Surf’s up!

One of Tauranga Museum’s first exhibitions will celebrate the region’s pivotal role in Aotearoa’s surfing culture.

words Karl Puschmann

boards Dusty Waddell Collection

Mount Maunganui is world-famous in New Zealand for its rolling surf and golden sands. Each summer people flock to the beaches to hang ten or catch rays. But, outside the surfing community, not a lot of folks know about the region’s rich history and contribution to Aotearoa’s surfing culture.

That’s all about to change. The Tauranga Museum team is hard at work putting together one of the first exhibitions to go on display when the long-awaited new museum opens its doors in 2028.

“The exhibition on surf and beach culture will be one of our earlier exhibitions on display when we open,” museum curator Fiona Kean enthuses.

It will certainly be hard to miss. Following the museum’s acquisition of local surfing icon Dusty Waddell’s legendary surfboard collection, the museum is already preparing 120 surfboards for display. These all hold national significance and physically chart the evolution of surfing in New Zealand.

“There’s shortboards and longboards, and in addition to those there’s boogie boards, belly boards, skim boards… there's probably another 50 of those,” Kean says. “We’ve even got 40 skateboards. We've had to create a special space at our storage facility for it all.”

Through the various shapes and sizes of the surfboards, you’ll see trends come and go as you progress through the years. It will also highlight beach culture with displays of fabulous local swimwear, wetsuits and ephemera like surf posters. We have an amazing hollow board that is over four metres long. It was made at the Mount in 1952 by Ron White and Jock Carson using the famous Tom Blake design. Kean is also in discussions with a local shaper who makes surfboards from – of all things – wool.

“It’s an exciting idea because most surfers are really interested in their environment and in cleaning up and preserving the water they swim in,” Kean says. “Surfboards in the past have been made of foam and more toxic materials, so innovations like that look at how surfing can be more environmentally friendly.”

While we all recognise the region for its good surfing, its epic contributions to the sport aren’t as well known. Surfing and surfboard manufacturing in Tauranga goes all the way back to the early 20th century. Through her research, Kean discovered there were, in fact, two surfboard makers here in the 1930s making, selling and hiring their boards out to summer beachgoers in that era.

Once established here, surfing never left. In the 1940s and ‘50s more shapers arrived and the era of plywood boards began.

“Plywood is an important story for Tauranga,” Kean says. “That takes you down a whole other rabbit warren of the people making hollow surfboards out of plywood. And then you have the leap into foam-core or surfboards made with foam blanks. You've got probably one of the biggest names in surfboard making, a man called Bob Davies, who comes to Tauranga and sets up a factory here, and at the same time another local guy, Ted Davidson, owns a sports shop on Cameron Road and he starts making surfboards out of that shop.

From there, it’s honestly like a wave of shapers and makers around the country flowing in and out of each other’s lives and businesses and the Mount and Tauranga were an important part of that scene.”

It’s fascinating to hear her talk about how huge Tauranga’s impact on New Zealand surfing actually was. It will be even more fascinating to see it. Surfboards are big items, especially the older longboards, which on average stand at a towering 12 feet tall. The scale of the exhibition is going to be awesome.

Kean is excited about the project and can’t wait to share everything being discovered about Tauranga’s rich surfing history when the museum opens.

“We want people to have a greater understanding of surf and beach culture and its significance to where they live. We’re a really important piece of that overall surf culture puzzle. For example, the first surfing nationals were held at Mount Maunganui in 1963,” she says. “The museum hopes to give people a sense of belonging to this place. I’d love for locals to feel pride in our role in the surf industry and to come away with a sense of enjoyment. It will be a fun exhibition but one that does have moments for reflection and moments where you’ll feel challenged.”

For those who simply can’t wait until 2028 to see what’s barreling down the pipeline, Kean reveals how you can get a sneak peek at the surfboards and, essentially, the Bay’s surfing history on Tauranga Museum’s website.

Kean says the exhibition will appeal to non-surfers just as much as those who like to hit the waves, as the experience the museum team is curating showcases not just surfing but wider beach culture.

With a few more years of prep work, research and collaboration with the community before it opens, Kean has a very simple objective for the exhibition in mind.

“We want it to blow people away,” she laughs.

letstalk.tauranga.govt.nz/projects/tauranga-museum

Turning accomplished surfers into frothing groms

Catch the wave with a Mount man who’s thrilled to have found his passion and to be helping others find it too.

WORDS + PHOTOS Katie Cox

In July 2016, Mt Maunganui’s Geoff Cox had been working as a videographer in the film and television industry for nearly two decades when he disappeared into his shed. Three days and much tinkering later, he emerged with a prototype of a foilboard he’d shaped. Cut to today and he’s working with Signature Performance Gear to help surfers all over the world take wave-riding to a new dimension. 

