Derek Morrison

Making History With Paige Hareb

Derek MorrisonDec 12, 2018July 25, 20241

Paige Hareb is New Zealand’s most successful surfer and her achievements, as the World Surf League (WSL) season for 2018 come to a close, stand testament to her competitive character and determination. The 2018 season was her seventh year competing on the WSL Championship Tour and she was thrown every...

Book Review: The South Seas Revised Edition

Derek MorrisonDec 9, 2018February 8, 20190

The South Seas Revised Edition features the work of some of the best photographers in New Zealand. These are combined with short pithy stories that offer a glimpse into our favourite beaches, surf history and characters of New Zealand’s surf culture. The South Seas Revised Edition came out of the...

Iconic Mangamaunu Point Break Gets Reprieve, Carpark Axed

Derek MorrisonNov 26, 2018July 25, 20243

The iconic Mangamaunu Bay earns reprieve from NZ Transport Agency’s shared use cycle path plans following the Surfbreak Protection Society’s judicial review mediation. It’s a win for all surfers in New Zealand and testament to the power of the people when working together for a cause. UPDATED: November 27, 2018...

Saving An Icon: Inside The Mangamaunu Saga

Derek MorrisonNov 26, 2018November 26, 20181

We have few treasures around our coastline as iconic as the arcing sweep of coastline known as Mangamaunu just north of Kaikoura. On a flat day it’s beautiful: a shimmering blue sea lapping up to a dark rocky shoreline that is separated from the jagged snowcapped peaks of the Seaward...

Ricardo Surges To The Podium At Hawaiian Pro, Now Seventh In QS

Derek MorrisonNov 18, 2018March 1, 20190

Ricardo Christie laid down a new chapter in New Zealand surfing history today when he went blow-for-blow with three of the world’s best in the final of the Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa. His third place finish catapulted Ricardo from 14th to seventh on the WQS rankings and puts him in...

Paige Hareb Re-Qualifies For 2019 World Championship Tour

Derek MorrisonNov 12, 2018February 8, 20190

Taranaki’s Paige Hareb has re-qualified for the 2019 Championship Tour today at Birubi Beach, Port Stephens, NSW, Australia. It was here last year that she re-qualified for the World Surf League Championship Tour with an outstanding quarterfinal result. Today she’s once again booked herself a starting spot in the 2019...

How To: Pop Up Like The World’s Very Best

Derek MorrisonNov 8, 2018November 8, 20180

During the Founder’s Cup in 2018, YouTube star and photographer Brent Rose decided to film the event in slow motion. Analysing the footage afterward revealed some incredible insights into one of the most basic, yet most important techniques in surfing: the pop up. “I’ve always wanted to see the top...

Film Review: Andy Irons – Kissed By God

Derek MorrisonNov 2, 20182

On September 3, 2010, Andy Irons won the Billabong Pro at Teahupoo, Tahiti. Two months later, on November 2, 2010, one of the world’s greatest surfers was found dead, lying on his back in a bed, sheets pulled up, in a hotel in Grapevine, Texas. That’s about the centre of...

Five Minutes With: Surf Photography Master Ted Grambeau

Derek MorrisonOct 31, 2018February 8, 20190

When I first picked up a camera and started pointing it at the ocean nearly 24 years ago, there was one photographer’s work that dazzled me, inspired me and daunted me. Australia’s Ted Grambeau was one of the absolute masters of capturing surfing in the best light. And his intrepid...

Surf Lakes Reveal “5 Wave” Technology In Queensland Mountains

Derek MorrisonOct 28, 2018February 8, 20190

Think Queensland is all about the Gold Coast’s right-hand points and punchy beaches firing to life? Well if Surf Lakes International has its way then your next surf trip there may just include a trip to the Queensland mountains to surf the recently prototype tested 5 Waves technology. Good enough...