Surfing: Hareb sets sights on Hawaii

Just being at home gives Taranaki surfer Paige Hareb plenty of good vibrations as she works towards a world title. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

In the build-up to the climax of the women's world surfing tour - at the famous Hawaii beaches of Sunset Beach and Honolua Bay - Paige Hareb will be found training at a swimming pool. She'll be swimming and walking under water, carrying weights.

That's what you do when you're faced with the famous waves at the big Hawaiian beaches. Lose it and you spend a long time under the water, feeling the pressure - not just from the world championship tour but also from the sheer weight of water tossing you around like a rag doll.

Hareb, currently third on the women's world tour and making almost as many waves as Sunset Beach, has fond hopes for Hawaii.

At an event in Honolua Bay, she beat former world champion Sofia Mulanovich in a contest that she said gave her the confidence that she could compete at the top.

"Sunset is a world famous wave and to be able to get out there and surf ... I feel very lucky. I have had one of my worst hold-downs out there but it feels amazing when you pull off at the end of a good one as well. Surfing that wave is so different to anywhere else."

Hareb's story is as much nature as nurture.

Growing up in the small Taranaki seaside and surfing settlement of Oakura meant that the waves were always going to draw her in.

Her home town, on Taranaki's famous surf highway (SH45) is the first stop along one of New Zealand's most wave-rich and abundant coastlines. World class surf breaks are scattered around the Taranaki bight, ending in Opunake.

With its consistent swell and favourable winds, it's no surprise Taranaki has groomed many a national champion over the years. Its brightest star has taken to the international stage and has her sights firmly set on being the world's best.

"This year or next year," is how Hareb responds when asked when she will be world champion.

It looks almost boastful in print but it's really just the vocalisation of a confident, competitive young woman whose time will definitely come.

It wasn't always about surfing for Hareb, though.

"I played a lot of sport when I was younger and was in the New Zealand Soccer Academy and Wanaka Ski Academy," she says. "Back then, I surfed just as another sport. I liked it and had fun but thought of it more as a lifestyle sport on the side."

It wasn't long before she realised her potential and the sponsors came knocking.

"The more I improved, the more I won surfing contests. And as soon as I started getting sponsored, I started thinking differently - I could actually be a pro surfer."

Her determination and focus to succeed paid off in 2008 when she qualified for the ASP Dream Tour. After her main sponsor (Billabong) gave her a wild card to the Honolua Pro in Hawaii at the end of the 2008 ASP Women's Tour year, the wheels were set in motion and that confidence-boosting contest against Mulanovich - Hareb's first time among the pros - took place.

"Over the last few years, I was so determined and focused to do well and took losing quite hard because, of course, I am competitive and always want to win. The big change this year is I think I really don't get as nervous now and I am way more in tune with my body and mind.

"I'm more relaxed and don't need to focus as much before or during contest. It's like I have a switch now that I know exactly when to turn on and off. I guess, just more experience," she says.

"Of course, I want to have fun but I have to focus as well so I try to use that mental switch. If I'm out the back chatting to my mates, then fine, but if there's a good wave coming, I want that wave. I want to smack the hell out of it. The switch flicks on as soon as I see it coming."

So she's competitive. But home, that same Taranaki coast, has assumed new proportions now she's travelling the world.

"In down time, I finally get to spend a good amount of time at home for the first time all year. I love hanging out with friends and family, they take my mind off surfing, which I need sometimes.

"Of course I still surf nearly every day but it's just so good to not be in an airport or on a plane and be in my own bed. I feel really relaxed and chilled out at home."

So what does 2009 really hold for Paige Hareb?

"I want to finish at least in the top five but I really want a top three spot. I still have a really good chance at the world title this year, so of course I'm going to try for that."