This Santa Cruz Surfer Is a Certified Barrel Addict

“You could make the case he’s the most barreled surfer in Santa Cruz,” said Adam Replogle, a former pro from the region who has known Zealand since he was born. “And you’d have a good case.”

Zealand comes from a family steeped in Santa Cruz surfing. His father, John Hunter, was the surf team captain for O’Neill in the 1980s, ran Northern California sales in the 1990s, and is the company’s lead wetsuit designer. Hyperfreaks, Mutants and Technobutter; they’re his creations. A Santa Cruz surfing family, through and through. 

Like many local groms in this surf-hungry town, Zealand was drawn to surfing at an early age. But there was a major difference, however. Zealand was born with hip dysplasia, a condition where a femur doesn’t fit into the pelvis, resulting in an increased risk for joint dislocation. He’s had three surgeries and, at some point in the future, will need a hip replacement. Eventually, he’ll be able to surf again, and there are quite a few guys in Santa Cruz who have had the same operation who can still bury their rail. But before that happens, Zealand has committed himself to a simple yet all-consuming path.

“I know eventually that (surgery) will be the next step,” he said. “It’s definitely motivated me to surf and travel as much as I can. Every session, I keep it out of mind, but it’s still there. My parents are really supportive of me surfing and living my life, which is amazing.” 

Through years of practice, Zealand adopted his own subtle ways to surf pain-free. For him, tube time just clicks. “For certain turns and airs, I can’t do that motion,” he said. “I know I have to fall at certain moments. I had to train to surf a certain way. I think my hip had a lot to do with my obsession with barrel-riding. Getting barreled frontside and backside doesn’t hurt at all. It’s kinda different. I go off my toes, and frontside, my back knee is knocked in toward and inside my front knee. It’s just what I’ve adopted at a young age because it doesn’t hurt.” 

By the time Zealand started high school, he was already adept at Santa Cruz’s many coves and points. Those who know him are quick to describe Zealand with two key traits: He’s a frother, and he gets up early. During the heart of swell season, dawn patrol in a 5-mil is the norm. By the time most surfers have had their first sip of coffee, Zealand has already sniffed out a tube.

“He’s not like, I’m going to go out in this crowd and wow people,” said Dave “Nelly” Nelson, a longtime Santa Cruz photographer who documented scores of great surfers, including the rise of the West Side crew in the 1990s. “He’d rather find a wave to himself off the beaten path and score as hard as he can as fast as he can so he can get on to the other session.” 

Fishing is Zealand’s other great passion. He got hooked after his last hip surgery, which took him out of the water for a year. The nuances of fisheries and baits and gear are a different kind of ocean for him to dive into. “If I had to choose between finishing and surfing, I don’t think I could,” Zealand said. “I’ll fish for anything everywhere in the world.”

These days, it’s not uncommon for him to bounce between the coast and inland lakes, eyeing the charts so he can get the best of both worlds. “He has this unbridled drive to find what he wants,” Nelly said. “He’s addicted to surfing and he’s addicted to fishing. He knows that to get all that, he has to be on it.”

A picture of Zealand wouldn’t be complete without including his 14-year-old sister, Riviera. His support of her in the lineup is unwavering and overwhelmingly positive. He has pushed her literally and figuratively into bigger and heavier surf. Her surfing at crack-of-dawn sessions at Backdoor last winter was a testament to their relationship. 

Of course, big bro also had a crack, and it’s safe to say Zealand’s skill set translates to massive and unruly tubes on the North Shore of Oahu. Specifically, the lurching, punishing rights at Off The Wall, a spot Adam once frequented regularly. It’s an extremely difficult wave, but it offers more room to move than its neighbor, so there Zealand roams. 

“Backdoor is a lot better,” Adam said. “Off The Wall closes out most of the time. To sit there and wait, you have to have nerve. Consequences are heavy. When it comes, you have to commit. Todd Chesser used to do this back in the day. You can go hours without making a wave out there. Zealand knows how to pick the eyes out of the waves. He knows what he’s looking for. It’s really challenging to do that. To sit and wait and then actually go is hard.

“The guys who are good at playing the odds, getting two or three mind-boggling waves in a session, it’s fascinating to me,” Adam continued. “Zealand has that temperament. When the right one comes, he commits to it. I hear he’s adopted the same thing at Maverick’s. He sits in the right position. He knows his lineups. He’s watched the right people. He’s done his homework.”

Zealand's board choice, the aptly titled Tube Pig by …Lost Surfboards in the 5’11” to 6’ range, underscores his confidence level in waves of this caliber. “If it’s a good slab on a reef break, I don’t like a bigger board,” he said. “If you’re in the perfect spot, you can take off without a big board. And when you’re on the wave, it’s easier for me to maneuver.”

Perhaps no place better demonstrates Zealand’s commitment to pull in than a particular patch of islands in Indonesia. For several months each year, as Santa Cruz shuts off for the summer, he works as a surf guide at Surfing Village in the Telos Islands. For the surf-obsessed, it is an enticing proposition. A secluded setup surrounded by waves, open-air bungalows, and three meals a day.

For the last three summers, this has been Zealand’s zone, and of course, he’s found a barreling right that starts with a 10-second roll-in and ends on dry reef. According to Zealand, the wave was not considered surfable. But after numerous tests, Zealand solved it. He’ll wait forever to take the one and is now bringing out capable guests to get their best tube of the trip. 

“Last year, I convinced one Australian guy to go out,” he said. “Nobody else wanted to surf, but I knew this wave would be good. Plus, I can’t take the boat unless I bring a guest. I explained that if you go on the wave I tell you, just go straight and you’ll make it. First wave, he tried to kick out the back, got sucked over and got so smoked. Then he came back out, I begged him to get one more. He did, and it was perfect. Wave of his life. I’ll never forget it. He came back, all smiles and gave me a hug. I was so stoked. That was one of the first times I was way more stoked that someone else got a better wave than me.”

When I asked Zealand if he would be interested in collecting a paycheck from his surfing. Rather than giving a classic aspiring pro-surfer answer, he said he would prefer to use his marketing degree and work on his own time, perhaps double dip on guiding in the surfing and fishing industry.

"Maybe a little bit from sponsors here and there," he said. "But I don't know if I'd want to make a living off it. I'm just doing my thing right now, surfing as much as I can for the next couple of years. I feel like I was more stressed about my future when I was 19 to 22. But I realized, with my hip, I might as well take advantage of what I have now and live my life. I'll figure it out."