Getting with it

Not even sure what a foilboard is? It’s sort of like a surfboard but with a hydrofoil that extends down into the water. “To put it simply, it’s a glider flying underwater,” says Geoff. “Just like an aeroplane wing, there’s a foil section that generates lift when you’re moving forward. The unique element of surf foiling is that all of the energy comes from the wave – no kite, no sail, no motor. One of the most rewarding things about surf foiling is learning to feel that energy and get better at finding and using it.”

Geoff was inspired to become a shaper by watching Hawaiian surfer Kai Lenny paddle in on a foil. “It was the first time I’d seen surf foiling not involving jet skis and tow ropes and all of those layers of complexity that make it less accessible. To me, it looked like the ultimate evolution of wave riding.” 

The first few foils he shaped were totally experimental; there were very few surf foils on the market and he hadn’t seen any in person. “There were foils that were made for kite foiling, but they weren't fit for the purpose of foil surfing,” he recalls. 

Refining the process

In the beginning, Geoff’s process was labour- and time-intensive, much like hand-shaping a surfboard. “I started with a hand-cut foam core that was then hand-laminated in carbon and epoxy,” he says. “It involved lots of sanding and there was a lot of inaccuracy in the design.” 

But things got better. As part of his design background, Geoff had always been conversant in computer-animated design (CAD), so he started designing his foils that way. “I built a 3D printer that allowed me to very accurately create my CAD designs as 3D-printed molds, which I’d then use to lay up the foils in,” he says. “This accuracy allowed me to repeat designs while changing and refining features to get the performance I was after.” 

Three years on from his first foray, in late 2019, Geoff was entertaining the idea of producing a small run of his foils and testing the market to see if it was worth pursuing further. While communicating with a composite factory about manufacturing them, his contact at the factory mentioned that he knew of a global surf brand that was looking for foil designers to help them develop their existing offerings. That company was Signature Performance Gear.

“He connected us and it went from there,” says Geoff. “The SPG family are an amazing group of people and I’m so stoked to be part of the team. I could not have found a better brand to get involved with.”

Moving on up

The wing Geoff designed for Signature Performance Gear has been met with rave reviews worldwide by some of the major influencers in the sport. “Part of what I did for Signature was update the existing range into a modular system, which involved redesigning every component – the mast, fuselage, tails and existing wings,” says Geoff. “The second part was adding my model, called the GameChanger, to the range.” 

Building moulds for commercial production is an expensive process, but Signature invested in Geoff’s model fully trusting it was a good design. “I’d just returned from Tahiti, where I’d surfed my latest design in a wide range of conditions and it was just so good!” says Geoff. “I had a lot of confidence in it, but it’d only been ridden by me and my friends. When the first production models started getting shipped out to the world's top riders and influencers, I was quietly shitting myself, hoping it’d be well received. I had a lot of sleepless nights! And then the first reviews started hitting Instagram wiith 100% positive feedback.”

So how does it feel to know that a design that came out of your head is now under the feet of some of the world's best riders? “I’m just buzzing when I see what guys are doing on my foil,” says Geoff. “I guess it's the same feeling a surfboard shaper gets seeing a surfer improve on their shapes. Locally, Alex Dive is one of the best around and his foiling took a huge leap forward when he got on my foil – he’s pushing his performance to the next level. Internationally, the response is amazing. Seeing videos of the best guys going off on my design is hugely rewarding.”

Sharing the love

A lot of the world's top surfers are now into foiling too, and Geoff thinks they’re drawn by the excitement of a new challenge. “It's a very difficult thing to do, so it’s very rewarding when you start to get it,” says Geoff. “It really is just an amazing feeling – it feels like flying. That’s very different to being confined to the water surface and the bumps and chop that go with it.” 

Foiling has changed the types of waves Geoff and others ride, and the way they ride them too. “So many waves that aren’t great for surfing are perfect for the foil, and we’ll often have eight or 10 of us all sharing waves and connecting up multiple rides and pumping back out to share more,” he says. “Living at the Mount, the good surfable days have gone from 50 a year to 200.”

Keen to join the party? Geoff says the learning process is probably harder on the ego than anything else. “After being an accomplished surfer, going back to being a total learner can be quite a humbling experience, but it’s also an opportunity to get that buzz of your first successful ride, which a lot of us who’ve been surfing for a lifetime have forgotten. I love how all my ‘older’ friends have become frothing grommets who just can't get enough!”



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Diving into the art of surfing after life-altering illness

PHOTOS Salina Galvan

Matt Scorringe first set foot on a surfboard at the age of two and has been catching waves since he was five. Now, he’s making waves, after a life-altering health battle gave him the impetus to pursue surfing in a way that’s changing the ambition and success of surfers throughout New Zealand.

Growing up in Whangamata, it was bound to happen. After Matt Scorringe’s parents moved from Hamilton and took over the family bach in what he affectionately calls ‘Whangas’, the beachfront location had an immediate effect.

