When illness forced 51 year-old Marguerite Vujcich to retire from the law she decided to take up surfing instead and has raced up the national rankings to seventh place despite being the oldest on the circuit by at least three decades.
Vujchich, originally from South Africa, took up surfing at the age of 16, according to a stuff.co.nz report. She never pursued it professionally however, choosing instead to enter the (rather dryer) legal world. She moved to New Zealand 20 years ago to set up shop as a barrister and proceeded to work herself into the ground.
She boasts of not bothering to take maternity leave after the birth of her three children. She would "continue to take calls while working through the contractions" and "had one of my babies on a Friday morning and by Monday was back in work." But her industrious work ethic had a shelf life and chronic fatigue forced her to quit the law.
But Vujcich is not the sort happy to while away her retirement with some gentle golf and gardening. She decided to revisit her surfing days and - complete with her trademark bleach-blonde hair and frilly pink polka-dot bikini - has become something of a feature on the NZ surfing scene. And, despite being several decades more mature than the other competitors, has managed to rise through the ranks impressively. And she's now the seventh-rated woman nationally.
For all those burnt-out lawyers who might be contemplating alternative careers, Vujcich has some advice "I thought everyone would laugh at me but you have just got to give everything a go in life. If you want to do something, you do it."
Tip Off ROF
Vujchich, originally from South Africa, took up surfing at the age of 16, according to a stuff.co.nz report. She never pursued it professionally however, choosing instead to enter the (rather dryer) legal world. She moved to New Zealand 20 years ago to set up shop as a barrister and proceeded to work herself into the ground.
She boasts of not bothering to take maternity leave after the birth of her three children. She would "continue to take calls while working through the contractions" and "had one of my babies on a Friday morning and by Monday was back in work." But her industrious work ethic had a shelf life and chronic fatigue forced her to quit the law.
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Vujcich combining both her passions yesterday |
But Vujcich is not the sort happy to while away her retirement with some gentle golf and gardening. She decided to revisit her surfing days and - complete with her trademark bleach-blonde hair and frilly pink polka-dot bikini - has become something of a feature on the NZ surfing scene. And, despite being several decades more mature than the other competitors, has managed to rise through the ranks impressively. And she's now the seventh-rated woman nationally.
For all those burnt-out lawyers who might be contemplating alternative careers, Vujcich has some advice "I thought everyone would laugh at me but you have just got to give everything a go in life. If you want to do something, you do it."