CPL - Nationals Blog

Well, I failed miserably in the plan of doing updates throughout the Hyundai Nats aye. It was an intense 4 days of competition and my role as the contest photographer meant I started each day at 7am and ran through until 7pm. Of course you can surf until 10pm in Dunno’s, so that’s what I did!

SNZ were super lucky with the conditions, while St. Clair Beach didn’t turn it on as we all know it can, the good ol’ go to provided more than enough quality waves through the 4 days. Day 3 saw a staggering 60 heats completed. Over the course of the competition I shot in excess of 4,000 frames, some of which you’ve already seen on surf2surf or in the national papers- but the vast majority of those 4,000 have been deleted and/or will never probably see the light of day. Here’s a selection of my 20 favourites from the week and why- it’s pretty eclectic, but the captions explain the rationale.





A sign - Well for starters I didn’t take this shot of the corner of the South Coast Boardriders, my mate Grant Gobas did on my set-up while I asked him to mind it. Grant and I met a lifetime ago on the Goldy, he had a mean as camera set up- he was the first ‘pro’ photographer I knew that took surf pix- he actually inspired me to start shooting a bit. Grant’s lived in Duno’s for over 10 years now and was one of the many hard working South Coast Boardriders members volunteering time over the comp.





BK - What can you say, the man’s a machine, SNZ’s media liaison officer and effectively everyone’s go to guy. Ben’s working day during comps is hectic, with 7am starts- often drafting and despatching media releases up until 10pm AND on top of that he still competes...no- wins! He took out the Over 35’s this year, to add to his National Title collection.





Ella Williams won the U16 Women this year, which kind of underscores her actual achievement. Here’s the thing- she’s only 16 and she came 2nd in both the Open and the U18’s as well- she was running 3 races at the one time, can you imagine the physical output, not to mention determination. I remember Ella at her first Nationals in Raglan 2002, and then all the grom comps her dad Dean would caddy her as she was 6 or 7 going up against 12 year olds...look at her now- fricken cool.





Esplanade Crowd. Apart from the branding this shot could’ve been taken at any number of comps St Clair beach that the South Coast crew has hosted in the last 20-30 years- the members’ carpark filled to overflowing, beers, talking shit and watching sick surfing at the local...life ain’t all bad.





Gurlz Sportmanship. These young women are all determined to win and will do whatever it takes to secure line honours, and there’s more at stake than one title; the pressure to do well- to be seen by selectors for the NZ team is omnipresent. But once it’s done, it’s over, and I reckon that’s super cool that most every finalist congratulated the victor straight after the final was over.





Jarrod Hancocks. J-rod rodified the entire Senior Men’s field for the second year running. J-rod is a giant killer, he’ll go out in a heat and take down Maz Quinn- he’s a strategist who has learned exactly what he needs to do to beat the bunch. For years surfers with arguably more aesthetic styles have been horrified to go down to J-rod, the phenomena was very publically known as being Cockified, J-rod’s persevered and continued to out flank the best and with this has come a huge amount of respect for him from everyone- in fact the phenomena is now called Rodified. This combined with J-rod’s now legendary, hilarious acceptance speeches- this year’s included a Notorious BIG adaptation that bought the house down- J-rod you rule bro!





Jay Stoked. My money was on Rick Christie, literally, I lost $5, but hey I was just playing the numbers anyway; Rick is NZ’s highest placed surfer on the world rankings so he was the safe beat, but the thing was anyone from the ¼’s onwards could’ve won- the surfing level was exceptional. Jay dominated the most important [and last] heat of the competition from the get go.  





Jay Q. 12 years ago Jay and I were in exactly the same position; me behind the lens on the Esplanade and him out in the water, the difference? Well, apart from buckets load more spray, 12 years ago poor Jay Timmy Quinn was in so many divisions come his Open final the little tacker had no more gas in the tank to even paddle into a wave, it was heart breaking to see the grom make the Open final then simply be too knackered to contest the heat- not this time aye Jay.