“I was probably first on a board when I was about two years old,” Matt says. “My brother surfed and growing up where surfing has such a rich history meant we had boards in the garage. I think I was about five when I took a foam board from the garage and first started catching waves. Whenever mum wasn’t looking, I’d be up to my waist in the water.”

Fortunately, Matt’s mother usually was looking, as she could watch the young surfer from her kitchen window to make sure he didn’t drown. And when not up to his waist in water, Matt worked at the family gas station to save money for boards. Kiwi childhoods don’t get much more classic than that, and so it was pretty much inevitable that surfing was going to be in Matt’s future. 

“There were these iconic surfers like ‘Taff’ Kenning, Bob Davies, and Pete Mitchell around there,” Matt says, “and, though, at the time they weren’t called pro-surfers, they were real innovators of the sport in New Zealand. Growing up in that environment – a beach town with three surf shops and what seemed like just 500 people, with the culture and the waves – it had a real effect. There was just no other road for me.”

By age 14, that road had taken Matt to Bali where he represented New Zealand at the International Surfing Association World Junior Titles, a feat he repeated until the age of 20 when Billabong came knocking on his door with a sponsorship offer. He moved to Australia at 17 to be closer to the competition circuit and, soon after, teamed up with pro surfer Joshua Kerr, a friendship that would later see the pair travel the world together, living the dream: surfing, and getting paid to do it.

But all that changed in 2009. “I got home from a tour in Hawaii,” recalls Matt, “and eight days later I was having chemotherapy. I thought I’d just been burning the candle at both ends a bit too much, and maybe had a bit of a hangover, but the turning point was when I woke up and my whole body was covered in a rash and I was getting blood noses.” A quick trip to the doctor followed and the assessment was earth-shattering: acute myeloid leukaemia. 

“There was really no time to process it or make decisions on it. Fortunately, I responded to treatment, but it took eight months of intense chemo. The initial stage is a bit of a blur to me – it’s one of those parts of your life that you tend to block out a bit. It was a pretty crazy experience and I really had a moment but, once I got to the hospital, that changed. I’ve always been very competitive, so once I was at the hospital, I thought, ‘Well, this is another challenge and I’m going to smash this thing and win it.’ I set a goal of being back and competing in the New Zealand nationals the next year – and, though I still looked like a cancer patient when I got there, it was a stepping stone for my journey back.”

“I’ve always been very competitive, so once I was at the hospital, I thought, ‘Well, this is another challenge and I’m going to smash this thing and win it.”

It was also a turning point. Like many people suddenly faced with their own mortality and months of medical treatment, Matt did a lot of thinking.

“When life comes at you like that, you re-evaluate everything,” he says. “Even though I’d recovered, I thought that my chance to be a surfer was gone and that I’d have to do what everyone else was doing: find work somewhere in the surf industry, move to Auckland, drive the traffic, be a nine-to-fiver. But, a year after my cancer, my partner and I moved to Bali for six months and we decided to try and get some priorities sorted.”

One of those priorities was pursuing his love of surfing in a way that gave back to the sport he loved. His years on the competition circuit had been great and he’d learnt a huge amount about surfing, but he’d also learnt a lot about how many competitors were still not giving it 100%; the accepted mentality was that, to be a good surfer, you just surfed. And things like nutrition, structured coaching and training programmes were for nerds. 

“The reason I started the Art of Surfing was that I realised too late that there are so many components to it. Being on tour meant I saw what those top-level surfers were doing, and I got to be in the locker rooms with Kelly Slater and the world champions and see what they were doing, what equipment they were using, and how they were being coached.” 

“The big turn-around came after Mick Fanning got injured,” Matt says referring to the champion Australian surfer known as White Lightning. “He was the first surfer to take training and nutrition and all that high-end stuff seriously, as part of his road back. He came back to win the world title. And then the chase was on – it was a whole new world of professionalism, while back here in New Zealand we still thought that, to get better, you just surfed more.”

Embracing a whole new world of professionalism is Matt created Art of Surfing for but, when he initially pitched to the powers that be, the reception was not quite what he expected. Surfing – not just in New Zealand but worldwide – was in transition. The surfing boom was in decline, the global financial crisis was hitting hard and streetwear was taking over from surfwear. So, while the organisation Matt approached liked his idea, they were looking to downsize rather than take on new ventures. 

“Looking back now, it was perfect for me, because it made me realise I was going to have to do it all on my own. I’d looked around and there was no one else doing what I wanted to do – and to this day, nearly ten years later, I’m probably still the only one doing what I’m doing.” 

Matt – like most surfers of his generation – was self-taught, and he had, in fact, turned down the opportunity to be tutored by ‘the godfather of technical coaching’, Martin Dunn, largely because he felt surfers had to be self-taught, with the raw talent being shaped by some inner Zen. He now sees the error of that and wishes he’d had a mentor and teacher – but, he realised, that if he never had one, he could at least be there for the next generation.

