Kelly Slater taking notes.
I am still in Florence having just attended mass at the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in stirring Gregorian chant. The painted ceilings, marble sculptures, incredible architecture are truly beyond description and very much worth a visit. The whole city is, in fact, a jewel that has stood the test of time much like the New Zealander Nancy Mehrn who, as the new year rung in officially became the world’s oldest surfer at 92-years young.
Though she has put her body on a boogie, or rather a 42-year young piece of foam she stole from her son, she awes her follow wave sliders.
According to reports, “at the surfers club in Sumner, the small town in southeastern New Zealand where Nancy lives, those who stand admitted their elderly fellow ‘is an inspiration to all of us, but also an uplifting one for everyone.’ The club’s director, 63-year-old Simon Brown, admits he is very skeptical that he, too, will be able to surf to Nancy’s age. The secret of Ms. Mehern’s resilience lies in a constantly active life, from vegetarian, and emphasizes – ‘to avoid sugar from an early age.'”
Ugh.
If someone told you that you, too, could boogie until 92 but had to be a vegetarian without eating sweets would you say Yes!” or begin penning your final piece of quit-lit?
Much to ponder, for us, but very much congratulations to Ms. Mehrn who really put Kelly Slater to shame and there is no doubt he will push to 100 just to rub her face in it.
Rude.
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Survivorship bias. All impressively active old bats attribute their longevity to some random personal habit.
coty until now…
Wait are we sure that isn’t Jeff Epstein? If it is he looks good….
Jacinda Ardern will find a way to take her out!
She didn’t rule out darts or grog…
The Trojan Shark!
Nancy was my teacher wayyyyyyy back (mid 80’s) great to see her still getting in the water!
Settle down Benjamin Braddock.
Don’t want to be a negative Nancy, but Sumner is the wealthiest seaside suburb in the Island.
It is ok to be successful, have $$$$ in the bank and in real estate…and having black friends or biz partners is a bonus as well.
It’s ok to toil in the trenches and coal mines also. Dying at 60 because of that not so much.
like a lot of places the world round, it wasn’t always that way. we moved there in 1980 and it was not a desirable suburb and people wondered what my folks were up to. lots of drugs (middle of the home cook heroin era in christchurch), 70’s burn outs, unemployed surfers etc… it didn’t start to get really flash until maybe the 00’s and now when i go back it is almost unrecognisable. such an amazing place to be a kid back in the day.
I’m almost 50 and from Christchurch myself.
Can list many many more undesirable Christchurch suburbs before I get to Sumner from the eras you speak of.
Don’t think there’s even a single state house in the suburb??
As a kid that grew up with the stretch of dead animals in the air on still winters mornings from the freezing works in Belfast I recall it being very flash on our drives in there for weekend picnics in the late 80’s.
Dads business did pretty well and we ended up shifting to Redcliffs just before l left to go overseas, they still live there now.
No denying it would’ve been a magical place to grow up in though.
there were more undesirable places for sure, but sumner was nothing like it is now and was not flash. there are state houses, i lived in a couple. we came via linwood and hoon hay so i think it was more the hippy / surfy side of things that were looked at sideways back then. plenty of crew went to jail for drugs and plenty of crew were / are completely fried. even up until recently the underbelly was pretty rough and that i can attest to first-hand.
New Brighton as you know Negz was and is to a degree still retaining its roughish edge…….to which I applaud it,The pace of gentrification is gathering steam though and the character of the community is slowly dissipating……..
Sad
never thought i’d see the day!
To be fair you potentially wont!!
Old Brighton! Remember meeting our landlord for the first time? He randomly walked past and asked what we were up to. We happened to be pulling down the porch to make a skate ramp.
Poor Julz didn’t get much of her bond back.
God Bless Julz…..One of the most tolerant people ive ever met !!
haaaaaaaaaaaaa
Touche Sir…..
Legend has it she walks around surfspot parking lots, asking people if they saw her “cutback”. Nice style, J.
Its amazing how these old ladies keep on trucking with a smile on there faces even without life’s greatest little pleasures. All the great tragedies they have faced in there lifetime yet they keep at it. Head down. Moving forward. Not winging about how hard life is. It makes me want to have a little more patience when my internet is down for 5 minutes. The chances of that happening are small but I am gonna try my best.
Fucking speed bumps…err spongers…uhh I mean boogieboarder, or “bodyboarders” which is so fuckin lame because calling yourself a “boogieboarder” sounds silly and childish and you started emphasizing your chosen profession as “bodyboarder”. Get over yourself. Except for grandma, she’s a legend, but I pretty much subsist on meat and sugar.
How to be as good a surfer as Kelly Slater. – just have to wait; be around, surf decent by the time he gets really old *if not better
unquit. – unlit
Would I still have to put up with Jonah fucking Hill and shark sensationalism stories?
Yes.
And like a duck with a quack habit, I keep coming back for more