Inspiration
Meet the people who weave life into the fabric of surfing. We profile interesting characters with an amazing story and an obsession with the ocean. Read about up and coming surfers and crusty old locals who smell like billy goats and ride single fins. If they have a story to tell, you’ll find them in here. Come and be inspired by artists, business gurus and thought leaders in our well of inspiration.
The World Surf League has today announced the cancellation of the 2020 Championship Tour season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Citing the health and safety of athletes, fans, employees, and local communities as the WSL’s top priorities, along with the challenges of international travel, the organisation has today cancelled the......
Having a pre-surf stretch routine of some sort is vital for nearly every surfer. For younger grommets and aspiring surf athletes it will let them perform at their best. For older surfers it will ensure they can surf pain and injury free for longer. Who doesn’t want to boost like......
Born of New Zealand, Coastlines Wetsuits, officially pulled up a chair at the global rubber buffet when they launched just a few short months ago. NZSJ discovered they have some heavy hitters on their team and their heart’s in the right place. A few months before the brand launched, former......
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......
As the Aotearoa Surf Film Festival closed in on the end of its 2020 tour, Covid-19 rose it’s head and scuttled the final events – including a screening at the Piha Pro. Event director, Nick Stevenson, has survived the ordeal and is breathing a second life into the festival for......
We’ve all had a topsy-turvy year, but for seven-time New Zealand surfing champ Billy Stairmand it has kind of worked out okay. Photographer Craig Levers catches up with our Olympic hope and finds out why … NZSJ: Hey Billy, you’re wearing a knee brace, what happened? During the Newcastle 5000 WQS......
Current New Zealand Surfing Champion Elliot Paerata-Reid looks back on his year in this post lockdown release – you can rest-assured this is no ordinary surf memoir. From sublime Indonesian waves to a full-on aerial showcase, EPR’s film Reccy is another solid dose of the hard-charging Piha surfer. Check out......
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......
In 2017 Mount Maunganui’s Travis McCoy went for a surf that ended in an horrific fin gash to his face. But it was what the subsequent scan showed that changed his life forever. Surf photographer Peter Chamberlain sits down with Travis a few years into his recovery to see how......
The World Surf League has today announced a totally revised 2021 Championship Tour, Challenger Series, and Qualifying Series. It has also confirmed that due to the continued evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, WSL is postponing or canceling all events, at all levels of competition, through to the start of July.......