“I came home with all the knowledge I’d picked up and, after recovering, I sincerely wanted to use that to help our surfers do better,” Matt says. “I’d been in competitions where we’d come up just short, and I knew that if we just tweaked what we were doing, Kiwis could be on the next level. I still see a bit of the pushback against coaching but its changed a lot. When I started, there were a lot of people who wanted to come and train, but didn’t want to be seen coming to train! There was this mentality that getting trained in surfing wasn’t cool. People wanted to go out to Papamoa to do it, so they wouldn’t be seen. That’s changed completely now.”

One of the drivers of that change has been the acceptance of surfing as an Olympic sport. “Surfing,” says Matt, “particularly in New Zealand, is still seen differently to other major sports – and the Olympics will change that. It will mean we start to take things seriously and start working towards finding the best path for our athletes at Olympic level.  I’ve talked with friends in snowboarding and other sports that have recently been made Olympic sports and they all say it takes time. It’s like the chicken and the egg – you need funding to get results, you need results to get funding – but it’s great to see that we’re off to a really good start with two athletes going to Tokyo.”

Matt’s role in preparing those Olympic contenders has been as head coach of the development pathways programme he helped put together to get our surfers up to Olympic qualifying level, and he’s more than happy with the results. “We’ve now got two athletes qualified for the 2020 Olympics – Billy Simon from Raglan and Ella Williams from Whangamata – who both came through that programme. Now we just need to get some more structures and mechanisms in place to support them and the sport. At that level, you don’t spend a lot of time at home; you’re travelling all the time, so you need coaches, nutritionists and all the support required on different continents. Part of what I’m doing is not just bringing my knowledge but the connections and contacts to make it easier.”

Olympic-level mechanisms have been in place in Australian surfing for some time, only on a much bigger scale. While Matt might be envious of their resources, he’s not sure it’s what we need here in New Zealand. “I think they’re getting silver spoon-fed over there and I don’t think it’s producing the grit and determination that’s needed in the sport. There are competitors from other countries where their families depend on their success and they’ve got all the fight in the world that money can’t buy. Hard work beats talent nine times out of ten, and our biggest issue as Kiwi surfers is that we’re laidback Kiwis! We don’t have the dog-eat-dog mentality we need ... so I want to focus on making a kick-ass programme for our surfers. We are world-renowned for sports and I want to play a part in making surfing one of those sports.”

And as though helping shape a whole new generation of surfers and raising our standouts to a whole new level isn’t enough, Matt is also upping the game for non-professional surfers here in New Zealand, from his base in Mount Maunganui. 

“Moving to the Mount was the best decision I ever made,” Matt says, “on all levels. It’s not really known for consistent surf here, but the way it’s become a hotspot and the way surfing and the beach lifestyle has grown is great. The amount of kids coming through at development level is fantastic; we’ve gone from one squad a week to five, and it’s still growing. My business is completely built off word of mouth, and you can see there is now a real hunger for coaching and teaching that is great for the sport long-term.” 

A man with so much on his plate can’t be everywhere at once, unfortunately – but, ever the problem solver, Matt has a plan. “I want to go to every region, I want to help every grassroots surfer everywhere. So I’ve really turned my focus to the online side of the Art of Surfing, and people out there want it. I’ve developed a library of online content for people who want to learn how to surf, from beginners through to elite. And we’re going to take this global. We’re known as the go-to in New Zealand and we’re confident people will come along for the ride, but the potential in places like America is really where we could see growth. It’s been a three-year project but, in the last six months, it has really come together.”

With all this going on, does Matt Scorringe still find time outside of coaching, teaching, developing online content, and mentoring Olympic surfers for the thing that got him on this path back in ‘Whangas’?

“Oh yeah, of course,” he says. “Surfing’s the one thing that keeps everything else at bay!”

Giving back to the community beyond crisis: Todd Hilleard of Noxen

“I ran at her and tackled her onto the bed. She still had the gun in her hand but now it was pointed at me. I kept thinking, ‘Is this real?’”

WORDS Ellen Brook

Todd Hilleard was passionate about being a police officer, but a routine callout turned armed confrontation was the first in a series of events that changed his state of mind. Todd had been talking to a woman who had allegedly assaulted her husband when suddenly she pulled out a pistol, held it to her head, and threatened to shoot herself.

“It was a horrible situation,” recalls Todd. “Everything was happening in slow motion and I felt awful to be pinning this woman down, trying to force the gun from her hands.It was my first time in a situation which came from nowhere and involved a firearm. I was completely unprepared for it.”

Later, Todd was rattled when a driver he’d stopped unexpectedly reached under the seat of his car. “I was worried he might be reaching for a gun, and it put me on edge,” says Todd. 

