Back Beyond The Horizon

On October 12th, 2009, out beyond the horizon an elite group of NZ’s best surfers arrived at a remote reef after motoring in a straight line 25km out to sea.

- Cory

What began as a fisherman’s tale back at the turn of this century, this reef became a topic of discussion in a period of time where big-wave surfing was going through a massive transformation of what was considered possible here in NZ, driven not only by the introduction of jetskis as a tool for surfing , but also of the attitudes of these highly skilled warriors all pushing each other into each and every big swell. New waves were discovered and ridden for the first time, and in a country where a 10-foot wave had up until that point been considered big-wave surfing, now we were looking at waves of 20 foot plus.

New frontiers opened and it seemed for a period that every month there was a new discovery that re-invented NZ surfing as we knew it.

In 2004, driven by the urge to put to rest this rumour of a giant wave, Blair Stewart, myself and Daniel Kereopa began to plan a mission of discovery just as one of the biggest swells in many years made its way up the NZ coastline. Like all missions, many factors must all come together and gel if they are to reach the launch state, and that inaugural trip was canned at the last minute. It took a further five years, but this time all the elements fell into place, the crew assembled were at the time the top guns of the movement, all trusting in each other’s preparation and tools. Yet here we were, staring at this open-ocean wave, what you might describe as NZ’s answer to Cortes bank, and the initial judgement call was “That can’t be ridden, someone will die!”

One lone soldier, a man who really needs no introduction when it comes to NZ big wave sessions, Daniel ‘DK’ Kereopa took one deep breath, took another look at the next breaking wave, and announced that he was gonna go. “Pass me the rope,” he commanded.