It is an icon of the national event calendar and this year’s 2023 South Island Surfing Championships didn’t disappoint with Taylor Hutchison taking the win in the Open Men’s. Isaac Chadwick was on hand to bring us this edit from finals day.
The first two days of the 2023 South Island Surfing Championships were held at St Clair in tricky conditions with competitors having to choose their waves carefully and maximize the good waves when they came. However, at the end of the second day strong offshores kicked in and continued to howl through the night, which led to the contest directors moving the final day of competition to the sheltered local beach of Blackhead.
As the sun rose competitors were met with fun 2-3ft walls with both the lefts and the rights providing for both stances of surfer. Have a watch below to see the highlights of an action-packed finals day at one of Dunedin’s most rippable beachies.