The next wave in New Zealand surfing
Surfing New Zealand is ramping up its efforts to get more Kiwis on the world’s top tours, helping young surfers prepare for life on the road and some of the toughest waves.
Four of New Zealand’s most promising surfers have just completed an eight-day highperformance camp in Fiji where they experienced the thrills of riding Cloudbreak, one of the world’s most famous reef waves and regular tour stops.
The Mt Maunganui pair of Jonas Tawharu, 18, and Kaya Horne, 16, along with Dunedin’s Elliott Brown, 17, and Hamilton’s Caleb Cutmore, 15, were selected for the camp based on their results at this year’s national championships and high-profile competitions.
‘‘The purpose of this camp is simply to put Kiwis back on the World Surf League’s world championship tour,’’ Surfing New Zealand president Chris Fougere, who led the expedition, said.
‘‘That’s where we belong. We’re an ocean nation with great waves and great talent.’’
New Zealand has only had two male surfers make the full world tour in recent times - Gisborne’s Maz Quinn in 2001 and Mahia’s Ricardo Christie in 2015.
Both failed to hold their tour cards despite some impressive performances in the cut-throat environment.
Christie is in a promising position as he tries to battle his way back via the World Qualifying Series where he currently lies ninth in the rankings.
Taranaki’s Paige Hareb was a long-time competitor on the women’s world tour before she dropped off in 2014.
Like Christie, she has a decent chance of getting back there with some solid results on the qualifying tour this year.
But it’s the next wave of talent that Surfing New Zealand wants to try to boost.
Fougere said that as a sport, surfing needed to step up to support its top athletes.
‘‘Cloudbreak in Fiji is one of the destinations on the tour, so familiarising our best young talent with the region and putting them out in surf that challenges them technically, physically and mentally is so important. And it’s only a short flight from home,’’ he said of the long left-hand reef break that has other world class waves nearby.
‘‘We’re trying to remove some of the barriers to getting these best young surf athletes into these types of environments.
‘‘And we are also trying to develop a real Kiwi sense of patri- otism – to help them work together, bond and create a team that can be more competitive on the world stage and ahead of the 2020 Olympics.’’
When big swells hit Fiji some of the best watermen on the planet turn up for the challenge. Fougere said rubbing shoulders with them was important and helped open doors.
‘‘There are a lot of barriers to success in this sport at the moment,’’ Fougere said.
‘‘One of the biggest ones is having the funding that we require to push our best surfers to the top.
‘‘We were also there to raise awareness, let the public know that we’re motivated, capable and able to put our best athletes in the right places and to connect them with the right people for them to succeed.’’
Australian surfers have benefited from a high-performance strategy for many years and their national body opened a groundbreaking national training centre near the Gold Coast in 2012.
‘‘The Gold Coast is a simmering cauldron of surf athletes right now and is poised to dominate the sport for the next few years with the depth of talent coming through,’’ Box of Light surf photographer Derek Morrison from Dunedin, who captured the action in Fiji, said.
‘‘The sport has matured and the stars are now complete athletes. For our best young New Zealand surfers to reach that level, they have to start now with the right structure in behind them.’’
The Fiji camp had input from sporting specialists outside of surfing.
Sports psychologist Jhan Gavala, who works with the Blues rugby franchise, gave his time to help the four young surfers.
All Blacks and Olympics dietitian Dr Kirsty Fairbairn advised on nutrition planning and Oliver Farley, currently working with High Performance Sport New Zealand athletes, helped with strength and conditioning planning for the four surfers.
‘‘Olly spent several years helping the Australian centre develop its programme and has since returned to New Zealand,’’ Morrison said.
‘‘He has a wealth of knowledge and is very motivated to see these young surfers take this new path to success.’’
The workshops were a backdrop to long days out on the reefs surfing some challenging waves, including several demanding big wave sessions at Cloudbreak.