Raglan’s Alani Morse triumphed at the New Zealand Women’s Surfing Festival this weekend taking out the Open Women’s Division at Pauanui, the third stop on the NZ Surf Series for 2026.
The 15-year-old New Zealand representative surfed seven heats throughout an action packed day adding a runner up finish in the Under 16 Girls Division earlier in the afternoon and an appearance in the Hyper Ride Expression Session.
After three days of easterly storms and terrible weather during the week, Pauanui turned on a charm for the weekend with the surf starting out in the 1.0m range with beautiful sunshine and offshore winds. Sunday finished slightly smaller with the Under 14 Girls, Longboard and Novice divisions rounding out the weekend.
Morse looked sharp all Saturday finding the waves that offered several scoring opportunities in the often challenging conditions.
“Yeah, I kind of waited a while for that last wave, but it came in the end and I knew it was going to come and I knew my surfing ability would definitely be good enough to get that score, but it was just about waiting and it came and I was pretty stoked,” said Morse of her 5.27 point ride to clinch the final.
Morse opened her account with a 7.83 point ride and finished with a 13.10 point heat total – her highest of the day.
“Yeah, I’ve had a few pretty good heats today. But yeah, it was really good to get the best score in the final,” she added of her overall performance.
Morse took out the final over Mount Maunganui surfer Sage Frtichley on 9.97 points, Poppy Arkle (Piha) in third on 9.44 and an injured Chloe Groube (Pau) in fourth on 6.73.
Our top young stars were amongst a field of over 110 entrants in the event with surfers attending from Ahipara down to the Catlins.
“It’s really cool to see the number of girls that are here this weekend, just the younger ones coming through and the older ones too, it’s really good to get together and celebrate women’s surfing in New Zealand”.
Local surfer Chloe Groube secured her first event win in a year despite exiting the water with four minutes to go in the final, sustaining an ankle injury. After completing two big turns on her fateful wave, Groube went for broke on the end section but tweaked her ankle and floated to shore in agony. However, the 6.67 point ride was enough for the win with her opponents unable to best her 10.50 point heat total while she waited on the beach. Poppy Arkle (Piha) finished second in the final ahead of Sage Fritchley (Mnt) in third and Izzy Evans (Mnt) in fourth.
Lola Groube made it a double in the age groups for the sisters when she won the Under 16 Girls Division. In another major battle against Alani Morse, Groube got the better of this encounter 12.20 v 11.67. The win brings Lola’s total to three for the season after winning the National Championships and the second event of the Billabong Grom Series. Gisborne’s Charlotte McDiarmid made her first final of the season to finish third ahead of Jade Nias Phillips (Ahipara) in fourth.
Jade Nias Phillips made a mends in the Under 14 Girls Division taking out the division in the final minute with a 5.83 point ride for a critical backhand turn to flip the heat. Maddie Smith (Gis) finished with her best result of the year placing second ahead of Millie Dyck (Mnt) and Savanah Dawes (Mnt) who finished in third and fourth respectively.
Te Waiotu claimed her second win of the season in the NZ Longboard Series taking our the Harcourts Pauanui Women’s Longboard Division. Emma Lay (Mangawhai) had the lead until about two minutes to go when Fairlie posted a 7.0 point ride to snatch the victory in a close final. Izzy Evans placed third in her second final of the weekened with Willow McBride (Mnt) finishing in fourth.
Miriam Popich (Pau) surfed to a win in the Over 40 Women’s Division, the local surfer beating her out of town opponents in Alex Monteith (Piha), Carolyn Gundy (Piha) and Fleur Blackie (Whitianga).
In a mix of participants for the Novice Division, it was the older Sarah Ling (Mangawhai) that claimed the win on her longboard over the two youngsters in Maeva Dyck (Mnt) and Fay Devoy (Whiti) with Kristin McCaw (Pauanui) finishing in fourth.
The Salt Gypsy Expression Session drew all the groms into a one heat winner takes all assault on the Pauanui waves with Sage Fritchley taking the win with her searing forehand wraps. Meanwhile, Sunday saw the Hyper Ride All-In Soft Top Challenge where the young girls had a blast, tandem surfing, sharing party waves and completing all sorts of tricks with Jade Nias Phillips ands Lara Lay taking out the most entertaining performance.
The New Zealand Women’s Surfing Festival pres by the Thames Coromandel District Council includes divisions ranging from the Open Women, Under 14, 16 and 18 Girls, Over 40 Women, Longboard and Novice divisions. To add some fun to the weekend, there was an expression session, all-in foamie soft top session and a skate session. Over 110 entries were received for the weekend.
The event is part of all three national series for the open, junior and longboard. The juniors and longboarders head to the Duke Festival of Surfing next weekend before the South Island Champs for all three during Easter, the Kaikoura Grom Comp on the 11-12 April then the Backdoor King and Queen of the Point pres by Quiksilver, Roxy and WSL on the 15-19 April.
Partners
Generous support from Thames-Coromandel District Council, Lorna Jane, Harcourts Pauanui, Salt Gypsy, HyperRide, Surf Shell Surf Hats, Zeffer Drinks, Cocobella, The Collective NZ, Neufound Eyewear, The Sauna Project Coromandel Coast, Raglan Roast, Awatere Wines, Pauanui Surf School, Wild Coast Collective, Skateboarding NZ, Aotearoa Women’s Surfing Association & Surfing New Zealand has made this event possible.
