Paige Hareb

World juniors France 2008 Blog 1

Bonjour!

I have now been in seignosse, France. A little town right near the beach about two hours away from Bordeaux, which is another four, or five hours train ride from Paris.

It was quite a mission to get here!

I have been here for a few days now with the rest of the U18 New Zealand team that is here for the World Junior surfing Championships. Our team has bonded straight from the get go and it’s been an exciting few days so far.

We are all staying in a big motel complex with all the other teams from 27 different countries. It’s really cool cause we all have breakfast and dinner together so we get to mix and mingle with all the other teams which is pretty challenging at times with the language barrier.

Three days ago we went on a day trip to San Sebastian, Spain. It only took us about an hour to drive there from France. It was a really nice place. We didn’t do anything apart from ‘people watch’, which was a real eye-opener of the Spanish culture. A lot of the kids can at least say they have been to Spain as well now. We are luckier than most kids.

Two we had our annual SANZ (South Africa – New Zealand) test. The first year I was in the team in Huntington, California we won it. The second year in Brazil for some reason we didn’t have it and some how the South Africans claimed the trophy! Last year we won it in Portugal pretty easy but this year in France it was too close for comfort! After surfing the age group finals with fellow team members Paco Divers placing 2nd in the U18. Damien Norman won the U16 division with Alix Dives as runner up. For the girls I won with Airini Mason 2nd. Then we had to do the tag teams. There were four teams with six people in each. Two NZ teams and two SA teams. By this stage the overall points were so close that it came down to the tag teams. We needed to get at least one team third and the other first so it was no easy task, especially with a bit of pressure. Anyway we pulled it off and ended up winning!

It was an awesome day for everyone to get to know each other better but I am always competitive and I’m really happy team NZ won again over the South Africans! Yay!

Yesterday was another big day! It was the opening parade of the Junior world surfing championships! All 27 teams walked the streets of Hossegor and each team brings a container of sand from their own country. The nations get called out one by one and the captains of each team pour their sand in to a big glass container. I got to pour our sand in since I am team captain with Ryan Hawker. Don’t worry Taranaki, I made sure I brought some good black west coast sand from across the road where I live. The New Zealand team is slightly different when we get called up though. All our boys strip off their tops and we all do the Haka in front of everyone! You get the best thrill from doing it. All the teams love it! This is my last year so it was pretty special to me to pour the sand and do the Haka for the last time.

Today was the first day of competition surfing. All the teams have their own tent set up on the beach. Everyone is very patriotic waving their nations flags everywhere. The waves were about 2-3ft and pumping! Cold water as we are wearing 3:2mm steamers but the weather is sunny and pretty hot. I’m sitting here on my bed relaxing after a long day of cheering on our boys since the girls didn’t surf today. I’m pleased to tell you that everyone is very happy as all the boys progressed through their heats and are still in the main round (if you are in the main round it means you still have another chance if you get knocked out of it).

Well I’m off for surf, stretching, team meeting, dinner then sleep. That’s the life of Paige Hareb for at least a week. Will keep you updated of the results along the way.

Merci!

Paige Hareb