Go For Gold 2013 - Surfing Competition

The 2013 Go For Gold Surfing competition was held over the 22nd & 23rd February. We bring you a rundown of the competition from the mind of Zane Smith. 

Zane and his partner, Amelia, live at Nine Mile coast road, north of Greymouth, a left hand reef break. Zane works as a marketing consultant for Vation Ltd Marketing Solutions. His own company and mainly involved in the tourism sector. He started chasing waves daily at 13 yrs old and in 1990 won the Seventhwave most promising junior award. He spent many years as a professional raft guide and adventure company operations manager, chasing the gnarliest rivers to raft and kayak whilst chasing waves at the same time. Zane and Amelia have their own two groms, Ry, 6yrs and Lily 4yrs.

The lead-up to the event was the usual club mission of getting the crew together, mapping out the details, divisions, gathering sponsors and delegating the jobs.

The Kahuna Boardriders Club (KBC) crew pulled some serious finger again with a bloody good team effort. We set some key goals again this year which as always consisted of... 

a) Having a LOT of fun with good people from around the country who we share a way of living with.

b) Having pumping waves (always a tough one to guarantee however!)

c) Provide a strong event to showcase our sport and lifestyle more thoroughly to the local community (rugby and beer is getting way too boring) the kids here want MORE and so do we for their sakes!

d) Get the KBC groms into the mix and provide them a strong system and event to inherit from us older crew…(After 25yrs in the club I’m still one of the young ones really!)

Cobden Beach

We had some killer sponsors again this year and by getting the local newspaper the Greymouth Star on board we secure the opportunity to massively promote the event and our culture through the West Coast, We wanted a big turnout of local spectators and we got them. This turnout then gave us the opportunity to teach these people about our life really, we used the mic to great effect here with myself and Robbie Barrow giving it the KBC flavour, stories, anecdotes, mindless raving and the competitors still knew who was in the lead and who needed what score to get through etc etc, sometimes I think this information takes the front stage and the commentary for the spectators gets completely forgotten about. We must remember that many of them have no clue about what they are looking at we cannot punish them for this, do we know how to score a highland game sheep toss? 

Best seat in the house - The judges tent

Some amazing waves were caught, massive hits were smacked about and the surfers and the crowd enjoyed themselves. The typical ‘trip up the coast’ was had by many to enjoy our range of breaks and we had an altogether successful surfing comp without the ego and mindless preening you often find often at surfing events worldwide..

So, we hope to see you next year in all your glorious real you-ness.

Final Results:

Seventhwave Wetsuits Most Outstanding Surfer Award (MOSA)

James Washer, Greymouth

Greymouth Star Open

Levi O'Conner, Kaikoura - Go for Gold Champion

Josh Thickpenny, Dunedin

Ben Rees, Christchurch

Micro Christensen, Christchurch

Carpet One Womens

Brooke Money, Christchurch

Lucy Hodgson, Kaikoura

Tammi Martin, Christchurch

Chrissy Hallum, Greymouth

Eve Findlay, Punakaiki

Hydro Surf Junior Mens

Cody McCusker, Christchurch

Max Cooke, Christchurch

Hugh Ritchie, Christchurch

Max Marshall, Christchurch

Greymouth Seaside Top 10 Holiday Park Cadets

Max Marshall, Christchurch

Nik Tuhikarama, Christchurch

Brody Fitzgerald, Greymouth

Nathan Sims, Greymouth

Ruben Lyons, Kaikoura

Westside Surf and Street Seniors

Josh Thickpenny, Dunedin

Dave Melville, Kaikoura

Micro Christenson, Christchurch

Dave Lyons, Kaikoura

Mike Greer Homes Masters:

Alan Temoanui, Kaikoura

Dave Lyons, Kaikoura

Phil Harris, Greymouth

Zane Smith, Greymouth

Oceana Gold Grandmasters

Phil Harris, Greymouth

Steve Grant, Greymouth

Dean Cooke, Christchurch

James Tuhikarama, Christchurch

Westside Surf and Street Longboard

Levi O'Conner, Kaikoura

Nash Robertson, Kaikoura

Hugh Ritchie, Christchurch

Ben Winhill, Nelson

Written By: Zane Smith 

Have you got a story to share? Would you like to be a guest blogger? 
If so, we are keen to meet you. Get in touch and send us an email to:  seventhwave.co.nz@gmail.com

The Greymouth Star Go For Gold Surfing Competition was hosted by Kahuna Board Riders Club who are on the web and also on Facebook. The event was a huge success and would not have been so without the support of sponsors. Now it's your turn to support the sponsors.

Greymouth Star
CarpetOne
HydroSurf
GreymouthSeaside Top 10 Holiday Park
WestsideSurf and Street
MikeGreer Homes
OceanaGold
Mitre 10 Mega
Billabong
Hurley
Volcom
Roxy
Surfers Skin
Monteith's Westcoast Brewing Company  

and
Seventhwave Wetsuits