Flightless Obsession

It's bold and interesting times, where the lines between what companies and organisations do is so blurred. The WSL; once a sporting body now looks far more like a Media House. Red Bull...make energy drinks right? Red Bull Media is its own massive global entity, producing magazines, Tv shows and in fact a channel to broadcast TV shows. 

Is our National Surfing body going the same way? ... I'd actually like to see it happen. I think the old model of hosting surfing events [effectively being an events company], while super important, just simply does not engage with the NZ Surfing community at large. In other words, your average Kiwi Surfer has no interest in competing in a comp, sitting on the rocks at Manu Bay watching 4 foot sou'west chop for their precious weekend. We wanna go surfing man! 

While it has been a pipeline dream of SNZ's GM Ben Kennings for a while that bloody Covid thing gave BK the opportunity to spearhead the Flightless Obsession film project. In a very democratic way; he invited any and everyone to submit clips, similarly to Kiwi bands for the soundtrack and even the title was chosen via a voting process, how very inclusive. Of course surfers are slack buggers and BK spent weeks chasing surfers he knew had good clips. 

Whanga grom Hunter Cooney got the unenviable task of coupling all the clips into a cohesive flow. I think the 15 year old excelled behind his years. 

The footage at times, as you have to expect, is pretty averagely shot, but the content is what this film is all about. It's rad, its certainly worth a watch or three. It's not claiming to be a cinematic journey of excellence. It is what it is; a snapshot and scrapbook of what's going on in NZ currently [there are a few clips of Indo and Oz]. 

Through my rose tinted glasses I'd like to see SNZ smash out at least one of these a year, continue the inclusiveness and engagement. 

Anyway, here it is... enjoy... 

And here's SNZ's official press release on it, which also has the link to the movie. 

In Other News

...this is going to be sooooo good! My good mate Mags is putting on her very first solo exhibition. Mags is already an award winning photographer, most years spending the winter either in Tahiti or northern Tonga chasing whales... you can't really say shooting whales aye. Her work is noting short of stellar.... bring your wallet. 

From the Bookstore

The South Seas is out and NZ Surf The Collection Volume 2 ain't too far behind! I think there's less than 200 left...maybe more, but either way it's not gonna last summer. If you want a copy or just a window shop, check it out HERE

The Troopy

What I'd like to to filling this web log with is images like the the one above. And that will be happening again. I'd also like to be stoking you out with good surfing images....that will be happening again soon. But I'm not going on roadies or surfing at all right now. On July 23, I took apart the perfectly good, working interior of our beloved Troopy. 

The original interior; worked perfectly, but the old grey clad MDF cabinetry was heavy and didn't capitalise on all the much needed storage space. 

I had already replaced the left hand bench/bed side ... and knew things behind the old cabinets were pretty rough... look at that dodgey wiring!

Cleaned internal walls and insulation added...new power centre box made

New wall panels made with chubby holes....

The bro Kent takes on the old snakes wedding 

and look at what he did!!! Simplified, fused and safe...

Deceptively simple right? 

 It is said that a camper van fit out takes about 300 hours; doesn't matter what size, in fact smaller just means fiddler. After 7 weeks of everyday... I think we can establish I'm very slow. It's getting there. What have I learnt? The old cabinets were pretty good! 

Next week...surfing...probably :) 

And over on Recreational Society, things are ticking along quite nicely thank you. 

How cool is Paul and Jen's 1956 Bus! Check it out HERE

From the Bookstore

The South Seas is out and NZ Surf The Collection Volume 2 ain't too far behind! I think there's less than 200 left...maybe more, but either way it's not gonna last summer. If you want a copy or just a window shop, check it out HERE

End Of An Era

It was mentioned last week that The South Seas book was entering its last phase, that soon all the stock in the warehouse would be sold out. Well it happened a bit faster than thought. Last Thursday two big orders came in, and that's that, done, gone, no more. Well, of course there are books in stores, but that's it from a wholesale and web sale point of view. The eight year odyssey looks to be over. 

The 2012 image used the the South Seas book birth party/launch 

The OG, sold through in 18 months, then the reprint did the same. We thought after 4 years it was a bit cheeky to just keep reprinting, and there had been some significant swell events. We decided to revise the book for 2017... it was s'possed to be a pretty mellow update, well that didn't happen. About 80% of the images were changed, new photographers included, and probably most notably we changed the cover. We, that's Brent Courtney and I, stand by that decision, but it created some confusion. Some of the mainstream retailers didn't recognise it as the same bestselling title, it took a while to win them over, there was even suggestion that the book should have been titled something completely new. Surf Stores, on the other hand, saw it as continuing the momentum.

One of the aforementioned swell events

Another of the swap outs/ revisions. One of the best formations of sand this salty photog has swum on the west coast.

