Gear
Nothing enhances the surf experience like having the best gear and technology under your feet and wrapped around your body. We thrash the best gear available so you can make better purchasing choices and ultimately surf better. Check out the latest technology for boards, wetsuits, fins and any other hardware you need to enhance your next session.
Allan Byrne contributed more to surfing than most modern surfers will ever realise. He is considered to be one of New Zealand’s most successful surfers ever, still to this day. In this short film by Clive Neeson, Allan describes in his own words what that era was like. How did he turn......
The Covid-19 health crisis has taught New Zealanders a lot of things, but nothing has become clearer: we need to support local surf businesses. By supporting them we pump the vascular system of our very own New Zealand surf industry. And that reaches deep into the heart of our surf......
With more than 36 years experience shaping surfboards out of Whangamata, Pete Anderson is one of the most humble and well-respected surfboard manufacturers in New Zealand. In this film he shares his journey from growing up in the heyday of Whangamata’s board-building industry to his insights, his hopes and most......
Most of the kaumatua of New Zealand surfing will tell you that they’ve forgotten more than we’ll ever know. Assembled around a campfire in the post-surf glow of twilight the stories tumble out like moths attracted to the flames. These are stories that should be treasured, told and re-told. Like......
Michael Gilling has been creating wooden surfboards for the past three years. Today, it’s finally time to show them to the world. He gathers his two close friends together on a road trip to show them his three-year secret. Michael shows us his creative process from tree to craft &......
Renowned Mount Maunganui-based shaper Andy Jordan will soon bow to a strong call from the Land of the Rising Sun and move to a “forgotten” Japanese island to live. The veteran shaper has crafted an extraordinary 7330-plus “AJ” boards – short, long, twin fins and all the rest, over about......
To quad, or not to quad? That is one of the big questions these days with five box fin set-ups becoming the norm. So when should you chuck your rear fin and go for a quad set-up? New Zealand Surf Journal sits down with Hughes Surfboards shaper and Raglan Surf......
Experimenting with fins can open up a whole new realm of possibilities with your equipment. In some cases the right fin combination can even bring the best out of your board. New Zealand Surf Journal sits down with Hughes Surfboards shaper and Raglan Surf Co owner Luke Hughes to tap......
Surfboard fin construction and the way a fin flexes are two of the biggest contributors to fin performance. Tailoring your fin selection to the type of waves you want to ride can bring a board to life. In this film New Zealand Surf Journal sits down with Hughes Surfboards shaper......
Momentum for the environment may be building painstakingly slowly within the surf industry, but not for the three New Zealanders driving Spooked Kooks recycled surfboards out of Bondi. It was during a morning session at Sandy Bay, that I had my first encounter with a Dead Hippy. It was under......