Crews battle swells at Day of the Giants
Lifesaving crews from around the country took to Piha’s unforgiving waters to compete in the annual Big Wave Classic on Saturday.
Piha’s Big Wave Classic ‘Day of the Giants’ carnival is in it’s 11th year, with the fourth and final race held at Piha today.
President of the Piha Surf Lifesaving Club, Peter Brown, said Piha had been kind and ‘‘turned on a really nice day.’’
Thirty-three crews from across the country took part, with the Paekakariki Surf Lifesaving Crew ‘White Chocolates’ taking out the top spot.
‘‘This is really the only carnival run in big surf so crews look forward to it,’’ Brown said.
The first three rounds of the series included the Titahi Bay Classic in December, the Whangamata Surf Boat Spectacular in January and the North Island Surf Boat Championships at Waihi Beach earlier this month.
After mild weather and small swells in the first three events, competitors broke out the hard hats to protect themselves as they were buffeted in the conditions.
Steve Dickson, member of the assistant coach for the New Zealand team, said the day had been amazing. Dickson said the surf got bigger and bigger, ‘‘or better and better, depending on who you’re talking to,’’ as the day went on. Swells got up to around 3m, he said.
The Red Beach Boomers team of Hayden Smith, Shamus O’Halloran, Ryan Davenport, Charlie Graham, Jed Wright and sweep Shane O’Halloran came in second place to the Paekakariki White Chocolates, followed by the Whangamata under-23 boys and the Titahi Bay Dragons.
In the Open Women’s the Orewa Stars team of Sarah Hogg, Dani Shrubsall, Rachel Hellesoe and Sasha Ballantyne showed they had what it took to master the massive swells.
The team, who sat in seventh place on the points table after missing race two at the Whangamata Surf Boat Spectacular, outclassed their division, overcoming the pounding surf to come in first.
But it wasn’t enough to take series glory as the Muriwai Meerkats had already sewn up the points based competition after winning the first three races, with the Red Beach Muzzies in second and the Titahi Bay Tinders in third, while the Stars gained to places to finish fifth behind the Piha Black Pearls.
In the under-23 men’s the Orewa Chargers came third behind after racing was called off for the day and they couldn’t enter the water again but they won the series outright on points.