From The Tusked beast

Hi Paul & Gloria- hope you both are well. Here’s a bunch of pictures (in two batches, hope that's OK) and a few notes on my recent trip to New Zealand.

I got lucky with accommodation. An amazing little cabin at a friend’s house was available (“The Bat Cave”), right overlooking one of the three points. It was a treat to be in that room; my friend is a hardcore lifelong local surfer and every space he builds is designed with big windows to observe the surf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because of rampant Covid in NZ and the relative brevity of my time there, I spent a lot of time at the house (and the points) and limited my socializing to a few close friends. But that was fine. My host is one of the coolest, happiest guys I’ve ever met, and was a pleasure to hang out with. He’s retired (after a lifetime of surfing these points at their best and a string of eccentric short term jobs that accommodated it), lives in the house he built on property he bought for a song 40 years ago, and spends his days socializing, adding to and maintaining his place, building his own functional surfboards that he hand paints with images of flying lizards and Amy Winehouse (!) and his trademark glitter, and does world-class abstract art photography that he has absolutely no desire to promote. And surfs, when all the factors align.

I arrived in the dead of winter, and got pretty lucky. We had about half wet and half clear, sunny weather. But no matter what, every day was beautiful and dramatic, to me. I always come home from NZ with a hundred photos of clouds and attempts at capturing the shifting quality of light, of curtains of rain moving out to sea. NZ weather seems so dynamic compared to coastal California.

I got lucky with surf too. It was pretty magical to be so close to the point, to semi-bushwack down the slippery steps through the dense foliage to the boulders along the waters edge, and paddle out right there. And to return the same way, to my little awaiting cabin.

Unbeknownst to me, my host took a few photos of me out in front, on a windy morning.

Lots of fun surfs. I was reunited with my surfboard which I had left here in 2019, but had my best surfs on my Lotus and new Standard (which got baptized on a memorable, pumping day). Here’s a random entry from my surf journal:

7/5 Grey, rainy and offshore. Walked down G’s path and paddled Liddle out at WB. Antony out with Kai. Really good head high lined up walls. Still having trouble popping up- an embarrassment- but once up, got good enjoyable hull rides. Then paddled to TV. One remarkable ride: steep drop head high wave, only able to get to knees and instantly slotted in a long, fast tubing wave. Spread arms to touch both sides; a really WIDE round tube! The Liddle knee rides REALLY well. Straighed out at the end.

Then returned to WB (too high tide by then), went back up the path, got my mat, and paddled to MB. Stronger offshore, some good rides but also- TOO TIRED; couldn’t ride well. Realized how much physical strength is actually needed even prone.
Really raining now. In bed, heater on.

So, a really lovely trip. Bittersweet compared to previous trips because of Covid, but there was some positives in that regard too- I had visits with a few old friends who are on the other side of the vaccine issue, we both knew it- and we all consciously focused on our enduring connections. Coming from America that was incredibly positive. I’ll hold this experience dear for a long time.

Best wishes,

Jonathan

 

PS   Honest, I wasn't searching for "Tuesday Weld Boobs"