It's a strange thing when a long term project ends. The South Seas was always more than a commercial enterprise, Brent and I wanted to make a NZ Surf book that was luxurious, that celebrated NZ surf and surf culture. We were/are heavily emotionally invested and passionate about making the best NZ Surf book we could. There was a hail Mary aspect to the project. But it worked, you guys liked it, in fact 7,000 of you have over the last eight years. With the publisher/distributor cap on, there's a 'pheewww, that's sold through and gone...success!'. With the author/photog cap on there's a 'wait, you mean it's over? But who else will see it or want it?'.

There is no current plan to do a reprint. To be honest, that's not a firm, no, not gonna happen bro. Never say never.    

And over on Recreational Society, things are ticking along quite nicely thank you. Mark Nickolls feature went  crazy good for the website...

How sick is his beasty Valda the Venture Van! You can check it out HERE


  From the Bookstore

The South Seas is out and NZ Surf The Collection Volume 2 ain't too far behind! I think there's less than 200 left...maybe more, but either way it's not gonna last summer. If you want a copy or just a window shop, check it out HERE

Winter Wine

So, I had this clever plan directly after this photoshoot. Probably because the shoot was the last session of yet another incredible run of waves out west. It felt like the end. A bloody good end. Surely now winter would take hold and we'd fall into a more predictable weather pattern of howling Sou'Westers. There was no wishing or wanting that. It's just logical, this can't keep happening, we can't keep getting better waves in winter than in summer. I confidently graded up the photo selection and put them in a folder called Winter Wine...like a play on Last of the Summer Wine. 

The lads, surfed out and happy to watch... that said half of them paddled out to get just one more before the onshore kicked in.

The plan was to salute the crazy amount of surf we've had. Not just surf, but real quality waves.

A usual suspect, Napes, blowing tail.

...and you know where all this is going... as of today we are back into a week of offshores. The winter wine is not over yet. It's bloody August! The shortest day, winter solstice has long passed. The waves just keep on coming.

Shane Kraus dominated this session as the images evidence.

….and at the other end…

Bowls for dinner

orrr what are ya talking about mate- it's flat!

That would be Shane again.

And over on Recreational Society, things are ticking along quite nicely thank you. Earlier this week the site featured Goose and Ellen in their third instalment.

You can check it out HERE

From the Bookstore

The South Seas Revised Edition is in its last phase. Only a few hundred are left in stock; they'll be gone by summer. Haven't got yours yet? Well here's your opportunity 

New Camera Strop

It has finally arrived. I'm a Canon camera loyal, the last 3 years have been testing. In fact many, many professional photographers have abandoned Canon, lured by both Nikon and Sony's mega megapixel race. Canon seemed to ignore the technological bounds being made by the others, it was hard to keep faith. But here's Canon's answer to the race, the Eos R5, a 45 megapixel, mirrorless beast that...more importantly will capture 20 frames a second. To give you some scale most professionals are happy at around 12 fps or even settle for a balance between big files and 6 fps, I've been doing the latter for the last few years. But now I don't have to. I can't wait to get this little beast into a water housing. But in the meantime here's the first surf shots out of the R5...

All Black legend Krusher Kronfeild navigating traffic

twin fin fish steezz

Bourne Nobel Buirski absolutely stying it

Get out there!

Pretty good bank at the moment huh

Brent Alexander, getting surfed out after the week that's been

Brent tapping the top

Brent swoops and stomps it

Nige!

Nige dealing to the end death section

Nige...same same but different

So how'd the new camera go, I hear you not ask. Well, pretty damn good. I've got a lot to learn about it's new features, but this ol dog can do it sweet as. 

Sales of the South seas book are going strong, and in fact we're looking at selling through by this summer. This is the third print of the title, 2 print runs of the original and a large print run of the Revised Edition. There are no plans to reprint. It has been an epic 8 year journey. If you want a copy, check it out HERE

Fun Surf Daze

Doesn't anyone work anymore?

Man, this winter just keeps on giving, yet another high pressure system sits over us funnelling offshores onto our west coast beaches. The rest of this week looks pretty interesting too. 

My good mate Luke Darby; former NZ Surf Mag graphic designer, videographer, web site designer [he made both PhotoCPL and Recreational Society] NZ Surfing representative .... his list of achievements is wide and varied. His ongoing passion, a part from surfing..he surfs A LOT!... is Zepher, over the years the website has been many things; funny as west coast surf reports, and creative portal, a subscriber only surf video site. Luke's searching for the best way to get his video content out. 

Luke, downing the tools for session

Last week Luke changed the format of Zepher, opening up the video site to everyone. Luke's passion is videoing surf sessions. His focus is every surfer, not just elite athletes. He'll stand on the dunes for hours capturing every wave ridden, then do a quick edit, posting that session to Zepher. The idea is that, if you wanna check out what the waves are like, or think that you may have been out during one of those sessions, chances are a couple of your waves will be on there. If you want to get the footage Luke will send you your waves, for a nominal...and I mean really nominal fee. A week in it's working; he's getting about 500 visits a day without trying too hard to promote it.

Why so serious Lukey ;)

There's actually a decade of surf sessions now available for view. 

Check out Zepher, there's some funny as old clips as well as super current stuff, you may well be starring and you never knew! 

