CANTERBURY BODY SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS TAYLORS MISTAKE — MARCH 21

Press, 18 March 1982, Page 14

CANTERBURY BODY SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS TAYLORS MISTAKE — MARCH 21

First champs, for new sport

Body surfing is not a new recreation. Thousands of New Zealanders spend hours every summer riding the waves at hundreds of beaches around the New Zealand coastline.

Like ski-ing, body surfing is an exhilarating recreation, but one that not all New Zealanders are competent at. It is difficult to catch a wave and maintain the right body position .to get the best ride from a wave.

But now even fumbling amateurs have the opportunity to enjoy body surfing with the aid of hand skis made by a Christchurch company.

Hundreds of sets of the skis have been sold this summer and as a result the company which makes them, Taylors Mistake Handskis, "decided it would hold the first New Zealand body surfing championships. On Sunday what was formerly a' recreation moves into the realms of sport when (he first body surfing championships start at 12 noon on the Taylors Mistake beach. ■

Although a new sport in New Zealand, body surfing with the aid of hand skis is well established in Califor-

Steve Mander, with the handski which gives a new dimension to body surfing. Held in front of the body the ski gives the surfer buoyancy as he or she planes down the face of a wave.

nia, and championships there have been annual events since 1968.

The championships on Sunday will be split into three divisions. The first will be for body surfers without a handboard; the second will be a hand ski-ing division using the new hand skis or a similar hand board; and the third division will be belly boarding (body surfing with a “boogie board” or equivalent type of board). The organisers will be able to cater for only a limited number of entrants in each division on Sunday and entrants will be accepted on a “first come, first entered" basis.

The competitions will be judged on three different aspects — the take off, the ride and the pull out. To provide the best conditions the championships will be held on the incoming tide.