Surf Athletes
We all like to think we are surfers who “could have” made it. These surf athletes actually are making it. From underground heroes to rising groms – this is where we lay bare the best talent in the country.
It took eleven events to separate the top junior surfers in New Zealand with the final New Zealand Super 16, presented by Skinnies and Volkswagen, determining the overall winners of the NZ Grom Series held at Piha over the weekend. Gisborne’s Finn Vette was locked in a season-long battle with......
Ricardo Christie and Ava Henderson have claimed big victories in Taranaki yesterday, winning the Backdoor Taranaki Pro, presented by Billabong, in excellent conditions at Stent Road. It was the first Open Women’s win for Henderson since her breakthrough performance at the 2020 National Championships 16 months ago, while Christie has......
From a stellar run at the 2021 Nationals to a string of top results in the Billabong Grom Series, 16-year-old Anna Brock, is on a performance surge right now. We sit down with the Mount Maunganui-based surfer right before her Under 16 final at the Billabong Grom Comp at Whangamata.......
There are very few surfing events that really buck the trend and blow their participants and spectators away. Even fewer deserve the “festival” monicker, but The Duke Festival takes the challenge by the short and curlies and knocks it right out of the park. Many years ago local Christchurch surf......
Paige Hareb and Taylor Hutchison have risen to the challenge to win the 20th edition of the Rip Curl Raglan Pro held at Manu Bay at the weekend. Raglan’s Taylor Hutchison and Taranaki’s Paige Hareb surfed to big wins at the Rip Curl Pro Raglan presented by Corona today (Sunday,......
Zen Wallis and Ava Henderson negotiate tough conditions to take titles in honour of the father of surfing, Duke Kahanamoku, at the Ray White Duke Festival of Surfing held at New Brighton Beach, Christchurch. Zen Wallis, of Piha, and Ava Henderson, of Christchurch, were among fourteen champions crowned at the......
Almost two years ago the Klein-Ovink family realised they had life back-to-front. They lived in Auckland and traveled to surf. So they uprooted the family home and moved to Papamoa. For 17-year-old Isaac, his older sister, Baylin, and younger brother, PJ, that was a dream come true. NZSJ: Tell us......
With the tail-end of a cyclone swell to stir things, up the 2021 Billabong Grom Series, held at Whangamata at the weekend, had it all. From pumping waves right through to onshore mush. Here’s 40 frames that capture the spirit of it all....
Whangarei’s Tom Robinson broke a two-year win drought over the weekend with his female counterpart Ariana Shewry, of Taranaki getting her first national event win in four years at the Whangamata grom comp. The two surfers claimed the Under 18 Divisions of the second event of the Billabong Grom Series......
Westport turns on the sunshine for Round 2 of the 2021 South Island Grom Series with a stacked field of entrants from Dunedin, Kaikoura, Christchurch, West Coast, Raglan and Tairua. Presented by Best Wash Systems, the Westport round of the South Island Grom Series is fast becoming a favourite thanks......