Surf Lifesaving New Zealand southern region sport manager Luke Smith, of Christchurch, said the event had been "up there" and everyone had a really good time.
The weather had been "pretty primo" and all competitors had put on a great performance.
The event had been organised to prepare for the national competition in April and to help ensure volunteer life-savers were rescue ready.
Eight clubs competed, hailing from all over the South Island and one from Coromandel.
One team from Nelson had driven down for the event.
Most events involved the inflatable rescue boat (IRB), the piece of equipment most commonly used by surf life-savers.
Contestants were put through their paces in events including mass rescue, assembly rescue, tube rescue, single rescue and a teams race.
All were closely contested, but at the end of the day St Kilda had a clear lead over the second-placed club, Sumner.
St Clair finished third.
Dunedin had always been strong in IRB racing and had a proud history of putting forward great teams for the sport, Mr Smith said.
His standout moment was watching the team races, which were always "pretty cool" and displayed not only clubs’ depth of skills but also their teamwork.
He was grateful for the hard work of volunteer officials and water safety teams on the day.
Along with the background work put in by clubs, their efforts allowed teams to get in some solid racing, he said.
