WINTER, SHMINTER... THERE’S PLENTY OF SUNSHINE IN THE WORLD
BECAUSE SURF IS FREE
PLUS: HUGE WAVES AND ICE COLD: DUNEDIN PHOTOGRAPHER STEVO... P92
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21/06/12 2:25 PM
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DETAILS & STUFF
WHERE TO PICK SMORGASBOARDER UP Grab it FREE at quality surf stores, shapers and cool cafes on the coast of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. For a full list, see the directory in the back of the mag or just get to your local surf shop and ask for it. If you see a local store advertising, please support them! They’ll have the lion’s share of mags in your area. smorgasboarder is published six times a year.
CAN’T GET THERE? SUBSCRIBE
If you can’t get to a store, have smorgasboarder delivered to your door. The mag’s still free, but Australia Post need to get paid.
$21 IN AUSTRALIA GETS YOU SIX EDITIONS.
THE COVER SHOT
Sign up at www.smorgasboarder.com.au. It’ll arrive every two months. Back issues are available for $5 per copy.
Travelling surf writer Matt Rott lives in Micronesia. This photo not only shows off the quality of his home breaks, but also embodies the spirit of fun that surfing is all about. Have fun, have a surf and enjoy this ‘global’ edition!
BOYS & GIRLS OF SMORGASBOARDER LOTS OF STUFF & ADVERTISING Dave Swan dave@smorgasboarder.com.au 0401 345 201 NEW ZEALAND STUFF ‘Jiff’ Morris jeff@smorgasboarder.co.nz +64 (0)220 943 913 LOTS OF STUFF & DESIGN Mark Chapman mark@smorgasboarder.com.au 0400 875 884 SOUTH AUSTRALIAN STUFF James Ellis james@smorgasboarder.com.au 0410 175 552 STUFF, ACCOUNTS & EVERYTHING ELSE Louise Gough advertising@smorgasboarder.com.au PHOTO STUFF Ben Vos
benv@smorgasboarder.com.au
MORE DESIGN STUFF: Dean Slockee & Gus Brown PROOFING, TEST STUFF & STUNTS: Gus Brown
CONTRIBUTORS
This is your mag. Tell us your stories, send us your pics, let us know your thoughts... Ideas & submissions: editorial@smorgasboarder.com.au
WWW.SMORGASBOARDER.COM.AU smorgasboarder is published by Huge C Media Pty Ltd ABN 30944673055. All information is correct at time of going to press. The publishers cannot accept responsibility for errors in articles or advertisements, or unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations. The opinions and words of the authors do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. All rights reserved. Reproduction in part or whole is strictly prohibited without prior permission.
We print with Pep Central and Craft Inprint Group, an environmentally aware and committed printer whose business is founded upon the principles of minimising waste and maximising recycling. Nice work.
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1
Since 197
t” u o b a ll a is g in f r “is what su om.au .c e im t d o o .g w w w
WETSUITS!
We reckon we have the cheapest wetsuits in the world. Get the right fit, get yours at Goodtime. Stocking Rip Curl, O’Neill, West, Excel, Roxy, Quicksilver, Billabong, Peak
SKATE SHOES! The gremlins are telling us our Vans and DC skate shoes are the cheapest in the world... So get them at Goodtime.
Goodtime Surf & Sail 29 Ipswich Road, Woolloongabba, Brisbane OF TOU R E T UAL R I V A ON LIN TAK E H OU R T I W H UG H OP -TH RO TH E S WALK O E D I V
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07 3391 8588 FIND US ON FACEBOOK!
Photo courtesy of Dick Hoole
2/07/12 9:34 PM
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Peru. Waves you haven’t surfed yet. Photo: Peru Aventura
GET PACKING
We all dream of doing it. Some of us only get to do it once a year. Some lucky ones seem to be doing it all the time. Some even do it for a living. Some get to do it in some pretty weird and wonderful places. Some just love doing it in the same place over and over again while others are constantly after a brand new venue to heighten the thrill. Travel is that ever-present idea - an insatiable craving for so many. And lets face it: whatever your preference, whatever your schedule, as a surfer you WILL travel. Whether it’s to a far flung tropical paradise, to icy cold foreign waters as a change from home, or simply down the coast to your favourite secret spot for a weekend away - it’s all part of the same drive to get away, with surfboard under arm to immerse yourself in the energy of a different wave. It’s with that thought in mind that we’ve brought together a collection of surf-trip stories to warm you through the next two months of winter. We’ve got top-shelf tropical travel tales from the best surf tour operators in the business, interviews with everyday travellers, right through to personal stories of readers’ trips to weird and wonderful spots you might not think of for surfing. There’s even stories from people in different countries, showing us despite geographical boundaries and cultural quirks, just how similar we really all are when it comes to pursuit of this passion that is surfing. It’s real stories like the ones in this edition that keep us amazed, excited and motivated to get out there too. So when your teeth are still chattering from your freezing morning carpark change, we hope that these pages of (mostly) warm waves, boardies and bikinis will help get that blood pumping, keep you excited to catch more waves and get you through the next winter months with all the reading you need! Enjoy!
