I'm ready to move!
Be honest. Do you wish you were from New Zealand? The proud island nation that never got conquered yet savaged surrounding islands? The small archipelago of under five million souls that has a rugby team that gives Australia and America nightmares? The tiny little cluster of emerald rocks that delivered one of the best movies ever made into my childhood heart?
Oh, have you not seen Dead Alive (Braindead officially and I don’t know why it turned into Dead Alive in North America)? Let’s all watch the trailer together and then you can rent it later tonight.
Good, no? Well, not only does New Zealand have Dead Alive it is in line for a World Surf League Qualifying Series 10,000 event and let’s dig into the NZ Herald for up to the minute information.
Some of the biggest names in world surfing could be heading to New Zealand.
The Herald understands discussions are advanced for Auckland to host a World Surf League challenger event.
In documents obtained by the Herald, the event is pitched as a World Qualifying Series 10,000 — the highest ranked competition on the WSL’s qualifying circuit.
It is normally restricted to the top 100 surfers, and are often those picked by surfers looking to re-qualify for the following WSL season.
Six of the 63 events are 10,000s, with only one — South Africa — in the Southern Hemisphere.
The annual event, believed to be called the “Piha Pro” would be staged for the first time at the famous Auckland West Coast beach in March 2020.
It’s also understood that discussions have been held with arguably the greatest surfer of all time, 11-times men’s world champion, Kelly Slater.
The legendary American is believed to be keen to head Down Under to use the event as preparation for the season-opening event on Australia’s Gold Coast. Slater was in Piha earlier this year and is thought to have loved his time.
And that’s all I need to officially want to swap my U.S. passport for an all black one.
Any takers? Mine comes with automatic secondary inspection at every airport where you will answer questions about your Middle Eastern travel in a stifling cubicle and get felt up for free.
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I drove a rv down that road 14 years ago on a visit. As a yank on my first trip there I didn’t know what I was doing.
Got some looks thats for sure
Who is DN?
Yes, why would you bother with any of NZ’s good waves? They are waaaayyy to long for competitive surfing
boy was i wrong when i said Warriors in 5…
Who knows? If they did eat some fish that had some of the neurotoxin in it, they both could have shared it, and got sick. There can be varying levels of it in an amount of fish. The more you eat, the worse the outcome and longer it takes to be expelled by your body. Unless you just eat too much. But ithe poison is not broken down by cooking, the fish first, or any other method. Once the meat is tainted, it’s in there. And it’s difficult to diagnose as well. But the one symptom that is pretty unique to ciguatera is hot/cold temperature sensation reversal. There was a lot more cases of ciguatera in Hawaii in the early parts of the new millennium, not not as many last 10 years or so. A lot of scientists who study this illness say not much is known for certain about the toxin as well. A lot more possibilities and theory’s, than facts. You should google it, it’s a complex illness. But some researchers do feel it’s related to toxic shellfish poisoning like you can get from eating muscles and clams on the west coast during summer red tide months. The more you eat, the more toxin gets in your body, and the worse the effects, and longer it takes your body to expel it.
There is no cure for ciguatera poisoning. Just time. Cousin of paralytic shellfish poisoning. I’ve had some experience with both.
https://youtu.be/094jCv3iFfI
Better than this?
Many a fine wave breaks at Piha though probably an average suck rate of 310 ish
How bizarre
How bizarre . .
All in the true spirit of the Search which is quite ironic given all the carbon offset propaganda on the WSL web site .
Sorry was more lamenting Pihas consistentcy (that a word??)
Agreed, I would be absolutely gutted, but that’s the way the world goes I guess
Wasn’t event there previous? Recall Andy being there in 2005. Maybe specialty event?
numbness and mad shits could also be describing marriage after 10 years.
I just went to look for the news. Sounds like ciguatera poisoning.
Interesting you say that, That’s what I thought could be a possibility when I read a snippet of info about the couple in Fiji.
There is a good reason why some places on the West Coast are good and whilst some are not so good. Piha is one of the not so good ones. Everyone knows that – except the large bunch of Auck Whackers that live 45 mins away and have limited options. Yes sometimes it has a lovely bank off the *** but its as reliable as getting some decent action on K Road – lets be honest.
They should shift the margz event over there ill chuck in 50 bucks to help with the costs
If you travelled overseas, and arrived at Piha expecting consistent comparable surf to Uluwatu… ha ha
unfortunately there’s a very good reason why that will never happen. It’s a cold windy dump with no reefpoint
Kelly, what a dick; and all the other dumbasses trying to ruin it.
Yea – well, there’s arse licking and there’s brown nosing and then there’s this 🙂