August 22nd 2023: Finn

We're quite lucky to have one of New Zealand's best surfers studying at the University of Otago here in Dunedin. Finn Vette is 19, originally from Gisborne and is now in his second year studying psychology. He approached me a year ago and was keen to coach some of the groms when the Queens Surf Academy put its hand up. Tash Civil was just about to take a break.

Finn stepped into the role and added in a bunch of the local groms (mostly brothers of the Queens' girls) so he could run heat drills and develop the young surfers' contest strategies. It has been pretty amazing to watch Finn go about his coaching and the response from the young surfers, too. Finn's underlying philosophy is that surfing should be fun first and foremost. That's really resonated with the groms.

This past week the training saw a few of the kids off snowboarding, or, as one dad put it: "learning about gravity", while another described it as an "intensive course in physics". Either way that meant Keo was the only starter for training. So he and Finn paddled out and threw themsleves into the air and around a complicated, but surfable St Kilda lineup for an hour or more (that's most of this week's images below).

I first shot with a young Finn Vette back in 2019 in Gisborne when he was a rising star. His older sister Saffi was already well into her own surf career. I recall his dad, Andy, filming his son's surf as I tried to get a shot from the water. Andy was just getting involved in helping to develop the high-performance programme for Surfing New Zealand at the time and we shared a lot of views on what that future may look like. Right from our first meeting he came across as a genuinely nice and motivated guy. Andy was battling bowel cancer. Sadly, in September 2020 he lost that battle and ripped the heart out of the small seaside community of Makorori.

In January 2021, Finn won the Under 18 National Surfing Championship at Piha. Moments later his sister Saffi won the Open Women's title. Saffi had written "you can do this for AV" on her hand before the final. The siblings were then awarded the Byers Trophy for best overall performance at the nationals. 

And now Saffi has qualified for the Olympic Games, with the surfing to be held at Teahupo'o, Tahiti.

I'm sure Finn will be looking forward to being her board caddy in that lineup.

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS We put the call out last year for people to register their interest in a Box of Light hosted Mentawai Islands exploration boat trip off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. We are now looking at a late August to early September 2025 trip. If you are keen to jump on board with the best boat and crew in the region then make sure to add your name to the list. You can do that by emailing me here: derek@boxoflight.com