Sessions Archives - New Zealand Surf Journal

Watch: Jamie Civil’s Masterclass In Backhand Barrel Riding

Derek MorrisonNovember 13, 2019November 14, 2019

by Derek MorrisonNovember 14, 2019November 14, 20190

He may prefer to hide away from the limelight, but Jamie Civil keeps drawing attention to himself in pumping hollow waves. Civil would have to be one of New Zealand’s best barrel riders and this edit by Tim Shaw and Oscar Johns attests to that. Filmed over a winter in......

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That East Swell: Winter’s Eight-Day Anomaly

Derek MorrisonJuly 29, 2019July 31, 2019

by Derek MorrisonJuly 31, 2019July 31, 20190

In 2019 an east swell hit the Otago coastline in the middle of the winter. It was accompanied by a window of unseasonably settled weather, producing eight days of incredible surf conditions. Here’s what the tail end of that run of swell looked like. It doesn’t get much better than......

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Storm Chasing With Team Backdoor

CPLJuly 24, 2019July 24, 2019

by CPLJuly 24, 2019July 24, 20190

When a low-pressure system parks itself off the east coast it spins everyone into a frenzy. The recent July swell was no different and Piha photographer, CPL, fresh up for air after a deadline, wasted no time. He picks up the story … “Yes!” That was the emphatic reply I......

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Chasing Giants: Hunting The 23.8m Swell That Broke Records

Derek MorrisonMay 13, 2019

by Derek MorrisonMay 13, 20190

A group of Southern surfers chase a record-breaking swell as it lines up a remote reef break buried deep in the Catlins. What transpires has it all: blood, guts, an inhospitable peak and the rise of a new talent in big-wave surfing. New Zealand Surf Journal takes you inside one......

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Photo Essay: East Coast Pumps Part 2 – Gisborne

Derek MorrisonFebruary 28, 2019July 31, 2019

by Derek MorrisonJuly 31, 2019July 31, 20190

The February swell that swept into the East Coast and drifted south made a direct hit on Gisborne. The wonky, wobbly swell hit with such intensity that only few breaks could properly handle the volume of water moving around. The unusual easterly swell direction added to the confusion. But if......

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Photo Essay: East Coast Pumps Part 1 – Coromandel Coast

Derek MorrisonFebruary 28, 2019July 31, 2019

by Derek MorrisonJuly 31, 2019July 31, 20190

A swarm of tropical cyclones swirled through the Pacific in the first half of February. As they dissipated they tracked south east and got trapped off the East Coast by a blocking high over New Zealand. That scenario created the perfect long range and sustained swell engine for the East......

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The Reef: Riding A Once In A Blue Moon Swell

Derek MorrisonFebruary 15, 2019

by Derek MorrisonFebruary 15, 20190

I’d been tracking it from a week out and it played the notes of the forecast with precision. For big wave surfing this was a classic: its deep fetch straight off the western edge of Antarctica, landing an almost direct hit on the southeast corner of New Zealand. Then, sometime......

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Featured Unruly Caverns: Chasing Slabs In The Deepest South

Derek MorrisonOctober 15, 2018March 1, 2019

by Derek MorrisonMarch 1, 2019March 1, 20190

A late-season swell offers one last roll of the dice for New Zealand’s big-wave riders and the stakes are high. As the winds swing through the ideal bearing the focus falls on a reef on a remote corner of coastline. Four teams of surfers get the session of a lifetime.......

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Chasing Storms With Doug Young and Ross Clarke-Jones

Derek MorrisonOctober 10, 2018October 10, 2018

by Derek MorrisonOctober 10, 2018October 10, 20180

Bobbing around on a jet ski near a reef off the southernmost tip of New Zealand’s South Island it dawned on me that I had been drawn here like a moth to a flame. Each passing set of waves grew in size and intensity and started to look more like......