...but yesterday... 

Ejector button hit

Shane Kraus, styling as ever

The former ejector slicing

Toby Dobson-Smith edging off a fine waterline

That late arvo winter west coast light

World Masters Champion Ratso

Anyone know who this is? He was ripping on his twin fin Hughsie fish

Pheobe Greenwood tearing

and the younger sis Ella

And over on Recreational Society ....

It's keeping me busy! The last week's features were Mountain biking legend Jamie Nicoll and his epic Bedford J4 bus conversion which you can check out HERE   

...and a Northland lad James Baker who has a rad Delica conversion HERE
Oh yeah, the Recreational Society has a Facebook Page too... give it a like :) 

An oldie but damn, still a goodie! Shot with an 8mm Russian lens when I was going through the Crawford/Greenough stage. You can check it out better HERE...even buy yourself one :) 

Danny

Danny at Ruapuke circa 2003

It's been a tough few days in New Zealand Surfing. Over the weekend we lost one. Today at 10am Dunedin's South Coast crew send off Danny Carse. It's gonna be a big turn out. The club rooms at St Clair will be filled with laughter and hilarious recants of Danny's antics over his too short years. 

DC 2000 at Makorori on his way to winning his National Title

I'm most certainly not trying to claim Danny a close mate. We did know each other pretty well for a while. During the mid '90's it was clear that Danny was the grommet to watch... with Felix Dickson nipping at his heals. The dynamic Duno's duo made for quite a convenient media story at the time. There's no doubt to two mates pushed each other to become the great surfers they were/are.

In 2000 Danny won the National Junior title at Gisborne. We traveled together for the 2000 Bali Grom Worlds. I loved hanging out and getting into mischief with his old boy, Graham. And in that regard the apple did not fall far, that is for sure! Every Southern tour was rounded out with the catch up with the Carses. 

Danny, Leon Santorik and some hanger onner, 2005

He was part of the 2001 NZ Team that won the overall title at the Quiksilver World Groms in Sydney. I'm pretty sure around this time he also won a Junior Maori National Title in pumping waves at Gizzy Pipe. 

Brett Summerlee, Maz Quinn, Danny and Brent Rasby for an Electric Shoot 2002

Danny struggled with the transition from Junior to Open. He was a product of the time, either 8's or 2's in a heat. If you saw his freesurfing he'd be the stand out, his peers often rating him as THE best surfer. A lot of his South Coast peers comparing him to Andy Irons. 

Danny and Rick 2005 a couple of days before Rick won his Open National Title

Danny's influence on his younger brother Richardo Christie was huge. It's Danny that pushed Rick into his early waves, it's Danny whom Rick looked up to. As a grommet Danny split a lot of his time between his dad's place in South Duno's and his mum's in Mahia. Over the years in interviews the two have talked about their love and pride for each other's achievements.  

Today and forever there will be a tear for Danny, there'll be fun times remembered. A cheeky little grom with the Carse signature dry humour. A talented and deeply caring man gone too soon.  

Other Doings

Canon have FINALLY released the mirrorless Eos R5 camera. For surf photographers this is a game changer. Over the last few years Sony has successfully eaten into the once Canon dominated surf market. Guys like Rambo Estrada and Wilson and Co, once Canon natives have long since made the transition to Sony mirrorless kits. I've stayed Canon, but it's been a lonely cold few years as your compatriots enjoy the advances Sony have made with both their cameras and lenses. I stayed because Sony didn't offer the lenses I required for panos and architectural work.

The Eos R5 comes in at a hefty $7,800 nzd... ouch. It's a game changer because it will shoot 20 frames a second, shooting from the water with a waterhousing, that's exciting. Yes the 45 megapixel files are pretty exciting too, although I am a self confessed pixel hoarder, once we were over 20 megapixels we were in 'as good as 35mm film' territory. I don't think 45 megapixels is twice as good as 35mm film, it doesn't work that way, but that's a whole tech discussion that will bore you to tears. I've got mine on pre-order from the bro's at ProGear- thanks Phillip! And I've got a new waterhousing on 'sorta' pre-order... the waterhousing maker has to make the prototype first. 

Cale Starts [restarts] Skate Lessons 

You know my mate Cale Tolley aye? He's the creative behind Copious Clothing and really quite a good surfboard rider. 

Cale is one of NZ's best Vert skaters and this spring he's re-starting skate clinics. If you're in the Bay Of Plenty...or not adverse to getting to the Mount... then hit him up. Here's his post about it... 'Hello Friends, family, brothers, sisters. As you all probably know I am reasonably adept at riding a skateboard. So to put these skills to good use, as of nowish (as it starts to get lighter in the evenings) I am going to be running transition based skateboard lessons (Vert/mini/bowl). If you (or someone you know) is interested in in this for yourself or siblings/offspring/etc please message me for all details!!' Contact Cale via Facebook HERE

SNZ's Flightless Obsession 
...no, it is not the '90s and that weird period when SNZ Judges actually down scored aerials.

