young surfer who feels he is now familiarising himself with the Oceanside Beach line-up and stiff international competition.  

“I feel like I've started to get in sync with some of the better waves and the best positions to sit on both banks at the moment so everything is good so far” said Butler.

“I don't mind the bad conditions because it reminds me of the Mount” he said adding “how soft and small it is gives me that upper advantage on others, and helps build my confidence.”

Horne left his run until the dying stages of the heat when he had to bounce his way to the inside on a whitewash wave to find a reform and the small two-point ride he required for an advancing position.

The two surfers have a massive task ahead of them if they want to advance out of day five tomorrow.  Both surfers will be required to surf four heats to advance to the penultimate day of the event.

Also performing well in the Under 16 Division were our girls Raiha Ensor and Elin Tawharu also of Mount Maunganui.

Ensor won her second round match up with a few big close-out turns to advance to Round 3.

“The conditions are very tricky here. Today I surfed on the low tide which meant there were quite a lot of close-outs and the surfers that could find the corners would progress. I was surfing in similar conditions two days ago which sort of helped” said the young surfer who plans to hunt out the quality wider waves that offer up more than one turn when she enters the water again tomorrow.

Elin Tawharu followed Ensor in to the third round placing second in her heat.

Callum Chuter (Mnt) and Jasmine Smith (Gis) are the last two surfers in the Under 18 Division.  Smith started the day out with a win for the team and she advanced to the third round.  She will need another two good performances tomorrow if she is to challenge for her ninth placing she achieved in 2014.

“I'll keep trying to get those quick starts and just getting on the best waves. Hopefully the surf is a bit more fun tomorrow” said a relaxed Smith.

Callum Chuter again found himself on the end of a rare peeling lefthander that helped him advance in second place today but not before playing defence for the last five minutes of the heat to prevent the Costa Rican surfer from advancing.

“I plan to just surf my own heats, today was a really scrappy heat I had to block the guy in third for five minutes and I don't really like those heats so hopefully tomorrow I can surf more rather than hassle” said Chuter.

Eliminated from the Under 18 Boys Division today were Harrison Whiteside (Chch) who finished 57th in the Under 18 Boys Division and Taylor Hutchison who finished 65th.

In the Under 16 Boys Division, Jonas Tahwaru (Mnt) finished 65th while Daniel Farr finished 81st.

Britt Kindred also bowed out of the Under 18 Girls Division finishing 33rd.

The team are currently ranked 13th and will need a big push over the next three days to surpass their 2014 ranking of tenth.

The team is competing at Oceanside Beach from 11th – 18th October.  A record 36 countries are in attendance at the event with over 320 entrants across Under 18 and Under 16 Divisions for both boys and girls.

Please see below for results from day four of the 2015 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championship held at Oceanside Beach, California, USA today (Friday 16th October).

Under 18 Boys Repechage Round 2
Heat 14
Eliot Napias, TAH, 10.13, 1, Jose Lopez, VEN, 8.87, 2, Taylor Hutchinson, NZL, 6.77, 3, Max Payne, WAL, 6.67, 4

Under 18 Boys Repechage Round 3
Heat 1
Mauiki Raioha, TAH, 12.34, 1, Felipe Rodriguez, ECU, 10.90, 2, Luis Rey Hernandez, MEX, 7.23, 3, Harrison Whiteside, NZL, 5.60, 4
Heat 3
Poenaiki Raioha, TAH, 13.50, 1, Callum Chuter, NZL, 8.40, 2, Dennis Picado, CRI, 6.30, 3, Gonçalo Fragoso, GER, 6.17, 4


Under 18 Girls Repechage Round 2
Heat 1
Jasmine Smith, NZL, 8.77, 1, Nagisa Tashiro, JPN, 7.83, 2, Gabriela Rubi, PUR, 5.13, 3, Ignacia Soto, CHI, 2.20, 4
Heat 8
Sophie McCulloch, AUS, 13.33, 1, Jolari Carrera, PUR, 5.24, 2, Britt Kindred, NZL, 4.63, 3, Adela Recordon, CHI, 2.20, 4


Under 16 Boys Repechage Round 2
Heat 3
Malakai Martinez, CRI, 10.40, 1, Sean Foerstar, CAN, 8.26, 2, Agustín Cedeño, PAN, 6.00, 3, Daniel Farr, NZL, 5.83, 4
Heat 5
Dexter Muskins, AUS, 12.14, 1, Eno James, UK, 7.50, 2, Jonas Tawharu, NZL, 5.04, 3, Neo Escaler, COL, 4.74, 4
Heat 11
Yuji Nishi, JPN, 14.33, 1, Kaya Horne, NZL, 6.20, 2, Axel Sain Sandoval, MEX, 5.73, 3, Kit Innes, UK, 5.50, 4
Heat 13
Kehu Butler, NZL, 11.47, 1, Arpad Leclère, BEL, 5.80, 2, Erick Ismael Cruz Chavez, NIC, 5.13, 3, David Wenzel, GER, 4.27, 4


Under 16 Girls Repechage Round 2
Heat 4
Raiha Ensor, NZL, 9.40, 1, Noa Lelior, ISR, 7.10, 2, Ana Laura Gonzalez, MEX, 5.33, 3, Marie Kathleen Milner, NOR, 1.76, 4
Heat 6
Anat Lelior, ISR, 7.80, 1, Elin Tawharu, NZL, 5.97, 2, Maria Cristina Orellana, ECU, 3.03, 3, Rheanna Rosenbaum, BEL, 2.47, 4

Approximate times for day three heats (NZT):

Podium One (live webcast)
6:55am – Kaya Horne – Under 16 Boys Repechage Round 3
7:10am – Kehu Butler – Under 16 Boys Repechage Round 3
**more heats depending on progression of Kiwi surfers

Podium Two (live scores)
3:45am – Callum Chuter – Under 18 Boys Repechage Round 4
6:00am – Jasmine Smith – Under 18 Girls Repechage Round 3
8:15am – Raiha Ensor – Under 16 Girls Repechage Round 3
8:30am – Elin Tawharu – Under 16 Girls Repechage Round 3
**More heats depending on progression of Kiwi surfers

The World Junior Surfing Championships is an annual event having been held since 2003.  New Zealand has competed at the event since its inception as well as competing at the World Grommet Titles as it was formerly known since 1989.

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