Korbin Hutchings. Yes, with a surname like that, you’d be wise to be attentive of this young fellow. But I chose this shot [A] I can’t believe I only just got the nose of his board in frame and [B] how sick is Korbin’s technique...wish I was committing to backhand reos like this when I was 13.





Lyndon Fairburn. Lyndon owns a beautiful home just above St Clair, he can see this bank while he quaffs down his morning muesli. If there was a heat that scored the best conditions it was this semi of the Seniors; the tide had dropped just enough that the rights were walling all the way through. Lyndon blew up.





Luke Hughes. Hughsey surfed amazing right through until the semi’s of the Open, I complimented him about this and I think Luke thought I was being cheeky- I wasn’t. This shot is taken from waaaay around by the saltpools, I love the angle- partly because it’s so hard to anticipate the surfer’s hit from behind.





Manu Scott - Arrieta .The Scott Arrieta family where on the same  Ferry crossing as my crew on the way down, the main difference being the extra 3 hours they had already travelled from Sandy Bay- it’s a long way home from Dunnos boys. Check how stoked Manu is, he got a right in the U14 Final that walled all the way past the clubrooms giving him a decisive score to beat Korbin and take the U14 title.





Piha representing. Elliot Parata-Reid’s parents Mel and Jemarl secured a hotel unit right on the Esplanade, and them being the great hosts they are pretty much had an open door policy. I shot day 1 from that balcony, hot cups of tea on hand and the Piha extended family about. Thanks Mel and Jemarl for making the Nats that much better.





Rick. Every wave something like this, with the criteria being the highest points for the biggest turns straight off the take off, every surfer knew they had to go big- fast. I reckon this makes for more spectacular heats when the waves allow. Rick Christie, Jay Quinn and Billy Stairmand- aka the suitcase surfers- our 3 surfers giving the WQS a nudge- really knew how to surf to this criteria, as evidenced by Rick and Jay dominating the finals, and Bill unlucky not to join them after a tight semi final that went the other way.





St Clair lineup. This is the same evening as the shot of Lyndon Fairburn, if you’re wondering why the contest site looks abandoned you’d be right; anybody who didn’t have to be onsite had buggered off and was scoring great waves up and down the coast. Everyone came back with tales of glory.





St Clair Back view. Can you believe it’s the same day as the shot before? Stormy side shore to sunny glassy perfection in a matter of 30 minutes. We got all the seasons over those 4 days.





Sustainable Coastlines. Hyundai initiated a partnership with the crew at Sustainable Coastlines so that at every event there is an education area and a massive beach clean up...which means the contest site isn’t left the way it was found- it’s left better. In this case the clean up was done at both Blackhead and St Kilder, this yielded over 33 bags of litter including an office chair and a car door. Go to www.sustainablecoastlines.org  for more information.





Tim O’Conner. I was trying to get a panned back shot with the famous piles in the background, this one’s the best I got and I’m backing it; the piles are in and Tim’s got 2/3’s of his board out....hmmmm maybe I should have photoshopped in green waves and orange skies??????





TK wins. The bridesmaid finally shakes his hoodoo. Tom Kibblewhite has been the first loser [that’s 2nd] for the last three consecutive years of the Longboard title, this year he finally won the final, his partner Hannah is maybe noticeably relived! TK went on to have a bender from ‘Nam- I was working next to Ben Kenning when Ben rang TK to get some quotes- it was hilarious, every second word was an expletive- TK just obviously so stoked to clinch the title after so long of being so close.





Todd Doyle. This is where the contest criteria sucks, Todd Doyle found himself a sick little rip bowl in his heat allowing him to really bust out some crazy airs and reverses- but it was on the inside- and even though it was a better quality wave which allowed better manoeuvres. The bigger fatter waves out the back have a higher scoring potential, Todd Doyle lost by making this air....how does that work?  


     

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Craig 'CPL' Levers is a talented photographer / journo based in Piha on the West Coast. He has given 15 years to surfing in this country while at the editorial helm of NZ Surfing Magazine. CPL is now pursuing his own exciting book and other print projects, be sure to check out his website and new book coming out soon here:www.photocpl.co.nz