An opening-round qualifying win by Whangamata surfer Ella Williams has put New Zealand back on track at the 2015 ISA World Surfing Games in Nicaragua.

Williams, along with Paige Hareb, posted the two highest heat totals of the event to date during day two of the global event.

Whangamata surfer Ella Williams. Photo: Association of Surfing Professionals.

The pair were joined by JC Susan (Dunedin), who progressed through to qualifying round three of the Open Men's Division to give New Zealand a great boost.

The results come on the back of a less-than-desirable first day, where Susan's three counterparts suffered early losses and were consequently relegated to the reperchage rounds.

The surf remained around the 1.5m mark on day two, with the famous Nicaraguan offshore winds prevailing throughout. The A-frame peak offered up perfect left and right handers during all of the heats.

Taranaki's Hareb posted a 17.50 point total on her way to the first round heat win, despite admitting to having ‘more nerves than expected' out on the water.

'I started off with a quick low score,” says Paige, 'but found my feet and built on my scores with every wave I got.

'By the end I was just having fun, not thinking about the heat and just surfing against myself.

'I'm pretty happy to have the highest score of the round, but it's only the first round and I've got a long way to go.”

Securing the top heat score of the event to date means a favourites tag is firmly placed on Hareb, but that will not phase her as she concentrates on what she can control in the water and surfing her own heats.

However, this could become more difficult as the event progresses, with the A-frame peak already seeing multiple interferences in the early rounds.

'I don't like the hassle because a lot of the time it doesn't just come down to the surfer who can surf the best,” says Hareb, who faces defending event champion Anali Gomez in her next heat.

'My plan to counter that is to get quick starts, catch the best waves and hassle harder than they do if I need to.”

Whangamata's Williams was not far behind, posting a 17.44 point heat total as she made the most of the left-handers on her forehand.

'It's good to start the heats today for the girls,” says Ella. 'It was also great to have the chance to surf such a good break with only four surfers out.

'The waves were pumping and I feel so lucky to get the opportunity to surf this amazing break for a contest.”

Williams is now focussed on the next round, which will likely be contested on day three of the event.

'Over the next few days the swell is looking bigger,” she adds. It is already on the rise so it should be great.”

Later in the day, Susan advanced to the last 24 of the qualifying round after finishing second to Peruvian Joaquin Del Castillo, with a 10 point heat total.

Susan got off to a great start, with his second wave coming in at 6.83 points which gave him a stronghold on second place.

The ocean then went flat for much of the second-half of the heat, putting pressure on Susan's opponents to find high scoring waves. The breaks, however, failed to surface.

On the first day of the event Susan was the only surfer to taste success while one by one, Dune Kennings (Whangamata), Mount Maunganui's Matt Hewitt and Zen Wallis (Piha) suffered shock early defeats.

All three surfers will now have to contest the reperchage rounds of the event - a path that includes twice as many heats compared to the surfers that remain in the qualifying rounds.

The plight of the Kiwis was not helped with the introduction of the Portuguese and American teams, who did not compete at the event in 2014 and therefore had low seeds, making for some tough early encounters.

Day three will see Hareb and Williams back in action as well as Kennings, Hewitt and Wallis, who will be contesting the first of the reperchage rounds in the Open Men's Division.