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The Jesus H2 contest at Ohope over the weekend went off! Despite weather predictions of little to no swell the event went ahead in clean 2' waves with perfect weather conditions. Thanks heaps, God!
Right from the first heats the Juniors (who made up more than half of the entries) served notice that they were the ones to watch in these conditions. These lighter weight groms definitely had the advantage - reflected in their results. Jamie Porter was an early standout. Making the most of his local knowledge, he went on take double honours by winning both the Champs and Junior divisions.
In the Champs final he started the heat with an excellent wave and continued to back it up throughout the heat. Mike Smith (Mt Maungaui) came back at the end of the heat with a high scorer to take out 2nd place, Dylan Barnfield (another Ohope junior) slotted into 3rd place and Glen Paterson of Ohope, not managing to find a good backup wave, took 4th place.
Due to these excellent results Jamie and Dylan took out 1st and 2nd place respectively in the Junior division, followed by two champ semifinalists Jodee Wakelin (Ohope) in 3rd and Mathis Smith (Taranaki) in 4th.
In the plate division another Ohope junior, Paul Middleton, narrowly sqeezed into 1st place only .8 ahead of Steve Osborne (Waihi), with David Farr (Taranaki) 3rd and Kobey Brebner (Ohope) 4th.
The women put in a gutsy performance with Laura Rishworth (Mt Maungaui)taking 1st place after advancing into the open champs division, Johanna Brebner taking 2nd by getting through to the plate 1/4 finals and Ayesha Goodfellow (Kawerau) taking 3rd place.
Jos Hadfield (Mt Maunganui) was the standout in the Sunday morning skins event, managing to win seven consecutive heats to take out 1st prize and $35.
Plenty of action also went down out of the water over the weekend, with a skateboard ramp to workout on between heats, free surf lessons for spectators, activities for the kids and heaps of zany spot prize events all day long.
Prizegiving on Saturday night was kicked off with some stunning live music from Josh Turner. Prizes were totally generous, with thousands of dollars worth of goods sponsored by Salt Air Surf Shop and Coastlines Clothing. As well as winners walking away with bags of gear, many other competitors had the opportunity to win spot prizes, including a prize for unexpected guest, Hawaiian legend, Larry Bertleman (aka Beaver). Jamie Porter was greatly honoured (as the highest placed local) to be awarded the trophy in remembrance of Greg Shaw and Brandon Jarrett - two local surfers who lost their lives while surfing during cyclone Ivy last year. The evening was rounded off with an awesome supper provided by the local church and CS crew.
A huge thankyou to our major sponsors Salt Air Surf Shop and Coastlines Clothing, to our skateboard ramp sponsors Placemakers and Eastern Bay Truss and Prenail, and also to Ohope Autos and New World.
Huge thanks also to all the CS crew who helped with such enthusiasm over the weekend and....
the hugest thanks and honour to Jesus who made it all possible.
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