Surf 'n stuff

Napier, New Zealand is definitely not the surf capital of this island nation. We tried to find work in the surf capital of this island nation (Gisborne) but that just led to depression and hatred for a small coastal city. That said even the sun shines on the darkest places some days. Last week a very large storm in the Pacific sent waves our direction for 10 solid days. I tried my best to get as much surf in as I could, but it still wasn't spectacular. Tony this entry is for you mostly, this is all I got, the surf hasn't been A class but it is still better than trying to cut out a frozen soil sample!

First off, this is once again the view from our patio. This photo was taken the day before the swell hit, note the general lake like features of the water...



Then the next morning the surf had arrived and the right hand point started working. It really is a small weak wave. In fact the Port of Napier is just to the right of this photo. I guess back in the day before the port was built this entire area used to be an A class wave, with a sandy bottom and endless Malibu style surf. There are stories of guys using cars to shuttle the surfers back up to the take off point. Now that the port has moved in, the natural flow of sand (by way of longshore drift) has stopped and now the bottom is craggy limestone rocks. Think ouch like when trying to walk on it - note injury report at bottom of this post.

The area noted in the photos above faces northwest, the swell is coming from the east. So what that means is this: The swell hits the land and wraps around the point, resulting in the waves seen above, small and fickle. If we were to go around the point to the East facing land you will see the brunt of the full swell as noted below. These photos are of Huamoana. I like the photo of all the cars in the car park! This break is a river mouth just on the left of the jetty. I never did go out here as it is "Heavily localized!" Plus there is a lot of water moving and I am just getting my arms back now (physically fit enough to be in places like this).

The next place is further south along the coast in a even smaller town of Te Awanga.

This is where I went out. There is not a lot of push to this wave. It was a very gentle Malibu style right hand point, lots of dudes, lots of waves. I even saw a bikini clad girl tuck her boob back in when it fell out, that was a bonus! These are not the best shots, but they are all I got.

This is me on one of the very weak waves.

Napier has a very steep beach in front of the town. The beach is composed of shingle (small pebbles, like flat river rocks). Because of the steep beach the surf is very dangerous when it get over 4 or 5 feet. There are heaps of drownings here when tourists or kids get to close to the water and are hit by waves and sucked out. Some idiots even go swimming. Here is the shore break in Napier.

Here is me for scale. DO NOT SWIM HERE!

So after a week of surf here is my injury list

• Super burnt face - I mean really burnt
• One lost fin
• Two small scratches on my hand
• Four small scratches on my feet
• Two embedded shells on my left foot
• One embedded rock on my right heal
• One deep puncture on my right foot - see below
  

Napier surf is not the best, looking forward to exploring more of the coastline here to see what I can find next month. We also have hooked Andi up with a body board and wetsuit. She is keen to get in the water...we just need waves now!

Here is a photo album for you...

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