Smorgasboarder_11_May-2012

ABOVE: Day two on a Piha Surf
diamond tail quad longboard.
BELOW: The view from the
“Surf check deck” at Piha Surf.
PIHA LOCAL:
MIKE JOLLY
PIHA SURF
…. So back to our conversation with Mike
that was so rudely interrupted by our desire
to get a surf in before feeding time. We
caught up with Mike the next morning and
got a chance to have a proper conversation.
With an uncanny resemblance to
moustachioed bandito Graham Howard of
Island Surf Shack on Phillip Island, he is a
top bloke as well. Perhaps they’re related
and don’t even know it? But I digress.
Mike is a Kiwi who moved to Australia
many moons ago with his wife and set up
camp on the Sunshine Coast. I told you he
was a top bloke and that’s probably why he
is also such a friggin’ good surfer, but being
Sunshine Coast locals, we’re a little biased.
Piha Surf Surfboards
The 6’8” shortboard we used was definitely a
gun for the bigger days, but still a lot of fun in
the conditions we experienced. The extra length
aided paddling power and there was plenty of
drive. The pointy nose did give Dave a nervous
twitch though, considering his penguin injuries...
(see the January-Febuary 2012 edition)
Mike’s personal recommendations are his quadfin
diamond-tail longboards - a really interesting
take on a traditional length board, which went
like a rocket in the local waves.
Anyhow Mike’s lovely wife Pam got
homesick and wanted to return to NZ.
Mike agreed on one condition, that they
lived near the beach. Piha was the chosen
destination. They returned in the early 70s.
In those days the road into Piha was gravel.
There was a mix of hippies and retirees that
called the place home. When the surf was
on there would be around twenty or so in
the water. Nowadays there would be fifty
or more on just the one break in summer.
But as Mike says, “You can’t live in the
past.” And if you want to get away from the
crowds, all you have to do is go to the next
beach along.
52 may/jun 2012