The Backdoor Jesus Classic

Backdoor Jesus Classic 2022 presented by Seki Surf & Swabbo was held at Hot Water Beach this year.

The CSNZ team left Friday to travel up in hope to beat the rain and storm that was predicted to come. But we road right into it, we saw the guys about to set up the road cones to block the road off, so we went around them thinking we might be able to get through in the knick of time - but no avail. It was completely flooded with some parts of the road 2+ meters underwater! We waited for 4 hrs in hopes that the storm would clear and we’d be free to go through, but the situation just got worse. Our plan was to set up the day prior to be ready to rock n’ roll by Saturday. This was all going out of the window. We had our CS local crew stuck at the other end of the flooding and not able to get home for the night.

We didn’t want to backtrack all the way home to then drive through the next day if the roads did open up in time. So one of our crew knew of a Christian camp back in Thames so gave them a call to see if we could crash for the night. We were in luck, they had space but it was a mess they said so if you don’t mind the mess from the camp that just left then come on over.

We drove over the ranges, had dinner and prayed that God would release the water so not just us, but every competitor & volunteer could make it through the next day.

The next day we woke up at 5 am to drive over the hill, Google Maps still said that it was closed but there was no use staying out as that is the only way through. So we kept praying on our way that the weather would fine up & the wind would turn around. We got to where the road closure was and it was all open, there were grandad cars everywhere along the way and people had to abandon their cars for the night since the flooding was so bad.

We arrived at the comp site and the wind had already started to turn and the waves had started to clean up. Every volunteer started arriving and we were on schedule to start. As our competitors started to sign in they couldn’t believe we hadn’t called it off! And stoked we hadn’t cause the waves had shown up!

It was forecast for more rain for day 1 of the comp but we didn’t get one drop of rain, so much so that most of us got burnt as we were all prepared to run this comp in the rain. I had my gumboots & full wet weather gear ready. Sun was so hot, and we had 4-5 ft semi-offshore winds so we ran all the older divisions first.

Saturday evening most of the competitors & volunteers all went back to Seabreeze Campground for dinner and live music. All the competitors got a tent site with their entry fee so did all our volunteers so it was a rad vibe of all the surfers and helpers doing community together that night. We watched the kiwi womans team beat England in the rugby world final which was a bonus for us all.

The first heat entered the water at 7am on day two of competition, and it was perfect offshore winds. The Swell had fully stuck around and was still solid 3-4ft and stayed like that the whole day. Locals kept saying, “How did you guys score one of the best days of the year!? We never get all-day offshore winds like this!”

Our MCs & volunteers created such a great vibe for everyone on site which helped keep everyone around for the day. We had food being handed out, good tunes and awesome yarns from the MC’s.

The waves kept blowing everyone away all day right through all the finals. Around 3pm we had finished all our finals and brought every competitor and their friends and whānau into where prize giving was to be held. One of our local CS legends shared a part of her story of coming to know true peace and how it only comes from knowing Jesus. This was such a great message for all to hear. We then went through prize giving and gave out over $10k of cash & prizes. We were able to give out a bunch of spot prizes to anyone who was there on the day. We were so blessed by all our Sponsors & volunteers to make the day happen.

Since the event we have had many people write in messages of thanks & one, in particular, said Q: “we go to most of the comps around New Zealand and love all of them, some times my kids get knocked out and they just want to leave but this time they all wanted to stay and just be there. The vibe at your comp was not like anyone i’ve been at before. I don’t know why, maybe it’s that peace the lady talked to us about? But whatever it is i’m keen to come to the next one. So thanks for running such a great comp CSNZ.”

Thank you Jesus for opening the roads, for bringing the waves, for changing the wind, & helping some to know the peace that only comes from knowing you. Thanks Jesus!!