After another event where a shotgun was thought to be in the vehicle of a father who had abducted his children, Todd realised he wasn’t coping. The Police transferred him from Tauranga to Christchurch, his hometown, hoping the fresh start would improve his mental health.

But the September 2010 earthquake made Todd even more anxious. “Afterwards, I was on edge.I didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin, especially going out on jobs in the middle of the night.”

During the second earthquake in February 2011, Todd was at work on the third floor of the Christchurch Central Police Station. “The alarms went on and on, and I expected the building to come down,” says Todd. “I was terrified.”

Todd didn’t have time to dwell on his fear; he was immediately sent to the CTV building which had collapsed like a concertina, killing 115 people and trapping many more. “Other cops were on top of the rubble, but I thought, ‘I can’t be here, I’m scared’," says Todd. He stayed at the scene for 12 hours. “It was chaos. I saw terrible things you hope to never see.”

There were also bright spots. Todd and his fiancée Tash were planning their wedding, and he was working on a rewarding project organising the recovery of vehicles trapped in Christchurch’s Red Zone. But the day after his stag party, Todd went to hospital with heart palpitations. He then had an allergic reaction to the drug he was given and went into anaphylactic shock. His heart needed electrical cardioversion to restart its normal rhythm.electrical cardioversion, a high-energy shock sent to the heart to restart its normal rhythm. Todd was devastated.

“I couldn’t believe this was happening to me at 30 years old,” says Todd. “I was beside myself at the thought of my heart stopping.”

Todd married Tash in April 2011. Although the wedding was a happy occasion, Todd hit rock bottom soon afterward. “I was driving to the movies when I started to have chest pains,” says Todd. “I went to the hospital, but my heart wasn’t the problem. I was having a panic attack.”

After the birth of their baby boy, Tate, Todd woke up one morning in 2011 and  knew he couldn’t go back to work. “It was time for me to stop fighting.I felt quite euphoric about that.”

He went on sick leave from the Police, and then leave without pay. Soon after, Tash, then 24 weeks pregnant with their daughter Lexi was made redundant and the young family moved back to Tauranga. Todd found solace in the local surfing scene, but he’d lost his identity as a police officer. “I’d be out and see police cars with my old mates in them. It took a long time to accept what had happened,” says Todd. He finally resigned from his job in 2013.

Although he’d left the Police, Todd’s mental health was still poor. At his lowest point, he even considered suicide. “My twisted thoughts were my biggest battle. They put me in a very dark place and I worried I was going crazy,” says Todd. “I finally got help through my doctor, went to therapy and realised that talking openly and rawly and letting myself be vulnerable really helped.”

Todd returned to the workforce in sales at Coca-Cola and then Goodman Fielder, and stayed involved in the surfing scene. His love of the sport led him to the next chapter of his career. Taking part in the 2018 Police Association Surfing Champs in Raglan, Todd noticed that at 1.8 metres and 90kg, the XL-sized hooded towelling poncho Todd received as a souvenir of the event was too small for him. He began researching similar products and looking at samples. When he found what he wanted, he set up Noxen (noxen.co.nz), an online surf and lifestyle clothing business. 

For Todd, what started as a solution to one problem has become a way for him to give back to the community. The brand’s tagline “Ride Every Wave” reminds Todd to ride out life’s ups and downs. A percentage of each sale goes to Lifeline, the mental health and suicide prevention hotline, and a further percentage of sales revenue is donated to other charitable causes.

Todd continues to be open about his mental health, both on the Noxen website and at speaking engagements. He acknowledges that his experiences changed his ability to manage things the way he used to. “I’ll never be fully back,” says Todd. “I’ll always have anxiety and depression, but I can manage it, and now I have an opportunity to pay it forward.”

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Siblings surfing: Jonas and Elin Tawharu

Jenny Rudd meets two of the world’s top junior surfers, brother and sister, Elin (15) and Jonas (17) Tawharu. They have grown up surfing on their doorstep, here in The Mount.

WORDS JENNY RUDD PHOTOS JEREME AUBERTIN, SALINA GALVAN + CAM NEATE

“Representing New Zealand in any sport gives you the grit and resilience needed to get through difficult times in life.” John Tawharu is the father of Elin and Jonas, two of New Zealand’s brightest surfing stars.

The siblings have just returned from the Azores in Portugal, where they competed in the 2016 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championship. Elin came 3rd in the U16 girls’ division (the first Kiwi podium finish in nine years), and Jonas was the top Kiwi competitor in the U18 boys’ division. This year was the biggest in the competition’s history, with 370 competitors from five continents, and the first in the era of surfing as an Olympic sport.

We meet Elin and Jonas at the UNO office. In their Mount College uniforms, they look like any other teens, but they are world-class athletes competing at the highest possible level.

IN THE BLOOD

There’s a fair bit of sporty blood flowing through the family; John, a teacher at Omanu Primary School, has represented New Zealand in softball and rugby. Step-mum Jo teaches at Tauranga Intermediate. They both coach the surfing teams at their respective schools. Jo has toured with the New Zealand women’s team as a qualified judge.

