It's all over for another year!

Check the results with full colour pictures!

See the history of the event in Gisborne!

See who the favorite's are!

How 'bout a trip to the home of COKE? Or maybe check out the Santa Barbara Surf Museum.

So, just where do you surf on the East Coast?

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The thirty third national amateur surfing titles history:-

Every year since 1963, with the exception of 1973 in Westpoint when conditions caused cancellation, has the surfing national been held somewhere around the New Zealand coastline. No region has hosted the event more often than Gisborne. The big one has been held here in 1966, 67, 72, 75, 79, 84, 87, 92, 93 and now the 1996 Coca-Cola surfing nationals will again be staged around the shores of Gisborne.

NEARLY A THREE WAY TIE FOR MOST AMOUNT OF TITLES.

Until the 1995 Nationals in Taranaki, Gisborne lad Allan Byrne had held the record for the highest number of individual titles, eight, the first in Mt Maunganui in 1964 and last, the open, in Gisborne in 1979. However Gisborne’s perpetual oldest grommet John Gisby is sitting on eight titles also. After winning the Masters event in Taranaki last year Gis is looking pretty good for another one or two Masters and Veterans this year. Also on a combination of eight titles is Auckland’s Lynden Kennings, with two open and six longboard wins. He has entered in both divisions again this year. However the record now sits with women’s champ Jennie Shanks from the Keyhole club in Auckland. Jennie holds the most individual titles in a single event, nine, in the Open Women. She bolted away with the title last year and looks good for a repeat in Gisborne.

FOUR VIE FOR THREE TITLES.

In the men’s events no-one has yet taken away all three divisions, ie cadet, junior and open. Two surfers have won two in one year. Motu Mataa both junior and open in Gisborne in 1992. While Damon Gunness took away both cadet and junior in 1994 in Dunedin. Still with a live chance of winning all three are Gisbornites Clint Daly and Damon Gunness, Aucklands David Boonaerts and Mt Maunganui's Owen Barnes. All four having won cadet and junior titles. Auckland’s Wayne Parkes won the premier open division five times in a row from 1966 to 1970. While Auckland based Hot Buttered man Iain ‘Ratso’ Buchanan also won five titles from 1983 to 87. The Ratso still competes and though he has entered the open again this year he is not a definite starter. He broke a bone in his ankle the week before Xmas in a car accident on the way to Piha.

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HOW THEY STACK UP.

The 1995 surfing year has produced top competition for NZ surfers both at home and overseas. This year’s Coca-Cola Surfing Nationals will commence with surfers in peak competitive form. It gets harder to pick a winner in the premier O’Neil Open division. Form sometimes is simply not enough and when the talent is as good as this year a large dose of luck sometimes makes the difference!! NZ’s first World Qualifying Series contest held in Raglan in May ‘95 really put our Open division surfers through their toughest contest on home surf yet. Only two NZ surfers made the quarter finals, Damon Gunness beat World class Shane Wehner to finish 13th, while Takapuna’s Chris Millet left a heap of ‘names’ behind to place a very creditable 9th overall. Damon along with Wainui mates Maz Quinn, Blair Stewart, Chris Malone, and Brent Rasby will have competed in the Hot Buttered Oneill Pro-Junior at Narrabeen on Sydney’s North Shore just prior to the Nationals. Maz and Damon having spent a week at a Quiksilver coaching camp in Queensland with two times World Champ Tom Carroll. All these Gisborne surfers are in with a chance at the O’Neil Open title. Blair Stewart finishing second in the U16 at the Bali Grommet International in July. One could back Stewart as an outside chance to win both the O’Neil Open and Billabong Junior events thus becoming the first to claim, after winning the Cadet title last year , all three. Chris Malone rates 14th on the Australian Championship Circuit, (ACC) with his best result a win at home in the Blitz Coldwater Classic also in July. Chris finished 2nd on the Nth Is circuit. Maz moved to Australia to follow the seven contest ACC/ Billabong Pro-Junior circuit. His best result a 3rd place at the Bells Beach event. Finishing a creditable 13th overall. Upon return to NZ Maz won his first NZ Pro- Am for the year at Taranaki. A NZ Open title has eluded Maz so far, he finished 5th at the Taranaki Nationals in 1995. North Island Open Circuit Champion for 1995, James Fowell is in blistering form, having recently married, bought a house and and focused on some serious surfing. A determined contender, James claimed his North Island title without a circuit win.

What about the rest? Besides Chris Millet, Daniel Kereopa has to be in with a chance. Finishing 3rd on the Nth Is Open circuit & 1st Junior, Dan the man has had a fine year. Recently he won the inaugural Indigenous Invitational at Stradbroke Is in Queensland. Unlucky at the Bali Grommet International this year, it was frustrating watching from the beach as our top seed fell off one wave after another! However Daniel managed the highest aggregate score in the tag team event, eclipsing the best from the USA, Brazil and Australia. Daniel has both a burning desire and the talent to win that Open title. Currently residing in the North Is, North Canterbury lad Nuku Nash must be the favourite among many. Some go as far to say he is the best among the current bunch, brave words! He had a win against Maz at the Canterbury champs in November. Blazed his way to 3rd at the Indigenous Invitational and finished 2nd in the Open at the ‘95 Coca- Cola Surfing Nationals. On current form a definite finals prospect!!

