When the South Island Surf Championships took to the waves at St Clair over Easter one surfer dominated proceedings. New Zealand’s first surfer to ever make the World Championship Tour (WCT), Maz Quinn’s power surfing meshed seamlessly to St Clair’s punchy waves and there were few who could answer him.
We caught up with Maz a few days after he won his first South Island title in 15 years.
“I got pipped last year in the final seconds which hurt a bit, but before that I think it was 1999 when I last won it,” he laughs. “I only know that because it was on a board with a yellow bottom – the same board I won the WQS (World Qualifying Series) in Anglet in France with that same year.”
That was the first ever WQS win by a Kiwi. Two years later he made the 2001 WCT and became New Zealand’s most successful modern-era surfer. Wind forward to Easter 2015 and he only seems to have improved again.
“I get a lot of time in the water and that definitely helps,” he offers. “The last few years I have been doing a lot of CrossFit. I hit it quite hard over the summer period and that seems to set me off on my year really well. But I also have good boards under my feet.”
Maz uses about three models of SuperBrand surfboards from the Gold Coast, but he’s tweaked them for New Zealand.
“I have a good relationship with the shaper Adam Fletcher, or Sparrow as we call him. We tweaked the boards a little bit when I first started riding them just because the New Zealand waves are quite different to those on the Gold Coast. We flattened the rockers out slightly and added a bit more foam because we’re always in wetsuits. They’re going great and I am loving them. They are brought in by Ultimate Surf Shop up in Albany here in New Zealand.”
Good boards aside Maz’s power and creativity in Dunedin over Easter was easily compared to Round 2 of the 2015 World Surfing League that was taking place at Bells Beach at the same time, but in lack-lustre waves. It prompted more than a few people to wonder if the quiet Kiwi might be able to foot it with the current crop of elite surfers.
“I don’t know about that – I haven’t got an air game and these days all the kids are doing them,” he laughs. “These guys can do air-reverses at the click of their fingers pretty much. I never got into airs – just focused on power surfing and rail surfing.”
He deflects the idea, but the reality is the better the surf gets the more powerful and fluid Maz becomes.
“When I retired, that was it,” he laughs. “I’m quite comfortable doing what I am doing – just surfing around New Zealand and overseas now and again. I do local comps just to keep my competitive fire going.”
“Ric can carry the New Zealand flag now,” he adds with a smile.
Ricardo Christie, of Mahia, is the second Kiwi to ever make the WCT and has only just started to show his ability in the second round held at Bells Beach, Victoria over Easter. Maz is watching his progress closely.
“The first competition on the Gold Coast probably had the worst waves in the past 10 years for a WCT,” he admits. “But that happens. At Bells he surfed well, but definitely not to his ability. If he surfed to his ability then he would have gone close to winning his second heat. The only difference was the wave that Taj got – a 9–something – it was a howler.”
Maz said Ricardo should take some confidence from his good scores – especially “when he’s surfing at maybe 60-70% of his ability”.
“When you first get your high scores from the judges on the CT it gives you a lot of confidence. He lost that heat, but his total might have been enough for him to win most of the other heats that day – he has to take the positives out of everything he can.”
“When the waves are good, he will start to surf to the peak of his ability and I’m sure he’ll do well then. Margaret River looks like it’s going to be massive, so hopefully he has a good run. I’m sure he will be frothing on the swell forecast for Western Australia.”
Maz is a regular in Dunedin these days, with family ties luring him back at least eight times a year.
Keep an eye out for him – he’s easy to spot in the surf – he’s the guy with the flawless bottom turns and buried rail.
More waves this week … check ’em here.
See you at the beach … Derek
PS Follow Ricardo’s progress in Round 3 of the World Championship Tour at the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro, Western Australia right here. Waiting period begins tomorrow.
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