“My children have grown up surfing at every opportunity,” says John. “Living by Moa Park in The Mount, they have always been able to skip across the road in their wetsuits. Every weekend for years has been taken up with surfing, either here at home, or out on one of our infamous weekend surf missions. We study the weather reports, checking swell and wind conditions, work out where the best surf will be, and leap into action. It’s such an exciting way to live. Jo makes a stack of homemade pizzas the night before, and we start getting chilly bins, portable chairs, and all our kit out of the basement; everyone’s hunting around for wetsuits, fins, boards and sun-block.”

“Jonas decides exactly what time we need to leave to get the tide at its best, and I always say that Jo is our lucky charm: she almost always calls the surf conditions bang on. The adrenaline’s pumping as we round the last few corners, desperate to get a glimpse of the waves after a few hours on the road. I’ve lost count of the number of times we have zoomed down that hill at Manu Bay, Raglan! I feel very lucky to do these adventures with my partner and children.”

WAVE AFTER WAVE

The ocean has been the backdrop to Elin’s and Jonas’s lives. As toddlers, John would kick a ball into the waves. They would dive in and scoop it up, so the water splashed on their faces, giving them confidence in the water. As small children, John took them out boogie boarding in the rougher white water, to teach them about the power of the ocean. “Ever since she was little, I have always called Elin my Storm Girl. I’d take her out in cyclones, when the white water was smashing around all over the place. She just loved getting rumbled over and over in the waves, and even now she doesn’t ever care about being smashed by huge, dumping waves. That’s her thing – gnarly waves. Jo calls her the Queen of Gnarly.

“As a youngster, Jonas would surf all day with no rest, wearing himself out completely. Then he’d be wrecked for a few days. He’s had to learn to come in and get food and drink every few hours. He has an analytical mind, and has always been particular about his technique, practising over and over again to get it right. Jonas’s love of physics and interest in how things work is ingrained in him; as a nine-year-old, he gave me a lesson on weight transference on his skateboard!“

“The surf season is long and hectic, running from January through to November. And expensive. All us parents worry about how we are going to find the thousands of dollars needed for travel and accommodation as we take our children on the national tour. If they make the national team and go to the World Championships, it’s even more expensive. It always comes together, though. We fundraise hard, doing movie nights, garage sales, and car washing. And the community really gets behind us, which is fantastic. Jo is our master-organiser in the family, making sure everything stays on track. Everything clicks when she’s on board; her brain is amazing.”

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ELIN

“Dad used to push me into two-foot, glassy waves on his fat fish board when I was little, and I would try and stand up. It was exhilarating, and I was hooked. Those are my earliest memories of surfing at my local break, Crossroads. Learning to surf at The Mount has given us such a great advantage. There’s so much coastline here, and the curves, peninsulas and islands create lots of different waves. The Mount has produced a lot of good competition surfers, as it’s a beach break, which is changeable. You have to be flexible to adapt. If you always surf a point break or river mouth, you don’t get enough practice with the smaller, slushy waves.

EARLY ADOPTER

I picked up surfing properly when I was nine. I’ve always been competitive by nature, and won my first national competition when I was eleven, in Taranaki. I was given a greenstone surfboard trophy. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that feeling. And being round the professional surfers was the most exciting thing I’d ever experienced: watching them sign autographs, have their photos taken, and engage in awkward chatter with fans (like me!). Just to be near them, I was frothing as a grom. I wanted to dress like them, look like them and, one day, surf like them. Everything changed after that. I set myself the goal of making the New Zealand team before I turned 18, with a vision in my young head of travelling overseas and representing my country.

NATIONAL TEAM

Then, just as I turned 13, I was selected! I wasn’t expecting it at all. What made it doubly exciting was that Jonas made the team too. I think it’s the first time a brother and sister combo have ever been selected together. Can you imagine the excitement in our house? I have been selected to represent my country each year since then, and this year I won the bronze medal in Portugal in the U16 girls’ division. It was beyond my dreams to make it to the final, surfing with the best in the world at Praia do Monte Verde, where a large swell pounded the beach break. Even though the conditions improved throughout the competition, the waves were pretty unruly and hard to read, so I was seriously stoked to get a medal.

FAMILY

I’m so lucky to have four supportive parents. My mum, Anna, and her partner, Paul, are yoga instructors, so have always practised lots of yoga with us. It’s great for keeping your body strong, open and flexible. All those extra things really give you an edge when competing at a high level. And Mum and Paul are always ready with a good massage after we’ve been training hard. So we can dissect our technique, Jo spends hours filming us, and offers fantastic analytical advice. She’s incredibly supportive of women surfers, having been with Surfing New Zealand for so many years.

