The still frothed 51 year old grom at his favourite

I first met the blond bowl-cut grom picking up his older brother Chris for a surf in 1992. I am very good mates with his older brother, Steve and Chris. He was doing 50-50’s on the family mini ramp before school. I do remember asking Chris who that was, and he was kind of dismissive, like, 'oh that's just Pando, my grommet brother. C'mon, let's get going.'

Within the year, I was working at the surf mag and had left the Shore for Piha. Chris had bailed on what would become a lifetime of exploring the world's best waves. Pando got sponsored by the local surf shop XT' Sea. The owner, Dave Wilson, is a legend; kind, generous and at that time an absolute lynchpin in the Takapuna surf community. Around this time the agent for Dragon sunnies rang me asking about this kid, Pando. I gave Pando a glowing reference, based on nothing more than loyalty to Chris and Steve. He got the sponsorship. Tich from O'neill rang, same result. I'm not saying I got those brands for Pando... I'm just saying he still owes me a wetsuit and a pair of sunnies.

Pando at Karekare circa ‘94-5, shot on Fuji Velvia 50 asa film

Pando was becoming one of the best surfers in the Auckland Region. The natural footer's style is a cohesive blend of smoothness and radical board placement. But he was absolutely shit in competition. In round one, he'd look like the surfer to beat and then barely fire a shot in the next heat. He was frustrated; it was frustrating to watch.

In the summer of 1997, it came together. Tauranga Bay at Westport breaks a lot like the west coast of Auckland, kind of like an O'Neill's reform on steroids. The familiarity played into Pando's hand; he got on a roll and became the National Champion. It was an underdog fairytale. While everyone respected his surfing, there is no way you would have placed a bet on Pando.

I lost my shit. Pando's victory hit home hard. This was a Champ I knew, knew his family, knew him from before mag life. I've never been so excited or stoked for a victor. It was a great lesson in what a victory means for a community, for a peer group.

Pando: 'When I won the Nationals, surfing was my total saviour. I wasn't in a very good place. I was in a volatile relationship and I didn't have particularly good role models at a time when I really needed them. The people that I looked up to, and the stuff they did, I thought was normal. When I look back, it's pretty fucking radical what some of them were up to.

A few months before the Nationals, one of my brother's good mates, Matthew Brown, committed suicide, and that had a really massive impact on me. Combine that with the relationship I was in, when I won the Nationals, leading up to it, I was surfing my ass off. It was my safe place, where I felt good. So I surfed and surfed and surfed. I had some great boards through Nick Tansley at Razor. That combination of decent equipment, surfing hard out, putting that time in, and having a burning fury that came from what I was living through. It pushed me. I've found that it's those challenges that you have that are the things that really make you who you are.'

Pando was never a big drinker, but traditions are traditions…. fill the cup boy! Post the victory at the Westport Billabong house party. Note Larry Fisher sitting at the kitchen table

The win gave Pando the belief and confidence in his surfing that was missing. In 1997, he was unstoppable. His surfing after the Nationals went stratospheric. He went on to win the Canterbury and Auckland Champs.

Pando: ' ‘97 was a wicked year, I spent heaps of time travelling, went to Indo, went down the South Island and competitively did really well. That year and '98, they kind of flew somewhat; I was just surfing hard out. And that was my training. I didn't do any kind of other training. Looking back, it would have been good to have more of a long-term plan about what I was doing with it.

‘I won the Nationals, and I wasn't expecting it. I never thought of making it on the world stage. I guess these days, there's more of a pathway, through the internet and through the way things are, people are way more aware of where they want to get to and how they might get there.

I think, particularly in the late 90s, we were just moving into the internet; it was all magazine-based. We still looked upon those surfing heroes that you had as something that I didn't really consider to be attainable.'

We did photoshoots in the South Island around the Rex Von Huben Big Wave Challenges, and travelled to Indo and the Pacific over the next few years. Pando became a mainstay of the surf press. Scoring covers, centrefolds and double page adverts consistently. He was easy to travel with, FUN to travel with, and you knew you'd always get the photographic goods.

Nusa Lembongan, this shot was used for an O’Neill full page advert, Dwaine Mataa in the background

'I spent a fair bit of time in the South Island. I was good mates with Nuku Nash, and we had an amazing time. We did all the South Island contests, which was awesome. Tony and Manu Schaefer were down there, and there was a really good crew to hang out with. They all loved surfing, and we were all into the same things. They were super welcoming, too. The South Island is a special place.

