Taranaki Easter Masters' surfing goes swell

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Eighty-year-old Adrian Pickering, of Whangaparāoa, was the oldest competitor in the Fisher and Paykel Easter Masters’ Surfing Championships in Taranaki at the weekend.

And this year was no different – despite the fact he’s 80.

Pickering was one of 80 contestants, aged from 30 upwards, from across the North Island who took part in the Fisher and Paykel Easter Masters’ Surfing Championships.

He is the oldest competitor – and even though he has given up competing on a surf board because

“you’ve got to be nimble and do it quickly”, he still took part on a knee board at the weekend.

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Angie Kernot during her heat at Puniho Rd on Friday.

The Whangaparāoa man calls the other competitors “kids, children” – even though he is referring to people who are 50-60 years old.

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“When I first came here I was pretty much the oldest then,” he said.

Pickering has been travelling down from just north of Auckland for the event since its early years.

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Spectators watched on as Mark Wilkinson, of Mount Maunganui, took to the water on Saturday.

He said he has never been very good at the sport, but has been at it for about 60 years.

His wife, Janet, with whom he travelled to Taranaki at the weekend, was the first person to show him the technique for standing up on an old wooden board.

While Pickering said he “didn’t do any good” during the competition, and hurt himself a bit when he was washed around on the rocks and in the shallow water, he’ll probably be back next year.

“I just love it,” he said. “It’s a great feeling catching a wave.”

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Taranaki man John Quilter competed in his heat at Puniho Rd on Saturday.

Oakura surfer John Quilter, 66, said he loved how the weekend was a way of “bringing all the old fellas together”.

“It's a great event,” Quilter said. “I’ve been there since the beginning.”

Quilter said he enjoyed seeing everyone out on the water, despite their age.

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New Plymouth's Chris Jury before he made his way out for his heat on Saturday.

“These guys are in their 70s and they're just as stoked as the day the started surfing.”

New Plymouth Surfriders Club president and contest director Mark Dwyer said it was good to be back this year after missing the 2020 competition due to Covid-19.

The event sees surfers allowed 20-minute heats in a two-round system, which sees everyone surf twice against different competitors in their own division.

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John Gisby, of Gisbourne, was the event’s most-titled competitor as he has won more surfing competitions and national titles than any other surfer in New Zealand.

The top four surfers of each category competed in the final on Sunday, but the results were not available at the time of going to press.

Dwyer said the surfing had taken place at Puniho Rd and Fitzroy and although the waves weren’t always good, it was a successful event.

“It's gone fantastically,” he said.

Stuff