Smiles are free … But they are worth a lot.
Mount Maunganui
One of my last comps was stop No 1 in the Billabong Grom Series at Mount Maunganui. While we were there, I got the chance to catch up with the Breakers crew from The Mount and had a little bit of something delicious to eat. The staff were really friendly and helpful and I also got to meet Bloom, the manager’s daughter, who is a really keen little surfer, which was cool! Even though the waves were quite small and a little hard to ride, it was still good fun on my 1-DA 5”4’ epoxy Mass Destruction. I was super happy to take out the Under 16 Girls’ division on my last two waves of the heat, getting five point rides on both of them.
Work-ons
Recently I have been working on speed generation, which means I have more options of what I can do on the wave. It makes my turns more dynamic and I can come out of my turns with more speed. Also in small waves it is a big help as I can do more than just one turn per wave, which gives me higher wave scores. Another thing I have been working on is my judging. I recently had the chance to judge at the Taranaki Micro Groms at Fitzroy, which is a grom comp with push-ins, Under 9’s, Under 11’s and Under 13’s boys and girls. It is a really fun comp and is a great way for kids to get competition experience and judging helps me get better with my surfing, as I learn what the judges are looking for.
Special visitor
It was super sick to have my board shaper Gavin, from 1-DA Shapes, come over from Australia recently to catch up and discuss what we next need to do with my boards. Also he gave me a few pointers of what I could do better with my surfing. We talked a lot about getting a bigger board for the more solid surf, and also a slightly bigger board as I am growing out of my current boards.
