Life on the water

Mike Baker

Mike Baker feels like he's living the dream on his own slice of paradise in Okitu.

He says he and his wife Janice, still pinch themselves every day, waking up to their view of Wainui beach after moving to Gisborne three years ago.

Mike is a bodysurfer.

In the water he's unmissable, with a handboard leashed to his arm and a GoPro camera attached to his helmet to capture his view — often from the barrel.

As a sponsored team rider for Slyde Handboards from San Diego and Seventhwave wetsuits from Christchurch, he uses the footage for promotional material and social media, but he is careful not to name guarded surf spots.

Mike has been a waterman for most of his life.

He started boardriding at age 11 after his family emigrated from the UK to Perth in 1968, and continued with it after his family moved back to England four years later.

Mike quickly climbed through the ranks of the Devon and Cornwall boardriding scene to surf in the British surfing team from 1980 to 1983. He was well and truly wrapped up in the boardriding surf scene at that time, even illustrating a book called “Start Surfing” in 1980.

He emigrated to New Zealand in 1987 and continued surfing, but by 2010 he had found the concept of boardriding was starting to feel “a little stale”.

Around the same time he was starting to question his devotion to surfing. He had memories of a friend back in England, who back in the 1980s used to make custom-shaped foam and glass handboards.

He thought he'd give it a go and ordered a basic one online. He's been hooked ever since.

“I could not believe the sensation of speed. That was it, and I've never looked back.”

Now, at 66, his passion for interacting with the ocean's power in ways other than board-riding has only intensified.

As a T'ai Chi Ch'uan (the practice of T'ai Chi as a martial art) practitioner and teacher, personal trainer and contact improvisation dance teacher, Mike has dedicated his life to the art of the body connecting and interacting with its environment.

With 46 years experience in T'ai Chi Ch'uan and a Masters Degree in Art and Design majoring in dance and video, he said his interest has always been with the “beauty that lies in fluid movement” and he's found handboarding is a way to express that.

The combination of speed, excitement and control that comes from “intimately blending with a wave” is something he said is unlike anything he's experienced before.

“Swimming around the lineup. . .I just love the combination of freedom and vulnerability.”

Having to get out the back, behind the breaking waves, without a surfboard can be a daunting prospect, he said.

While the lack of buoyancy helps him in getting under the white water, he is more susceptible to the underwater currents and hold-downs from big waves.

The surfing experience is quite different between board-riding and handboarding, he said. The biggest difference is the reduction of speed from your body being in the wave.

“You're there and often waiting for that lip (of the wave) to land on you.

“The safest place is in the barrel, but it's also pretty unforgiving. You get thrashed within an inch of your life sometimes.”

Handboarding has allowed Mike to travel the world.

In 2015, he was invited by the Del Mar Bodysurfing Club in San Diego, to compete with them in the 39th annual World Bodysurfing Championships in California.

After securing funding through friends, GiveALittle and Facebook; Mike was on his way and ended up with a second-place finish at a warm-up competition before the world champs.

The connections he made on that trip saw him staying on the North Shore of Hawaii and riding at Pipeline on the return leg of his journey, which he said made his trip.

“I was surfing for Britain when I was 23 and body surfing for New Zealand when I was 60. It has been a privilege to be able to represent both countries with such a gap in between.”

Mike and Janice moved to Gisborne three years ago after having taken surf trips to the region for the better part of 30 years.

He had lived in Nelson for 35 years, but said it had been a major challenge to cope with the predictable lack of swell.

Then, their annual surf trip three years ago, where he scored “the best four day run of swell at Wainui”, acted as the catalyst for Janice and him to make the move.

With so many world-class breaks so close, Gisborne was a gift that could no longer be ignored.

Mike has many favourite breaks here, but he's eager to explore all that the region has to offer.

“I body surf out front of our house, but I also make long, 40 minute, swims out to other breaks in the area. . . Anywhere there is a hollow wave breaking is a destination.”

Along with body surfing and T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Mike said he also enjoys fishing with light spinning tackle where he can keep on the move and explore new places in the region.

He and Janice have quietly begun, for them, a new chapter in their lives in Gisborne and have no plans for leaving any time soon.

“I've travelled and lived in different parts of the world. Home is often where you hang your hat, but I think my hat has finally come to rest.

“People here in and out of the water have been nothing but welcoming. Gisborne is a really friendly town. All my life, I've wanted to live on a beautiful beach with my toes in the sand.”