24-year old Ziems mixed his trademark rail carves with 'new school' moves to beat 2006 QCC champion Dave Reardon-Smith (Yaroomba), former event champion Samba Mann (Tweed Heads) and former world tour competitor Shane Wehner (Byron Bay) in tricky 0.5- 1-metre beach break waves at Palm Beach.

"I'm over the moon," said Ziems, who returned to Gold Coast on Friday after being bundled out of the WQS tournament at Soldiers Beach, NSW. "I grew up surfing along this stretch of beach, so I know it quite well. I' ve been training really hard and I'm just rapt that it's all paid off."

The Currumbin ace emerged victorious from the water, after earlier disposing of QCC ratings leader Luke Dorrington (Coolangatta) in the semis and Palm Beach young gun Brendan Leckie in the quarters. In a nail-biting final, Ziems utilised his classy competition repertoire to defeat Reardon-Smith by a single point.

After swapping the lead several times, Ziems stole the lead from his rivals with a heat-high 7.50 wave score, forcing his opponents to chase a big score to claim victory. Reardon-Smith managed a 7.00 in the dying stages but it was not enough. Ziems finishing with a two-wave combined total of a 14.00 to Reardon-Smith's 13.00. "It was tough to find consistent waves throughout the final," he said.