Wallis, Hungerford and Jamieson Top Performers on day one of World Longboard Championship

The New Zealand Longboard Team has had an excellent start to their campaign at the International Surfing Association (ISA) World Longboard Championship held in Surf City, El Salvador.

The World Longboard Championship is an IOC recognised event which attracts approximately 100 entries from over 30 countries. The 2023 event in El Salvador is also a qualification event for the ANOC Beach Games in Bali, 5-12 Aug 2023.
 
The team consisting of Zen Wallis (Piha) Will Jamieson (CHCH) Amelie Wink (CHCH) and Estella Hungerford (CHCH) participated in the opening ceremony yesterday (8th May) Where Zen Wallis was the flag bearer and Estella Hungerford poured the sand in the iconic mixing of the sand’s ceremony.
 
Day 1 of the event saw fun waves in the 2-3ft range with all but one team member surfing today. Zen Wallis (Piha) started off New Zealand’s campaign, surfing in Heat 6 of Mens Round 1. Zen surfed against Samuel Dunton (AUS) Abdelghani Sahal (IRL) and Jaime Garcia of Guatemala. Conditions in the morning were near perfect said Wallis. “The waves were so clean and dreamy but just before my heat the wind came up super strong which was disappointing”.

“All the teams I've spoken with would love if the competition would start at 6am each day as the waves are phenomenally better every morning before the wind comes up, but as always we just make the best of what we have with a smile on our face”.
 
Despite the challenging conditions Zen was a standout performer in the heat getting four waves in the slow conditions “Yeah, I am stoked to make it through despite no sets coming through in my heat, I had a feeling that was going to happen though, so I got off to a fast start and followed up quickly”. With this excellent result he now advances to Heat 4 of Round 2.
 
Will Jamieson also surfed today in Heat 11 of Round 1. Up against Tom Breen (IRL) Christopher Abreu (DOM) and Tasman Dunton (AUS), Jamieson got six waves under his belt with a 3 and a 3.83 putting him into second place below good friend Tom Breen of Ireland. Although a low scoring affair this was enough to progress Jamieson to the next round where he will surf in heat 6.

Estella Hungerford rounded out the day in Heat 6 of the women. Up against Lucy Small of Australia and Marcela Gonzalez of Colombia the women were neck and neck however Small was able to keep busy just enough to hold Estella in 2nd position. Small winning narrowly by a .07. Hungerford now progresses through to Round 2 Heat 3 where she will surf against Brazillian Chloe Calmon and Evelin Gointier of Argentina.
 
Amelie Wink was the only Kiwi not to surf on day 1 however up against Australian Kirra Molnar and Colombian Margarita Conde she was unable to find the waves required to progress and so heads to the womens repechage rounds. Team manager and competitor Zen Wallis said, “The team have put in a bunch of time over the past few days familiarising themselves with this line up in a variety of conditions, looking forward to cheering them on”. Massive thanks to all our supporters he added.
 
To watch the Kiwis in action and for all draws, results, and schedules head to the ISA Website
 
Complete event write-ups, results, surfer ratings and images from the event can be viewed at Surfing New Zealand. And the ISA Website