Smorgasboarder_11_May-2012

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE
WAY TO THE BEACH…
It’s a fitting way to start a story like this. You see we
were racing to get to Piha so we could catch local
shaper, Mike Jolly, before he finished for the day. It
was nearing 5pm and Ben had the pedal to the metal
of our motorhome, driving around clifftop corners like
a madman.
We got to Mike’s place just before closing time and
took in the magnificent view. It was there we noticed
the surf was going off. It looked like a nice clean 3-4ft
swell. But we were a long, long way away. Mike
informed us it was a fair bit bigger.
We start chatting to Mike, who is an incredibly affable,
down-to-earth bloke, and then realised the sun was
starting to disappear rather suddenly, amidst the
overcast skies. We cut our conversation short after a
mere 10 minutes and in keeping with our ‘surfing local
boards’ quest, hit Mike up for some boards of his to
test, and promptly left.
Driving down the road towards South Piha it dawned
on us what just happened. We just met a bloke, spoke
to him for only a couple of minutes and grabbed a
couple of his personal boards and took off. You have
to love New Zealand. (We’ll get back to Mike later -
there’s a wave on!)
Piha is comprised of two distinct beaches. Lion Rock,
the eroded core of an ancient volcano (aptly named
because it dead set looks like one) divides North Piha
and South Piha.
When we arrived at the beach near dusk, North Piha
was near deserted, so we gave it a swerve. Most of
the surfers were concentrated near the southern end
of South Piha near Camel Rock. What can we say, New
Zealanders love their animals but this rock did also
resemble a camel.
The surf wasn’t huge but it was undeniably daunting.
When it’s low light, the waves are thundering in, the
water is moving around like a washing machine, you’re
on a foreign board and you have no idea what kind of
bottom lies underneath, it can freak you out a little.
A couple of big swooshes down a wave face later
however was enough to calm the nerves and get us
hooting and hollering.
From there it was back to the campgrounds for a warm
shower and up to the Piha RSA Club for a couple of
beers and a good feed, the perfect way to finish the day.
ABOVE: We arrive in Piha to waves and
meeting Mike Jolly and his lawnmower.
The next morning, the swell had dropped off a little but
cleaned up a lot and we caught some of the most fun
waves we were to have all trip.
50 may/jun 2012