Former Gisborne surfer and now Australian resident Noel Francis, 65, was the oldest competitor in the men's open heats at the national surfing championships at Gisborne's Makorori Beach this week. Photo / Kim Parkinson
Former Gisborne surfer and now Australian resident Noel Francis, 65, was the oldest competitor in the men's open heats at the national surfing championships at Gisborne's Makorori Beach this week. Photo / Kim Parkinson
Former Gisborne man Noel Francis was the oldest competitor in Round 1 of the open men’s heats at the national surfing championships in the city on Wednesday.
The 65-year-old competed earlier in the week in the Over-60s division and won his heat. Unfortunately, he copped a penalty in his semi-finaland didn’t progress.
But good friends Teddy Colbert and Steve Glover, both of Gisborne, did well.
“Teddy won the division, so I was really happy for him.”
Francis has many good memories from the late 1970s when he and a dedicated crew of surfers lived in Gisborne.
“I first moved to Gisborne from Auckland when I was young and there was a great surfing community here of like-minded people,” he said. “The standard of surfing down here was really high and as a young crew of surfers we pushed each other hard.
“We competed at times and free-surfed and we also had a very strong sense of community outside of the surf. We all hung out together and forged lifelong friendships through surfing.”
Francis and his mates competed at club level in Gisborne and at the nationals, and a number of them represented New Zealand in international competitions.
“I did turn professional at one point, but you couldn’t make a living at it,” Francis said. “We had sponsors who gave us boards and wetsuits and paid our entry fees and a few things, but it’s a different world now.”
Australia-based former Gisborne man Noel Francis competing in the Over-60s division at the national surfing championships this week. The 65-year-old also gave the open men's division a shot. Photo / PhotoCPL
Francis recalls having a healthy rivalry with Iain “Ratso” Buchanan, who was inducted into the Surfing NZ Hall of Fame in 2001 and is an international surfing judge.
Ratso won five open national titles in a row from 1983 to 1987, equalling the record of Wayne Parkes from 1966 to 1970. It’s a record that still stands although eight-times champion Billy Stairmand, who is competing in Gisborne this week, won four in a row (2014-2017).
“Iain was one of my main rivals,” Francis said. “We had many battles and I came off second-best mostly, although not every time.
“These days the top young surfers get picked up by sponsors and they can make good money, but it’s a very small number of surfers who make it to the top. It’s very expensive to compete on the world circuit. It’s become quite elitist.”
Francis said he loved coming back to Gisborne.
“When I left school and left home I stayed in Gisborne for the surf mainly, and I had good friends here. There was a big crew of us. We were really tight. There were big parties, great surfing. We were very dedicated surfers, all of us.”
Francis lives in Lennox Head, New South Wales, south of Byron Bay, where he surfs regularly.
He has been a high school teacher for 28 years after starting his working life as a plasterer and retraining in Australia when his then-girlfriend asked him what he really wanted to do.
