The sun is out for day two of the Water Polo on the Waterfront tournament.

The weekend event has been action packed with many watching as players compete for the John Hayes Cup at the Tauranga waterfront.

Already this morning, the quarter finals for this inaugural event have been decided. The Marlins will play the Stingrays at 11am. The Pufferfish fought hard but went down 7-6, and will play at 10.20am against the loser of the 9.20am game!

The Eels will play the Goldfish at 12pm after taking down the Turtles in the prelim-quarter, 11-8. The Turtles have a quick turnaround and will play the Whales at 10.40am, in the 9-12 semi-final.

The Octopus have edged out Jellyfish 9-8 in a nail biting prelim-quarterfinal. The Octopus advance into the second quarterfinal against the top seed in pool B, the Lobsters at 11.20am. The Jellyfish play the Pufferfish in the first 9-12 semifinal at 10.20am.

The results from Saturday's competitions meant that the Sharks (A1), Lobsters (B1), Goldfish (A2) and Stingrays (B2) went through to the quarter finals this morning. Games began at 9am.

On Saturday players found they were coming up against more than just one another. They also had to battle with the tides.

'It's like two boat jets being put on in a swimming pool and you're trying to swim against it,” says Cayne Dew. 'It's pretty tough out there. The legs are taking a beating trying to keep yourself in one spot, with the water going so hard.”

'It's good, it gets your fitness going,” says Nick Stankovich. 'but it's a tough one. My legs are working hard, but it's all fun. A really good tournament.”

The two players are enjoying the venue.

'Tauranga's home for me,” says Cayne. 'So coming back here and being able to play water polo in front of a local crowd…yeah…you can't really ask for much more than what we've got here. So I'm pretty happy.”

The teams are playing for the John Hayes Cup. John was a stalwart of Tauranga Water Polo and sadly passed away last year.

The tournament finishes about 3pm on Sunday afternoon.