It was a family affair for the winning crews at the second round of surf life saving's North Island BP Surf Rescue series in Whangamata.

Mount Maunganui twins Kirby and Chad Wheeler were the pick of the under-21 division, winning the single rescue and assembly rescue on Sunday to accompany their gold mass rescue on Saturday.

Steph Laughton steers the St Clair boat into the shore during the final of the single rescue at the North Island championships. Photo: Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Journalism.

St Clair sisters Steph and Carla Laughton dominated the women's division, winning all four titles on offer in the 1.5m Whangamata surf.

Perennial front-runners East End, featuring husband and wife Andrew and Emma Cronin, won three titles in the premier division plus the open teams race, along with crewman James Morwood.

Steph and Carla's parents also won the mass rescue with the help of parents Natasha and Gabby Scott.

'Carla and I have been racing together since 2008 and we know pretty well what the other is doing in the boat, which is especially important in tough conditions like there was here this weekend.”

East End's top women's crew of Laura Begg and Kirsty May shared the minor spoils with Mount Maunganui's Lauren Assink and Jess Niederer, each pairing picking up a silver and bronze.

The premiere division proved to be close, but Waimarama duo Mike Harman and Ben Cross – with Ben's sister Leila as patient – took out the overall title when Andrew Cronin and James were disqualified from the tube rescue final.

'It was nice to come back and win the other ones,” says Andrew.

'We did three and a bit training sessions coming into the carnival and that first final was probably a fair reflection of where we were at.

'This was a great event to start the season with and now we know what we need to work on for the rest of them.”

Mike and Ben placed third in the tube rescue and assembly and picked up silvers in the mass rescue, teams race and single rescue.

Champion IRB crew East End, patient Emma Cronin, crewman James Morwood and driver Andrew Cronin, at the North Island championships in Whangamata. Photo: Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Journalism.

'It was really good this weekend because we had some great competition, which really pushed us,” says Mike.

'They were pretty tough conditions and a good start didn't necessarily mean you were going to win the race – you still had to negotiate your way through the waves.

'It was good to mix it up though – it was a good leveller.”

The Wheelers also had an early mishap, flipping during the under-21 tube rescue final, but stormed back with sharp teamwork giving them and patient Sam Roy three golds.

'We were pretty stoked with our consistency after that and the way we handled the surf,” says Kirby.

'This weekend was really hard and a pretty good test of skills and we're really looking forward to the rest of the series.”

Their efforts helped Mount Maunganui into second in the overall club scores although East End was a class apart, finishing 28 points clear on 89.

Waimarama was third on 33, with Waikanae – helped by Ryan Jarvis and Matt Kemp's domination in the senior division – fourth on 26.

The next round of the series is in Taranaki on January 14.