Kristin Savage

It was our final day on holiday today. It’s been a blast since we started on Anzac Day with Hanan (my brother in law) having his 21st birthday on ‘the farm’ in Ashburton (geeky LOTR theme). It was a great night. Everyone got into the theme. Here’s me as Gandalf the White, the whole LOTR/21st crew, ring wreaths, brother in law with hose and wetsuit, and wainui beach (Gisborne) this morning.

NB: For some reason wordpress won’t allow me to write in between the photos so do your best re: caption issue

Some action from the Easter Surf Camp in Oakura, Taranaki:

I remember doing something similar at primary school with parachutes. The people from ‘group activity’ land would show up on the field and you’d all hold a corner of the fabric. Not sure what the point of it was. Team building?

Here’s a somersault on that trampoline:

Have a nice few days with family, or whoever you’re spending easter with.

I’m off to Taranaki for my 15th (give or take) visit to the annual CSNZ surf camp, taking care of some 15 students from the Wellington College Surfing Academy

Should be a fun time. Taranaki has waves like these:

I’ll try and upload some photos of the waves etc. during the weekend.

See you on the other side.

The Wave Box is a new start-up in Auckland.

It looks to me like a funky looking investment opportunity based around the popular sport of surfing.

The worlds first continuous wave!

There have been numerous attempts at building artificial surf reefs and the like. It seems they have so much compliance to wade through that this kind of approach might be a way to get around all that.

Fancy that, surfing in boardshorts and warm water in July, without having to get on a plane!

Go you good thing go! (New Zealand innovators)

There’s some interesting stuff to read about on their site. Check it out!

Here is an american surfer’s perspective of how good we have it. This guy took a job at Weta digital and can’t believe his luck. He’s stoked to be here.

This video also won last year’s New Zealand Amateur Surf Film Fest. Should be a cracker this year too. Prizegiving usually at Maranui Surf Club showing all the surf films on the big screen.

Great work to Melody and all the crew from Wellington CS. Choice!

When technology helps you out in a way so closely linked with your interests, it seems like magic!

A couple of weekends ago I was surfing at Tora (40km east of Martinboough). A friend of mine Silas Hansen was there. He takes surfing photographs for a living. At popular surfing spots around the world he spontaneously shoots photos then hands out his URL to surfers as they exit the water.

All I had to do was surf, then go home, add my snaps to a shopping basket and pay using paypal. Thats easy!

It’s great when you can have your very own professional surfing photographer taking snaps at the beach 2 hours from home without having to organise a thing. Ah, the beauty of incentive!

This sounds like a glorious cliche’, but if there’s one thing the web has done for everyday folk it’s linking them in a way that was never formerly possible. From what i can see it’s carving no-fuss distribution channels for these types of businesses too.

Thanks Silas! Next location indonesia?

What follows are some bits of knowledge about Welly weather i’ve gained having been surfing here and in the Wairarapa since 1991.

• There’ll be more blue sky in a southerly but it will be colder.

• Some Northwesters are just as cold as southerlies coz the isobars stretch from Antartica (as they do in a southerly) and kink northwest through the cook strait, e.g. they’re southerlies with a NW direction.

• Wellington has the most sunshine hours out of all the major centres in NZ. Most people find this hard to believe and this is probably because the wind blows its heat away.

• A calm (no wind) patch is usually the interval between the Norwester and the Southerly (or vice versa).

• The predominant wind is Northerly.

• An Easterly is Wellingtons’ version of the famous Christchurch Norwester (blows over hills and valleys warming up before arriving).

• Easterlies are very very rare. Usually only 5-10 days per year.

• Something a few of us call ‘the toilet bowl’ effect is when Wellington has low grey murky cloud and a stiff wind, but if you look out past the Wellington Heads you’ll see the cloud end. If on one of these days you venture over the Rimutakas, you’ll find the Wairarapa soaked in sunshine, blue sky and light winds.

• The ‘reverse toilet bowl’ effect is the opposite, but this is much more rare.

• Alot of the strong winds Wellington get end at Pukerua bay. The Cook Strait being a wind funnel.

• If it’s sunny and you want to go to the beach there’ll usually still be some wind to avoid. For a sheltered beach in a southerly go to Oriental Bay. In a northerly go to Scorching Bay.

• Good weather is the exception to the rule and usually means the rest of the country has bad weather. To test this theory, next time it’s fine here call your ‘out of town’ mates and listen as they tell stories of how bad the weather has been.

Thankfully Wellington doesn’t have to rely on its weather to be a great place!

I found this old photo of WhiteRock in the Wairarapa. An amazing place. Seems like a world away. So barren and sparse.

I headed over to this area yesterday. I’d recommend anyone who wants to see a really cool place to just go… surf, walk, fish, ride. Approx 1 hour east of Martinborough at the end of this road.

National Radio are doing a surf report on Friday mornings around 8:37am over summer. Nick Chave is providing the info. It’s a helpful thing.

A year ago Wellington Surfers organised the inaugural ‘paddle your brains out’ to
bring the surfing community together to support the purpose of SurfAid
International. Fifty plus surfers and around one hundred spectators turned up to brave a howling northerly and paddle around the water course. This year it’s all go again. Check the poster below for info or email Dion Howard at this address: dion.howard@gmail.com.