Another thing that happened around that time was the Rex Von Huben Big Wave Challenge. I went every year. I think it ran for 4 years. The first year was incredible. Surfing out at Raratoka/Centre Island. A really memorable heat was with Miles Ratama out there and Brent Razza Rasby. It was pumping 6-8 foot. In the following years, it got more intense. It was crazy, given that we had no kind of safety around it. We were catching a pirate fishing boat out to Raratoka. There were no jet skis. There was an IRB, but it was pretty loose. Twenty pirates from all around Aotearaoa camped out at the marae, and we travelled around and surfed hard out all around that south coast and Catlins. It was wild.

I won it, I think it was the second year. It didn't get super huge; it was within the realm that I'm comfortable with. Up to 8-10 feet, maybe, I can't actually recall how it went down. The 2 following years were super serious, huge waves. Maybe the third year we surfed Papatowai, and Dougie Young was there. And that's when it went from charging what I thought were big waves to that next level. Dougie was mental, watching him surf at Papa's.

In the last year of the Rex Von Huben, I had a pretty freaky experience out at Raratoka. I got sucked around the back of the peak, nobody knew I was out there, and I couldn't get back. It was 10 to 12 foot, and I was basically looking at the bottom of the South Island in one direction, and Stewart Island in the other. I was stuck out there, thinking this is the end. Mark Stevenson ended up rescuing me, hearing my voice on the wind, and after about an hour and a half of paddling and dodging these giants. After that, I was like, I'm not quite sure that big wave surfing is for me. The years following, that is when the big wave thing really happened in New Zealand with Daniel Kereopa, the South Island and Gizzy crews absolutely charging.

They were some really good times, and I felt so lucky to be able to surf and do that as a lifestyle.'

2001, L-R Emmerson Tucker, Justin Souter, Ben Kennings, Mark Dovey, Blair Stewart, Pando, Jos Kennings, Damon Gunness, Chris Malone and Daniel Kereopa on Rarawa Beach for the Billabong Challenge

In his own way, Pando was preparing for the future too:

‘I was at university that whole way through that time. Because I didn't have a super structured focus on what I was doing with my surfing, apart from surfing, uni was a good balance. I did possibly the longest Bachelor of Arts known to man and lived a pretty sweet lifestyle. I was out at Piha for a few years, living down at North Piha and travelling heaps as well.

My sponsorships were always on a fairly low level. I was getting some money, it was enough to support me to travel around New Zealand and maybe do a trip to Indo. But it definitely wasn't enough to think about the future and put money away for that. At that time, there were a few surfers who were able to do that, as there was quite a bit of money in sponsorship. I never had a huge amount of guidance either in what I was doing. I loved surfing, and I loved competing, and I was doing well at it, and it was kind of my dream what I was doing, but in hindsight, maybe I hadn't dreamed bigger.'

Pando, deep in the Pacific, shot with a 15mm lens on Velvia 100 asa film circa 2002

There's a tipping point for every surfer, National Champ or not, where life catches up.

' After competing a lot, I kind of got to the point where I was not getting a huge amount out of it. I was kind of bored with what I was doing and wasn’t really enjoying it, and I wasn’t really going anywhere. It was challenging to go from doing something I had dreamed of to not really knowing what I was up to. I had a few years there where I had different jobs, like working on movie sets. I was also working at Fatima's restaurant at night. I was living kind of day to day. I definitely had a break from competing for a few years, but surfing remained that thing that kept me anchored. I met my wife, Nicky, in about 2005, and we went to Australia for a couple of years around 2007. We lived on the Goldie and worked at the Cheyne Horan School of Surf in Surfers Paradise. That was a wicked time as well. Working with Shane was classic. He's an absolute character, and we met some cool people over there. I really enjoyed working at the surf school, and being part of that buzz that's right in the centre of Surfers.

Australia was a bit of a shock to the system, to be honest. Going from a big fish in a little pond to a tiny little fish in a massive pond, and Australia's just gnarly. It's dog-eat-dog. The transition was tough; from surfing in NZ and getting the pick of the waves and having heaps of space in the water, to that intensity; the lineups there are brutal. I wasn't expecting that, and I also hadn't realised that the Gold Coast doesn't get big that often. You get some decent cyclone swells, but generally, it's head high and not the grinding Kirra pits every day that I’d dreamed of.

‘I came back to New Zealand at one point and was blown away by how beautiful it was. Out at Piha, no one out, I'm surfing a grinding right-hander by myself, surrounded by the most insane landscape and watching the sun going down. I was just like, Oh my God, I want to come home.

