April 22nd 2025: South Island charm

The Emerson's South Island Surfing Championships were held over Easter in some of the best waves of any surf contest in New Zealand. Finals day was moved to Aramoana for what can only be described as one of the best days of the year.

There were some impressive performances in the finals with Kyra Wallis, of Piha, scoring a 9 for a barrel in her Open Women's final (she had already surfed in two other finals). She was pipped by Raglan's Alani Morse, who loves a wave of consequence – that's her above. Taimana Marupo took it one step further with a perfect 10 to win the Open Men's title. In the Over 45s local boy Richard Ayson found the waves to his liking to top the old boys.

It was another very successful event thanks to a small team of very dedicated volunteers and judges.

I didn't get much chance to photograph the event – distracted by the quality of the freesurfing taking place around Otago during the week leading up and into the weekend, and a few film projects I have underway.

My nephew, Reuben, has also been on the missions with us these past few weeks. He's from Sydney's Northern Beaches and is part of the Narrabeen Boardriders Club. He rips. He can throw an air rev at will and loves the bigger waves. He and his cousin Keo have been joined at the hip – it's hard to keep up with how much they surf each day. Showing Reuben around our coastline has been a heap of fun as you can probably see from these photos. He's always wondering where everyone is. We've had some incredible lineups to ourselves. You don't get that in Sydney anymore.

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS Looking for some art for your home or business? We're offering free hanging for all artworks sold from now until spring (September 1, Otago locations only). You can check out some of our favourite images right here. We also have plenty of our new coffee-table book: New Zealand's Best Gourmet Pies, and you can buy a signed copy right here.