Nothing beats the drive through that corridor of native bush to the corner of road topping out and arcing left high above Manu Bay. It's the first glimpse of the Tasman Sea and the state of the corduroy lines that have been dancing in your head since you climbed the Divvy and hurtled towards Raglan. Sometimes the view that greets your eyes is nothing short of heart-racing excitement. On the big days its tinged with fear.
But for me on Saturday morning it was far from my imaginations. Instead of ruler straight lines, it was 10-second-period funk straight out of the west with a dose of norwest wind to add to the chaos. I paddled out anyway. Mainly because I had a couple of friends, who I hadn't seen for months, amping at the chance for a wave together. It was like old times, but it didn't feel like we were old. Conversation drifted from our lack of surf fitness to the high-jinx of our early days and in between we found some surprisingly fun walls and sections to play on. By dusk we had the line-up to ourselves and that's a rarity in a surf town that has become the focal point for upper North Island surfers and every tourist ever. We traded waves as the sun disappeared and laughed like we were teenagers again.
The very next morning we did it all again in a packed 2/10 beachbreak that was mostly straighthanders, except we had wisdom on our side and found a little inside bank all to ourselves with a gentleman's take-off zone and walls that appeared from nowhere. These are good days. Sure, the surf was far from the perfection we dreamed of, but sometimes just hanging with good friends is where the real gold lies.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS We're exhibiting with three other professional photographers at the Dunedin Community Gallery from May 17, 2018. Alan Dove, Clive Copeman, Graham Warman and me are putting on The Collective: Photography Exhibition. More details right here. See you there!
Proudly supported by:
