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Posted on Friday May 28th 2010 at 6:00 a.m.
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Finally we found a rainbow with a genuine pot of gold at the end.
The planned dates were 16-19 April, destination could have been anywhere in the north island. From the moment I laid eyes on the long range weather maps in early April, I knew this roady was on like Donkey Kong. A huge 5m long period SW swell looked due to hit around the 16th, with a big high following behind to provide favorable winds to light up the points on the west coast.We were frothing like groms for 10 days leading up to the trip, and why not? Destination: Ahipara.
So the 16th rolled around and our dreams were coming true - we left Auckland at 5am, and made for Ahipara, where the 5m SW swell was due to peak late afternoon with the wind swinging offshore around lunch. And, the swell was forecast to slowly ease with favorable winds all weekend. There was every chance this roady would be all time... and we knew it.
We rocked up late morning, but couldn't get around the points due to the high tide, so had to chill out at the bach for a few hours to wait for the tide to drop. Luckily, across the road from the bach there was a nice little left hander reeling off. A good warm up session was had.
After a surf and some lunch, we headed off around the points. The pictures below tell the rest of the tale. We surfed Supertubes, Mookie I and Mookie II - all three waves were linking for a total ride length on 1000m+. And it was sizey. 5-6ft on the sets, and the odd 8ft sneaker set sorting everyone out. At the end of the session, all three of us proclaimed the "longest ride of our lives", which is particularly impressive when you consider Jon boy has been surfing for over 30 years all over the world.
Shipwreck Bay, clean as you like.
The same set rolls down the point, through Mookie I and Mookie II.
The end of Supertubes / Start of Mookie II. Bigger than it looks...
A couple of the locals said it was "as good as it gets", you certainly couldn't ask for much more out of a wave. We were stoked. The swell hung around all weekend, but it got a bit crowded come Saturday. Still, we got our share, and after Friday afternoons epic session the rest of the weekend was just icing on the cake. Come Monday the crowds were gone, and we finished our road trip with clean empty 3 footers running along the points with just us and a couple of locals. Certainly my most memorable road trip so far, topping the Naki in '08 and Gizzy in '09.
Andrew
Thanks Andrew for sharing your adventure. If you have a road trip tale email team@surf.co.nz