Mount Maunganui surfer Elin Tawharu has finished in the top 20 at this year's Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in California.

The youngster finished seventeenth in the Under-1 Girls' DivisionThe New Zealand Junior Surfing Team exited the 2015 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship yesterday.

Elin Tawharu in action at the Junior World Champs. Photo: Supplied.

Day five of the event, being held at Oceanside Beach, saw more conditions in the 1.0m range with light onshore winds often making good waves hard to find on the beach break.

Elin was New Zealand's top placed surfer finishing and was ousted in the dying stages of her afternoon heat when British surfer Ellie Turner posted a 6.10 ride in the last minute to pip Tawharu by 0.20 points – 12.53 vs 12.33.

Kehu Butler was New Zealand's top ranked male surfer finishing twenty-ninth overall. After progressing through his first two heats of the day, Butler's luck ran out and the often fickle waves deserted him.

'Yeah the waves were really hard today, I managed to get some nice runners in the earlier heats but in that last heat I couldn't get the best waves and the conditions got really harsh. There wasn't much I could do” said a devastated Butler.

Butler has one further year left in the Under 16 Boys Division and hopes to get a better result in 2016 when the event will be held in the Azores Islands located off Portugal.

It was a tough day for the Kiwi Team who now sit in seventeenth place overall and will at best climb a few spots if results of other teams go their way during the final two days of the event.

Earlier in the day Jasmine Smith had a heat to forget in the Under-18 Girls Division finishing the event in twenty-ninth.

'I probably surfed the worst possible heat of my life this morning, the waves were small and soft but super ‘rippable' and I just couldn't put the heat together” Jasmine says.

'I came here to win so yeah I'm really really disappointed but hey, stuff happens” she added in reflection of her performance.

Also ending their run in the Under-18 Division was Mount Maunagui's Callum Chuter who finished the event in thirty-third.

Callum was the top performing boy in the division but the young goofy footer was left requiring a 5.18 point ride to oust his opponents from Peru and Hawaii when the final hooter sounded.

Mount Maunganui's Raiha Ensor did not progress her chances in her third round match up, left requiring a 5.24 point ride for progression alongside Elin.

Raiha finished the event in twenty-fifth overall.The youngest of the team, 14-year-old Kaya Horne exited his first heat of the day as well after the diminutive young natural footer incurred an interference in his heat.

Kaya was well within range of progressing had it not been for a slight error of judgement when he mistakenly dropped in on his opponent.

He finished the event in forty-ninth place.A record 36 countries are in attendance at the event with over 320 entrants across Under-18 and Under-16 Divisions for both boys and girls.

Under 18 Boys Repechage Round 4 Heat 4 Lucca Saldivar, PER, 12.33, 1, Imaikalani DeVault, HAW, 9.27, 2, Callum Chuter, NZL, 7.87, 3, Jácome Correia, POR, 6.23, 4

Under 18 Girls Repechage Round 3 Heat 1 Lucia Indurain, ARG, 14, 1, Peony Knight, UK, 9.77, 2, Teal Hogg, RSA, 4.8, 3, Jasmine Smith, NZL, 4.7, 4

Under 16 Boys Repechage Round 3 Heat 6 Steven Muschett, JAM, 8.90, 1, Gaspar Larragneguy, ARG, 6.33, 2, Kaya Horne, NZL, 5.47, 3, Osvaldo Yañez, CHI, 3.13, 4

Heat 7 Kehu Butler, NZL, 15.06, 1, Dean Vandewalle, BEL, 9.77, 2, Warren Peckett, TAH, 8.77, 3, Oscar Urbina, CRI, 6.60, 4

Under 16 Boys Repechage Round 4 Heat 7 Kehu Butler, NZL, 12.40, 1, João Moreira, POR, 10.87, 2, Gabriel Vargas, PER, 7.10, 3, Arpad Leclère, BEL, 5.47, 4

Under 16 Boys Repechage Round 5 Heat 3 Yuji Nishi, JPN, 13.84, 1, Luke Malherbe, RSA, 9.87, 2, Adin Masencamp, RSA, 9.17, 3, Kehu Butler, NZL, 8.16, 4

Under 16 Girls Repechage Round 3 Heat 2 Havanna Cabrero, PUR, 12.17, 1, Minami Nonaka, JPN, 9.5, 2, Raiha Ensor, NZL, 7.94, 3, Paloma Santos, CHI, 7.17, 4

Heat 3 Elin Tawharu, NZL, 9.43, 1, Niamh Mathias, WAL, 5.24, 2, Mariana Garcia, POR, 4.4, 3, Valentina Resano, NIC, 3.39, 4

Under 16 Girls Repechage Round 4 Heat 3 Emily Gussoni, CRI, 13.87, 1, Ellie Turner, UK, 12.53, 2, Elin Tawharu, NZL, 12.33, 3, Olivia Warden, BAR, 2.8, 4