Dune Kennings
New Zealand doesn’t have a whole heap of third generation surfers. Dune Kennings is one. His dad Lynden is a multi-national champion and his grandfather, Taff, featured in the 1968 Kiwi surf film Children of the Sun. It became a cult classic. We don’t know if Dune has ever sat down and scrutinised the movie, but that lineage surely adds a whole heap of pressure to perform.
I remember vividly Lynden telling me the story back in the late ’90s about how his son Dune, then two years old, was paddling along their hallway on a skateboard then leaping to his feet to ride the rest of the way along it. It made complete sense to me that that would be the actions of a toddler in the Kennings family.
Not long after Lynden threw a blank on a shaping stand and started to build a board for Dune. The bright orange weapon would be his first. The board he’d learn to surf on. That’s it right here in these pictures. Dune kept that board.
“I remember that day,” explains Craig Levers. “Dune’s boards were in Elliot’s [Paerata-Reid] car and he’d bailed from the beach. Dune grabbed this board and turns out he can still surf it.”
As a grommet Dune won two national titles in Under 16s, winning in 2011 and 2012. He backed that up with an U18 title in 2014. He’s never bagged an Open Men’s title, battling with injuries instead including ankle and knee issues.
“I put that down to his high-octane style of surfing,” offers Craig. “He’ll never hold back, goes for these crazy big airs and tries to stick them – it’s so brutal on your ankles and knees.”
At just 22, Dune is still considered one of the most explosive surfers in the water. If he can get his body in line with his instinct then we’ll see another star on the rise. If he just goes free-surfing, let’s hope he takes a photographer and filmer along to capture the moments.
Conclusion
Did we get it right? Did we overlook someone at your local break? Of course, we’ll never be bang on in everyone’s eyes. But we reckon we have a pretty good crop of surfers in this list. If you think otherwise, leave a comment below and tag in a surfer we may have overlooked. The debate that rages from a list like this is what a feature like this is all about.
