This week my ol’ mate AJ Matthews reached out. The Whangamata surfer is currently living land locked in Switzerland, a very strange place for a Kiwi surfer to end up. AJ was hurting, his hard-drive with all his old photos was cooked. He has no evidence to prove to his kids he can surf, let alone have been an eminent figure in surf mags throughout the late 90’s and early 00’s. After being sponsored by Rip Curl, Huffer and then Rusty, AJ went on to work Billabong NZ and FCS. He was good at it too, but as the NZ surf industry [and surf mags for that matter] died a slow, lingering death so did AJ’s time in those realms. How do you even explain to kids WHAT surf mags were and how entwined they were in surf culture?
This is not attempt to start recanting the misadventures shared with AJ since he was the alternate at the ’95 Bali World Grommet Comp. I dug deep into the archive and found him a decent smattering of images from the last 30 years. One of the more recent tales popped up in conversation was a session in 2017. There’s a post on Insty that grazes it, but the full story is so much worse.
Someone who should remain on the other side of the camera, Sanga and AJ at a Von Zipper party, at Flight Lounge circa 2012???
There was a heavy bank out in front of Lion Rock, and Piha’s Bar was in fine form on the same low, low tides. The Lion Bank was heavier, more open to swell, harder to get onto and certainly a lot harder to swim out with a camera in a waterhousing. I wasn’t confident at all I’d even get through the guillotining impact zone, but I had studied the wave and bank for weeks, actually had a few failed attempts. I had a method, shockingly it worked… but I was not going to let on to the crew out the back how easily the rip had popped me out the back. From memory it was remarked upon, like ‘wow, you swam through that bro? You’ve got some legs.’ me; ‘yeah no worries’ - totally downplaying my own surprise. As expected the sweep north was horrendous. No bobbing around off the section waiting for a surfer to come through, this was mahi, on the treadmill constantly flippering south. Early on in the session Braden Louie snagged a 6 foot bomb, the bottom turn shot became the opening Auckland spread in The South Seas book. It looked like could have been Piha Bar, with Nun Rock in the background, we captioned it vaguely to infer that too.
AJ
The Waitakere surf ranger, Napes got a clean backside no-hands barrel, Toby Dobson-Smith snagged a beast too, but the surfers were thinly spread. I was stoked when AJ popped up in the line up, and he confirmed our mate Sam ‘Sanga’ Willis was joining soon too. That Sanga just wanted to get a few warm ups on the Bar before paddling across the Bay to us. AJ didn’t disappoint, charging some of the biggest and roundest ones of the evening. Every pass we’d joke, where the fuck is Sanga, he’s blowing it surfing the more sheltered Bar. What’s he up to!
AJ ended up with images that would be used in Damaged Goods Zine, Smorgasborder Mag and Warren Hawke’s book NZ Surf Vol 2. I think a shot of AJ ended up in a surf atlas book too, the point is they did the rounds.
AJ styling through the power
From out the back of Lion Rock we could hear and see a curfuffle at the Piha Surf Club. Sirens, Ambo lights. We joked, it’s probably Sanga. Sanga is regarded for his charging and his lack of self preservation. But he has also had some shocking injuries. Falling off decks backwards onto driveways, concussions at Teahupo’o, snapped ankles at Big Bother; the list goes on. AJ and I came in together after dark on the north side of Lion, the Ambo lights were still flashing at the surf club. I was parked at North, AJ at south, as we parted ways we joked, better check that’s not Sanga at the Surfy aye.
It was.
Sanga having a wee bit of a better surf in the South Pacific mid 2000's
Sanga takes up the story;
I’d gone out to Piha in AJ and Ollie Coddington. You'd remember it was a sunny beautiful day and the tide was really low and I remember walking almost out to the Beehive rock. I jumped in the water and I swear like 30 seconds later I was out the back and this wave came and wedged, I spun and went for it. I don't really know what happened though, I pulled in backside, was a bit deep, got swallowed and then I went down. I'm guessing I hit the bottom or I hit my board, but my board didn't have any damage. I got flogged, I came up and I'm not sure if I hit my head as well 'cos I was like is either a shock or I was knocked out because I was in La La Land, I came up and I couldn't really breathe and I was just fucking disorientated and really weird.
I proned my way in and got to the beach and was able to walk. I do remember bumping into someone but I don't know who it was. I probably wasn't anyone I knew but I was just fucked. I didn't really know; it was like really having like a psychedelic experience or something like that but it was probably just shock I'd imagine, as well my lung was collapsing.
I got back to the car and I I knew where I knew where AJ’s keys were hidden so I tried to sit down to reach under the grab the keys. I just sat down and I couldn't move, so I am there was, a guy sitting in the car just car park space away, so I started throwing stones at his window, he kinda looked at me like as a bit weird and then he wound the window down. I said ‘man, I've just fucked myself, I need some assistance.’ So he got the Piha surf rescue guys to come and get me on the ATV thing and took me to the Surf Club.
At the surf club I don't think they gave any pain relief but they were sure that I've broken ribs and they listened to my chest and thought my lung been collapsed, so they called an ambulance and they were super cool. They were really, they are just good people who are very helpful and super kind. The ambulance turned up and I took a ride into town.
Actually Ollie Coddington came too. I think AJ was with you around on that left-hander getting barrelled and he wasn't coming in. I didn't know what was going on but Ollie came in, I guess he must've. I'm not sure if he knew what was going on or what the story was but he came in. Maybe the guy in the car might've told him that his mate is at the surf club. I'm not sure exactly what happened but he came out and he bought my clothes and food and when you see your mates are pretty worked; you know, he was concerned.
I was in early stages of the relationship with my wife and I couldn't remember her number off by heart and I was like I gotta give her a call, eventually I do. I called El and cause I talk heaps of shit, she's like ‘whatever, you're so full of shit.’ Something along the line to that, she's like ‘no you're not’ and then in the ambulance guys was like it's ‘John here. Yes, no I’m the ambulance.’ Then we went to the hospital and yeah pretty much seven ribs, a collapsed lung and a broken scapula.
It was most of them if not all of them, I'm not exactly sure but it was really painful. The gnarliest as part of this whole thing was when they had to re-inflate my lung. So they just cut below one of your ribs up sort of close to upper ribs they just they pretty much just cut through that but they don't go all the way through. They just cut through the skin. And then they forced like a straw through your cell wall and your cartage and stuff just so that it creates a seal around that straw and then they have to blow your lung back up. You know, you have to work pretty hard to force something through someone's chest like that so that was pretty intense.
Sanga's recovery was long, as anyone whose broken ribs will attest, even sneezing is a daunting thought. He survived and thrived just fine. Of course it could have been a lot lot worse, but serves as a reminder, not that Piha is a mellow break, but it's easy to get complacent populated surf breaks. You just be careful out there this weekend aye.
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