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Wow what a milestone! 150 issues of presenting what has become surfing in New Zealand. This title as its

stands today, was born and launched, issue number one in 1985.

Over those last 28 years we have been proud to bring you the best waves, news and happenings amongst our

scene. Not many publications can claim to have sustained that period of longevity and while we acknowledge

that much has changed since those early days, and with the modern advents of the internet taking much away

from print media around the world, it is with great acclaim that we are proud to say the NZ Surf Mag is still

growing in sales while many other publications plummet. This is thanks to you our readers and the surfers of

these shores, you have made this magazine what it is, you spoke, we listened and delivered over these 150

issues to be where we are today. Many thanks for your support.

During that 150 issues of preserved history, ground breaking moments, fun times ************** ( please ad any

superlatives you can think of, im all out of imagination) and .Much has changed and we take a look

at a few subjects of 'Then and Now' to fondly look back on where we have come from.

150&THENNOW

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ABOVE: A big power hack, a move usually associated with a man, Ella Williams is the

new breed of women surfers that are the fruits of past sewn seeds by those that came

before. Photo: Darren Hartnett.

BELOW: Back when the mag first started, this is where you’d find most of the girls!

cars womenBack in the day if you were a surfer and you didn't have a Holden, well

mate you were pretty uncool, they were the perfect surf wagon, tonnes

of room for the boards and getting it on in the back seat. They were

also perfect for packing in a heap of mates to share the gas. One thing

they weren't too flash hot for was any adventurous driving. In the early

90's a godsend came from Japan in the form of cheap import 4WD

vehicles, these were snapped up by surfers all over the country; not

only could they go anywhere, they were also cheap to run, the perfect

surf wagon!

Then came the birth of cool, where surfing suddenly appealed to the

masses, everyone wanted to surf, and this brought a whole new type of

person into the surf scene. In the 60's 70's and 80's surfing was seen

as a free spirited nomads sport and if you were applying for a job you

didn't mention that you surfed. Then all of a sudden the lineups were

filling up with lawyers, accountants, politicians, rugby stars, you name it.

And the car parks that had changed from Holden's to Jap 4WD's now

also had BMW's, Audi's and even the odd Ferrari. I've always wondered

however, what melted surf wax does to leather interiors?

A definite minority in the early years of NZ Surf mag, it was very rare to see a women surfer

in the surf let alone in the magazine. Pauline Pullman, Jeannie Shanks,Jan Shanks, Jonnette

Mead and Carol Cranch were at the forefront of pushing women's surfing back then. To see

what it has grown to now must fill these passionate women with a great sense of pride. These

days women's surfing is an industry in its own, they have their own comps, brands, magazines

such as Curl, surf movies and whatever lineup you paddle out into anywhere in the world the

girls are out in force. Here in NZ the women's surfing movement has flourished in recent years

and with all these girls pushing each other so has the talent gone through the roof. Last year

we were represented by two young women on the World Championship Tour, staggering stuff!

The girls are surfing so good these days that they are even entering men's events and beating

the blokes, which has brought a few panicked protests crying foul. But it's nothing new back

in the 80's the likes of Pauline Pullman used to always compete against the men, if not for

that she wouldn't have got to compete at all half the time. The plus to having all these women

in the surf is also that now that they have great role models like Alana Blanchard and other

scantily clad goddesses the baggy boardshorts have been thrown out the door and the bikini

has made a return to grace and that's one thing you don't wanna cry foul about, a beautiful

women adding a little flavour to scenery. Unless of course you wanna claim that you were

distracted, slipped and snapped ya board. 150

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generational banesTo borrow the definition of Bane from the dictionary, “A source of persistent annoyance or exasperation”. While surfing society is full of banes such as beginning surfers,

surf lifesaving clubs and fishermen with long lines on kites and balloons, no other source has ever baned a population of surfers as much as Wake Skis or 'Goat Boats' as

they became known. These craft exploded to popularity in the 80's and became pest number one. It wasn't so much for the actual craft but the attitude of many that rode

them, using their superior wave catching ability by use of paddle to become wave hogs and even at times using the paddles as weapons when confronted of their total

disregard for the unwritten rules of surfing. In the last few years Stand Up Paddle Boards have become this generations bane and once again not due to what they are

riding but how. Also possessing that superior wave catching ability this latest ocean going activity has attracted many unskilled people to the lineups throughout the world,

and these gigantic crafts in untrained hands have brought a new element of danger to the world’s surfers and are creating grief wherever they paddle out. Sure there are

those whom to watch ride these craft well is a pleasure, as it was in the 80's when the gurus of the goat boat realm were doing barrel rolls and riding out. But in the wrong

