NMD/Mountain Dew Gissy Pro gets the goods at Gissy for one last time.

3rd November 2009

NMD/Mountain Dew Gissy Pro gets the goods at Gissy for one last time.

With a strong field of competitors from all over New Zealand entered, the 2009 NMD/Mountain Dew Gissy Pro being held in Gisborne over Labour Weekend 2009 was looking to be the perfect finale to the NMD/Mountain Dew BBSNZ (Bodyboard Surfing New Zealand) Tour.

Day 1 Saturday October 24th 2009

The forecast was average for the first day with a 25knot on-shore southerly predicted, but we woke to a nice Westerly wind, which had groomed the swell nicely, and we had a very contestable 2-3ft of surf. "Pines" on Wainui Beach was to be the venue for the 2 days of competition with a pretty decent sand bank formed at the north end of the car park.

The first heats to hit the water for the day where the First rounds of the Open Men's. Local boys Jarad Ferris, Reuben Quirk & Ahi Newby dominated their heats and all progressed through to the next round. Reuben was the early standout getting one of the best tube rides of the competition. Ferris showed his class pulling in and then rolling of the end section. Greymouth dark horse Terry Fergusson also snuck through to the 2nd round along with Port Waikato boys Bronn Foster and Paul Van Der Kwaak and joining them was Luke Elliot. It was a very impressive first round with lots of powerful surfing with a heap of tubes and solid maneuvers.

Just as the Open Men's round 1 finished the wind swung to a haggard S.E.

Dropknee Round 1 was up next and once again locals Jarad and Reuben show their local knowledge by picking of some of the better waves in the quickly deteriorating conditions. The two Greymouth boys Jolan Kilkelly and Terry Fergusson advanced through along with Luke Elliot and Bayden Barber. Moves of the first round came from Jolan who chucked out a massive hack on a right hand wave and Jarad who smashed a left hander to bits with a series of huge powerful turns.

At this point the competition went on hold for 3 hours till 1:45 as conditions had really deteriorated at this point in time.

We then moved on to the Open Men's Semi final first up after lunch. It was still windy but there was a bit more of a defined peak with the tide now dropping. People to progress to the final where Terry and Ahi Newby from one side of the draw and Bronn Foster and Luke Elliot from the other. These two semis saw some very impressive bodyboarding considering the now average conditions. Bronn Foster pulled the move of the comp of with a solid air reverse spin, which scored very highly with the judges. Luke showed his excellent form as well laying out some good combo's. Terry Fergusson just snuck through picking a wave up on the hooter to pip local boy Jarad Ferris for a spot in the final.

Next up were the DK semi finals. By this stage conditions very awkward for the drop knee riders. Once again Jarad Ferris showed his local knowledge by picking off the better of the waves and throwing down some massive floaters. Jolan again showed his love of the right hand waves carving them to bits. Others to progress through were Reuben Quirk and Greymouth rider Terry Fergusson. Even though conditions where patchy and difficult there was still some great riding in these semis. Reuben did some great hacks and turns to reverse combos.
Conditions were still are not great but with a patchy forecast for the following day we decided to run the Amateur and Women's finals.

First final out was the Isolated Shop Amateur division. Port Waikato ripper Willy Nepia-Murray got off to a great start picking of a set wave and rolling off the closeout section of the wave. Campbell Carter also showed some class with a nice roll he just but unfortunately he just couldn't get another wave to back it up. With the conditions getting quite poor at this stage it was getting very hard to pick the better waves off. In 4th was Vaughn Rhind, 3rd Mark Van Der Kwaak in 2nd was Campbell Carter and coming in 1st place was Willy Nepia Murray.

Tatapouri Camping Ground Women's Final unfortunately only had 3 competitors in this final 2 of whom where new faces to the competition scene. Kingsly and Glory Barber showed awesome determination to get out there and give it a go, which was great to see. Serena Ball made the best of the tricky conditions and ended up taking out this final. In 3rd was Kingsly Barber, 2nd Glory Barber and taking out the final was Serena Ball.

That was to be the end of Day 1, as conditions got so bad it was impossible to run anything. The call was made to meet back at Pines at 7am the following day.

Day 2 - Sunday October 25th 2009

Day 2 dawned a total cracker waves in the 2-3ft range perfect offshore breeze and perfect tides just to top it off.

First final out for the day was the Surfers Skin Senior Men's. This was a 5 man final and it basically turned into a barrel fest! Terry Fergusson gets the first wave - a nice long tube and just manages to sneak out in time. Jarad Ferris and Reuben Quirk pretty much spent the whole heat splitting the peak and going move for move. Reuben showed his local knowledge again paddling flat out up the beach and sneaking into an awesome wave which most where saying was the tube of the weekend!! After all of that is was a 5th place finish for Jolan Kilkelly, 4th for Billy Maxwell in 3rd was Terry Fergusson, 2nd to Jarad Ferris with Reuben Quirk taking it out!

