Written by Ben Kennings, Thursday, 26 May 2011
The Rip Curl New Zealand Junior Surfing Team fought back under sudden-death circumstances in the repechage rounds on the fourth day of competition at the 2011 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Peru overnight (Thursday 26th May).
Eight of the twelve team members were in action with five surfers progressing through their heats to stay alive in 1.0m waves at Punta Hermosa, Lima, Peru.
After unexpectedly losing his second round qualifying heat on day two of the event, Ben Poulter (Raglan) stormed back to life today. Poulter secured two emphatic wins at the main podium.
“It was good to win both my heats today. I was super nervous but the waves were fun and I got some good scores. Hopefully I can get a roll on from here” said Poulter.
After winning the first heat scoring 9.13, Poulter surfed his third round match up late in the day posting 13.66 out of a possible 20 points to defeat surfers from Venezuela, Portugal and Barbados.
Surfing at Senoritas – the left-hand point break, Poulter smashed several big back hand turns for his highest scoring ride of 7.33 points.
Poulter moves through to the fourth round now where he will continue the long road to the finals. A massive swell is forecast to hit Punta Hermosa late in the week which has organisers scrambling to get the event completed by Saturday – a scenario that has Poulter baffled.
“It is not going to be big until Sunday and they finish the comp on Saturday. I would love to surf a heat in the bigger waves but I don’t think that will happen.”
Poulter’s fellow team mates in the Under 18 Qualifying Round had yet another lay day but will be back in the water on Friday morning (New Zealand time).
Grace Spiers (WGM) continued on the good Kiwi form for the girls, surfing to the second highest heat score of the girls division – 17.50 out of a possible 20 points and an easy heat win.
In what team coach Lee Ryan described as ‘a text book heat’, Spiers got off to a good start posting scores of 6.17 and then an excellent 8.33 point ride. Spiers then went on to surf to the fifth highest single scoring ride of the girls division – 9.17 points out of ten to stamp her mark on the heat.
Spiers will face surfers from Japan, Costa Rica and Brazil in her next match up tomorrow morning.
Unfortunately Ella Williams (WGM) and Alexis Poulter (Rag) did not follow suit with Spiers and were eliminated from the event. Williams had her chances in her heat but uncharacteristically fell on several waves limiting her opportunities and finishing third, an agonising 0.07 points behind the Costa Rican surfer in second.
Williams finished the event in 49th place.
Poulter also finished the event in 49th place overall. After a tight heat that saw her score 5.77 points on her last wave, short of the 6.57 points required for progression, she finished the heat in third place behind the two Brazilian surfers.
In the Under 16 Boys Division Elliot Paerata – Reid (Piha), Paul Moretti (Mimiwhangata) and Adam Grimson (Gis) all secured hard fought second placings to keep their hopes alive.
Paerata – Reid got the ball rolling progressing alongside the local Peruvian surfer scoring 8.46 to place second in his heat. After losing his first heat of the event through what he described as “getting lost at sea” he feels that he is starting to understand the break better and “getting the hang of it.”
Paerata – Reid will be looking forward to the next round surfing against surfers from France, South Africa and the United Kingdom where he will have to be on his game for progression.
“The hassling in the heats is heavy, the worst I have ever seen but I am rearing to go and I want to get through a lot more heats yet” said Paerata – Reid.
Moretti scored 8.46 out of a possible 20 points in his heat to progress alongside American surfer Colin Moran and will now face surfers from USA, South Africa and Germany in his next match up.
Grimson was the third surfer to move through in second place and will now face surfers from Hawaii Puerto Rico and Argentina.
Dune Kennings was the sole Kiwi in the Under 16 Boys Division to get eliminated from the event after placing fourth in his heat and finishing the event in 61st place.
The Rip Curl New Zealand Junior Surfing Team includes surfers from six regions throughout New Zealand with the small surf town of Whangamata providing three surfers, Northland, Auckland, Raglan, Gisborne all providing two surfers a piece with one representative from Mount Maunganui.
The event is being held at Punta Hermosa, Lima, Peru from the 21st – 29th May with two arenas catering for a record 276 surfers from 27 countries competing at the event.
Day five of the 2011 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship starts overnight Thursday (1:00am, 27th May). You can catch the entire event live via www.isawjsc.com.
