NIGHT SURFING: THE NEON LIGHTS ARE BRIGHT FOR JOSH KERR

Words: Tom Herschell/WPS
Photos: Andrew Shield/WPS

"I couldn't believe it. I walked into the construction hire place this afternoon and said, 'Give me a Cherry Picker (a crane with a human bucket on the end) and a spotlight please mate,'" cackled Kerrzy. "All I did was hand over my driver's licence and next minute I'm rolling down the beach with a 15m crane behind my truck and a lamp fit for a Broadway matinee."

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With Superbank locals like the Harringtons and Luke Dorrington suiting up to join in on the oversize game of Spotlight, it was understandable a crowd would gather and investigate this phenomena. As the nearby Rainbow Bay boozer called last drinks the revellers set up a makeshift bar on the beach screaming loudly as the boys ripped apart the right-hander under 300 million watts of Kerr's mega-torch.   

While the rest of the pros make their way to Tavarua, Kerrzy's changing bulbs on his oversized lamp. At present he's sitting 20th on the WQS ladder and looking good for qualifying. With time on his hands, The Kerr isn't taking it easy. Instead, he's hiring heavy machinery and sending camera's skyward to capture this after-hours creativity.

Laughs Josh's buddy Rory: "I got a call today from Josh saying, 'You wouldn't believe what I've got behind my truck, mate'. When I saw the rig I thought the cops would be onto us pronto". With the lamp flashing around like an over-powered lighthouse it was a spotter's delight as fingers pointed seaward trying to locate Josh in the pitch black night.

With the $300/night crane propped up like a mutant metal Octopus on the Snapper foreshore, the next problem was firing the generator. "You wouldn't believe it", giggled Kerrzy. "I found an electrical point near the lifeguard tower and away we went."

As photographer Shield took shots midway down the sandbank amid the haze and tricky light, Rory couldn't watch any longer. He called on another mate to muscle-up and man the torch. When Kerrzy ran past, the young lad took a sip of his beer, sucked on his ciggie, then called, "Am I doing any good?"
Kerrzy, buzzing like a kid who just found the Christmas ham, replied, "Yeah mate, you're doing real good! "