Surfing: The long and short of it

Taylor Jensen, Nava Young and Josh Constable. Photo / Herald on Sunday, Malcolm Pullman

Nava Young is an author, a recording artist. Oh, and a surfer. A longboard surfer.

The attractive 26-year-old is one of those taking part in the opening event of the 2010 Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour at Sandy Bay, which finishes today.

Toes over the nose and deck chairs under the shade of pohutukawas are what you find at Sandy Bay and the Northland event.

It has been on the longboard contest schedule for well over a decade, is a crowd favourite and always draws the largest field of entries from across New Zealand.

But now, international longboarders like Young, her world-class longboarder partner Taylor Jensen and former world champion Josh Constable are also competing.

Young is the daughter of former world champion and Australian surfing icon, Nat Young. She hails from wave-rich Angourie on NSW's central coast, is an accomplished surfer who intends on competing on the world longboard tour this year.

She is a published writer, releasing her first book Surf Food - a collection of recipes and favourite foods of many of the world's best-known surfers at the end of last year.

She is also a talented singer-songwriter who recently released her debut EP Salty Lullabys.

"I have been playing guitar and singing since I was 12 years old, when some stitches kept me out of the water," she says. "I love it and recording has been a fun evolution."

Coming from a family of champions (brother Beau is also a world champion longboarder) and a top Australian surfer, Nava is humble about what she enjoys:

"Surfing has given me a great lifestyle. My family is amazing and have always encouraged me to do whatever I am interested in. I love my lifestyle; travelling to so many different places and meeting some great people."

Her partner, Taylor Jensen, from Oceanside in California, is a quiet unassuming character who lets his surfing do most of his talking.

Having won three US national titles and the 2009 Australian Pro Longboard Tour, it seems 2010 could be his year.

The 26-year-old, and eight-year veteran of the world longboard tour, splits much of his time between living in Australia with Nava, and in southern California.

He has won a number of New Zealand longboard events, the most recent at the 2009 Hyundai pro longboard event in Christchurch, where he blitzed Michael Burling in junky New Brighton waves.

Jensen sees the potential here and wants to see some of New Zealand's home-grown product on the world stage.

"New Zealand is amazing. The level of surfing here has really risen since my first visit back in 2005," he says.

One of the issues facing these travelling pros is the lack of financial support from sponsors and the governing body.

"There are a lot of issues with longboarding," Jensen says. "We make peanuts compared to professional short boarders. Figures show that there are more longboards sold annually than there are short boards. It's pretty backwards," he says.

But life isn't at all bad spending most of the year competing and chasing waves across the globe and, as he is at the cutting edge of the sport, Jensen has an open mind about the future.

"The limits with longboarding are non-existent," he says. "Hopefully everyone will take it to the next level, progressively and traditionally. The combination of these two elements will see longboard surfing move forward and hopefully become more accepted in the wider surfing community."

Australia's Constable is also no stranger here. He regularly makes the trip over the ditch to visit his family, who are based in Auckland.

The 29-year-old natural footer is a favourite on the world longboard scene and was recently voted one of the most influential longboarders of the modern era (US Longboard Magazine).

With a world title under his belt (2006) and over 20 first-class victories, including four Australian titles and three Noosa Festival titles, the big bloke from Noosa is a world-class competitor with a big smile to prove it.

"It's great to see the Pro Longboard Tour getting stronger each year," he says. "The talent is definitely on the rise in New Zealand".