Day five schedule (New Zealand time)
Podium One
12:30am Under 18 Girls Repechage Round 3
1:10am Heat 3 with Grace Spiers
2:30am Under 16 Boys Repechage Round 3
2:50am Heat 2 with Elliot Paerata – Reid
3:30am Heat 4 with Paul Moretti
3:50am Heat 5 with Adam Grimson
4:30am Under 18 Girls Repechage Round 4
Kiwi heats to be confirmed after Round 3
6:30am Under 18 Boys Repechage Round 4
7:50am Heat 5 with Ben Poulter
Podium Two
12:30am Under 18 Girls Qualifying Round 3
Heat 4 with Jayda Martin – Fitzharris
2:30am Under 16 Boys Qualifying Round 3
4:30am Under 18 Boys Qualifying Round 3
4:30am Heat 1 with Todd Doyle
5:30am Heat 4 with Tane Wallis
6:50am Heat 8 with Joe Moretti
7:10am Under 16 Boys Repechage Round 4
Heat to be confirmed after Repechage Round 3
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Ben Poulter interview Kiwis in the stands – Image ISA/Gonzalez
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Elliot Paerata – Reid – Image ISA/ Rommel
Please see below for results from the fourth day of the 2011 Quiksilver World Junior Surfing Championship being held in Peru.
Under 18 Boys Repechage Round 2
Heat 11
1, 9.13, Ben Poulter, NZL, 2, 6.47, Jose Lozano Diaz, ECU, 3, 3.57, Louis Josek, GER, 4, 2.93, Vasco Fragoso, GER
Under 18 Boys Repechage Round 3
Heat 5
1, 13.66, Ben Poulter, NZL, 2, 5.38, Felix Vargas, VEN, 3, 4.70, Basile Belime, POR, 4, 4.16, Caelum Blandford, BAR
Under 18 Boys Qualifying Round 3 (Yet to be surfed)
Heat 1
Rafael Texeira, BRA, David Brand, ZAF, O’Neil Massin, TAH, Todd Doyle, NZL
Heat 4
Tane Wallis, NZL, Aoi Watanabe, JPN, Vasco Ribeiro, POR, Miguel Tudela, PER
Heat 8
Joe Moretti, NZL, Vehiatua Prunier, TAH, Mike February, ZAF, Yan Darbekow, BRA
Under 18 Girls Repechage Round 2
Heat 6
1, 11.16, Nikki Viesins, USA, 2, 7.00, Leilani McGonagle, CRC, 3, 6.93, Ella Williams, NZL, 4, 5.93, Isabela Lima, BRA
Heat 7
1, 17.50, Grace Spiers, NZL, 2, 14.10, Chelsea Roett, BAR, 3, 9.76, Minato Takahashi, JPN, 4, 3.33, Emily Gussoni, CRC
Heat 8
1, 18.94, Barbara Segatto, BRA, 2, 11.90, Estafany Freitas, BRA, 3, 11.10, Alexis C. Poulter, NZL, 4, 7.44, Sayaka Muramatsu, JPN
Under 18 Girls Qualifying Round 3 (Yet to be surfed)
Heat 4
Bianca Buitendag, ZAF, Jayda Martin-Fitzharris, NZL, Chelsea Tuach, BAR, Quincy Davis, USA
Under 18 Girls Repechage Round 3 (Yet to be surfed)
Heat 3
Asako Mizuno, JPN, Leilani McGonagle, CRC, Grace Spiers, NZL, Estafany Freitas, BRA
Under 16 Boys Repechage Round 2
Heat 3
1, 12.33, Sebatian Correa, PER, 2, 8.46, Elliot Paerata-Reid, NZL, 3, 7.77, Derek Gomez, VEN, 4, 5.30, Jorge Soto, CHI
Heat 5
1, 13.50, Colin Moran, USA, 2, 8.60, Paul Moretti, NZL, 3, 4.80, Leon Glatzer, GER, 4, 4.54, Franwil Vento, VEN
Heat 7
1, 12.50, Joao Marco Maffini, ITA, 2, 11.50, Arne Bergwinkel, GER, 3, 10.37, Kai Hing, AUS, 4, 7.60, Dune Kennings, NZL
Heat 10
1, 10.00, Miles Lee Hargreaves, UK, 2, 8.03, Adam Grimson, NZL, 3, 7.37, Jeancarlos Mendez, CRC, 4, 6.17, Lucca Piscione, URU
Under 16 Boys Repechage Round 3 (Yet to be surfed)
Heat 2
Nelson Cloarec, FRA, Patrick Daniel, UK, Benji Brand, ZAF, Elliot Paerata-Reid, NZL
Heat 4
Slade Prestwich, ZAF, Paul Moretti, NZL, Kanoa Igarashi, USA, Arne Bergwinkel, GER
Heat 5
Felipe Suarez, ARG, Adam Grimson, NZL, Koa Smith, HAW, Mauricio Diaz, PRC