Last week's post dwelled on the downside of Level 3 and 2
On how caned the the West Coast beaches were getting, both in and out of the water. There was also mention of how the general vibe of PhotoCPL posts is intended to upbeat and looking towards the positives. As a side note, last week's more cynical slant got far more traffic and discussion than usual... does this mean the future posts should follow that trend? Should the posts spiral down into the form of NewsTalk, Stuff and even Stab? Well, at my own [arguably financial] detriment it's a firm NO. I could, I know how to bait and create sensational muckraking. Lord knows there's enough muck in Surfing to do so, but it's just not what I want to do. So here's a super rad positive from the last 8 weeks.
Meet top French Surfer Maxime Huscenot. 28 year old Maxime and his family opted to stay in NZ after the Piha Pro got canceled. It was an absolute pleasure to share our waves with him. It seems like everyone loved having him in the line-ups, he wasn't snakey or prone to drop in and man did he put on a show. It wasn't the first time Maxime has put in some decent time at Piha. In 2010 he spent 2 weeks here as part of the French team competing in the ISA World Juniors, posting a very creditable 9th in the U18's.
Maxime, 10 years ago at Piha, I got the job as Official ISA event photog hence remembering Maxime well.
Last Sunday Maxime and his family flew home; "Yeah I will miss surfing here. I came for the 'QS and decided to stay for a week to enjoy the place and visit a bit. Then when things start to move quickly with the Covid 19 we decided to stay here as we were in a safe house with really nice people. We didn’t want to risk travelling and contracting the virus and then spread it to our family back home. So it was a safe decision to stay even if it was hard to be away from our family.
New Zealand was a really amazing place. The people are so friendly and welcoming. I want to thank the family that take care of us and also all the locals that let me surf with them and share their line up 🙌🏻🔥! We’ve been cooking every day, so once a week we would go to the shopping mall to get food and then stay nice and quiet in Piha. It’s been lovely to surf here and enjoy the Piha reserve it is so beautiful." Maxime adds that he hopes to return next year if the Piha Pro is on. Needless to say he'll be welcomed with open arms.
Maxime lighting up last Saturday
Of course the locals weren't letting Maxxy have all the waves...
Whaaaa! Aramis Goodwin on a short board?!
Aramis blazing into the sunset
...and Aro again finding rights, in now is what is aptly named the Covid Bank...according to Bill Byers anyway
SNZ Prez, Dr. Chris Fougere walking the talk
...and up the coast...
Moving On
The Recreational Society is going pretty well! Thank you all that have visited the new website. This week the site profiles fellow surf photog Jono Smit and his wife Annie's camper.
You can check it out HERE
