Good conditions at St Clair first thing deteriorated through the morning with an onshore wind developing. Just before noon contest director Greg Townsend called a pause in proceedings and the entire crew moved to Blackhead beach, about 2.5km south where conditions were excellent.

The junior men's semifinals were run in the morning at St Clair. First in the Under 16 years was Llewellyn Thomas of Christchurch. The older juniors had to wait until the afternoon for their final. It was an all Otago affair with Felix Dickson, Jah Harris, Danny Carse and Joel Summerlee. Danny, Felix and Jah are all members of the Pulsate team. Danny went out early and collected a good bag of waves and was quickly in front. He maintained this position throughout the entire final and started performing a few aerials on his last rides, much to the pleasure of the crowd on the beach. Felix Dickson also picked up some good rides to finish second. Jah rode in third and Joel fourth.

In the women's draw it was the expected top seeds that came through to the final. Celia Miller and Mandy Wood, both of Australia. Jess Terrill, a lone junior from Taranaki and Jess Mortimer of Wanaka. Jess Mortimer managed to get on to two good waves and with six minutes to go was well clear. By now exhaustion was definitely showing with all the riders taking a long time to get back out to the waves. Jess Terrill failed to manage her takeoffs and a single good run late in the final pushed Celia Miller into second followed by Jess Terrill and Mandy Wood in fourth place.

The men's final also stacked up the top seeds. Nuku Nash from Canterbury, Manu Schaffer, 1999 NZ Surfing champion from Gore bay against two Australians. Quiksilver team captain Andrew Murphy and Luke Fitcher , three time's previous winner of the event. Manu went into the final as the favorite with both the highest single score of the day and overall heat score showing he was the one definitely on form.

However, things did not follow early form as the two Australians, Luke and Andrew, went out early and traded the lead well cut clear of the Kiwi's. With five minutes to go Andrew nailed a run of 8.3 which took him back into the lead which he held to the end. A late charge by Nuku saw him finish third ahead of Manu.

The Jedai, general announcer for the day, was a major part of the entertainment on offer and kept the entire crowd well up with the status throughout the day. The event moves to Wanaka tomorrow and will contest the boardercross course at Cardrona on Friday.