SUP Mag UK May 2015 issue 5 | Page 6

Changing lanes Changing lanes Changing lanes Joe Morley interview Interview: Sup Mag UK Hey Joe, how's it going out in NZ? Have you been scoring sick conditions - kayak or SUP? Te l l u s a b o u t y o u r b a c k g ro u n d i n kayaking - we know you charge some silly WW conditions at times. Now then. It’s going well thanks. It’s been a dry season so there’s not been heaps of white water knocking about but what is on offer is world class so no complaints there. In terms of surfing; a good swell is pretty consistent here so it’s not too difficult to find decent waves. From home it’s 20 minutes to the closest beach break in Maketu (east coast) with multiple others not much further. It’s easy to up and go when the time’s right. Raglan (west coast) is even more consistent and that’s about two hours away so day trips there for good conditions are usually the go every couple of weeks. We got a couple of epic days on the east coast off the back of Cyclone Pam the other week – for sure the biggest waves I’ve ever surfed. I’ve been kayaking for about 15 years, firstly as a sprog I paddled recreationally, just messing around in swimming pools, lakes and gentle white water. From there I got into the slalom racing side of things and went on to represent GB in major competitions all over the world for around eight years. Alongside that I would always go on missions running bigger rivers until my desire to do that overtook my interest in slalom. This was about the time the extreme race scene blew up – the opportunity to compete on big white water became huge and fully engulfed me. Since then I’ve had the pleasure of travelling to some epic locations around the world to search out sweet white water and compete at the biggest races. s t a n d u p p a d d l e m a g u k 6