Ava Henderson... will she make the cut?

Entries have closed for SNZ's scrapbook style video and the edit is under way. SNZ had over 60 surfers with 400 clips submitted for their foray into Surf Movies. 20 bands submitted tracks for the movie too. The crowd titled Flightless Obsession [based on the concept that we were all locked down in Covid and not flying] is due to drop next month on YouTube. I have to say I'm pretty excited about it. It's cool that SNZ are creating inclusive content. Ben Kennings from SNZ reckons that if the movie goes well, the plan could be to produce a homegrown clip every 6 months...I'll be letting you know when it drops. 
 

And over on Recreational Society ....



There's a nice bit of inspo from Surfing Whanau The Brown-Hysom/Grays 

You can read all about their set up and adventures HERE

Oh yeah, the Recreational Society has a Facebook Page too... give it a like :) 

From The Galleries

An oldie but damn, still a goodie! Inside Looking Out MkI is currently getting printed at 1200mm wide and getting sent to it's new owner in Arrowtown. Shot with an 8mm Russian lens when I was going through the Crawford/Greenough stage. You can check it out better HERE ...even buy yourself one :) 

An Entirely New Gallery

There's A Very Healthy And Well Known Practice In Photography 

Shoot and walkaway. Well, shoot and after a while revisit the saved image folder with new eyes. It is good to do, the preconceived ideas about the photoshoot/s have fallen away. Over the last few weeks this has been taken to an extreme. I decided to revisit the Italian trip from last year. There wasn't a web gallery they fitted into, so I just hadn't bothered to spend any real time selecting, editing and grading the best images from that trip for printing. In part at the time I struggled capturing images without other tourists in them, the humans bothered me. There was a process of going, well, if you can't avoid them celebrate them.

Wait, that's not Italy! It's the famous Singapore Merlion on our stop over to Italy. And in fact the start of the thread of a theme throughout theItalia Gallery, which is to reflect human interaction with built environs, both modern and ancient. Ok, sounds a bit verbose. But going through the 10 month old folder of 4000 images gave a new freedom, to be more critical with less emotion attached to compositions. I found myself making new panoramics from images I'd composed. To explain that a bit better; when you make digital panoramics they are a series of vertical [portrait] images shot in a row that overlap, these slices of the scene are then stitched together in post. The overlaps give the photo software the information of where to join the images to make one big long image. So knowing that, when you are shooting, although you have preconceived your composition, it's shrewd to over shoot to the left and right. By having extra wiggle room either side you can completely change the composition of the resulting pano. Computers hate making panos, in fact I've already killed one MacBook Pro with them.

Vernasa, Chinque Terra Pano. The sunbathers to the left of the pano add context to the composition. Days have been spent rediscovering images, and yeah reliving the Italy month a lot. But applying the shoot and walk away theory worked a treat. I found pano compositions I'd taken but had originally discounted. And frames I had liked at the time of taking that now I loved. 

Riomaggiore Pastels, the soft evening light on the terraced houses, the swimmers in the lower left corner...just makes you wanna be in there. There is no way the 20 selected images now live up on PhotoCPL.co.nz would have been the selection straight after the trip. Some would have been discarded as too cliche...actually Riomaggiore would fall into that category. New eyes and a fresh thought process changes everything. 

Vernasa Nights Pano. There's that human interaction again, one theme I did really what to capture at the time of the trip was Piazza life. The original pano was in colour, but revisiting it there was a realisation that the colours actually distracted from what was going on in the scene, the diners were overwhelmed but gaudy splashes of contrasting colours. A lot of the Italia Gallery is regraded to black and white. There's a timelessness about black and white.

Ponte Vecchio Reflections. Then of course, there's just happening to be there at the right time and place. It could be claimed there was extensive scouting undertaken to find this angle, but truth be told we were exhausted after a day of beating the feet around Florence and found a riverside bar that happened to have a deck over the Arno.

Rapolano Sky. This one was most definitely on the preconceived shot list, not EXACTLY the hilltop town of Rapolano Terme, but the idea of a medieval town and ancient olive trees...did you know an olive tree's average life span is 500 years but can live for 1500 years. These ones are oldies, indicated by the trunk thickness. 

So, there's the over thought process that's consumed quite a few weeks and the sample of the Italia Gallery that's now live. If you've been to Italy I hope it brings the memories flooding back. What do you think? Let me know. 

And over on Recreational Society ....

There's a nice bit of inspo from Daniel and Chole from OverlandNZ... check out their truck!!! Epic

You can read all about their set up and adventures HERE

Oh yeah, the Recreational Society has a Facebook Page too... give it a like :) 

An oldie but damn, still a goodie! Inside Looking Out MkI is currently getting printed at 1200mm wide and getting sent to it's new owner in Arrowtown. Shot with an 8mm Russian lens when I was going through the Crawford/Greenough stage. You can check it out better HERE ...even buy yourself one :)

Surfing and Vans with Plans

Last Week Was Yet Another Week of Good Waves Westside

Bruce Johnson tearing up the Bar... looks uncrowded huh!

