Van der Veer combined with Scott Lawrence, Kiel Bigeni and Tom and Ben Howard when they bowed out in round two.

They finished in third spot and beat North Stockton, but were no match for Merewether and Wamberal.

Contest director Steve Harrison said the Port Macquarie competitors would be better for the run.

“They were a bit unlucky, but in these competitions momentum is a big thing,” he said.

“Otherwise time is against you and it can fall apart pretty quick because the guys that are surfing later are trying to do bigger tricks,” he said.

“If it doesn’t come off, the scores can be pretty low.”

It was the first time since 2014 the competition had been held.

Previously Port Macquarie had Matt Banting, Darren O’Rafferty and Wayne Morrison all competing together at the event.

“They used to go well and make the finals all the time,” Harrison said.

Van der Veer scored the highest out of the Port Macquarie team with 14.4 points which had the team “in the mix” in the early stages.

“He has a really good style and came up with some good manoeuvres,” Harrison said.

“The surf was absolutely pumping on the first day and was about three to four foot,” he said.

“It was meant to be smaller on the second day, but it was even bigger.”