who is the G. O. A.T?

/ / / GREATEST OF ALL TIME

Kiwi’s by nature are not quick to ‘claim’; you see it in rugby, even in this morning’s epic Americas Cup win, every commentator mentioned how good it was to see some emotion from the Kiwis when they won. We as a nation are quick to slice down the self-proclaimed tall poppy, yet in other cultures self-praise is seen as a virtue. As the man who immortalised the phrase ‘The Greatest’ Mohammad Ali once said, "I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was." But we are slow to say we are the greatest.

Yet through the annals of surfing history here in New Zealand there have always been calls and claims of who is the best, who is the greatest! But this is a complex question, what equates to ‘the greatest’? Is it the person who rode the biggest waves? The one who rode it did it first? Or the surfer with the most accomplishments or the surfer with the highest level of achievement? Or is it the surfer with the best ability in small, in medium, in big or hollow waves? Or the best surfer at one particular break? Or is the ‘greatest’ surfer the one having the most fun?

If you were asked the question, would you be distracted by media coverage, or by whom you know and where they come from or what they have had to overcome? Could you be objective? Could you be impartial?

For 32 years NZ Surfing Magazine has covered the feats and exploits of many of our best surfers and we are now about to attempt to settle this question once and for all by putting it to the surfers of New Zealand spanning all generations; from groms to industry leaders, from top ranked to legend locals and every surfer in between to choose who New Zealand’s best surfer is.

We know you will have questions, you are bound to have questions… where is MY favourite surfer? We have already had a number of people express their angst because their favourite surfer was not listed so here's how we got to the final 20.

First we asked for submissions from over 300 surfers from all walks of life, as to who they thought was the greatest NZ surfer of all time. Believe it or not we had over 100 different names put forward. From there those with the most nominations made the top 20.

Now we are taking it to a new level, we are now asking YOU, our readers, to vote on which of these 20 you think should hold the title of “the GOAT”. We don’t want you to just vote for your mate just because they are ya mate… read and digest what each surfer has achieved and then make a decision. Some of you will be motivated by contests won; others may be motivated by the diversity of the surfer, others by a specific achievement. Whatever your reasons head to our Facebook page or email Cory@ pacificmedia.co.nz and log your vote.