Surf Athletes
We all like to think we are surfers who “could have” made it. These surf athletes actually are making it. From underground heroes to rising groms – this is where we lay bare the best talent in the country.
Budding filmmaker Fernando Jara teams up with Jack Tyro, one of New Zealand’s best young surfers in his short film Gone Wild. Filmed in and around Jack’s home breaks near Christchurch, the film’s ethereal visuals and immaculate sound design, paired with his mastery of the surf – on both shortboard......
At 15, Maya Mateja became one of the youngest surfers to win the Open Women’s title when she won the 2024 New Zealand Surfing Championships. We catch up with the Raglan-based phenom to find out how she did it and why she won’t be surfing for Team New Zealand. With......
Finals Day for the Open Men and Women goes down to the wire at the 2024 New Zealand Surfing Champs. No one in the packed crowd on the steps of St Clair Beach could have predicted the Open Men’s Final would boil down to a tie break between defending Champion......
Hot on the heels of his 2024 New Zealand Surfing Championship we catch up with Taranaki’s Daniel Farr to find out how it feels to win his second Open title … and the moment he knew he had won it. Daniel Farr wasn’t on the radar for the 2024 National......
Finals Day for the Under 18s, 16s and 14s at the 2024 New Zealand Surfing Champs reveals an historic moment. This is the sharp end of the contest for the juniors, made even more incisive by the fact a win here gives you automatic entry into the New Zealand surfing......
Day Five of the 2024 New Zealand Surfing Champs sees a shakedown of the premier divisions as the circus moves back to the St Clair Esplanade. Day Five saw the contest move back to the comfort of St Clair with light winds and a new north east swell promising some......
Taranaki’s Daniel Farr and Raglan 15-year-old Maya Mateja win the 2024 New Zealand Surfing Champs held in Dunedin over the past week. An explosive final day of the 2024 National Surfing Championships has seen Taranaki surfer Daniel Farr claim his second national title by the closest margin in the history......
The 2024 New Zealand Surfing Champs is underway in Dunedin right now with a challenging forecast keeping organisers on their toes. There’s always a lot more to a surf comp than meets the eye. Especially when the swell, wind and tide combination is in a typical summer mode, with swirling......
The Backdoor Team of Billy Stairmand, Paul Moretti, Jay Piper-Healion, Caleb Cutmore, Taylor Hutchison and Darren Celliers immerse themselves in southern waves … and marathon sessions. Filmmaker Isaac Chadwick and photographer Derek Morrison are on hand to capture the antics, fin blows and air revs … and they hardly miss......
Kehu Butler and Billy Stairmand bow out of the 2023 Challenger Series with narrow Round of 64 exits at the final stop of the tour, the Saquarema Pro held in Brazil. More and more the Challenger Series is looking way closer to the Championship Tour than it is to any......