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A full field lined up for the sixth annual Logger Heads traditional longboarding contest in Mangawhai on March 9, with 63 surfers across four divisions.
Crowds came out to watch logger legends from as far away as Gisborne and Port Waikato display their skills.
The event’s Old Mal division requires surfers to use pre-1970s longboards, which are much heavier and require excellent form in traditional nose riding and drop knee turn styles.
Organiser Tony Baker says it was a showdown between last year’s winner Jordan Griffin, of Mt Maunganui, and Tom Mason and Matt Newdick, both of Auckland.
“Each rider continues to perfect their approaches towards traditional longboarding with long nose rides, arcing turns and cheater 5’s,” Baker says.
In the end, it was Newdick who managed to snag the final and claim his maiden Old Mal title.
Mangawhai’s Billy Whelan was lifeguarding on the day and decided to enter the competition, after some prompting from Baker.
He was the only local surfer to place in a category, taking second for his styling in the junior logger division.
“It was sick to compete at my local breaks and hang around with my mates all day,” Billy said.
“I was pretty stoked because I wasn’t expecting much. I’m not a traditional kind of surfer, but a year ago I thought I would get involved and started practicing.”
Billy’s goal is to make the Northland surfing team and compete in the Raglan Scholastics National Surfing Champs in October.
Baker says he established the annual Logger Heads at Mangawhai as a grassroots event to fill the void after the demise of the SNZ Hyundai Longboarding Tour.
“There is an ever-growing base of loyal loggers here in NZ who have kept the artform alive, and I wanted to provide a canvas for these surfers to show their skills,” Baker says.
