North Shore surfers treated to best waves in years

By BERNARD ORSMAN and BRIDGET CARTER

Not far from where stormy weather was sinking boats, disconnecting power and flooding parts of Auckland City, more than 50 people were making the most of Cyclone Ivy.

Scattered along two reefs between Takapuna and Milford beaches yesterday were surfers enjoying swells, estimated to be up to 2.4m, created from the remnants of the tropical cyclone that swept the country's east coast.

Takapuna surfer Peter Digby said they were the best North Shore surfing conditions he had seen in 10 years.

Big waves on the North Shore were usually accompanied by an onshore wind, he said. But to have yesterday's conditions of large waves with an offshore wind was highly unusual.

"On the North Shore this happens so seldom that when it does happen you want to have a piece of it."

When waves reached their greatest heights between 2pm and 3pm, one local resident counted 53 surfers at the Takapuna surfing spots O'Neills and North reef.

And at 5pm there were still dozens out on the water making the most of the conditions.

Matthew Fergusson and Gavin Bisset finished surfing around 5.30pm and said that it was good out on the water, but crowded.

Everyone had been waiting for the conditions and talking about them all week, he said, but they were unlikely to last.

As surfers enjoyed the big waves at Takapuna, elsewhere in Auckland people were cleaning up from the weekend wind and rain that caused floods, slips and left thousands of homes without power.

A spokesman for the Auckland Regional Council's maritime department said three boats came loose from their moorings in winds of up to 40 knots and sank off the Tamaki Drive seawall in Hobson Bay.

A fourth boat sank in Okahu Bay.

Seven further boats broke their moorings at Okahu Bay, Northcote, Devonport, Torbay and at Putiki Bay on Waiheke Island.

A spokeswoman for the power lines company Vector, Sharon Williamson, said there were faults to six feeders, each cutting power to between 500 and 1000 homes over the weekend from Waiwera to Clevedon.

Fallen trees caused most of the faults.

A Fire Service spokeswoman said there were 99 calls for flooding on Saturday night, but things were not so busy yesterday.