Susan (20), a design student, has been training solidly at the beach for the past two weeks and knew that he had to take advantage of the good waves at the start.
There was 10 minutes of good waves but the sea then went flat for the last 15 minutes of the heat.
It was lucky for me,'' Susan, a former New Zealand junior representative, said. "I got two good waves at the start and didn't have to scratch around for waves later on.''
Susan scored 6.67 and 4.93 points on his first two waves and ended with 11.60 points.
He was followed by New Zealand senior representative Zen Wallis (Piha) with 10.40 points, Hayden Brain (Christchurch) 9.23 and Josh Thickpenny (Dunedin) 8.37 points.
The winners of the three open events - men, women and junior under 20 - all received $700 cash, sponsors' products and Surfing New Zealand sanction points.
Susan's best wave was his first when he scored 6.67 points.
''It was a low reverse wave,'' he said.
''I did three turns to the beach. It was the best wave of the heat.''
Four waves later Susan rode his second wave and it was worth 4.93 points.
''It came from out the back and was one of the bigger waves of the heat,'' Susan said.
''I surfed all the way to the beach and did a few cut backs. I was pretty happy.''
Wallis' best wave scored 5.63 points and his second 4.77 points.
Brain (34), a Christchurch car salesman, was frustrated by the lack of good waves.
''I was just trying to play catch up but the waves weren't coming,'' he said.
''It was pretty hard out there. The waves were lumpy and bumpy. There was not any consistent surf.''
The open women had no complaints in their finals heat. The waves just kept coming.
There were 1.5m clean waves that moved mostly to the right but a few came back left.
The women's title was won by New Zealand senior representative Grace Speirs (Whangamata) 13.17 points from Hayley Coakes (Dunedin) 11.77, Alexis Poulter (Raglan) 9.77 and Queen's High School physical education teacher Tash Mattingly (Dunedin) 7.43 points.
Speirs (20), a marine biology student at Mount Maunganui, had won every division of the New Zealand championships except the open women's grade.
''The surf was pumping. It was really fun out there,'' Speirs said.
''There were heaps of waves coming through.''
Her best wave scored 7 points and her back-up wave 6.17.
''It was a right-hander and it took me right to the beach,'' Speirs said.
''It was a really fun wave.''
Coakes' best wave was worth 7.01 points but she was not able to get a decent back-up to claim the title.
New Zealand senior representative Tane Wallis (Piha) won the junior men's under-20 title with 15.33 points. His best wave was worth 7.33 points.
He was followed by Jules Craft (Gisborne) 13.60 points, Cody McCusker (Christchurch) 11.50 and Tom Bracegirdle (Dunedin) with a total of 7.17 points.
Zen Wallis (Piha) won the long board with 14.23 points. His best wave was worth 7.07 points. Hugh Ritchie (Christchurch) was second on 11.10 points and Luke O'Neill (Christchurch) third.
Josh Thickpenny (Dunedin) won the senior men's title with 13.43 points and Sam Sands (Christchurch) the boys under-14 title with 11.33 points.
