SOLE KIWI: Kirk Beyer was the only New Zealander to feature in an Aussie surfing movie filmed this month.

Titahi Bay longboard surfer Kirk Beyer says he felt privileged to be invited to star in a Christian surfing movie filmed by Australians entirely in New Zealand.

Kirk (21) was the only Kiwi of 10 surfers filmed on Taranaki beaches recently for the movie Flux, which it is hoped will premiere at the Noosa Festival of Surfing early next year.

ZOOMING IN: Rosie Spooner zooms in on the action.

“It is cool to surf with new people, especially when they are really good,” he says.

The highlight of the 10-day New Zealand shoot – which included Raglan and Matakana Island – was Stent Rd, south of Oakura.

The surf break off Stent Rd has good size and good power, Kirk says. “It’s uncrowded and you could see the snow-covered mountain (Mt Taranaki) which always means freezing cold water.”

The subjects of Flux, a documentary, include Rachel Pinsak (17), the under-18 girls longboard champion of Australia, and Sage Joske, a former champion and surfboard builder from New South Wales.

WATER-PROOF: Andrew Carruthers takes his camera, protected with water-proof housing, out in the surf.

Producer and director Andrew Carruthers, a pastor from Salt Baptist Church, in Queensland, says: “I chose New Zealand because it is geographically spectacular, I know a lot of people in New Zealand, and it’s underrated as a surf location.”

Filming was on a shoe-string budget, with sponsorship from the Australian Christian channel and Shine TV. Asia-Pacific regional Christian television coverage gives the film a potential audience of 10 million, Andrew says.

The movie features male and female surfers of different ages and backgrounds, who had in common a love of surfing and following Jesus, he says.

Lee Cooper (17), a surfer from Queensland, calls New Zealand cool, saying the water is cold, the coastline rugged and the surf uncrowded.

George Watt, of New South Wales, who is still surfing at 57, says he enjoyed surfing Raglan – after seeing it years ago on the movie Endless Summer.

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