Any good experiences to share? As a kiwi growing up we were always blown away when we saw a real pro hit town.

After I finished Uni I had a few months to kill before heading off to Indo on route to Europe....I had this opportunity to head down to TB land and work on this house up in the hills....its was an absolute mansion that had fallen into a state of disrepair and the American owners were wanting to sell it. 15 of us headed down and stayed in this 12 bedroom ex. palace and did the gardens and painted the place inside and out. In the evenings we would play poker, drink beer, jam and a few other things.....after one such session I made my way to Wainui the next morning for the early and paddled out feeling like absolute crap. It was 3ft and perfect A frames were coming in. As I made my way to the lineup I was coughing and spluttering, practically spewing my guts up as I struggled along. This bloke paddled up next to me and whacked me on the back a few times telling me to spew it all out and I would feel better. I promptly obeyed. This bloke then paddled out to the peak whilst I was still struggling to breathe and took off..........it was Potz !!! And he ripped this wave apart. I had never seen surfing like it before. It was a real eye opener. For the next few hrs I traded peaks with him and even split a few. He was so friendly and I was star struck. Turned out to be a great day