Stick with the people that pull the magic out of you and not the madness.
My first U16 title!
When I go to Hawaii later in the year it’s in their winter season. This is the peak of their swell season so I’ve been practicing for these bigger waves with my coach Jarrod Hancox by working on my commitment and confidence. Last week when I was at school I received a message out of the blue from a friend in Christchurch congratulating me on my selection for the NZ Junior Surfing team. I thought it was too good to be true. I quickly called my Dad who confirmed we had, had an email confirming selection and I was super excited and stoked to have the opportunity to represent NZ at the ISA World Junior Champs later this year in the U16 girls division. The venue and dates haven’t been confirmed yet and I can’t wait to find out where we are going. It has always been a dream of mine to represent NZ and I can’t believe it’s coming true. As we head closer to the shortest day of the year, a recent challenge I’ve had is trying to t everything into my day. There is so much fun stu to do and just not enough hours to do it all!
Competitions
Early April I travelled down to Kaikoura for the Surfing NZ Kaikoura Grom Comp. The competition took place at a remote rocky beach just north of Kaikoura. It was a pretty cold and wet for the weekend, even getting snow on the ranges behind us. I surfed in the U16 and U18 girls divisions and I was pretty happy to come away with a 2nd in the U16 and a 3rd in the U18’s. It was a pretty fun weekend with fun, powerful and bowly waves. Despite the weather the comp had a really good vibe and everyone was really chilled and happy.
The next weekend I was in Raglan at the world famous Manu Bay for the
Ripcurl Pro. This was an Open Women’s event and is one of the highest rated competitions in New Zealand with 6 stars. In my first heat I was competing against previous NZ title holders and I was happy to make it through to the quarter finals against some amazing competitors and in pretty fun waves. The comp was full of NZ’s top female and male surfers including World Junior champion Ella Williams. It was cool to watch them all ripping whilst also enjoying the local relaxed vibe. everyone was having so much fun. Following this comp I’m 2nd nationally in the U16 division as well as 5th in both the Open Women’s and U18 divisions.
I’m really looking forward to going back to Raglan at the beginning of May for the Backdoor Oceanbridge Manu Bay Pro.
Local news
The Taranaki Scholastics team has just been named. It is a privilege to again be selected for the team, where I will compete in the U16 girls at the National Scholastics Comp in Raglan, in October. This is a really cool, weeklong event with loads of surfing and groms from all around the country. Surfing Taranaki have stated that we have a strong team this year and we are hoping to repeat the 2016 win that Taranaki had.
