Travel Archives - New Zealand Surf Journal

Watch: Solitude, From New Zealand’s Newest Wetsuit Brand

Derek MorrisonJune 30, 2020

by Derek MorrisonJune 30, 20200

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......

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Watch: The Allan Byrne Story

Derek MorrisonJune 30, 2020June 30, 2020

by Derek MorrisonJune 30, 2020June 30, 20200

Allan Byrne contributed more to surfing than most modern surfers will ever realise. He is considered to be one of New Zealand’s most successful surfers ever, still to this day. In this short film by Clive Neeson, Allan describes in his own words what that era was like. How did he turn......

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Aotearoa Surf Film Festival: New Dates

Derek MorrisonJune 25, 2020

by Derek MorrisonJune 25, 20200

As the Aotearoa Surf Film Festival closed in on the end of its 2020 tour, Covid-19 rose it’s head and scuttled the final events – including a screening at the Piha Pro. Event director, Nick Stevenson, has survived the ordeal and is breathing a second life into the festival for......

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Watch: National Champ Elliot Paerata-Reid – The Post-Lockdown Edit

Derek MorrisonJune 9, 2020June 9, 2020

by Derek MorrisonJune 9, 2020June 9, 20200

Current New Zealand Surfing Champion Elliot Paerata-Reid looks back on his year in this post lockdown release – you can rest-assured this is no ordinary surf memoir. From sublime Indonesian waves to a full-on aerial showcase, EPR’s film Reccy is another solid dose of the hard-charging Piha surfer. Check out......

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The Travis McCoy Story: Nothing Puts Life Into Focus Like Death

Derek MorrisonMay 3, 2020

by Derek MorrisonMay 3, 20200

In 2017 Mount Maunganui’s Travis McCoy went for a surf that ended in an horrific fin gash to his face. But it was what the subsequent scan showed that changed his life forever. Surf photographer Peter Chamberlain sits down with Travis a few years into his recovery to see how......

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Watch: Paige Hareb’s Unexpected Journey

Derek MorrisonApril 15, 2020

by Derek MorrisonApril 15, 20200

What happens when the world’s hungriest World Qualifying Surfers are suddenly cut-free from their commitments when the 2020 Piha Pro is postponed due to COVID-19? Well, if Paige Hareb is involved then there is only one solution: grab a handful of good people and indoctrinate them into the ways to......

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How Duke Kahanamoku Helped A Kiwi Surfer Pioneer Murdering Beach

Kim WesterskovApril 1, 2020April 23, 2020

by Kim WesterskovApril 1, 2020April 23, 20200

Most of the kaumatua of New Zealand surfing will tell you that they’ve forgotten more than we’ll ever know. Assembled around a campfire in the post-surf glow of twilight the stories tumble out like moths attracted to the flames. These are stories that should be treasured, told and re-told. Like......

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COVID-19 Lockdown: New Zealand Surfers Asked To Help In Crisis

Derek MorrisonMarch 26, 2020July 2, 2020

by Derek MorrisonMarch 26, 2020July 2, 20200

New Zealand’s surfing communities have been asked to stay out of the water for at least the next four weeks to play their role in curbing the transmission of Coronavirus COVID-19. While it’s a hard pill to swallow and certainly not a well-communicated component of the lockdown, leading surfing communities......

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Piha Pro: A Spectator’s Guide

Derek MorrisonFebruary 17, 2020July 2, 2020

by Derek MorrisonFebruary 17, 2020July 2, 20200

Here’s the cheat sheet on how you can best soak up the atmosphere of the Corona Piha Pro when it rolls into Piha from March 15-22. Firstly, there is a Piha Pro Junior that takes place on March 14 for the men and women. It’s stop number 7 on the......

New Zealand Surf Athletes

Kelly Slater Confirmed For Piha Pro

Derek MorrisonFebruary 10, 2020July 2, 2020

by Derek MorrisonFebruary 10, 2020July 2, 20201

Eleven-time World Champion Kelly Slater has confirmed he will launch his 2020 season in New Zealand this March at the 2020 Corona Piha Pro. The Goat, as he is known, is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all-time, with comfortably the most title victories, 11, and no less......