When the going gets heavy Mr Wright gets going ...

A LITTLE BIT OF WHAT YOU FANCY: Sweet winter swells at Ahipara also deliver pristine conditions at breaks further north in the South Pacific.

SO there he was, The Offsider, his weekend beat overshadowed by the sad news of the death of Christopher Lee, the acclaimed British thespian whose main claim to fame was playing Count Dracula in a series films from infamous Hammer Horror Studios.

The Offsider had actually stumbled across a copy of Curse of Frankenstein (the first Hammer film made in colour and starring Lee as the Creature and his eternal celluloid nemesis Peter Cushing as Baron Victor Frankenstein) at the Awanui street markets earlier in the month while on his way to take a team photo of a rugby team. Reassuring to know someone else in the Far North had once had an excellent taste in B-grade horror movies, the find brought memories flooding back of The Offsider as a young bookworm scouring the racks of his local newsagent for the latest editions of Forrest J Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmland and Fangoria.

How things have changed! Now he was was middle-aged man scouring the racks of his local newsagent for the latest edition of Metal Hammer (the very mag which had once presented Lee with the Spirit of Metal at its annual awards ceremony in recognition of his contribution to the much maligned genre).

In a tribute to Lee's legacy, The Offsider sank the fangs of his longboard into many a juicy green face during the decent south swell which hit last Thursday and continued to pump through the weekend. While the breaks further round never really got all-time, head high fun could be had across the inside bank, although it also drew a crowd desperate to suck the swell dry while it was in town, someone counting 52 in the line-up on Saturday. The best day was last Thursday but hungover and suffering from cramp, The Offsider's unusual technique of taking off became even more eye-catching. He blew more than he made but the ones he did make were described in technicolour to anyone who came within earshot.

Good waves at the local also means good waves at Fiji so plenty of stoke at the sight of Cloudbreak absolutely lighting up for the men's tour of the 2015 World Surf League, although the Age sportsbuster wished the WSL statisticians would start putting a 'G' for goofy, or N for natural, beside each competitor's name and country of origin to help punters not completely familiar with everyone on tour identify who was competing on their forehand or backhand.

Anyway, the Fiji Pro at last delivered the first epic lefthander of this year's tour with the previous four legs run in either right-handers or average beach break conditions. Owen Wright (Australia, G) was simply a cut above everyone else, winning via a historic performance featuring two perfect heats. Or, to put it another way, he was the Baron Van Helsing of the men's tour, driving his stake deep into the heart of the heavy top-to-bottom freight-training death barrels that others couldn't find, or make. Also notable were Ricardo Christie (New Zealand, N), giving a fine account of himself despite losing on the narrowest of margins to Jeremy Flores (France, N) in an exciting backhand tube duel regarded as one of the heats of the day in pumping waves on Sunday; and Brazilian Stormtrooper Italo Ferriera (G), striking a hitherto unseen combination of mach speed and power snaps.

Cloudbreak's rifling perfection also hobbled the airborne jesters, allowing pro surfing to return to its power roots. Cries have started to arise that the current vogue of airs which have put surfers like Felipe Toledo (Brazil, N) near the top of the standings were a novelty move which were being over-judged; basically today's 360 (a high-scoring move frequently deployed last century but no longer part of anyone's repertoire). Even full-on tail slides fail to garner much reward from judges in this day and age. Progression must continue but the good old late take-off, serious bottom turn, rail-to-rail carve and long, deep tube still cuts it when the waves are overhead and breaking top-to-bottom.

The Offsider had once dreamed of surfing Cloudbreak and her gorgeous little sister Restaurants but was left wondering - through the latest state-of-the-art footage showing either break draining off for 300 to 400-hundred yards and mostly below sea level - if he could have even handled surfing there in his prime. The pros make it look easy but as one commentator noted, average surfers should not expect to get barrelled in perfect waves which also offered a risk of being impaled on a spike of razor-sharp coral.

Mind you, nothing preventing him from wondering if he had ridden the same waves Wright scored his 10s on when the swell passed through Ahipara on its way to Fiji on Sunday. A pure flight of fancy to be sure, allowing him to imagine he had scored the best of both worlds.

- The Offsider is Age sportsbuster Francis Malley. Respond at

sports@northlandage.co.nz