There is definitely a storm brewing at Piha, but it is one you'll probably want a front-row seat for. From March 16 to 22, Piha will be abuzz with the Corona Piha Pro Challenger Series taking place. This is a pretty serious event that gives our Kiwi athletes a real head start in the World Qualifying Series battle for 2020.
With the honour of WSL wildcards, Kehu Butler and local Piha surfer Elliot Paerata-Reid, get a boost into the main event alongside QS and Olympic hope Billy Stairmand. This opens up two more slots for Kiwi surfers with the trials event to decide the top two men and women to go through.
In many ways this will be one of the most exciting components as we watch a choke of Kiwi talent vie for supremacy. Among them will be Dunedin's very own Elliott Brown – a favourite of many – he will come up against two locals who are completely on form in the lumpy Piha waves: Zen Wallis and Dune Kennings. And there is a stacked field looking to tip all those favourites from their perch. The women's trials will be equally as exciting with the rise of a new crop of super-competitive young surfers hot on the heels of Paige Hareb and using the trials as a launchpad of sorts.
I spent the past week on the ground in Piha and can tell you there is some conjecture among locals as to how this massive event might go down in what is really not much more than a big surf village nestled in the bushclad hills above the complicated West Coast beach. There is only one road into Piha. It's windy and prone to a lot of crashes. And the locals don't like change that much. They'd prefer not to have any of the world's prying lenses focusing on their little strip of black sand. Crowds are usually managed by the rubix cube line-up, but with the world's best in attendance that pressure may approach breaking point.
And the wave itself is something of an enigma. One moment pumping right drainers, the next a lazy reforming left. Then, in an instant, within the same sweep of tide, a mushy closeout that fuels a temporary rip torrent.
Throw 11-time world champion Kelly Slater into the mix and you know what? Who doesn't want to watch our Kiwi athletes compete in this environment? They may need your voice and hoot from the hill and, in my opinion, that's the least we can give them. This is the surf event where we should be parochial. Let's own it. Let's see a Kiwi surfer win it.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS Here's the full story on the Goat's Piha Pro announcement. And if you've seen the storm that's raging in the Northern Hemisphere right now then this Nazaré Tow Surfing Challenge will blow your mind. It's all happening as the sun sets here in New Zealand this Tuesday evening.
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