My dad has always coached our sports teams, like many other supportive parents, and he and Jo drive us for miles looking for swell. He and Jo have given up so much of themselves to help us succeed. My dad’s always out in the surf. In fact, he’s the biggest grom I know. He’ll be out there when it’s absolute crap, just loving it, for hours on end. I’d surf every day of my life if I could. It’s an addiction, a habit your body and mind craves. I love the exhilaration that comes from the challenge of riding waves and speeding along the face. I’d like to have a go at the professional junior circuit in Australia. Finding funding for that is the biggest challenge. And I also have next year’s World Champs on my mind. I want to win it.”

ELIN’S ACHIEVEMENTS

2011 U12 Women’s Champion, Taranaki. 2013 Ranked 3rd nationally (U17 girls).

2013 New Zealand Primary Schools U13 Girl’s Champion.

2014 U16 Women’s Champion, Gisborne. 2014 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, Ecuador (U16 girls), 13th place.

2015 Ranked 2nd nationally (U17 girls).

2015 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, California (U16 girls), 16th place. Best result for New Zealand team that year.

2015 Ranked 7th nationally (open women’s).

2016 Ranked 2nd nationally (U17 girls).

2016 U16 and U18 Women’s Champion, and placed 3rd in Open Women’s, Dunedin.

2016 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, Azores, Portugal (U16 girls, 3rd place. First Kiwi in 9 years to reach podium, best result in New Zealand team that year, helping New Zealand team to finish 10th overall.

2016 New Zealand Secondary Schools U18 Champion, Raglan Academy Competition.

2016 Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology Secondary School Sportswoman of the Year for Bay of Plenty.

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JONAS

“Surfing is my passion, and I’m completely committed to it. Elin and I are at Mount College during the week, but all weekend we are on the road or at home, surfing. We have done this for as far back as I can remember.

THE HOME FRONT

Having surfed all over our country, as well as many other places in the world, I’d say New Zealand is as good as it gets. Nowhere else will you score pumping waves with epic landscapes and backdrops like we do here. You can surf a volcanic crater at Muriwai, and see great whites and sea lions in Otago. You seem to feel much more immersed in nature and the ocean. Although there are better and more consistent waves in other countries, it still cranks here when it needs to, especially on the east coast of the North Island. But of anywhere, I have the most fun at home, here in The Mount. Even when it’s two-foot mush. We grew up surfing at our local break – the coolest place with the best locals.

AIM HIGH

This year, I won all three Billabong competitions on the circuit here in New Zealand, which put me at number one in the national rankings for the U17 boys. That helped me get selected for the U18 boys’ team to compete at the Junior World Championships this year in the Azores. Elin and I are pretty competitive with each other, but more than that, we support each other. At the Junior World Championships this year, I watched my sister smash her way into the final and get a bronze medal. I was so stoked for her! Supporting her from the beach, with all our teammates, as she competed with the best in the world was an amazing moment.

BUILDING RELATIONS

The cost of competing is really high. Elin and I recognise just how lucky we are to have two sets of parents who do so much to support our surfing financially. We have some fantastic sponsors too, many of whom have become friends, as we’ve spent so much time together on the circuit. Getting sponsored isn’t just about getting stickers on your board: it’s about working together to make sure both sides benefit. Surf companies do want to support young athletes, but they expect us to use and promote their products in a positive way.

ACADEMIC SUCCESS

I really enjoy school. I think having a strong academic background is important, and have just finished year 13 at Mount College. I studied physics, calculus, biology and sport science, and am considering studying further at University of Otago. My greatest achievement so far was recognition from one of the world’s greatest surfers. Around a thousand surfers, from all round the world, entered the ‘King of the Groms’ video competition last year, each submitting a video showcasing their surfing. Californian, Dane Reynolds, picked my video in the top 30. It has spurred me to work harder on my surfing. Looking to the future, I’d definitely like to craft a career in surfing. I’d like to work with companies in the surf industry, and advertise and market for them. But that’s in the future. Right now, I’m concentrating on getting selected for the 2017 New Zealand team and the pro juniors in Australia next year.

JONAS’S ACHIEVEMENTS

2014 April: Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, Ecuador (U16 boys), 43rd place.

2014 U16 Boys’ Champion, Gisborne. 2015 Ranked 2nd nationally (U17 boys).

2015 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, California (U16 boys), 47th place.

2015 Quiksilver King of the Groms World Top 30 U18 Boys’ finalist.

2015 New Zealand Piha Grom Series, (U17 boys), 3rd.

2016 Ranked 1st nationally (U17 boys). 2016 U20 Boys’ Champion, Hawkes Bay.

2016 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, Azores, Portugal (U18 boys) 33rd, top performing New Zealand U18 boy.

2016 Champion Billabong U17 Boys Grom series, at Mount Maunganui, Whangamata and Piha.

2016 U18 Boys, Dunedin, 3rd.

Father + Son: Tim and Finn Rainger

Both freelance writers, father and son team Tim and Finn Rainger talk about their relationship.

