Despite the long wait and the fairly small surf, the 39th installment of the Polar Bear Surf Classic was a great success, with 70 entrants and two days of quality surfing, from the Under 10 ‘micro grom’ division all the way through to the Masters division.  The oldest competitor being 71 and the second oldest competitor, John Gisby, taking out the Masters division yet again and adding to his impressive record at the Polar bear so far.

Saturday’s competitors battled through strong on-shore winds with 2 foot waves to contest in, but still managed some impressive surfing despite this.  Eli Jacobs, 2018 Open Men’s winner posting a heat score of 15 out of a possible 20 points straight off the bat and making the conditions look a lot better than they were.  Alice Westerkamp from Māori Bay Boardriders was also a stand-out performer, at only 16 years old she will be one to watch in the future, this year taking out the Open Women’s division as well as the Under 16 girls and winning a custom surfboard shaped by Lou Aitken of ‘Louweazal Surfboards’.

Sunday morning was far more pleasant, the Open Women and Longboard divisions making the most of the glassy conditions before the wind picked up slightly again.  In the longboard division there was a great mix of young and old as well as some seasoned and novice competitors.  Hawk Edwards was our youngest longboard entrant, at 12 years in his second ever surf competition.  Hawk made an impression on the judges advancing through the first round but just missing out on making it into the semi-finals.  Luckily Hawk has plenty of years left to hone his craft and we look forward to seeing his progression in the longboard division.

Eli Jacobs was happy to come back to the bay and to take out the Open Men’s division again this year, and in keeping with his kaupapa of 2018, Eli donated his winning prize cheque - $1000 sponsored by Mammoth Modern Insulation - straight back to North Coast Boardriders for the youth development fund. 

North Coast Boardriders Club President, Conor Pullman, was stoked with the outcome and said - 

“Although conditions were small NCB are really happy to have been able to run the event after so many postponements due to Covid-19 and clashes with other events. Having Eli, a hugely respected surfer who's been staying in Sandy Bay for the last couple months win and then gift his winnings to our youth development programme again is unbelievable and will go a long way to helping our young surfers achieve their dreams of becoming competitive surfers. His generosity will be remembered for a long time to come.”