Us surfers are a fickle bunch. Quite literally our moods will change with the wind. We can go from being grumpy malcontents to the most de-stressed happy chaps in a single surf. This summer the West coast has been terrible for surf. I've posted about this and why HERE . Things have changed. The coast has gone from bad, to ahhhh that's pretty good, to holey shit that's fricken PUMPING!
It has been heavy, solid waves and full on rips. There has been carnage, on Monday evening Sam 'Sanga' Willis pulled into a barrel on Piha's Bar; sweet...no... He got axed, 6 broken ribs and a punctured lung. A very fast trip to ED, he's currently in Auckland Hospital on his way to recovery. There have been moments of greatness, I think I've had some of my best water photo sessions ever. Here is a sample of what has been going down.
Bevan 'Napes' Wiig has been on it every right tide, he's paid the price though; 2 snapped boards this week
Local Lad Braedyn Louie has had some serious time in the shade this week
Whanga born'n'bred AJ Matthews pulling on his Bar training
AJ
Foamy beast with a hell of a lot of literage in its lip
Toby Dobson-Smith scratching over
Toby on a drainer
Nick Holmes, charged super hard and probably won the award for the most sea lice bites to boot
One of the most perfect waves I've ever seen
James McAlpine
Another James, this time it's Mr. Laery
so, so good this week
Napes bowling it
Napes weaving hands free
Bob Davie passed away last Tuesday. Aged 75 his passing has rocked the surfing community. The Surfer/Shaper was the first to do large scale production in the 60's and 70's. Allan Byrne, Rod Dahlberg and a host of top shapers were taught their craft by Bob. The term legend is bandied around too loosely, Bob was literally and actually a deadset legend.
We've had a long running joke about a board he shaped me, it's a beautiful log, triple stringer, wood tail block, gloss coat. Bob has been horrified that I haven't surfed it- he made the board to be surfed, I can't bare the thought of waxing it. Bob's joke was always 'You ridden that board yet!' first thing he'd say; in fact that's how phone calls would start. Then if other people were around, he'd go for the shock line 'ahhh you're still waiting for me to die so you can put it on Trademe aren't ya!" I'd reply 'hurry up an get on with it', we'd both crack up, knowing Bob was quite chuffed he'd shocked some randoms. And that's our Bob, legend, but not invested in it, a wealth of knowledge, craftsman, prankster, father, grandfather... the man.