RPM Classic

Mike Phillips wins RPM Classic at Muriwai, New Zealand

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 27 March, 2006 : - - Christian Surfers NZ ran the RPM Classic West Auckland community surf competition over the weekend (25th-26th March) at Muriwai beach.

The event used the H2 format with surfers initially surfing in a qualifying round.  At the end of this round the surfers with scores in the top 50% of the leader board advance to the cup round and the remaining 50% to the plate round.  The event was split into 3 divisions, Open, U16 and Woman’s.

The contest was blessed with great surf on Saturday with 3-4ft swell and offshore winds.  But the low tide during the qualifying round made the conditions tricky with a number of strong surfers being relegated to the plate round.  Raglan’s Zennor Wernham was the top scorer of the 50 surfers competing in the open division qualifying round.

As the tide pushed in the conditions improved producing fast bowling waves with some spectacular surfing going down, even the odd tube ride and a broken board.

 Zen Wallace : photo courtesy RPM NZ

West Auckland Christian surfers put a lot of planning and preparation into the event and aside from the surf action there was something to keep everyone entertained. A pack of grommets of all ages spent the majority of Saturday skating the mobile half pipe that the legends from Remain Industries had set up at the contest site.  There were also free surf lessons running throughout the day and a free bbq thanks to the Mad Butcher.

Both the under 16 and woman’s cup and plate divisions were completed in fun high tide peaks on Saturday afternoon, Sonya Michaels dominated her home break to take out the woman’s cup final and Zen Wallace won the U16 cup final.

The RPM and Backdoor Surf shop prizes were dished out just before the music kicked off on Saturday evening.  Four Auckland based bands "All Else Fails", "Geneva", "Redeyswhite", and "Kingston" entertained the 200+ crowd on the mobile stage set up next to the half pipe.

The open division was run to completion on Sunday morning, but unfortunately the swell had dropped over night, with 2ft sets being fanned by a strong rain and offshore wind.

Sonia Michaels : photo courtesy PRM NZ

In the open plate final Levi O’Conner was surfing fast and smoothly, scoring a strong left-hander and executing several great re-entries early in the heat.  Once he backed up with another good score, none of the other finalists (that were all twice Levi’s size) were ever going to catch him.

In the open championship final Rowan Klevstul started strongly latching onto a fast right-hander and found himself a great little tube ride. Rowan was in the lead for the rest of the heat until the final minute of the final when Mike Phillips stroked into a nice shaped lefthander and completed a number of nice turns surfing all the way through to the shore break to steal the title.  Along with a bunch of RPM and Backdoor prizes Mike also won a 3-day campervan holiday thanks to Kea Campers.

Results

Open Cup
1st  Mike Phillips
2nd  Rowan Klevstul
3rd  Rowan Aish
4th  Shea Parton

Open Plate
1st  Levi O’Conner
2nd  Mike Smith
3rd  Gordon Webb
4th  Jason Vink

U16 Cup
1st Zen Wallace          
2nd Liam Jeffries  
3rd Peter Ralph  
4th Aaron Wearn 

U16 Plate
1st Finn Forde – Lyon 
2nd Cerise Davis  
3rd Dylan James  
4th Tyron Parata  

Woman’s Cup
1st Sonia Michaels
2nd Jessie Nicholson
3rd Nicola Colson – Koster
4th Daisy Mason

Woman’s Plate
1st Hayley Vink
2nd Amy Fletcher
3rd Cerise Davis
4th Thandi Durham

Thanks to Caught On Radar for the images (click the link to view more photos from the event)
www.caughtonradar.com

Thanks to CSNZ for organizing and running the event
www.christiansurfers.org.nz

Thanks to RPM, Backdoor Surf Shop and Kea Campers for the great prizes
www.rpm.co.nz
www.backdoor.co.nz
www.keacampers.com

Thanks to Remain Industries for the half pipe
www.remain.co.nz

Thanks to the Mad butcher for the sausages
www.themadbutcher.co.nz

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Hamish Mathieson

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