WHAM-BAM, THANK YOU PAM: A goofyfooter finds silky offshore perfection at Taipa on Monday.
SO there he was, The Offsider, getting rather excited at the prospect of seeing some epic waves in his backyard courtesy of Tropical Cyclone Pam.
Early forecasts last week warned that Pam had developed into the dangerous Category 5 stage. Some were even predicting the system was shaping up to be as heavy as the notorious Cyclone Bola. Storm warnings went in place and communities along the North Island's east coast collectively battened down the hatches as Pam lurched southward after wreaking widespread devastation in Vanuatu.
Pam began to make her presence felt in Kaitaia shortly after lunchtime on Sunday with the wind picking up and rain starting to fall. The Age sportsbuster went in search of the giant swell and ended up standing on the shore of a remote beach being lashed by wind and rain, watching grimly as a small group of locals took off on an overhead but unremarkable waves. The next day it was clear the forecast intensity wasn't going to happen; Pam was leaving town.
A sigh of relief then, although The Offsider still felt a small tinge of disappointment that he wouldn't get to see the full and terrible glory of an out-of-control storm system this time around. Nothing like a bit of thunder and lightning and heavy rain to accompany the old bedtime ghost story, but he certainly didn't want his roof torn off or end up being swept away by a rogue wave. At 10am on Monday, Pam was located about 230km east-northeast of East Cape and was re-classified as an "extra-tropical cyclone" by MetService. And she left some priceless goodness behind.
Roadside surpriseThe trick, as always, was figuring out where, in the many nooks and crannies on the eastern seaboard, would be the best; a complicated equation to uncover the optimum combination of swell, wind, tide and sand. Another priority as far as The Offsider was concerned, was where would be the most photogenic, his aim being to shoot the tube in a literal rather than figurative sense. Sure, he could handle the mellow pointbreak waves of Ahipara but taking off on a dredging overhead neck-snapper had never really been his forte.
He decided to head to Taupo Bay to record the momentous swell and was on his way when he pulled over to check a spot right beside State Highway 10. What he saw took his breath away. It was absolutely firing: five to six-foot, clean as a whistle, barrelling and front-lit.
It was difficult to know where to point the lens with surfers spread up and down the beach. As per usual, random tunes popped into the sportsbuster's head whenever he got this excited: The Stranglers' Golden Brown as he watched the glassy faces of aquatic drainpipes glistening with gold to reflect the autumn sun falling in the west. Far worse the old Foreigner chestnut which invaded his headspace (albeit with the words slightly twisted to befit the occasion): "I've been waitinggg, for a curl like you, to come into my life ... " He later learned that Taupo Bay was solid overhead and a handful of takers had paddled out as the swell began to abate on Monday evening. Through second-hand knowledge, The Offsider heard some estimated the wave faces at around 10 to 12 feet, and described it as the biggest and best surf they had ever seen there. By Tuesday, the swell borne of Pam was already a thing of the past.
Meanwhile, reports began trickling in from fellow Pambusters from all over the country, similarly frothing on their experiences over the past few days.
One Aucklander caught fine waves at renowned Coromandel reef Kuaotunu on Saturday but noted the general consensus on the day, from the many out in the line-up and hovering nearby, was that Pam was still playing hard to get with the anticipated swell yet to arrive.
Another noted sea conditions hit 10 metres pulsing at 13 seconds at the Tauranga harbour entrance on Monday morning. He had been stoked to score some "good long rights" at 4-5' at a shingle pointbreak on the East Cape on Saturday and Sunday, albeit wishing the break was a tad more obscure after sharing the line-up with up to 30 guys from Gisborne, the Mount and Raglan along with a few locals. (He also sadly noted a permanent rahui had been imposed at the Motu Rivermouth - generally regarded as The Spot on the East Cape's north-facing coast - after three surfers drowned at nearby Omaio in Cyclone Ivy about 12 years ago.
Watermen luck inPam even pumped surf inside the Firth of Thames. Nearby, the international field of eight athletes in the Ultimate Waterman found perfect tubes at an "isolated beach" which required a cyclone of Pam's intensity to break on Monday.
Highlights included eventual winner Tahitian Manua Drollet's perfect right-hand barrel for a 9.0 point ride, runner-up Australian Mark Visser scoring the day's only perfect 10 after emerging from a rare left-hand barrel mere metres from the sand, while Daniel Kereopa - as the only Kiwi in the challenge - took the heaviest wipeout of the day after going over the falls and having his lip split open when his board hit him in the face.
Contest officials decided to mobilise to Otago first thing on Tuesday where Pam was expected to deliver more excellence, and that was the last they were heard from as this edition went to press.
-The Offsider is Age sportsbuster Francis Malley. Respond atsports@northlandage.co.nz