Wave goodbye to old-school surfing
Repetitive perfect tubes helped Paige Hareb learn in two days what would have taken two years in the ocean. Duncan Johnstone reports.
LEADING New Zealand surfers Paige Hareb and Billy Stairmand are talking up the highperformance benefits of wave pools, as the country gets set for its first land-based facility.
United States company Aventuur, headed by New Zealander Richard Duff, is scoping sites in the west and south of Auckland’s city fringes.
They are working in collaboration with Wavegarden, the international wave pool company, with the latest ‘‘Cove’’ model that is proving so successful in the United Kingdom, Australia and South Korea.
Hareb produced one of her best performances in recent yearswhen she helped her world team win the inaugural Founders Cup at Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch at inland California in 2018.
A tune-up session before the contest helped Hareb perfect one of themost difficult skills in the sport, backhand tube riding, and she picked it up so fast and so well, it was a key to her team’s win.
‘‘What I learned there in two days would have taken me at least a couple of years in the ocean,’’ Hareb said of being able to do repetitive training on identical waves.
The Auckland development has plans to link with Surfing New Zealand’s high performance programme and it could take the country’s competitive surfers to another level.
‘‘Forme and then the next generation, it’s the perfect training ground,’’ Hareb said.
The Wavegarden technology produces 1000 waves an hour with 30 different types of wave settings.
‘‘It’s just the frequency of it — it’s like a tennis court for surfing, you can hit that same shot over and over again.
‘‘TheWavegarden has got everything. It has a range of size, barrels, airs, turn sections. The air section is probablymy next goal to work on.’’
Whether the New Zealand facility gets established in time for 30-year-old Hareb to utilise it for her contest game, remains to be seen. The developers need to purchase the land, get it through the council consent process and then endure a 12-18 month build.
But Hareb, who along with Ricardo Christie was last week made aNZ ambassador for international charity organisation Surf Aid, insists she is still eyeing the 2024 Paris Olympics, which will hold its surfing competition at Tahiti’s treacherous Teahupo’o break. Stairmand has made the New Zealand Olympic team for Tokyo 2021, where surfing may debut, depending on coronavirus.
The Kiwiwave poolwon’t arrive in time to help, but he says it will be a huge boost for the sport here, helping casual and competitive surfers.
‘‘The ocean is so unpredictable, you never know what is going to get thrown at you,’’ Raglan-based Stairmand said.
‘‘With this you get the same wave thrown at you every single time to practice the same manoeuvre over and over again.
‘‘To have a training facility like that, you know there are going to bewaves. Your coach films you from land, you look at that and go and do it again to get better.
‘‘Wave pools are everywhere now and it was only amatter of time before we got one. This is so exciting.’’