Rosmini competes at NZ Schools Surfing Festival

Rosmini College was lucky enough to be involved in the first ever NZ Schools Surfing Festival, which was held during the March summer schools tournament week. The event was held at Māori Bay on Auckland’s West Coast, where the sun was out and the waves were fun and very contestable.

The event involved 20 teams (both boys and girls) from all around the North Island including teams from traditional surfing hotspots such as Gisborne, Taranaki, Whangamata and the Mount.

Our own North Shore featured well also, with teams from Westlake, Rangitoto and Takapuna Grammar also taking part.

The event had a festival-style atmosphere to it, with all the teams getting on really well, with lots of laughs in the carpark and plenty of support on the beach. Sponsored and highly competitive surfers were mixing it up with surfers new to an actual surfing contest. We were told there were 30 surfers at the event that were not previously known to Surfing NZ, therefore had never actually been in a contest.

The event was a ‘tag team’ format, where teamwork and tactics were equally as important as individual talent. Rosmini fielded a team of three Year 11 boys along with two surfers (the sons of a Rosmini Old Boy) from Whangamata Area School filling in for us. Teams started off with 3 (girls) or 4 (boys) surfers in a tent on the beach while 1 surfer started each heat in the water. Catching a wave, then ‘tagging in’ surfer number 2 and so on until all 4 or 5 surfers had caught at least 1 wave each. Only your best score counted with all 4 or 5 surfers best waves added up for a team total. Heats were only 50 minutes long and the time pressure to sprint into the water, paddle out the back and catch a scoring wave was huge. This will be a big focus for us next time!

All in all though, the festival of surfing was a great experience for our Rosmini boys and was at times really exciting with plenty of drama. With some amazing surfing by some of NZ’s best young athletes, interference calls, penalties for failing to get back to the tent in time, buzzer beating rides and even some delays due to sharks. It was all on at times and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Mount Maunganui College for the girls and Whangamata Area School for the boys were the eventual winners.

We are really looking forward to being involved in the event next year and are on the lookout for another two Rosmini surfers to help make up the team in 2025.

A huge appreciation and shout out to Surfing NZ for putting on such an event and giving surfers new to the competitive environment, a taste of the action!