24 September 2000
The Final Day

A stiff Southland southerly forced a change of venue for the second day of competition in the Primo Peak to Porridge surf and snow event. "Porridge was onshore and living up to its name" says organiser Evan Bloomfield and the surfing competition was moved to "Trees" at Colac Bay.

An even 3 - 4 foot swell and offshore wind provided great conditions for the preliminary heats but the low tide and cross shore winds delayed competition for several hours in the middle of the day. The afternoon saw heats re commence with the standard of surfing noticeably improving as the hot competitors moved through the heats.

The woman's was keenly contested with 11 surfers showing some impressive form in what is traditionally a male orientated sport. The finals were held in some pretty miserable conditions with the cold southerly and driving rain testing the limits. Jessie Terrill from Taranaki showed superb wave selection, strong roundhouse cutbacks and long rides to take first with fellow Taranaki surfer Heather Dent close behind in second and Regi Starinskas from Victoria third.

"The semi finals of the men had three members of the Riverton Pou family" said Evan. "That has to be some kind of record". The men's final was held in possibly some of the worst conditions ever with heavy persistent hail pelting down on the competitors.

As if to compensate the swell cleaned up and the finalists responded with some stunning surfing. Dwayne Fetch from Australia surfed consistently to take third place, Felix Dickson from Dunedin powered in to everything with some explosive re entries to take second but local Maru Pou displayed some lovely smooth surfing, got the only tube of the day and deservedly took first.

Surfing results were combined with points from the previous days boardercross at Coronet Peak to calculate the overall winners. Regi Starinskas with a second in the Boardercross and third in the Surfing beat Jessie Terrill by one point for a well deserved victory and became the womens Primo Peak to Porridge champion, taking home one thousand dollars in cash and a new surfboard.

In the men's 17 year old Felix Dickson from Dunedin showed his style and dedication to take first place with a thousand dollars and an all terrain "MountainBoard" spoils of his victory. Felix was obviously pleased later thanking his " Mom, Dad and brother " for their support and celebrating well in to the evening.