The stage is set at the Aotearoa Surf Pro for Sunday with New Zealand’s top surfers set to face off in the quarterfinals after an eventful first day held at Auckland’s Te Arai Beach.

A building 1.0m swell and moderate onshore winds made a welcome appearance for participants as they rolled through the preliminary rounds of the Open Men’s Division led by Olympic qualifier Billy Stairmand.

Stairmand was accompanied by the likes of Taranaki’s National Champion Dan Farr and Spencer Rowson and Raglan’s Caleb Cutmore who rounded out the action on Day 1.

Stairmand set the tone on his first wave of event with a searing backhand air reverse for a 6.33 point ride and finished with a 13.06 point heat total. 

The Raglan surfer is taking the event in before he exits to Tahiti on Monday for two weeks of training at Teahupoo. 

While Saturday’s surf conditions at Te Arai Beach will be a stark contrast to the waves in Tahiti, Stairmand is always keen to get some reps up at New Zealand events before heading overseas to compete.

Sunday will see Stairmand match up against three youngsters in Jai Wallis (Piha), Jackson Peake (Auck) and Luke Dymond (Rag) as he aims to move through to the finals and challenge for the inaugural title at the Aotearoa Surf Pro.

National Champion Daniel Farr pushed through to the quarterfinals in first place despite a few falls, posting an 11.34 point heat total. 

Farr currently leads the 2024 NZ Surf Series rankings after two events and a stellar performance at Dunedin to kick off 2023. 

He will want another good result this weekend before he relocates to Australia at the end of the month.  He faces off against Navryn Malone (Rag), Tom Robinson (Whngrei) and Spencer Rowson in his match up.

New Zealand junior representative Rowson was another surfer to impress in his opening round heat posting a 13.16 point heat total in the process. 

Rowson was named as one of twelve young surfers that will head to El Salvador at the end of the month to contest the ISA World Junior Championships.

Australia / Oceania Qualifying Series campaigner Caleb Cutmore rounded out the days action blowing up on several backhand turns for the days Shapers Highest Heat Total Award – 13.60 points. 

Cutmore is recently back from Australia where he joined Stairmand, Saffi Vette and Paige Hareb competing on regional qualifying series. 

Cutmore joins Jack Hinton (Mnt) in the quarterfinals alongside two juniors in James Charlesworth (Auck) and Theo Morse (Rag).  

Aotearoa Surf’s wildcard entry, Andrew Robinson (Auck) gave New Zealand’s current top surfers a scare on day.  The 1997 National Champion was looking comfortable to progress through to the quarterfinals before getting pipped into third by Auckland’s James Charlesworth in the last minute of the heat.

The Volkswagen Highest Wave Score of the Day Award went to Ari O’Malley (Omaha) for a 7.17 point ride that saw him advance through to the quarterfinals.

The Open Women’s Division commences on Sunday and will feature a slew of top young female surfers including Leia Millar (Piha), Alani Morse and Brie Bennett of Raglan, Liv Haysom (Piha) and Aimee Brown (Gt Barrier) all in attendance as they all look to topple 13-year-old NZ Surf Series leader Lola Groube (Pau).

Sunday’s action will take place from 9am – 2pm at Te Arai Beach with fine weather forecast and conditions expected to be cleaner with light onshore winds and a decreasing 1.0m swell.  Keep up to date with live scoring via  https://liveheats.com/events/44498.  The DJs and food trucks will be back and brought to you by Aotearoa Surf School.

The Aotearoa Surf Pro is one of seven events on the NZ Surf Series and sees over $5000 in prize money plus prizes and giveaways up for grabs. An SNZ2000 rated event, it has attracted the best surfers from all over the country as well as a handful of local talent keen to give the event a crack in home waters.

The event brings together surfing, athletes, enthusiasts and spectators to experience a new dynamic surf comp that is spectator focused, embracing entertainment, food and festival vibes!

Just over an hour North of Auckland CBD Te Arai Beach is an iconic beach break situated to the south of Mangawhai Heads. With peaks up and down the beach, often heavy barrels and a right hander off the point when the sand is right, Te Arai is one of the premier breaks of the Auckland region.