Bit more of the pack showing

...And once again I pretty much failed in my duties as a surf photographer. I went surfing. It's a weird one; the love for shooting still flows strong after 30 years of doing it. But there's always the trade off, miss out on surfing to capture moments. In NZ it is especially a thing because chances are the window of goodness is fleeting, there is not the time to do both. A great image lasts longer than a good surf, it's more tangible. I like to say I'm a surfer first and that photography comes a close firm second, but sometimes I wonder if even bracketing the conversation like that is right. I'm frothing to shoot right now, but that window has gone for now. 

What doesn't clash with surfing is the new project The Recreational Society... in fact it compliments the surfing lifestyle very nicely thank you...in fact, as you probably realise there's a ton of Kiwi Surfers that own campers to perpetuate their condition... here's a couple of such that I've had the absolute pleasure to profile on the Recreational Society website ...

The Surf Bus Project; Matt and Renee's epic build of their scandi inspired bus... check it out HERE 

Colin the Commer ... just bloody awesome, Waikato based Tony Greer's beautiful restoration of an English Autosleeper HERE

Then there's Gina Kennings and Raymondo...who is Ben Kennings's better half... she pays him out well too... HERE

And then yesterday's addition to the Recreational Society was none other than Rusty Ritchie, you can check out Rusty's story of Black Bob HERE

Do you have a surf wagon you reckon could be featured on Recreational Society? I'd love to hear from you. 

Oh yeah, the Recreational Society has a Facebook Page too... give it a like :) 

From the Bookstore

NZ Surf The Collection Vol 2 has been out for 8 months now, and it's doing just fine. Over the half the print run is gone. This spread is of the course a story on the very same unforementioned beach at the centre of this web log. Check out more about the book HERE

Back to Normal...what is Normal

We've all been on quite a bumpy road huh! 

The Aotearoa Surf Film Festival copped it big time. The original dates slap bang in Lockdown Level 4. Like the whole Surfing NZ Competition series, the Piha WQS, the WSL and everything. Everything on hold. 

Well there was no cancelling, luckily it was a postponement and now the new dates have been announced for the ASFF HERE

SNZ haven't announced YET, but the Raglan Rip Curl Classic in association with Backdoor Surf is on for late July. Word has it that this being the 20th year of the event there was no way Rip Curl were gonna not have it happen. Speaking of Rip Curl, their new flagship shop has just opened in the new Auckland Downtown shopping district Commercial Bay...and guess who's image is front and centre :) 

From The Book Store

NZ Surf The Collection Vol 2 has been out for 8 months now, and it's doing just fine. Over the half the print run is gone. This spread is of the course a story on the very same unforementioned beach at the centre of last week's web log. Check out more about the book HERE

Birthday Roadies

Birthday week...not so bad

When you're a grom, and even well into your twenties...hell, thirties... birthdays are all about the party. There's landmarks, your 16th, your 21st, your 30th, your 40th. But there comes a time, or age where the celebrations get replaced with a realisation that there's a tipping point. You're not making landmarks, the bloody clock is ticking. And the parties become social obligations. There's nothing wrong with social obligations, and quite frankly there is gratitude that friends and family what to celebrate your day of birth. But shouldn't a birthday be a time to do what you want to do? I bail, last year it was Gizzy, the year before it was Napier, before that Samoa.

T Bay and the start of the new swell

The objective is to be surfing, to get surfed out, to camp. There's a range, anywhere that's going to be good within a 5 hour drive/flight from Piha. This year the Far North was looking the goods, the long range forecast was good for both coasts. The gorgeous Ange couldn't come, but she happily gave me the pass, so me and the lil' bro Kent went on a boy's roadie.

The Troopy in its correct habitat

Surf, eat, sleep... repeat. Engage the front diff; an added bonus. We got really good waves, we surfed twice a day. I'd like to claim I was ripping, that I got barrelled every surf, but I wasn't and didn't. We sure had a lot of fun though. Road food, asleep by 8pm, soundtracks from the 80's and 90's... in part to annoy young Kent. Tales of former triumphs and disasters. Making new memories.

Ahipara goodness

Rarawa...not quite this time, but man the Troopy looks good!

Sorry, not sorry hashtag Troopylyfe, Ahipara camp

Super fun rollers around the reef

Stuck around the reef by the tide, oh no, what will we do

NZ Surf The Collection Vol 2 has been out for 8 months now, and it's doing just fine. Over the half the print run is gone. This spread is of the course a story on the very same unforementioned beach at the centre of last week's roadie. Check out more about the book HERE

Billy's Covid Silver Lining

Billy stepping off with Leon driving this time last year

We've all had a topsy-terving year, but for 7x National Champ Billy Stairmand it's kind of worked out OK...

What happened to your knee and what's the recovery time?

