Surf's up, Nancy ‘I'M MAKING WAVES AT 92!'

After buying her boy a board, there was no way the mum was going to be left on the beach

- Fleur Guthrie

One of the first things Nancy Meherne did after moving to Christchurch as a bright-eyed 17-year-old in the 1940s was catch a tram to Sumner Beach.

She fell in love the minute she got over the Heathcote Bridge and quickly made plans to one day live there.

“I thought it was so beautiful!” recalls the spry 92-year-old. “I saw all this wonderful water and all those waves – and I saw surfboards for the first time!”

The seaside suburb has since provided the backdrop to many of Nancy’s greatest moments in life – getting engaged to her late husband Doug, taking the schoolchildren she taught for their first swims and discovering an enduring passion for riding the waves.

Up until recently, Nancy was still donning a short-sleeved wetsuit and heading out into the surf – quite possibly earning her the title of the oldest surfer in New Zealand.

She has never learnt to stand up, but loves catching waves on her ’70s foam board, which once belonged to her late son Patrick.

“It’s been used so much, the blue and red pattern has worn off,” she laughs. “When I started in my forties, not many other women my age were doing it. We bought our sons’ surfboards when they were nine and 10 because we only lived a block away from the beach.