Blog

New Zealand - Zion Wetsuits - Winter 2014 Project

May 26, 2014

Ryan Mattick is an ex professional bodyboarder turned entrepreneur. He's a pretty damn good movie maker oh, and he created Zion Wetsuits.

Over months of morning coffee brews at some local cafes we have been formulating a plan to combine his movie making skills and my photography - we thought 'why not chase the 'endless winter' kind of thing?' And present it as a Movie/Book combo, featuring all forms of wave riding. Done.

NZ was the first step in this project and she didn't disappoint! It was my first 'Cold Water' trip as most of my previous jobs have always been tropical - my blood pumps Russian due to my ancestry, so I was excited! 

I wasn't prepared for the beauty of the place, from the moment I first saw the mountain ranges on descent from the plane window, until I left the place my mouth was agape. It was so cold, and I loved it! The Yin to the Cold's Yang, was the warmth of it's people. Everywhere we went random strangers were happy to have a 20 minute yarn and invite us over for dinner etc. It kind of felt like Australia would have been like in the 70's to me.

We drove, a lot. We scored fun, photogenic waves and that's about all I can say at the moment…

Stay tuned.

Riptide Magazine issue #200

Apr 20, 2014

Back in February over a backyard bbq not far from Waikiki, it was mentioned by Jeff that he was interested in traveling to a lesser known wave somewhere in Java for the brand he and his brother own - Hubboards. I knew of the wave from a few magazine and video parts and told him I would be keen to come if the trip eventuated as I knew his riding style would be perfectly suited to the wave. My good mate Jacob Romero was also down for the trip so I knew the vibe was going to be strong.

It's basically a small bay with a pumping right at one end, and a pumping left at the other. Oh, and the daily trade winds blow offshore - it's just a classic postcard looking place.

Funnily enough it coincided perfectly with Riptide Magazine's brief - 200 hours of documentation for their 200th magazine issue.

We were on a winner!

Generally surf trips are planned around swell forecasts from the internet, this was an old fashioned hit and hope. Which suited us all fine.

The Magazine hasn't come out yet so I can't really show you the A+ images, however here are a few that might set the scene…

To cut a long story short it was a total of 8 flights and 15 hrs of driving, but well worth it. In a time when distractions of technology are an accepted constant in our lives it was refreshing to wind back and be present in the immediacy. Gee the days felt longer. We would entertain ourselves ropewalking, playing cards, sightseeing and peeling and eating peanuts. Whenever we weren't in the ocean 8hrs a day of course...