Inspiration
Meet the people who weave life into the fabric of surfing. We profile interesting characters with an amazing story and an obsession with the ocean. Read about up and coming surfers and crusty old locals who smell like billy goats and ride single fins. If they have a story to tell, you’ll find them in here. Come and be inspired by artists, business gurus and thought leaders in our well of inspiration.
“Surfers are self-centered arseholes sometimes.” I’m sure the surf obsessed among us recognise this sentiment. It’s in that moment when your partner catches you looking out the window at the toetoe plants for wind directions, and checking the tides at the most inconvenient times of the day. I suspect this......
Jono Smit captures Billy Stairmand during some down time away from the pressure of the World Qualifying Series. Raglan’s favourite surfer has battled funding issues as he campaigns the toughest qualifying series in the world. Let’s hope 2019 brings him the breakthrough results he needs. Credits: Filmed by Jono Smit......
A classic film that follows the unscripted adventures of Jono Smit as he explores our southern coastline during the winter of 2015. “The idea behind all of this was to document winter through my eyes,” explains Jono Smit. “The road trips, the cold weather, the people.” “There are no pro......
Surf filmmakers in New Zealand tend to be passionate creatives lured to surfing by the curiosity of a colourful culture. They shine a light on surfing that is often a beautiful as it is compelling. Christchurch and Gold Coast-based filmmaker Jonathan Smit epitomises this ethos. He turns the creative dial......
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......
As a 40-something year old grommet with 30 years of surfing under the belt, I’ve got an insatiable hunger to surf as well as I can before the inevitable decline of aging sets in for good. Like a good comb over, I’ve been trialing different surfboard constructions in an attempt......
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......
Well, it’s about as official as unofficial gets. Our team of analysts have crunched every possible scenario and WSL possibility and it’s beyond a shadow of doubt. We’ve put ourselves out there, we’re calling it first: our Kiwi QS charger, Ricardo Christie, is now squarely cemented and set to rejoin......
From discussions with artistic souls, cross-stepping wave sliders, neck-tattooed lip-launchers and salty old sea dogs there’s something for everyone in NZ Surf: The Collection Vol.1. Drawing from a range of historical and recent material, and from a variety of contributors, this volume directed by Warren Hawke, is an open-hearted sweep......
HC Surfboards shaper Hayden Chamberlain has moved his operation north to Ruakaka and into Roger Hall’s Surfline surfboard factory. It’s a mutual relationship that should see both brands benefit. But surf photojournalist Craig Levers thinks he just may be the one missing out. A couple of months ago West Auckland......