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.
Mahia surfer Ricardo Christie has saved his best for last in the 2019 World Surf League Championship Tour, despatching World Title hopeful, Felipe Toledo in the Round of 32 at the Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons. It was a thrilling Round of 32 at Pipeline, Hawaii, that......
Paul Moretti and Elin Tawharu have claimed their maiden New Zealand Surf Series victories, winning the season-ending Backdoor Pro at Fitzroy Beach, New Plymouth at the weekend. The event was relocated to Fitzroy Beach with the pending weather for the day looking ominous. However, the surf ranged between 1.0m –......
Life on the edge of a desert is simple living. Especially on Western Australia’s remote coastline when a swell begins pushing across the reefs and points. Laurie Towner reminds us all of the importance of the simple life. A renowned big wave surfer, the very laidback Towner, steals a chance......
Chris Malone and Zhana Hutchieson surfed to victory at the Aotearoa Maori Titles at the end of October and in doing so claim two of the coveted trials slots for the Piha Pro scheduled for March 2020. Malone and Hutchieson fought off some tough opponents with excellent surfing on the......
Waikato surfers dominate at the 2019 National Scholastic Surfing Championships claiming the team title, winning two of the seven titles on offer and boasting six surfers in the finals. The five-day event wrapped up yesterday in a 1.5m swell at Manu Bay, Raglan. Finals day saw the biggest surf of......
New Zealand surfers Tane Bowden and Saffi Vette have dominated the final event of the Hydralyte Sports Surf Series, winning the men’s and women’s divisions at Jan Juc, Victoria, today. With a small swell on offer on the final day of competition, the event again shifted from Bells Beach to......
Kaikoura turns it on for the semi-annual Pete and Danny Memorial Contest recently. Glassy conditions and waves in the 3-6-foot range ensure competitors are fizzing at a local righthand point break, but it is the smoky campfires and laughter between two tribes that steals the show. Back in 1995 two......
Rusty surfer Jonas Tawharu blazes a trail through Indonesia with filmmaker Oscar Johns capturing the powerful goofyfooter’s every turn, reo and barrel. Twenty-year-old Jonas may call Mount Maunganui home, but it has been the waves around Dunedin, where he is currently studying marketing and communications, that have helped him to......
Billy Stairmand finishes in eighth place at the ISA World Surfing Games presented by Vans completed in Japan yesterday, New Zealand’s best ever result at the event. Stairmand’s performance advanced the New Zealand Team to a seventh overall finish. Staged in Miyazaki, Japan, from September 7-15, the New Zealand team......
Raglan’s Billy Stairmand has maintained his blistering form at the ISA World Surfing Games in Japan today. His run saw him secure the Oceania qualification slot on Friday. Today he blazed through Repechage heats to put himself into the frame for gold when the event resumes tomorrow. Stairmand will surf......