hands completely inappropriate to be present in a lineup.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Surfing back in the day | Cutting edge design and manufacture from the 80's

and now. On one side you have a twin fin the rage at the time, manufactured using polyester

resin and polyurethane foam with a wooden stringer and on the other a state of the art board

from Hughes Surfboards manufactured with Stringer-less EPS foam core and Hi-lite epoxy

resin and a variable flex pattern by use of carbon fibre structure. | Ironically the banes of both

generations don’t get on with each other as well. 3rd generationWith only 50 years of surf history behind us, it has taken till now for our third generation of surfers to come through. Top

surfers passing on their obviously genetic skills and also the love of surf to their children and their children's children. No one

family can lay claim to producing champion surfers over these three generations as the Kennings. Taff was one of the top

guys back in the 70's and his son Lynden came to the fore in the 80's. When this magazine was kicking off Lynden shot to

prominence and his natural ability soon had him winning titles. Lynden loved nothing more than to party and he went at it

hard. He would show up to events legless, stumbling through the car park, barely able to stand up, grab his rash shirt paddle

out and blaze everyone up. Perhaps his relaxed, carefree, not give a fuck attitude, made him the surfer he was, or perhaps

if he had focussed and shown a more professional approach he would have reigned champion for many years. I guess we

will never know, but Lynden certainly wouldn't care or have any regrets. There have not been many that have possessed

more natural flow and talent that Lynden on any form of craft. Then in the mid 90's Lynden had a son that within no time was

already in amongst the waves as a two year old, he was destined for surf stardom. The kids name was Dune and while he

developed physically and with a surf style almost identical to his fathers, that's where the comparisons stopped. Surfing had

become a professional sport, with big money careers available, and while Lynden was proud to be flying the party animal flag,

Dune was a polar opposite becoming focussed and determined to take his surfing as far as he can. With already two National

Titles notches in his belt and having represented his country numerous times the future is his for the taking.the

surf

boar

d

In the mid 80's the thruster, or three fin, had only just come to promi-

nence internationally so the first few issues of NZ Surfing featured most

surfers still on twin fins, the rage at the time. Over the next few years

it became a race to see how many fins guys could put on boards and

during that experimental phase we saw as many as seven fins, before

settling on the tried and proven three fin. It wasn't until the early 90's

and inspired by the now legendary Kelly Slater, that board design took

a major twist with heavy rockered boards and thin profiles. It took quite

a few years for surfers to realise those were Kelly's boards and that

crafts of completely different dimensions were needed for them. In the

last couple of years the high performance surfboard has taken another

leap being crafted out of high tech composite materials for the first

time in the mass market, with the use of carbon fibre, epoxy resins and

alternative foam cores different to the polyurethane blank that had been

used for over 50 years. At present more than any time since surfing

begun are the boards of surfers so varied, ranging from short wide

fishes, to longboards with one, two and even five fins again. As they

say, what goes around comes around. One thing is currently applicable,

surfers have finally figured out that it is an individual sport and by doing

what makes you happy you will in turn have more fun in the surf than

following the masses and all riding the same unsuitable board.

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Back in the 80's if you wanted to surf better you went on the dole and surfed more, every so often maybe a mate or another better surfer would offer some advice

and that was your coaching. Even NZ team coaches back then were reported as pacing the beach yelling out, "You have to catch three good ones all the way to

the beach, surf good and don't fall off!" Wow, no shit! I know some surfers were a bit away with the fairies back then but I'm sure even they could have worked that

out. As usual in surfing the Ozzies were first and they took coaching on big time in the new millennium. Up until then they only had more slightly improved versions

of those NZ coaches, instead they would yell "You're in second you need a good one to win". Then came sports science, video camera analysis and by using the

best in the business techniques as examples, that they had simply developed themselves, they could then copy the same motions, breaking a manoeuvre down

into biomechanical movements. Surfers began to work with fitness trainers and also dieticians looking for that slight edge to win and at the end of the day get paid

more. Now every surfer worth his salt has a personal coach. Even some 11 year olds who also have board caddies, man times have changed.

