Davey Boyd

A pod of Orca whales cruised the Gisborne coastline Sunday 18 November and swum right through the New Wave Primary School Surfing Championships being held at Makorori Beach, New Zealand. Their presence put a hold on the event for at least an hour until it was safe to go back the water once they had moved out to sea.

Having earlier been warned of the pod of five to six whales it wasn’t until a 1.5m high dorsal fin broke the surface of the line up at a fast pace that everyone knew they were in the vicinity. A mere 30m separated the whales from the four contestants in the water and within no time the competing surfers were on the next wave safely heading to the shore.

The whales then proceeded to show everyone how to surf the waves moving at pace through the line up to the hooting and hollering of hundreds on the beach. Once the whales finally moved up the coast the event resumed with eight champions being crowned along with Gisborne’s Illminster School who took out the teams title for the second year running.