I'd done the school holiday programs with the surf school, and I loved working with kids. I'd always had thoughts of teaching and because I'd done my degree, I was able to do a one-year graduate diploma and started teaching at Devonport Primary where I’ve been ever since.

Devonport Primary really is a part of me now; the space is insane. We're up on Takaranga, a beautiful maunga looking out of the Waitemata. We're connected to the local community and the maunga authority. We do heaps of work planting and rejuvenating the area. Working with kids is something that I love doing.

In the time I’ve been there, the kids have come through, and they're adults now. I see a lot of them regularly, around Devonport and around town. I love the feedback they give me about the impact that I had on them coming through my class. It's why I love teaching. That you can make a you can make a difference. My teaching philosophy is all about getting kids to be proud of who they are, appreciate who they are, and understand that we’re all different. I love teaching - working with kids is a real privilege.

There’s a lot of negative noise around education at the moment, and some huge changes from curriculum to teaching approaches. But the actual teaching, at the heart of it, is making kids ready for the future. To be able to handle their future, and so I am very proud of what I get to do.

There was definitely a stage there where I was a little bit lost and I didn't know what I was doing. But to get where I am now, I'm stoked with myself.

‘I get to surf whenever I want. Well, not whenever I want, because we don't live in a surf beach, but I get to go surfing whenever, wherever I want. It still gives me that drive to surf as well. The longer I’ve surfed, the more I’ve realised that surfing is the whole experience. Cranking tunes on the way to the beach, driving through our beautiful Aotearoa, it's all part of it for me. I rock up at the beach, and I'm out there. I don't even care what it's like. I just love being in the water.

I guess that's something about my whole story, is that I never aimed to be a competitive surfer, like I love doing it, and it's a part of what I do. But I started out surfing because I love being in the ocean. I love everything about it, you know, like from when I was a kid, I've just loved being in the water.

Blatant advertising placement #1 **Piha Bar Room‍ ‍**but, well, it is Pando’s favourite beach

My favourite places to surf, South Piha, is really special to me. And I also surf Bethells a lot. There are a couple of little misto spots around there that I've been lucky enough to score over the last few years, that are as good as anywhere in the world, and heavy as fuck. Being in that environment out west, surrounded by nature, that's what I live for.

… and #2 **Mangawhai Dawnie** …. Pando was out this day too, he’s one of those dots

‘I also love Mangawhai Bar. I've been able to kind of establish a good place in the lineup, 40 years surfing there does that, I guess. I've had some of the best surfs of my life up there. The bigger it gets, the better it gets, and the less crowded. And it's a full-blown world-class wave. Big, long, time tunnels. That's what I live for.

I still love competing. I took out the Jesus over 40s recently, which was a real buzz. They've created something really magical in their contest. It felt like a big event, a good crowd and super positive. I don't quite see things the same as the Christian Surfers, but the inclusiveness of them and their energy for life was actually, really cool to be a part of.

I'm still going Auckland Champs every year and have taken out the seniors 4 years in a row. I’m the most winning surfer of the Polar Bear contest up at Sandy Bay, with I think 9 titles to my name in various divisions.

A few years ago, I just had a bit of a kind of blowout in regards to beer and peanuts and sitting in my spa pool after work. And I kind of got pretty unfit, to be honest, put on quite a bit of weight. I've worked really hard since then to get back in fighting form. And I'm right there now, and I'm super pumped. The last thing I did on Friday night, turning 51 the next day, was sign up for the King of the Point. I've been surfing there a little bit, and I feel like I can get through a few rounds. But I just want to be a part of that buzz that's happening in New Zealand. I think the WSL coming here is going to be epic. Some people probably won't be too stoked on it, but I think, as far as New Zealand surfing goes, it's a massive, massive thing for it.

Nicky and I have three kids. Brodie, who's turning 15 this year, Bonnie's turning 13 soon, and Joni is just turning 8. They're just absolutely awesome, super sporty, and gorgeous little humans. And for me, obviously, that has been a massive change to me. I've grown so much as a human, and I'm a much better person now than I was before I had kids, that's for sure. Yeah, so meeting my wife, Nicky, and having a family is the best thing I've ever done, without a doubt.

Pando would like to dedicate this to his sister Anna.

"When I was 12, my sister passed away. I put my whole heart into her, and every moment that she was here with us, I made the most of it. She had a huge impact on who I am today, and she's totally a part of me. And, yeah, she’s contributed a huge amount to the person that I am."

Catching up with Andrew ‘Pando’ Robinson

Piha Pumps