On The Road With The O'Bro's

We join two icons of New Zealand and Australian surfing, now mentors and industry leaders, on an old-fashioned road trip to wherever the wind may blow them.

In this case to Taradise and the coastline of the Naki, an area dear to the heart of one and infectious to the other. For Rob Bain — 80s World Tour character and our very own 80s party boy Jason ‘Taddy’ Falconridge, getting back on the road was a step back in time, reliving the memories and good times of the past, sharing them with the future and keeping their own stoke alive as they ride into the twilights of their own surfing careers!

Jason Falconridge

Back in the 80s and early 90s, whenever you picked up an NZ Surf publication, it seemed to be full of the good times antics and power surfing of Taddy. Early on Taddy learned that the party times, although good times, weren’t gonna build a life beyond riding waves every day, and he began to forge a long career with O’Neill that would see him climb the ladder to the point where he was the big boss man of NZ. These days Taddy is committed to the job of running the ship, yet there’s no doubt the grommet inside still lives and when given the chance to hit the road, his heart begins to skip a beat and the ‘Good ole days’ yarns begin to flow.

“Road trips are the pinnacle and essence of surfing in New Zealand. With the two-coast selection process, from anywhere you are pretty much guaranteed to surf every day of the year depending on where you live and how much of a road demon you are. This is the great aspect of living in New Zealand, we have the two big islands scenario that basically receives swell from all directions and wind variances from all directions. We are all ‘Road Warriors’ unless you live at the beach.