DUNE’S FRENCH CONNECTION
When Dune Kennings won this years King of the Groms event, the smile stretched from the sands of Wainui back to his home town of Whangamata, because he knew with that win, he had just received entry and return tickets for two into
the Quiksilver King of the Groms World Final, held in France as part of the Quiksilver Pro World Tour event. Not only was he about to go head to head against the best groms in the world in the biggest event he had ever competed in, he would get to rub shoulders with the best surfers in the world, his heroes. We caught up with Dune on his return from his
French experience.
How did this event rank in terms of experience for you?
This was my first time going to such a big event like this, I had big hopes and when I got there it was just amazing. I got to see all my favourite surfers, and the contest site was like this massive hotel on the beach with all these different areas and rooms, that you just cruised at all day. It was like staying at a Hilton hotel or something. I was allowed in the KOG area and the area in front of the World Tour guys, but not up into their own personal space. But sometimes they’d come down and chat to us groms, which was pretty cool.
How were the waves for the event?
They were really solid and heavy, it was like Whiritoa but way better as it would actually peel and it was so close to the beach, you’d think it was totally pumping then get out there and be freaked out as the waves were literally breaking right on the shore. The contest organisers would run the World Tour guys when it was heaving barrels, and then when the tide came in and it was like an amazing beach break, perfect for turns, they would put us out.
Were you happy with your performance and result?
I only made the one heat and I was super happy with my performance, then in the next heat I didn’t feel like I was organised enough, I just wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen. It was off and on, with lots of small waves then a huge barrel would come through, in the heat before me no one got a barrel and were getting big scores for one move so that was my strategy. So I took out this fishy board with small fins and then out of no where it started barrelling with 5-6 footers, and I tried but just couldn’t get a hold of my bottom turn to get up into the barrel. So while I was disappointed in myself for those decisions I felt that my surfing was up there, and I was proud of myself for getting there but realise I need to be more organised and focused.
So did you get to experience and do other things in France?
Na I just camped up at the contest site, other people wanted to go and do other things, but I was like “Na man”. This was the first time I’d had experienced something like this, and I sat there every day all day watching every heat, cheering for my favourite surfers. Sometimes I’d go free surf just down the beach, and one day Julian Wilson who is my favourite surfer ran past me and said hi and we paddled out and it was solid 6-8 foot barrels, and those tour guys were talking to me and pushing me, trying to make me catch the biggest wave I could. On a couple of days we tried to find waves elsewhere but just got lost most of the time trying to navigate the skinny roads. On our way home we had a layover in Paris so we went to the Eiffel Tower to check that out.
How did you get on with the French and the language barrier?
When I first got there, I didn’t try talking to much in French and that’s why I think the French are like they are. If you don’t actually try they wont acknowledge you and can be kinda rude, but if you try and give their language a go, they will laugh and end up speaking English anyway.
You learnt a lot about yourself and your surfing on the trip, but got handed a nasty lesson on excess luggage fees and travelling with surfboards across the world. This is a topic that has been heated lately with many of the worlds top surfers being vocal toward airline surfboard charges, what happened to you?
Well, to start with my boards didn’t arrive and the contest was meant to start the next day and I had no boards, Billabong in France were awesome and sorted me out with a new board. Then on the way home when we checked in at Paris they explained that the board bag was to big and that there would be charges which we were expecting, but then they went into a room and had a chat and came back out with the figure of $2000 Euro which is just over $3000NZ. We freaked out as I didn’t even have that much money and the boards weren’t even worth that. So we went to the freight department and they helped strap and tape the bag up smaller and we freighted the boards back to NZ for about $1000. I also had a two day stopover in Hong Kong on the way home, and as the Asian airlines charge the most for boards, it could have ended up costing five grand.
How does an experience like this trip help you develop for your future?
Well, I’ll be too old for the KOG next year, but it was definitely a big eye opener. Every single one of those kids I was competing against, that’s all they want and that’s all they do, you can see their focus and how much they want to achieve. So it’s opened my eyes to what I have to do. To come home, get focussed, start training more and get on the right path. You only get one shot and it would be silly not to go for it!