Becoming a father made it easy for Hawke's Bay's Daniel Moodie to slip out of the international surf life saving spotlight.
"I had lost a bit of passion for the sport. I wasn't enjoying losing and I was getting injuries, which I was probably rushing back from too early and they never came right.
"Having Hudson made it easier to call it quits. I found it a lot more enjoyable coming home from work and spending time with him than going to training ... family life with him and Carmen [Moodie's fiance] became my new passion," Moodie said from their Gold Coast home this week.
The Westshore club's favourite son, who won five New Zealand Ironman titles and two golds, one in the board race and one in the taplin relay, and two silvers, one in the ironman and one in the board relay as well as a fourth in the ski race at the 2010 world championships in Egypt, retired in 2013 after 14 years in the sport. However that didn't stop him from competing for Westshore at last year's Ohope-hosted nationals "to help make up the numbers" as he put it.
"I did the ski race and the ironman. All of the other competitors were young guys ... it was quite fun," he recalled.