New Zealand’s final national event launches in small surf
Backdoor BayBash
NZ Pro Series (3 star), NZ Grom Series (4 star)
Waimarama Beach or Te Awanga, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
31 October – 1 November 2015
Small Waves Challenge Surfers at Final National Event of Yea
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 31 October, 2015 - The first day of the Backdoor BayBash endured small surf conditions for New Zealand’s top surfers at Waimarama Beach, Hawkes Bay. Despite the small beach break conditions of less than 1.0m, the majority of the top seeds advanced through to the final day of the event to be contested on Sunday.
The Open Men’s Division as dominated by junior surfers with several of the New Zealand Junior Surfing Team progressing through to the semifinals. Those surfers included Kehu Butler (Mnt), Daniel Farr (Tara), Harrison Whiteside (Chch), Callum Chuter (Mnt) and Taylor Hutchison (Rag).
The senior guys were not to be outdone however with Tane Wallis and Matt Hewitt both winning their match ups, Wallis with a 12.17 point heat total and Hewitt with a 10.7 point heat total. The two surfers match up in the semifinals where they are joined by Whiteside and Chuter.
Hawkes Bay local Bronson Primmer was the only surfer from the region to advance through to the second day of the event. Primmer was active in his two match ups finding the right waves that connected through to the inside and tomorrow he will come up against a trio of groms in Butler, Farr and Hutchison.
Bianca Sansom (Auck) made the most of the conditions in the Open Women’s Division posting a round-high 11.27 point heat total to advance to the semifinals and avoid a match up with her sister Gabriella who also won her heat. Gabriella will now face Ella Williams (WGM) in the semifinals along with Whangarei surfer Billie Scott while Bianca will take on Raiha Ensor (Mnt) and Britt Kindred (Mur).
Almost 40 heats were contested throughout the day with many of the grommets surfing multiple heats in multiple divisions just to get through the 120 entries. Both Britt Kindred and Raiha Ensor progressed through to the semifinals in three divisions. Several of the boys progressed through two rounds in the junior divisions and will be doing double time on the final day of the event when conditions are expected to improve and the swell expected to build slightly.
Action will take place from 8:00am – 4:00pm on Sunday with a call on the event venue made first thing in the morning.
The Backdoor BayBash is an extension of the successful Backdoor GromBash event that has been held at Raglan for the past two years. The event is the final national event of the year for all competitors. It is the second year that the event has been held.
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