Mount Maunganui surfers Raiha Ensor and Elin Tawharu have kept the New Zealand Junior Surfing Team's hopes of success alive at this year's World Junior Surfing Championships.

The Bay of Plenty pair, along with Gisborne's Jasmine Smith, are the only Kiwis left battling it out in the 2015 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship at Oceanside Beach, California.

Raiha Ensor in action earlier this year. Photo: File.

The team are competing at Oceanside Beach until October 18, and the first two days of the event were contested in clean 1–1.5m waves throughout the morning, which deteriorated to predominantly low tide close outs in the afternoon.

A record 36 countries are in attendance at the event, with more than 320 entrants across Under-18 and Under-16 Divisions for both boys and girls.

Jasmine was the team's top performer on day two, surfing to an 11.26 point heat total to win her heat over surfers from Japan, El Salvador and Panama in the Under-18 division.

'The surf is way more fun on high tide, so I was pretty stoked to get to surf it this morning,” says Jasmine.

'I was pretty nervous for my heat, but I just wanted to get a quick start and stay busy, which I did.”

Jasmine will go up against surfers from Tahiti, Peru and the United Kingdom on day three of the event.

Our surfers in the Under-16 Girls Division, Elin and Raiha, followed suit, with Elin winning her heat and Raiha coming second.

'The conditions looked so fun in the morning,” says Elin, 'but unfortunately it was low tide for my heat. It was actually okay because the waves were so similar to the Mount.

'I managed to catch some runners on the edge, so I'm so happy to have won my heat. Our girls have done really well so far and it's another big day tomorrow.”

Following Elin into the second round was first time competitor Raiha.

'The Worlds have been great to be a part of so far,” says Raiha. 'The team vibe is really good and everyone is supportive of each other.

'I was slightly nervous before my first heat, but I knew if I focused and surfed well I would be able to advance.

'My plan was to stick a little wider and get the right-hand shoulders instead of the close outs, which there were heaps of, on the lower tide. That plan worked.”

Daniel Farr, Jonas Tawharu and Kaya Horne were all relegated to the reperchage rounds after the second day of competition. The three surfers again had to battle the low tide on the second podium but, fortunately for them, they have a rest on day three of the event.