During the Newcastle 5000 wqs event I was free surfing the night before a huge finals day. It was really good air wind. So I went for a backside air tried to land but my back foot slipped off the tail pad and my body collapsed over my front knee tearing my MCL and PCL. I had a grade 3 MCL tear and a grade 2 PCL tear and luckily and surprisingly I didn’t tear my ACL. It’s been 3 months since the injury. At the time it was devastating and I was pretty gutted. But after everything that happened after with the whole pandemic thing it’s almost the perfect time to be injured for me. The recovery is coming along well and I should be surfing again in the next week or 2. I’ve been training a lot and working with my physio to help get it better quicker. 

The sort of back-hand loft that will do it...Piha earlier this year

You would have surfed in the Piha WQS, how would that have worked? 

Yeah I was really looking forward to competing in front of my home country. It was looking like it was gonna be an amazing event and just competing at home is always such an honour. Especially that big of an event. I would have definitely competed even with a torn MCL but I obviously wouldn’t have been 100%. So in a way I’m happy it all got postponed so when it does come back I can compete at 100% and put on a show for the crowd also. 

Also we had a big week locked in staying at your house which I have previously had some pretty good results staying there. ;) so was gonna be a fun one. 

If this was a newspaper the caption would be like… ‘Billy looking forward to the future’

So Covid was a bit of a mixed blessing for you huh? 

Yeah to be honest the whole Covid lockdown on the world was probably the best timing for me. I was having a really amazing start to my year internationally and was gearing up for one of my biggest years ever. But then the injury. I was scared and nervous for what my year was gonna look like after that. 

I probably would have missed a few events and wouldn’t have been 100% recovered for the Olympics. So I have taken all the positives out the of the whole pandemic. It’s given me tome to reflect on what I really want. Which is get a medal at the Olympics. So now I have the time to fully recover, train more, practice more and prepare myself fully for the Tokyo Olympic Games. 

Signature Stairmand move on the Piha Bar this summer

What happens for the rest of the year for you and the WQS for that matter? 

Ummmm I’m unsure on what the WSL and WQS is going to do. I havn't heard anything from anyone so it’s a bit up in the air at the moment. Obviously it’s gonna be a tough one with the travel restrictions. It’s hard to say what they’ll do if the cancel the whole year also. Some people have won contests already ya know, so it’s hard taking that away from them. I hope we can get to Hawaii at the end of the season and maybe do the triple crown. But I really don’t have any idea on what will happen. 

You've been helping the lads do step offs... tell us about the day, looked like an early start? 

Haha. Yeah I’ve become a personal driver for Leon Santorik as of late. I’m still not surfing so I’m trying to get as close to the real thing as possible and doing step offs is pretty much it. 

Leon knew the waves where going to be good so he messaged to see if I was keen. I also had a couple messages from some of the other boys asking what I was up to this day. I drove to his house stayed the night and we where the first ones out there. We stepped for 6 hours straight. 

For me it’s really good practice driving the ski and I also love stepping the boys off into some good barrels. And I’m sure Leon doesn’t mind getting barrels for 6 hours straight. Haha. So was a fun few hours. But I can say it was hard watching everyone getting barreled. I thought about getting one or two. Ya know just step off go straight and get barreled. But then I thought what’s the point. If anything was to happen. Get clamped or back wash or catch an edge then I’m done again. So I didn’t surf. Wise decision from myself. Haha 

How does stepping off work, like talk us through actually performing a step off? 

It’s so easy and fun. You just wait and hunt for the right wave if you see a peak down the beach then you gas it down then when you get to the right spot you slow rite down turn down the wave to head straight towards the beach and the surfer steps off. Then gas it out in front of the wave and watch your friend get absolutely barreled off his noggin Hahahaha. It can get dangerous at times if it’s a bit bigger. But I think if you have good wave knowledge and a bit of time learning and driving,  it’s super fun. 

Yep, Books are getting shipped, and orders are coming in again... thanks guys. Please check out the Photo CPL Media book range HERE

Surfing To The Max

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

Yep, Books are getting shipped, and orders are coming in again... thanks guys. Please check out the Photo CPL Media book range HERE

Surfing In Level 3

Last night...there sure were moments

I didn't really understand the rules around surfing at Level 3. I wrongly assumed it was way more stringent, that everyone was supposed to stay a lot closer to home, like the 30km range. The correct terminology was 'Your Region'. Which in Auckland is a pretty massive travel range. So I got off on the wrong foot anyway. Over the last two weeks Piha resident surfers have endured crowds beyond high summer levels. There has been in no way surfers surfing within their ability, but that's a hard thing to call, we all think we surf better than we do. I'd like to report by first surfs back in the water were fun, to be really honest I try to keep these posts upbeat. But they weren't good. I was lucky to get a car park at South Piha, then the pack on the Bar was out of hand, a niggly, snakey scene with very few familiar faces. 

Lion Rock had a happy face!

I get that everyone was frothing to be back in the water. I also get that surfing for many is one of the few activities/exercise we could do. The packs couldn't go for a cheeky Zumba class, go for a game of touch or rugger with the lads. The West Coast beaches copped it; I heard Maori Bay was similar and even worse. 

