The raw story behind the Taieri Mouth drowning tragedy of April 2021 and the team of surfing doctors who discovered the fateful capsize. Doctor Will Allen takes us back to a day that still haunts him – but a day that has inspired him to teach other surfers to save......
New Zealand Surf Journal is excited to launch our nationwide Search For New Zealand’s Underground Chargers … powered by Emerson’s Brewery, of course. Yep, you read that right. We’re on the hunt for those surfers in New Zealand who drop tools when the swell starts maxing out. We’re talking big-wave......
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......
With more than 36 years experience shaping surfboards out of Whangamata, Pete Anderson is one of the most humble and well-respected surfboard manufacturers in New Zealand. In this film he shares his journey from growing up in the heyday of Whangamata’s board-building industry to his insights, his hopes and most......
Raglan surfer and artist Aaron Te Whanatangi Kereopa chats about his journey, following his mischief, taking the risky road and how his talent has guided him into an incredible place in his art and life. Since that first day he picked up a knife and surfboard more than 20 years......
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.......
Nothing’s worse than forking out a bundle of cash only to find your wetsuit leaks like a sieve as soon as you duckdive your first wave. Gemma Wagstaff, the designer at New Zealand wetsuit brand Gemma Lee, has spent more time than most thinking about exactly that. Here’s her advice......
In the footsteps of some true greats, a new generation is emerging from the deep south. This film follows 2025 National Champion Alexis Owen, Lewis Murphy and Keo Morrison and friends around some of their favourite waves. The Otago coastline is renowned for producing rippers, like Graham Carse, the Barton......
SurfAid has named Eugene, Deb, Jet and Spike Tan (the people behind Aquabumps) as SurfAid’s Humanitarians of the Year for 2025. This award recognizes individuals, groups, or in this case families, for their exceptional contributions towards supporting SurfAid’s mission to improve the health, well-being, and resilience of people living in......
SurfAid shares an update on their work in the remote communities of Rote and the Mentawai Islands, and name their Humanitarian of the Year for 2025. In the Mentawai Islands, the SurfAid Katuronata program is in full swing. Each day, new water facilities are being built in partnership with local......
“I came off a wave and when I popped up I could see the board swirling toward me. It hammered me right on the head – I was lucky no teeth were broken,” smiles Gemma Wagstaff as she recalls the incident while surfing on a typically windy day at Lyall......
Ever wonder how you’d be at surfing if you’d grown up in the surfing hotbed of North Narrabeen on Sydney’s Northern Beaches? If 17-year-old Reuben Morrison is anything to go by then you’d certainly have an air game. We sat down with Reuben after his first ever New Zealand Surfing......
Thrills and Spillz bring us Chapter 1 – the first installment of Deadman’s Rising – capturing the giant April 1, 2025 swell that saw monster sets sweep through Sydney’s beaches. Deadman’s is one of the most insane slab breaks in Australia and must be seen to be believed. Footage was......
Vallkree’s beach-styled electric bikes are taking root in New Zealand and bringing their goal for sustainable and simple travel, and endless charm, to surfers everywhere. They let us loose with the dual-motor Mechanism 24, complete with seating for two, a surfboard rack and absolutely no rules. We like that …......
She is one of the fiercest competitors to emerge through the grom ranks, but what makes 14-year-old Alani Morse such a force to be reckoned with? We sat down with Alani on the heels of her 2025 New Zealand Surfing Championship campaign. In Taranaki for the 2025 Nationals Alani Morse......
If contests are the buttoned down sports version of surfing then the free surf sessions that take place around the heats are the creative opposite. There is no pressure, no judges, no decisions, just free-flowing moments when the tide hits the banks just right. Even with a below-par swell running......