Young Mount Maunganui surfer Kehu Butler is returning home from the 2014 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship having placed seventh in the under 16 boys' division.

Butler, 14, placed highest in the New Zealand Junior Surfing Team, and has another two years in the division to achieve a podium placement.

Mount Maunganui's Kehu Butler.

The NZ junior team exited the competition on Sunday in 10th place, one rank down from 2013.

On Sunday the swell started to build for the penultimate day of the event, held at La Fae Beach, Salinas in Ecuador, with a 1m–1.5m swell and variable onshore winds.

Butler progressed through an early morning heat before a tight match up that included surfers from USA, Hawaii and Australia.

Going wave-for-wave, Butler fell just short with an 11.27 point heat total requiring a low six point ride to surpass the Hawaiian and American surfers who finished first and second respectively.'I had a whole lot of fun in my last heat, I emptied the tank and had nothing left to offer,” says Butler.

'I have achieved my goal and some at this event. I wanted to improve on my result from 2013 (31st) and I did that."

He is now returning to New Zealand with an increasing amount of international experience he can build on for the coming years.

He also acknowledges the need to get stronger which will help him when the pressure comes on from opponents in the latter rounds of the event, where hassling for waves is a vital component of the event.

Results from day seven of the 2014 Vissla ISA World Junior Championships:

Under 16 Boys Repechage, Round 8, Heat 2

1, Kehu Butler, NZL, 11.87, 2, Zac Wightman, AUS, 8.13, 3, Matias Nobrega, URU, 7.26

Under 16 Boys Repechage, Round 9

1, Noa Mizumo HAW, 12.84, 2, Nolan Rapoza USA, 12.83, 3, Kehu Butler NZL, 11.27, 4, Zac Wightman AUS, 9.54

Under 18 Girls Repechage, Round, 6 Heat 1

1, Bailey Nagy, HAW, 5.80, 2, Lucia Indurain, ARG, 3.47, 3, Jasmine Smith, NZL, 2.66

Under 18 Boys Division

16^th Elliot Paerata – Reid (Piha) 49^th Dune Kennings (WGM) 49^th Korbin Hutchings (Gis/Aus) 73^rd Jordan Griffin (Mnt)

Under 16 Boys Division

7^th Kehu Butler (Mnt) 31^st Manu Scott – Arrieta (Sandy Bay) 37^th Daniel Farr (Tara) 43^rd Jonas Tawharu (Mnt)

Under 18 Girls Division

9^th Jasmine Smith (Gis) 16^th Britt Kindred (Mur)

Under 16 Girls Division

13^th Elin Tawharu (Mnt)19^th Kea Smith (Mnt)

The World Junior Surfing Championships is an annual event held since 2003. New Zealand has competed at the event since its inception as well as competing at the World Grommet Titles, as it was formerly known since 1989.

In 2013 the New Zealand team placed ninth at the event when it was held in Nicaragua.