Ben Kennings on his way to hospital after his surfing accident. Photo / Supplied
Ben Kennings on his way to hospital after his surfing accident. Photo / Supplied
Ben Kennings has ridden arguably the world's heaviest wave, won a national open title and rarely lets a week pass without getting wet.
Now when he surfs, merely getting to his feet is a challenge.
Born into a famed Whangamata surfing family, Ben is the events and operations manager forthe sport's national body, Surfing New Zealand, a role that takes him around the country for up to 10 weeks of the year, giving competitive surfers a platform to international competition.
Ben once represented New Zealand as a junior and won a national open title at age 30 and he's surfed the notorious Teahupo'o break in Tahiti, witnessing a fellow top national surfer getting knocked unconscious from the reef.
At age 46, the father of two still rips on the Whangamata Bar and "post-kids", sets himself goals to record the number of waves he's caught or the surfs he's managed in a year - more than 100.
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"Whenever there's surf I'm surfing after work, or before work if it's good and during work over a long lunch if it's really good. That's the joy of the job, I can put in extra hours to make up for it," he says.
Ben's surfing came to an abrupt halt on May 11.
It was just a couple of weeks after lockdown, and like all local surfers, he'd been itching to get back in the sea.
It was 2ft-4ft and an "innocuous" wave - but breaking in the shallows at the estuary end of Whangamata where he'd made the poor decision to paddle out alone.
"I just pulled through the back and must have fallen through the barrel a bit. I fell and butt checked the sand. I was already hunched because I was protecting my head with my hands, and it was like a crusher tackle in rugby league."
Ben suffered a wedge compression fracture to his thoracic 12 and ruptured the ligaments of his T11.
"It crunched, I knew I was in trouble. The first thing I did was moved my arms and legs to see if I could move, and then I knew I had to get my board as quick as possible in case I got knocked out. I knew it was bad and I wanted to get my board, I thought 'that's my safety'."
He would later find out prior to surgery that the fracture went a third of the way through his spine.
"I couldn't breathe properly, and couldn't move properly. And then I got sucked out into the line-up and I had to get through the shore break again. The end of the estuary has got a real good shore pound to it. I didn't want to get pitched, I ended up out the back and it wasn't big but I had to get back in and couldn't really paddle properly or look."
With intense pain he made his way through the half tide into shore, 100m in knee deep waters for up to 10 minutes.
"There was no one around. If there were I would've been able to get some help for sure but no one was there which is the stupidity of it all. It's your survival instincts that kick in."
He describes the pain as like nothing he's felt before.
Ben got to the car and drove himself home, walking in and telling his wife Gina to call an ambulance.
"I said Gina I've done something really bad to my back - call mum and dad," he laughs.
Ben Kennings on his way to hospital after his surfing accident. Photo / Supplied
He praised the St John ambulance crew but says they thought it may have just been a bad sprain.
"It kind of just got worse and worse over three days. It went from 'it should be all right we'll send you home, and then, 'oh now we'll send stuff to Hamilton to check' and then all of a sudden they said 'why isn't he in a neck brace?'."
A cat scan revealed ruptured ligaments, and an MRI found fractures of his spine, and he became concerned when six doctors came into his cubicle.
"They said we need to operate."
Ben Kennings pre-accident. Photo / Supplied
He contacted Chris Fougere, Surfing New Zealand's president who is a surgeon, and he was reassured he was in the best care.
"It was good to be able to talk to someone like that. Because it was Covid no one was allowed in, Gina came in but the kids couldn't, and when she came in I was crying. I was horrified. The first thing I asked was 'how long til I can surf? then 'how long til I can snowboard?'."
The operation went well, and Ben was walking the next day.
In the days that followed he began "shuffling" around the cul-de-sac, recording all his walks from 200m, to walking 20 minutes, to 2km, to 1km every 10 minutes.
"I just did what I was told to do."
He set himself a goal to get back in the water by his birthday, on October 16.
Five days five months "and 5kg later I got the gills wet again". Surfing with his daughters India and Torah on the Whangamata Bar, he was in surf that was a bit bigger than he and Torah, 10, were quite ready for.
"Kinda went as expected with two forward rolly pollys over the front but stood up once with an almighty smile," he posted to friends.
Ben has reached out to numerous professional athletes who've had serious back injuries, some who told him they started out cautiously as they returned to sport, before it became second nature again.
He's now looking ahead to May, when surgeons will remove the metal ware that's fusing three of his vertebrae.
"I'm struggling to get to my feet, and I'm hoping it's because of the metalware. Your back doesn't bend because the vertebrae are fused."
He's learned a lesson about the need to follow Surfing New Zealand's advice: Never surf alone.
But he's not letting himself stay out of the water for long. "It was just unfortunate circumstances."
It crunched, I knew I was in trouble. The first thing I did was moved my arms and legs to see if I could move, and then I knew I had to get my board as quick as possible.
