Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries:
The idea of cyclone season up in the North Island has always excited me. They bring proper ground swells to coastlines that are more often only exposed to smaller wind swells. So you can imagine how hard it was to be at Piha watching the Nationals for 2023 unfold. Knowing that the two days of ill winds in Piha would coincide with a window of cyclone surf on the East Coast was too much to pass up. It tugged hard at my FOMO strings.
We gave chase and, after a lot of consultation, decided to aim for one of the most beautiful beaches in the Coromandel. The plan was to arrive as the swell peaked at dawn and surf until the swell subsided later that day.
What could go wrong? We left Piha at 7pm and drove into increasingly heavy rain and wind – the Salty Slug, and our friend's camper following us, barely able to maintain a grip on the road. Just as we arrived at the foot of the Coromandel Ranges a friend sent us the news that the road across the ranges was closed due to a slip. We were gutted. We pulled over and hoped to be first across in the morning.
By dawn the news was worse: more than two new slips on the road and slips on nearly every other road into the Coromandel. We chewed on some unusual scones for breakfast and sipped our coffee while furiously looking through the reports and trying to find our next best option. We were acutely aware that time was running out on us. Whangamata was reachable but the stormwater would cause issues on the bar. We decided to head north to surf a break I have only ever dreamed about.
More than four hours later, with floodwaters receding and the wind intensifying, we had arrived in Northland. The break we had been chasing looked stunning. We were in the water before the windcreen wipers had come to rest across the windshield.
To drive eight hours through stormy conditions just for a two-hour surf may seem like madness, but I can still remember every wave and the excitement as the bigger sets erupted on the outside reef. It was far from all-time, but a session most of us will never forget. Thank you, Hale.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS If you haven't caught up with the Nationals for 2023 then jump on over to our New Zealand Surf Journal coverage to find out what went down in some pumping waves with some of New Zealand's best surfers tearing it to bits. And find out why our Elephant in the Bay story ruffled feathers ...
Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries: