How good is autumn right now? As I am writing this week's report, I'm sitting at my table, it's almost 11pm (yep, a bit stretched on this deadline) and it's 24°C outside. The doors are open and the moths are attacking the light bulbs. We climbed out of the surf a few hours before dark. Surfed out already from the after school session with a bunch of over-excited groms and some clean 2-3 foot peaks. Even better still, the water is warm and the sun is shining.
If you lived on the Coromandel (Daniel Davie does), Bay of Plenty or Gisborne this would be a daily occurrence (sans those swells that thump us with the regularity of a metronome). Imagine a whole summer like that? That's pretty much what has happened up north – often starved of swell for long periods, this summer has bucked the trend with an east coast alive with wave activity.
It also comes with crowds and you'd have to know where to find the hidden gems to find any sort of lineup as empty as the ones we're faced with. It may be a little colder and it may be a little quirkier down in this part of the world, but for a surfer it's pretty kind of epic. To raise a family of surfers on a coastline like this is something of a privilege. I'm very grateful for that and to be able to share these experiences with my family and a surf community that is like a big family of vibrant, colourful characters. Autumn, roll on you beautiful thing.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS We took on a big challenge with NZ Surf Journal recently: we asked the industry to rate the top 10 surfers in New Zealand. It was full of controversy and has attracted a lot of heated debate. Here's our 10 Best Surfers in New Zealand right now. How do you think we did?
Proudly supported by:
