July 2nd 2024: Matariki

Mānawatia a Matariki ... and thank you for that special swell to mark the Māori new year. Having a large east swell at this time of year seems quite unusual – especially one of such quality and lasting more than five days. It feels a lot like La Niña still rather than El Niño. Even Sydney copped a mega swell last week that turned that place inside out. Meanwhile the West Coast has been unsettlingly flat.

I'm not complaining about our run of swell – like most surfers in Otago, I made hay while it was here and I was thankful that so many spots lit up for it, spreading the crowd around and minimising pinch points. I saw a handful of groms surf for four to five hours straight each day! Insanity – imagine having lungs and legs like that and the ability to recover so quickly.

El Niño is back with a vengeance this week with a big southwest swell arriving in the Catlins' big wave spots tomorrow then a second swell arriving for the weekend and peaking Sunday night at 7m with a 16-second period and 20,000-plus of energy. That's a lot. Unfortunately winds are in the wild range when the real swell hits. Dust off your rhino chasers ... this is going to really put the council's new sandbags through the wringer.

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS Winter is a great time to get some artwork on those blank walls of your house, or even to refresh the art in your home. We have had a few large prints go out the door this past month and love how they can transform a space. If you want to chat with us about making one of our limited edition prints for you then drop us a line on 021 139 8188 or reply to this week's email. If you have a photograph of the wall you want to add some artwork to then we can even mock-up the space so you can see how your new artwork will look. And if you want to go really big then we can print from 1.5m tall to as wide as you want. We're convinced bigger is better with so much detail in our super high-resolution images. You can check out some of our favourite pictures right here.