yeah , my 1st thought . He sounds a bit insecure ........you may be closer to humiliating him than you realise .

Have you seen the "bleeder " type soft baits . These have a small cavity that you can fill with some sort of smelly attractant that "bleeds" out. I have flounder , prawn and octopus looking baits .  good luck

Things that come to mind:

- Long soft baiting rod for long casts, 8 - 10 feet. In reality, this is quite a specialist bit of kit and it may be hard to track down anything longer than 8 feet in NZ. It will need to cast 1oz.

- Braid 100% I'd go as light as possible for long casts. 15lb or less. You'll need to learn to tie a good braid to leader knot.

- Reel. Nothing too heavy as you may be doing a lot of casts! Maybe size 4000 in the Japanese brands.

- Soft baits. Definitely have some Gulp to hand. The scent may seal the deal for you. That said, sometimes the fish are more in to action, so a few ZMan paddle tails might be useful.

- Technique. You'll be bouncing the soft bait over sand. A straight retrieve is not best for snapper because the soft bait will ride up in the water away from the sea bed and fish. A very slow retrieve dragging the lure over the sand works sometimes though.

- If you can SAFELY wade, that will add to the amount of water you can cover.  That said, I've caught snapper on soft baits in less than 1 metre of water, so anything is possible!  

- Fish gullies and any other features that you come across just like the bait fishos.  I would suggest a wild surf beach that's getting smashed by big waves is not the place to try this when starting out.

You've set yourself a big challenge, but it sounds fun. Good luck!