Next up was the Da Fin U16 Final. With nice waves coming through the young guns hit the water, Willy Nepia Murray was quick to show some of his good form of late taking a set and rolling off a good outside bowl. David Burger managed to pick off a nice looking double up barrel, which he pulled into and exited cleanly. On David's next wave he backs it up with another tube and a roll off the end section. Unfortunately for Willy he couldn't back up his first wave with another high scoring second wave. The final results were Traye Rouse in 4th, 3rd place went to Jade Rodger, a close 2nd to Willy Nepia-Murray and taking it out was David Burger.

In the 7th Wave U18 Final it was the young blood of N.Z bodyboarding really putting on a top show in this final. With some awesome waves rolling through the boys set to work with Luke Elliot straight away busting a clean A.R.S which scored well with the judges and put him in a strong early lead. Mitch Tombleson then picked off a couple of quick waves in concession and comboed them up with a mixture of powerful rolls and spins. With 1 minute to go Luke grabbed a set wave and throws a quick forward spin off the lip followed with a strong roll further down the line. Campbell Carter was also surfing really well but couldn't back up his best wave. The final results were David Burger in 5th, Vaughn Rhind taking 4th, 3rd place went to Campbell Carter with Mitch Tombelson in 2nd and Luke Elliot taking it out.
The Creatures of Leisure D.K Final turned out to be a Greymouth vs. Gisborne final and what a final it was!! In fact it was one of the best D.K finals seen in NZ for a long time. The waves where perfect for D.K. and Jarad Ferris and Reuben Quirk continued their earlier trend of splitting the peak with left and right hand waves and both doing some powerful hacks and sticking some solid floaters. Terry Fergusson managed to find some shade with some good barrels and Jolan Kilkelly picked off some great right hand waves and did his best to destroy them. The local boys pretty much dominated Greymouth in the end, especially when Reuben picked a perfect set wave out late in the final and does a huge floater that gets the crowd on their feet! Taking out 4th was a Jolan Kilkelly; just ahead of him in 3rd was Terry Fergusson. Jarred Ferris took 2nd and Reuben Quirk took out his second final of the event.

NMD Open Men's Final was the last of the finals for the weekend surely wasn't going to disappoint the spectators with the boys launching off everything in sight. Luke Elliot's first wave is a huge invert which flings hum well up and out from the wave, once again setting himself up well for the rest of the heat. Bronn Foster was carrying on his good form the early rounds but unfortunately he couldn't quite stick a couple of solid moves just coming up short on a solid back flip and air reverse attempt. Ahi Newby and Terry Fergusson both had good first scoring waves but couldn't back them up as is quite often the case, with only a minute or so to go in the heat and a tie for first place, Luke strokes in to a good sized wave, gets a perfect section and smashes out another solid invert which gives him the win. The other places were very close and there was a count back to determine the other 3 places. Eventually it was 4th place to Terry Fergusson, 3rd to Ahi, 2nd to Bronn Foster and a well-deserved 1st place to Luke Elliot.

All in all this was an awesome way to see out the annual Gisborne event. With a switch to a different wave location on the cards for 2009 it was awesome to once again get good waves in this awesome part of New Zealand. Huge thanks to the judges, organizing crew and everyone else that helped out. A HUGE thank you goes out to all of our great sponsors. NMD, Mountain Dew, Isolated Online Shop, 7th Wave, Surfers Skin, Creatures of Leisure


Final Results

NMD Open Men's
1st - Luke Elliot
2nd - Bronn Foster
3rd - Ahi Newby
4th - Terry Fergusson


Tatapouri Camping Ground Open Women
1st - Serena Ball
2nd - Glory Barber
3rd - Kingsly Barber


Creatures of Leisure Dropknee
1st - Reuben Quirk
2nd - Jarred Ferris
3rd - Terry Fergusson
4th - Jolan Kilkelly


Seventh Wave U18
1st - Luke Elliot
2nd - Mitch Tombelson
3rd - Campbell Carter
4th - Vaughn Rhind
5th - David Burger


Da Fin U16
1st - David Burger
2nd - Willy Nepia Murray
3rd - Jade Rodger
4th - Traye Rouse


Surfers Skin Senior Men
1st - Reuben Quirk
2nd - Jarred Ferris
3rd - Terry Fergusson
4th - Billy Maxwell
5th - Jolan Kilkelly


Isolated Online Shop Amateurs
1st - Willy Nepia-Murray
2nd - Campbell Carter
3rd - Mark Van Der Kwaak
4th - Vaughn Rhind


Spot prizes and People of Mention
Vicki Nepia-Murray and helpers for being total legends.
Dylan Russ for his brave and silly efforts in the cold water.
Mark Van Der Kwaak for being a responsible, sober driver.
Paulus Herewini for the slowest ever reverse spin.


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