Have I forgotten the current champ? no.. but really what form have we got to go on? Brent Hutchieson 1995 open champion, go son go!! There are the proverbial dark horses. My favourite would be Dwaine Mataa followed closely by Jason ‘Dudda’ Lellman. Their form at the Tara Pro-am in Oct was inspiring. The rest of our top seeds, Motu Mataa, Kelly Lovelock, Pipi Ngaia, Larry Fisher and a distant but fired up Lynden Kennings. Who really knows? stand up and be counted. There is some serious competition for the Billabong Junior (U18) event as each year the top layer usually move up to the Open, not so this year they are all back!! Will they ever get older? Dam right they will! Again a strong Gisborne contingent led by the World number two grommet Blair Stewart who’s sparing partner locally is Dane Simpson. They placed 3rd and 6th respectively on the Nth Is junior circuit and 1st and 2nd in the local boardriders U16 contests. Damon Gunness winner in Dunedin in’94 is to be underestimated at your peril, especially when surfing against him. He was 1st in both the Junior and Open for Gisborne Boardriders in ‘95. Other local hopefuls include Hamish Simpson, and Daniel “Crusty’ Crichton. The biggest threat though must come from Raglan’s current generation lead comfortably by Daniel Kereopa with Emerson Tucker hard on his heels. Rumour has it that Emerson has been poached by Quiksilver? hard man Rannock! There are some serious contenders from down south this year, lead by Daniel Garbes and Shaydar Edelman, good to see some solid junior development in what has been the bastion of older surfers!! It would be a brave person in deed to back anyone else, but what about Jos Kennings, Chris Davie, Khan Butler?...really...... who wants to write this stuff?

The Hot Tuna Open Women will produce the best women’s surfing seen yet. The perennial and current title holder, Jennie Shanks looking to get her name on that trophy for the tenth time. Taranaki’s Lena Blain and Karen Henderson are hunting for one of the two spots in the NZ team for the 1996 World titles in California. Lena having been to the past two events. France ‘92 and Brazil in ‘94. Whangamata’s Heidi Shanks is in fine form with some serious training and another Bali sojourn under her belt preceded by Brazil in ‘94. The Gisborne women are also in form. Holly Quinn having won the North Island Circuit, after wins at the Sunsmart NZ Womens Open, the Search /Blitz castle point contest and the Jesus Easter Classic. (The latter two not included for circuit points. ) Ainsley Gunness with that fantastic 4th place at the Bali Grommet International, and a first at the Sunsmart juniors. These two fourteen year olds are still years off their peak and are favourites for the Action Junior Women. The Morey Boogie Board event finally has the sort of support you would expect from an activity with the greatest number of recreational participants of any watersport. The International Surfing Association has added a women’s bodyboard division to the World Titles, so the scouts are out looking for a women to travel with the National team to Californian in 1996. They will this year join the men in the Nationals event. There is some female body board talent out there isn’t there?? I have seen the Japanese women in Bali, Brazilian, French and Argentinian at home and assure you there is some serious talent out there in those respective countries!!. But back to the bets, and it would be hard to go past the Taranaki pair of Greg Roebuck and Kyle “Corn’ Adams. Though Auckland’s David Bray has had a good year both at the Hot Buttered at Piha and 2nd at the National Scholastics. Jamie Blair and Zac Slaughter are also hot contenders. Gisborne’s Grant Davis tagged along to Brazil and Argentina in ‘94. and managed a convincing second in the one off test against Argentina at Mar Del Plata. In the Bear Longboard it would be hard to go past Lynden Kennings with six mal titles under his belt. The ‘Rubber Man’ has had a awesome year on the International longboard pro-circuit. A win in the Headworx contest in England and another in France where he beat Michael Demont , the Tahitian who forced Lynden into second place at the World Amateur Titles in Brazil in 1994. A massive resurgence in traditional malibu riding will undoubtably see the rise of a few new faces. Gisborne’s Brent Rasby claimed a first at the Blitz Coldwater Classic in July, while the likes of Craig Bond, Eddie Daly, and Michael Fitzharris have taken on the Mals with avengence. The South Island have a strong Mal contingent, Glen QKnuckle’ Shuker is the best Mal rider in the south but has had a poor year on the Sth circuit. My favourite from the Sth is Greg Page, though it looks like business partner Rod Rust has the required ‘short straw’ this year. Pagey won the Masters event here in Gisborne 1992.

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Updated 14 January 1996. Please EMail us at: webmaster@bpc.co.nz thanks for visiting and have a good one!