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.
World Surf League bridges the competition abyss caused by Covid-19 with its pre-season Countdown events. Upcoming competitions will take place in Australia, France, Portugal and Brazil, with nothing on the cards yet for New Zealand’s World Qualifying Series surfers. The idea of these WSL contests is to bring world-class competitive......
Take up one super talented filmmaker. Team them up with one of Australia’s most exciting pro surfers. Send them on a lap of the World Tour together and this is what you get: the epic visual story of Indigenous Australian surfer Soli Bailey. 10 years ago, an Australian surf magazine......
Surfing will make its debut at Tokyo 2020 on July 25, 2021 when the first competition window opens in Japan. In one year’s time the best surfers in the world are set to become the sport’s first Olympians. The International Surfing Association (ISA) celebrated the occasion by announcing the technical......
Filmmaker Morgan Maassen teams up with South Africa’s Jordy Smith to bring this insight into one of the World Surf League’s most stylish surfers. “My longstanding attraction to surfing has always been through the elegance of style,” offers Morgan. “Watching the way someone can navigate a wave, connecting moves, making......
I’m standing in the garage with him as he sniffles back the taps and shuffles through a rack full of surfboards, his long hair hanging flat. He pulls one after another out and they’ve all got stories: he’s made a bunch of them, rode others to world titles and has......
On the back of cancelling the 2020 World Championship Tour and Qualifying Series seasons, World Surf League has today unveiled a radical new format for the Championship Tour. To be introduced for the 2021 season that starts at the end of 2020, the WSL Championship Tour will see key format changes.......
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......
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......