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.
“More and more I find myself talking to the sea,” admits poet Terry Fitzgibbon, whose latest work, Salt, Coastal Connections is a 160-page love letter to the sea. Mark “Curly” Thomas gets his hands on a preview copy of this impressive body of work. As surfers, we are drawn to......
While the surf industry seems to be in a slump, Backdoor’s Geoff Hutchison remains cautiously optimistic as he opens his 25th and biggest store in Dunedin. We caught up with the 60-year-old ripper and surf business guru to learn a bit about what’s going on in the surf industry right......
The Backdoor Team of Billy Stairmand, Paul Moretti, Jay Piper-Healion, Caleb Cutmore, Taylor Hutchison and Darren Celliers immerse themselves in southern waves … and marathon sessions. Filmmaker Isaac Chadwick and photographer Derek Morrison are on hand to capture the antics, fin blows and air revs … and they hardly miss......
Kehu Butler and Billy Stairmand bow out of the 2023 Challenger Series with narrow Round of 64 exits at the final stop of the tour, the Saquarema Pro held in Brazil. More and more the Challenger Series is looking way closer to the Championship Tour than it is to any......
A self-described “Average Joe”, Leigh Sullivan, shares his journey from Burleigh Heads to Mount Maunganui as a pre-teen, and his exacting discovery of surfing, which led him around the world and eventually to the Mentawais 45 years later. I was 11 years old when we moved from Burleigh Heads in......
Very few surfers have had the weight of expectation heaped upon their shoulders quite like Taylor Hutchison. At 26, he’s come to terms with being born into a hard-working, surfing devoted family. We caught up with Taylor during one of his recent “work trips” to the Otago coastline. Back in......
Mount Maunganui-based Billie Scott has just come away with a record-equaling third place finish at the 2023 ISA World SUP & Paddleboarding Championship amidst a stacked field. NZSJ’s Isaac Chadwick caught up with her to see how she was feeling after a whirlwind few days. It was a tough road......
World Surf League announces the schedule for the 2024 Championship Tour (CT), with J-Bay and Surf Ranch dropped to make room for the Olympics, while Cloudbreak, Fiji, makes a welcome return. The calendar will continue to showcase a combined women’s and men’s schedule featuring nine regular-season events, with the mid-season......
Taranaki’s Paige Hareb has yet again shown her mettle with an outstanding performance at the 2023 Nias Pro QS5000, finishing second to her good friend, Phillipa Anderson. The defending event winner Paige opened her Nias Pro campaign on Day 3 in Lagundri Bay with a statement-making 8.50 with a critical......
At the start of winter Taranaki surfers Tom Butland and Jarred Hancox made their way south to compete in the O’Neill Coldwater Classic being held at Kaikoura. They went 1-2 and decided to stay on. Wellington photographer Belinda Brown decided to see the swell out with them. Traveling together, Tom......