coaching

phot

ogra

phyWhen the likes of Mike Bhana, Mike Spence and Chris 'Budge' Berge clicked away

from the beach or water capturing images for early issues of NZ Surf Mag, they

did so with cameras that inside held a now ancient form of preserving an image

called film. At around a dollar every time they pressed the trigger you had to really

think about what you were shooting, waiting for that perfect moment. The lenses

then were also manual focus requiring the photog to concentrate intensely and

also constantly adjust the exposure, if it was slightly wrong the image was done

and dusted, there was no FIX it later back then. In the mid 90's auto focus lenses

became available and NZ Surf Mag was one of the first to obtain these, which

although helped the photog's out immensely, especially after a hard night out and

sporting blurry eyes the next morning, but film was still the medium until at least the

year 2004. The digital revolution had begun but it hadn't reached a level of quality

to replace film amongst the pros. Then in a few short years digital boomed making

it easier for any Joe blow to take a half decent photo. Nowadays everyone owns a

camera of sorts, whether it be a top of the line SLR or a cell phone, the advent of

digital revolutionised surf photography, those 50/50 moments could now be shot

without financial burden. Water shooting benefited beyond belief, instead of being

stingy on shooting moments and having to return to the beach after 36 shots, the

photog could stay out all day shooting in excess of 600 images. Now it seems

every few months, with groundbreaking innovations, cameras get smaller, better

and cheaper. And at this point surfers and adventure junkies have cameras like

the Go-Pro, Sony Action cam and the contour all tiny and lightweight HD cameras

mounted everywhere except where the sun don't shine, making for unique angles

and images, and better still they get to shoot themselves.

pro surfingIn the mid 80’s, surfing internationally had become a fully-fledged professional sport with the top guys all earning good money. At the time Iain ‘Ratso’ Buchanan was

our only pro surfer, dominating the national scene with five back to back NZ titles and seven National circuit titles. Ironically, while the industry here then was only

small and in its infancy, the contest circuit was a lot stronger back then than now, with bigger money and prizes, such as airfares, which Ratso won plenty of and use

them he did. Ratso took on the World Tour where he did incredibly well in the 80’s. Ratso was based in Sydney and worked as a shaper at Hot Buttered Surfboards

who also on top of the shaping work sponsored him, he was also sponsored by NZ wetsuit company Moray. Ratso paved the way for the next generation of pro

surfers from New Zealand. He was getting a salary and incentive programme for coverage and contest results from these sponsors, and while he wasn’t making the

big bucks like a few others at the time, he had his way around the world paid, accommodation and entry fees and had a few spare dollars in his pocket. Ratso, being

able to make money from his surfing was kind of unique, unlike surfers these days that simply get money to surf Ratso would surf and when the events were finished

he would do some shaping in those countries earn some extra coin and go surfing until the next event. This also provided him with friends and connections that came

in handy further down the line when he finished with the tour after becoming sick of riding crappy waves and returned home to set up Hot Buttered in NZ. He would

still get to travel overseas shaping and scoring hell waves. While Ratso never managed to set up a life from earnings strictly from being a surfer, he got to live his

dream .

“ They were some of the best years of my life, the friendships, the partying, the waves and the travelling, and seeing the most craziest surfing in the world, it’s ironic

that I’m doing it all again now as a judge, and still loving it just as much!”

In this day and age, every big company out there is in a bidding war to try and secure the services of the next big thing, throwing cash around and a lot of it. NZ surf-

ers have benefited from this professional push, and not only are there financial contracts up for grabs but also good prizemoney at events, locally and overseas. Maz

Quinn and Paige Hareb took professional surfing as far as it can go, and currently there are several Kiwi surfers living the pro-surfing dream getting paid simply to surf. 150

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Surfers in the 80's would have freaked if you said you knew where a wave like this lay, and that you were keen on riding it. Sam Willis in a modern surfing big wave moment on our shores. Photo: Cory

big wavesUp until ten years ago a big wave in NZ was considered 8-10 foot, looking through

past issues you will struggle to find anything that goes beyond that mark. It was

always thought that to score gigantic surf you had to travel to Hawaii, that was one

of the only places you could count on for 20 foot surf. There were a few Kiwi charg-

ers that did just that over the years and the legends of their exploits returned home

of sessions at Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay. Yet back home in NZ waters the local

gurus that rode those rare ten foot days became the most talked about dudes on the

scene. Then came the new millennium and upon the launch of the Quiksilver Rex Von

Huben Big Wave Challenge came a new level of big wave meaning in this country.

With likeminded surfers all pushing the limits of each other, big surf suddenly became

talked of as being 15 foot. Then over the next few years guys like Doug Young and

Daniel Kereopa paddled into legitimate 20 foot surf. At this same time tow surfing

had taken off and the lower South Island was the zone of focus in the first few years.

After a while, and with a crew of adventurous guys at the helm, new breaks were

discovered that were never thought to have existed and the big wave realm in NZ

was pumped up to heights of 40 feet plus. Where to from here? Only the storms that

pass deep down in Antarctic waters can answer that, but the guys are ready and NZ

Surf Mag will be there!

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