Past chills recalled for some poetry in ocean

Chilly waters will not stop the keen surfers descending on Sandy Bay for the North Coast Boardrider's annual Polar Bear Surf Classic.
NBR contest committee member Mal Egginton organised the first contest  in 1980 and has been involved in the event's management over the years.
"I wasn't around much in the 90s but got back into organising the event about six years ago," he said.
"Numbers come and go for the contest - but, during the past few years, we have reached a consistent 60-80 number of competitors. We should get around the 80 mark this year."
That number was ideal  because there was no daylight saving at this time of year.
"We would run out of daylight to run the contest otherwise," Egginton said.
Entry forms for the mid-winter surf contest on August 8-9 were only recently distributed but organisers expected  about 80 competitors to travel north for the mid-winter event, which was all about having fun.
"There's no points up for grabs, the contest is not on any circuit - it's there purely to have fun - although there is still kudos in winning the Polar Bear," Egginton said.
"There are guys who come up for the contest every year - and have done since it began."
Last year's winner, Paco Divers, will not be at the Polar Bear this year as he is in France competing on the European semi-professional circuit. However, surfers such as 2008 second-place getter Thomas Kibblewaite and Steve Thompson from Auckland said they would be  turning up to take part.
"Every year, we get a sprinkling of hotties surfing depending who is around."
The Polar Bear Surf Classic began when it was decided the 1981 National Surfing Titles would be staged at Sandy Bay.
North Coast Boardriders came up with the idea of holding a mid-winter contest "simply because there was no contests in the area and we were freaked out about hosting the nationals", Egginton said.
"If we could run a surf contest in winter then we could in summer - so that's what we did."
In the nearly 30 years of the contest, there has never been a trophy - but that has changed this year.
A trophy is being made for the Polar Bear open division winner and names of all past winners are being sought so they can be engraved on it.
Competitors of all ages will be catered for at the event with a grommet division (under-14) to Old Boys (50 and over) being contested along with the main feature Open event, women and longboard categories.
The 29th Polar Bear Surf Classic will be at Sandy Bay on August 8-9 unless there is no swell.
"We are starved of waves on the east coast in winter - we postponed it last year ... but we will let competitors know well in advance if we are postponing it," Egginton said.
To enter the Polar Bear Surf Classic email surf@tutukakasurf.co.nz