Not really the sort of quality surf you want to see a guy on a 8 foot 10 year old Bic board out in

Last night the ugly came out in force. Again getting a park required hawk eyes a few circuits of South Piha. I opted to swim out with the camera, I would not have caught a single wave. What I witnessed was bad...real bad. Heavy burnings, full on collisions and resulting fisty cuffs...no social distancing when there's haymakers landing huh! Resident surfers were at the end of their tethers, incidentally, the majority of drop ins I saw were on residents not by residents. 

One of the very few not ridden

Tomorrow we drop down to Level 2 and hopefully this will take pressure off the West Coast. OK, as mentioned above, I'd like for these posts to be a bit of stoke arriving in your inbox and on your screen, so moving on... here's the highlights of yesterday evening's swim...

Keyhole Boardriders' Prez Shay Rainger found some nuggets

Shay's Blue Steel

West Coast Authoritarian Bren Dizzle, always a pleasure to surf with

Serious Shay :)

2nd Generation Piha surfer Powelly

Next gen Piha ripper and U16 National Champ Liv Haysom

EBC burying some serious rail

Ratty on his hand shaped double winger single fin

Blurs and silk

Yep, Books are getting shipped, and orders are coming in again... thanks guys. Please check out the Photo CPL Media book range HERE

Order Up!

Hmmmm 2 metre rule???? Photo: Salty Walty

Sorry, not sorry for no post last week. Post time clashed with the tide, and quite frankly after 6 weeks of not surfing at all there was no way tapping a key board was going to take priority over getting wet. Although the surfs were pretty damn remedial. Those of us that indulged on the west coast ...and I'm pretty sure from the full carparks and line-ups that was most of us... will attest it wasn't good by any means. BUT WE GOT TO SURF!!!! 

Looks good... but the west coast savvy will note the gutter. Photo: Salty Walty

Of course there were sessions and moments of goodness, we did have nearly 6 days of offshores. Me? I surfed everyday, didn't pick up the camera once. These photos are off my lil' bro Kent's phone. 

The offshore run ended with the treat of a north swell...how good!!! Photo: Salty Walty

Level 3 signalled to start of much needed orders coming in for Photo CPL Media. The printers went back to work and couriers were able to do deliveries. Some ok book orders came in and three nice large print commissions popped up in the inbox. 

Piha Rocks, off to Hillcrest. Check it out better HERE

The Bay, off to Tauranga. Check it out better HERE

Ooch! Not a great representation, but Piha Layers is off to Langholm. You defo need to check this out properly HERE

...And what about Recreational Society you ask? Well it's ripping along. A lot of crew are saying the timing of launching the site could not have been better; no one's gonna be holidaying overseas anytime soon and we'll all be buying campers. Well if it is good timing be assured its a complete and utter fluke, no pandemic soothsaying here! 

The latest Vanlifer interview on the site; Check out Goose and Ellen and their epic Hi-ace fit out HERE

The Book Store

YESSS we are shipping! You might have figured that out from the whole theme of this post. 

Check out the bookstore HERE

28 Daze

How is your fourth week going? I'm not going to lie, mine has been tough, the bad weather didn't help. Looking forward to our original release date and seeing there was going to be good waves made it a bit better. And then denied. Arrrggghhh.  It is the right thing to do to stay at Level 4 a bit longer. It's not actually being at Level 4 that is hard...it is purely missing out on surfing. Surfing has always been my equilibrium, my reset. I do love being a Piha resident for nearly 30 years, and I've become more appreciative of everything the wild coast offers. The primary reason was and is to be close to the waves.

Making panoramics in the backyard has helped! 

Not such a bad place to call home with this view a short walk away

What has really helped is having a huge project like the Recreational Society . A silver lining is that there has been no distractions to developing the website into a online resource of inspiration and information. There are now over 40 posts/pages... it is actually a fricken novel up there. But the rad thing is the subject is so varied and diverse, there's always something to add. 

Here are two of my favourite interviews from the last week; 

Blake Gordon was an 'always gonna do' profile piece. Blake's art is ultra cool, you've probably seen it and not realised it is his. He's also an experienced roof tenting fan. Check out his profile HERE

Simon Dickie and Christy Prior were also on the original hit list for the website. And Christy totally came through with awesome images and words this week. Check out their van story HERE

Well... it is a beautiful day out here westside...so I'm getting out and doing the daily stroll. See ya next week in Level 3 mode :) 

The Book Store & Galleries

We aren't able to ship books or prints during Level 4. If you want to order, and people are, you are welcome, but there will be a delay in shipping at this point. 

Ha'atafu Needs Us

Maz Quinn 20 years ago at Ha'atafu in a winter south swell

We are all going slightly crazy in lockdown and it is quite hard to to think outside of our respective bubbles. But last week our tropical playgrounds got absolutely nailed by Cyclone Harold. The Solomans, Vanuatu, Tonga and Fiji were all hit hard and they seem further away than ever at this time. 

