Swapping Kina for Frogs Legs:
Arataki maori boy Kehu Butler shares a few of his experiences while at the King Of The Groms finals in France. Tell us how you got to represent NZ and get a trip to
France? This year there was no contest to qualify, so I got through by making a video of my surfing and the public voted for it and along with a judging panel and most votes they chose me.
So not only was it your lucky day but your dad's
(Khan Butler) as 'Don't Let The Sun Get Under Your Skin' paid for both your flights and Quiksilver picked up the accommodation. What was it like being in France and also being a part of the Quiksilver Pro mixing it with the worlds best surfers? France was sooooo different compared to here, the roads were really narrow as well. The comp was cool it felt just like one of the comps back home where you hang around
and just watch surf, but it's just Pro's surfing. You are only 13 and it was an Under 17's event,
how did you get on in the comp itself? I did fairly well, I came 10th but would love to come back over the next few years with more experience, it was such an awesome place, with fun waves and hanging out alongside of the pro's was super fun as well. So you got to meet some of the best pro's did any of them offer any advice to you? Na they gave me nothing! But I did get to hang with the Brazilian guys, and met Gabriel Medina and Felipe Toledo. I also met Kelly Slater and I've met him before but he didn't remember me, but man he's quite short!
How did you handle the change in food? Well every shop was pizza and crepes so that's all we had to eat! There were snails and frogs legs as well, but I didn't want to eat those, I just looked at them they looked yuck! How was the language barrier, did you learn any French? Um I just let dad do all that, I just kept quiet, I don't really speak much. Dad was trying his best to speak French and he had ladies flirting with him haha. The KOG Finals was a part of the main event Quikky Pro, how was that surfing? I didn't realise that you could do airs that big and the barrels they were getting were incredible, also all the fitness they do while warming up for their heats was cool to watch.