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I was born at Gisborne Hospital on August 21st, 1975. 9 months prior, my parents had unknowingly conceived me in Byron Bay, Australia. Upon reaching New Zealand, my mum thought she had picked up a tropical disease, which turned out to be me. I might have been called “Christian”, but it turns out that my dad wanted a different name, so I am now called Christie. I have had an aversion to "normal" ever since.
I spent the years between 0 and 13 travelling between Gisborne and San
Diego, California, on average every 3-4 years. My dad was a carpenter
and between working in San Diego and making his own joinery business in
Gisborne, him and my mum were able to buy a house in my hometown.
Eventually they sold that house and moved us out to the beach, where my
love affair with the ocean flourished.
Wainui Beach Primary School will always have a special place in my heart.
I remember walking along the beach to school. The only time shoes were
needed was inside the classroom, otherwise it was a free-for-all, stub
your toe if you want kind of outdoors time. There was a fantastic obstacle
course complete with a climbing wall and swinging log that would modern
day parents scream in horror at all the possible ways their children could
get hurt. When I came to school, Frisbees had just been banned because
somebody had apparently taken somebody else’s scalp off with one.
The pool was a big part of life at school and we swam everyday during
the summer.
My parents decided to end their marriage when I was 13, and it was decided that I was mature enough to choose where I wanted to go to school. The custody arrangement started off as 8 months in NZ with mum and 4 months with dad in California. I certainly got the chance to compare and contrast schooling systems, but it was increasingly difficult to maintain some semblance of normality at school, so I chose to finish up high school in California.
My dad had moved up to the central coast of California to go back to school, and I ended up in San Luis Obispo which reminds me a lot of Gisborne. I finished up high school there and 2 years of “community college” which did little for me except to educate me on how broke I was.
Boogey boarding had always been a big part of my life, to compliment my dad’s passion for riding waves. As early as I can remember I was swum out the back on the boogey board, pushed into waves and told to go “right!” or “left!”. By the age of 13 I got pretty good at it, but mostly to the dismay of my surfing friends who could no longer stand to see me prone. I eventually stood up on my first board, a Wayne Parkes 5’9 single fin, which I dubbed “the pig”.
After stand up surfing for 22 years, I still consider surfing to be a central part of my life. Things always change when your hobby becomes your profession, but I still enjoy it everytime I go out. There's always something or someone new to learn from, some maneuver to improve on, and one of the best things about my business is sharing in the stoke of somebody's "best day/barrel/session/wave ever". I take it seriously enough to make it part of our mission at WavePark Mentawai Surf Resort: "Challenge our guests to surf the best waves of their lives while understanding and catering to their physical and mental limitations."
If you're interested in my daily rantings, check out my blog here.
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