Surfing New Zealand

Surfer Sam, Raglan

Sam Catches a Wave

The three head out to surf

Surfer Hudson, Raglan

Three Bays in one photo

Heading out into the unknown, Manu Bay

January 30

Strangely enough, the boys pop out of bed today.....it has finally arrived.  The day they will get to surf in a legendary area and will have bragging rights for the rest of their lives.  We get ready and drive into town to meet Phil.  We arrive a little early and grab some coffee and hot chocolate at a local cafe within view of the surf shop.  They also have internet service so we all greedily hook up our devices and connect with the outside world.  Amazing how quickly we can get out of touch with our lives back home.  Around 10:45 we head over to the shop and get the surfboards strapped to the roof of the car and we are off.  We decide to start out at a beach nearby and work ourselves up to some more challenging areas.  We get to the beach, park and unload our gear and walk down a steep hill to a black sand beach.  The beach is starting to fill up with families that are making the most of the last few days of summer before the kids return to school.  The water is freezing and so the boys have on their full wetsuits to protect them from the cold.  Phil has brought along his 7 year old son, Jaden, to join the other boys in the surf today.  They all head out and Sam is first out of the gates with a nice ride on his board.  Hudson darts off to the outside where the waves are more challenging and we lose site of him as he blends in with all of the other bodies on boards with black wetsuits on.  They continue for a couple of hours before coming in to warm up on the beach.  Phil decides to go and have lunch and plans to meet us later at Manu Bay, where you enter the surf from a very rocky shoreline.  Manu Bay is one of the very few surfing areas in the world where you have a "left-hand" break - the waves roll into the shore facing left.  Who knew???  We return home and have a hearty lunch, rest up for a while and return to Manu Bay to search out Phil.  He is a no show, but the boys are eager to surf again.  Paulie and I are hesitant to let them go.  There is a strong current that pulls them over the the outside of where the waves are breaking and we are not sure that they are strong enough paddlers to counteract it.  They insist and make their way down to the rocky edge of the water.  You have to time it just right to ride a wave into the water and avoid crashing into the rocks.  Hudson makes the jump first and Sam follows shortly after.  Sure enough they are pulled away from the rocks pretty quickly and into the oncoming waves.  They struggle to paddle out to the larger waves, which at this point are beginning to look huge as compared to the size of their bodies.  Hudson makes it out to a pack of surfers, but again it is hard to tell him from all the other bodies.  Sam, on the other hand, has drifted far to the outside of the surf and is paddling as hard as he can to get out.  He gets up on a wave and then starts paddling out again.  As he drifts to the right he also is going out much farther than we had hoped and finds himself now at the edge of the pack with the other surfers in the very largest sets of waves.  We are cringing on the sidelines and wondering how he will ever get back to shore.  My stomach goes queasy as I watch his tiny body rise up and over what must be 15' waves.  I pray that he decides to ride in like on a boogey board.  After what seems like an eternity, they both get a ride and are headed back into shore.  However, getting out is as tricky as getting in and they approach the shore but the surf keeps pounding them toward the rocks.  Finally, we scramble down the hill and into the icy water to help them to safety.  My adrenaline is pumping and I make a promise to never suffer again like that for the sake of surfing.  We have had enough for one day and get in the car, pick up a couple of items at the store and return home to shower and warm up.   All in all, a very exciting day!