FLASHBACK OF THE LAST 5 MONTHS

First of all, it’s been a very windy year so far. We could go out on the water nearly every day since late September 🙂 The moment daylight saving hit, we spent countless evenings after work at our local, sailing until the sun set, and socialising with great people.

Furthermore, coming into our Surfari-season, that definitely kept us busy! This year we tried to offer a couple of different trips, as an addition to our classic Taranaki Wave weekend. We had a Luxury Foiling weekend in the Bay of Islands and a full week of Freeride and Northland goodness in Rangiputa on offer. Unfortunately there was very little interest to those 2 trips so we had to cancel them. We will try again next year if people are interested in them, if not, we need to find something else. Any ideas are welcome!

On the flipside, cancelling those 2 trips opened some more time up for additional Taranaki-Surfaris! We had a very memorable Surfari early December. With the forecast announcing light Northwest wind and a moderate swell, we made our way down the coast to Kina Road. Arriving there, the swell looked pretty chunky and it was definitely more than a moderate wind! David, Jenny and Heidi went out regardless and had a pretty epic session!

Our next Surfari around Waitangi Day (early February) was made possible with the cancellation of our Northland trip. It’s not that I didn’t want to go up to Northland, but boy-oh-boy, that week in Taranaki was just absolutely epic! 6 days out of 6 on the water, 5 days of that was in Waitara. Our trip was only a weekend trip, but a few added some days around the public holidays and made the most of it.

The forecast for our March Surfari to Taranaki didn’t look promising. Very settled weather, no wind, no swell. But at least, it was supposed to be sunny! To improve the chances of getting wind, we did bring the mountainbikes with us 😉 Saturday proved to be a calm day, the wind just teasing a bit in Ahu’s, but realistically not even enough for kitefoiling. And no surf….

So we took the hiking shoes and climbed Patuha peak in the Kaitaka ranges. Nearly 700m high it offers stunning 360 degree views. Sunday showed some wind down the coast, much to our surprise. So off we went to Kina Road. And wow, what a difference it was to our last trip down here early December! Yes, there was enough wind for 4.7/5.3, but no swell at all, Flat like a milk pond! I have never seen it that flat down the coast! The water was absolutely stunning and clear and it was one of the most amazing freeride sessions I ever had.

Due to Covid-19 we unfortunately have to cancel our last 2 trips for this season. Hope to see you on the other side!

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