Dean Amess on the same piece of Tongan reef as Maz in a north swell just 15 years ago

The Burlings and the surf resort they created 41 years ago got hit super hard. Ha'atafu Beach Resort on the west coast of Tongatapu has long been a go to for Kiwi surfers wanting to escape the cold clutches of winter. It's close, it's cheap, it has a bunch of set ups all within walking distance... it's easy. Don't get me started about the epic dinner buffets...so fricken good!!! 

Steve Burling, the OG, the patriarch of the whanau and founder of Ha'atafu. Now retired and living in Ahipara with his wife Sesika

I've been fortunate to enjoy the Burlings' hospitality four times over the last 20 years. You don't return that many times if it isn't something special. In winter south swells pour up from the Antarctic turning on all the left hand set ups, the most famous being Motels, aptly named as it's the one straight out in front of Ha'atafu. In summer north swells push down turning on all the right hand set ups, some of which are truly world class. 

Luke Hughes, 2005 at/in one of the South Pacific's premier waves

Mischa Davis on one of Tongatapu's outer reefs

Deano in a Tongan north swell...how's the line up!

Tongan paradise and better days

Ha'atafu beach and marine reserve

Before…

Now

There is a Givealittle page set up for the Burlings to help them get back on their feet. Wouldn't it be amazing if every Kiwi surfer that has surfed Motels threw down a cheeky 50...a round of Ikhale's. 

The page is HERE 

Thanks to everyone that visited Recreational Society  you guys made for a solid spike in traffic. 

Daryn's Art Of Giving

Daryn at the Logger Heads Comp a few weeks lockdown

Daryn McBride is a living legend in the longboard scene, for his ability and talent as a master of traditional longboarding, for his incredible art and, he'll hate me writing this, his passionate disagreements with the judging panels. He used to be quite the wily competitor. You don't win heats if you don't care. Daryn has always worn his heart on his sleeve. 

Daryn has one of the biggest hearts I know. When he does something he pours everything into it. It is why he is such a good surfer, it is why he is such an amazing artist. But it comes at a cost. Daryn will burn bright, then burn out, suffering terrible mental strife in the process.

Download this via Daryn's site HERE

14 days ago, Daryn blew our plan to make millions wide open. We were going to make a NZ Surfing Colouring-in book together. It was going to a beautiful A3 bound hardcover, with perforated pages and mixed paper stock...all made to be pulled a part. And I couldn't be happier that he did it, some things are bigger. 

Bigger download HERE

Daryn has made all his drawings free and downloadable for everyone to be able to print them and then colour them in. Every day of lockdown Daryn posts a new drawing for everyone, you've got 15 there already to catch up on. 

"Over the last two weeks it's been an exercise in learning to take a compliment.' Daryn goes on...' It has been extremely rewarding mentally for me, anytime things get a bit much, someone posts a coloured in version and it makes my day!!!'  

You can download the colouring in pages on the website Daryn has made HERE 

And Happy 16th birthday today Harper, Lennox and Willow! Daryn's triplets. This is an image we made together in 2007.

Thanks to everyone that visited Recreational Society last week, you guys made for a solid spike in traffic. 

I'd love you to visit the site, have a look around and get back to me. What do you like about it, what's lame? Are you interested or have some sort of camper? Do you know someone with a great set up?

The Book Store & Galleries

We aren't able to ship books or prints during Level 4. If you want to order, and people are, you are welcome, but there will be a delay in shipping at this point. 

The Recreational Society

This is not an April fool's day post. The plan was always for this week's post to be about the Recreational Society. Most of the time there is a plan, mostly.  When the post date coincided with April 1, the ol noggin got to whirring. Prank you with a post about a special monthly, 1 day concession to being able to go surfing??? Ouch... too soon Craig, too soon. 

No, this is for real. 

There's a new website. It has been in the pipeline for a few months, with the help of Luke Darby who went above and beyond with the design. 

The Recreational Society is live and rolling now. It's about everything and anything Kiwi adventure camper related. It is not a surf website. It's not a #vanlife site either. The common thread is the NZ'ers that have a stoke and want to figure out how to stay where their stoke is. 

The Recreational Society features an extensive How To section that will continue to grow. This was a huge part of the original idea for the site. It is so hard to find out how to do anything camper related from the New Zealand perspective. What actually is self containment? Where  do you get it? While it's great looking at camper builds on You Tube from overseas for inspo, half the products used aren't on Kiwi shelves. 

For inspiration, hints and hacks the Recreationalists is up and rolling. This is an ever growing series of profiles on Kiwis that are out there and doing it. I suspect that as this series grows it will offer as much information about how to and the How To section. There is already a wealth of wisdom from those interviewed so far. 

I'd love you to visit the site, have a look around and get back to me. What do you like about it, what's lame? Are you interested or have some sort of camper? Do you know someone with a great set up? 

The Book Store & Galleries 

We aren't able to ship books or prints for the next 4 weeks. If you want to order, you are welcome, but there will be at least a 4 week delay in shipping at this point.