FINN RAINGER: SON ON FATHER

My Dad, or Munter as I more frequently call him, is far from your average human being. He’s a self-described outsider with an affinity for the strange. Surfing, he reckons, brought purpose into his life as an alienated and vexed youth. The memory of my first proper wave, aged 16, at Taupo Bay with him hooting from the beach, drifts into my consciousness every so often. “No wife, no career, no mortgage – it is not a lifestyle that many live, and thank fuck for that,” he stated during lunch recently. I admire his resolve in pursuing a lifestyle that suits him.

This year I indulged our shared obsession for chasing waves by joining him for the season in Indonesia, where he has spent the last four years away from the New Zealand winter. We have many similarities: a psychotic tendency to twirl strands of our hair when concentrating, and a passion for reading, writing, and taking photos. One of my earliest memories is sitting in the passenger seat of his van in Cornwall, England, probably on the way home from the beach, with Sublime playing loudly and smoke billowing out the window.

Like the surf, Dad can be fickle and stubborn, and hard to contact, but when you do have his attention he usually brings something to the table, whether it’s a plan, story idea, or advice on the age-old question of what is the point? He is adept at putting life into perspective, and it was his advice combined with my Mum’s that convinced me to take a job working as a reporter for the Gisborne Herald in 2015.

His capacity to impart advice and wisdom to people who want to hear it, as well as those who do not, earned him the nickname “The Sheriff” from the Canngu, Bali, locals. He patrols the line-up in the water, always on the lookout for a snake (someone who commits the cardinal sin of paddling inside other surfers and not waiting their turn for a wave), and does not shy from the confrontation that ensues (never violent in my experience).

The nickname is applicable on land, as he has a sharp moral compass that he willingly extends beyond his own periphery. A group of European “hipsters,” as he labelled them, were drinking and listening to dodgy music at around 10pm at our homestay in Canngu and around 10pm at our homestay in Canngu and Dad, wanting to sleep, got out of bed with a grim smile on his face and headed over to sort them out. “This is a homestay. There are plenty of places to party in Canngu without keeping me awake. Live and let live!” They were not happy and got a few digs in, “This is what happens in Canngu now. It’s not the 70s anymore old man.” But he had a point, and they vacated the premises soon after, honking the horns on their scooters as they hooned down the driveway.

All those hours spent battling his two brothers at home, and bullies at Auckland’s Kings College have toughened his edges and he can be an intimidating, yet compelling character. Dad’s a softy at heart though, and has a tender spot for the underdogs of life. A couple of German girls recently told him that if he were to write a story on his life, they would read it. Me too - if I hadn’t heard most of it already.

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TIM RAINGER: FATHER ON SON

To commit to print my thoughts and feelings for my son is hard. Relationships are so fluid and print is pretty final. Every word scrutinised for each subtle nuance. Plus I’m sharing a room with him as I write this; we have been for eight weeks. Surfing together every day, eating, drinking, hanging out. There is no luxury of distance. But here we go.

Let’s start with the bigger picture. We are more like an older and a younger brother than most fathers and sons. Most of the time. There are obviously moments when I have to lay down an ultimatum but they’re pretty rare. Ever since he did a milk-puke down a cold Kronenberg I was drinking (without me noticing), and which I subsequently gagged on, I’ve cut him a bit of slack. He’s always been quite determined to do stuff by himself, and certainly never wanted my advice.

When he was about two, his mum was on the phone so he flipped over a bucket, got up on the bench and merrily began chopping potatoes, which apparently was going fine until it wasn’t. By the time I got there to take him to hospital, there was blood sprayed all round the kitchen walls. He’s very close to his mum and his young brother, as well as his step-dad and all their extended family. There is a sixteen-year age gap between him and his little bro, and it’s funny observing how their patterns of behaviour mirror ours. At times he parents him hard, and others they josh around and have lots of fun.

He’s always loved reading and music, and especially loved being read to as a kid. “One more story dad!” was a line I heard a lot. It’s a great pleasure now, sharing books and bands, picking the guts out of movies and so on.

We’ve done a lot of surfing together since the beginning and it’s been a great thing for our relationship. Setting the clock. Getting up in the dark. Trading waves. It’s our mutual happy place. It’s our second season in Indo; this time we’re here for 6 months, and that’s a lot of time living cheek by jowl.

A few people raise their eyebrows when we tell them what we’re up to, like I’m being irresponsible letting my kid quit his job and spend all his savings on a surf trip. My take is: well, he’s qualified, and he works for his own dough, saving for a year to get here. And now he’s really focused on surfing hard, doing yoga, eating well. This is an experience that will shape him physically and mentally in really positive ways, and is one he’ll never forget.

He’s a good kid. I’m proud of him. And I like hanging out with him. Most of the time.