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Riley Balsawood Surfboards are made using renewable resource balsa and recycled polystyrene for performance, durability, beauty and lower environmental impact
HANDCRAFTED IN AUSTRALIA Raw Balsa • D.I.Y. Kits • Surfboards •Blanks • Tide Clocks •Fins • Fin Boxes Instructional DVDs: Learn To Surf, Build A Solid Balsa Board, Build A Foam Core Balsa Board Call 0412 376 464 or Email mark@riley.com.au
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SHIPPING ANYWHERE
INCLUDING NEW ZEALAND
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STORM SURFERS
Find out what happened behind the scenes of this 3D big wave experience.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
20
TRAVEL Hitch a ride on a trip around the globe, from tropical perfection to icy torture.
30 THE MALDIVES 44 CAROLINE ISLANDS 51 BALI STAY 52 FIJI 58 NEW CALEDONIA 66 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 76 ROTE ISLAND 78 PERU 80 WEST SUMATRA 82 BRUNEI 85 MORE MALDIVES 88 HOLLAND 90 LAKE MICHIGAN
NEW CALEDONIA One of the fantastic destinations in our travel-packed issue.
Power Base Fins & Boxes - Completely Integrated
58 THE USUAL BITS THE LATEST
12 Reader Photos 14 News & Community 16 Travel essentials
GEAR
STEVO
Dunedin’s big-wave lensman talks about his life and love.
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104 Boards, boards, boards 111 Skate 113 Test everything
CLOSEOUT
115 118 122 128 130
Business Columns Directories Relax Aloha Barry
MORE POWER MORE CONTROL
OWEN WRIGHT
Chooses DXL CERAMIC C4 with Power Base Boxes
www.powerbasefins.com.au 02 4323 4818
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READERS’ PICS Enjoy the postcard moments in this tasty Mentawai image Victorian snapper Hayden O’Neill scores himself a copy of the SEWN NZ longboarding movie on DVD
NEXT EDITION: Get your photo printed here and win yourself a Loud Life t-shirt! Send submission and photos to letters@smorgasboarder.com.au loudlifeindustries.tumblr.com
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NEWS THIS IS THE
SURFWARE AUSTRALIA SUNSHINE COAST SUPERSTORE TRADE YOUR WETUTPIE! Trade
$399
in your old new one! Receive wetsuit for a of wetsuit wash frea 250ml bottle e with new wetsuit sold. every SPECIALS: Wetsuit wash for $7.95, wetsuit bu cke and wet-dry bags ts for $24 for $24.
BRAND NEW MINI-MALS
2 Bulcock Street, Caloundra QLD 4551 Tel (07) 5491 3620
Open Mon to Sat, 9am to 5pm and Sun 9am to 4pm. Closed Christmas Day
SURFWAREAUSTRALIA.COM
WHAT’S HAPPENING AROUND OUR SIDE OF THE COAST editorial@smorgasboarder.com.au
facebook.com/smorgasboarder
SURFAID APPEAL
THE PLACE TO MEET
Surfaid has put out the call for funding needed to supply water facilities in the Mentawais.
The Sandy Feet Surf Swap is on again, 19 August in Port Macquarie. The swap meet will be smack-bang in the middle of the Australian Surf Festival on the day after the Australian Longboard Titles final. If you missed last year’s it was a cracker. Check out Thomas Brown’s footage to see what it is all about at http://vimeo.com/28081483
The past year saw the organisation roll out recovery after the 2010 tsunami. They’ve now moved into long-term recovery for affected communities with a new program called SeSe, which means ‘appropriate’ in Mentawai language. It costs on average $100 to provide a sustainable fresh water supply to one family. Money raised will go towards gravity-fed tanks, wells, filtered spring water collection and rainwater harvesting systems. All donations are tax deductible. To get involved, visit surfaid.org and feel free to join Surfaid on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for regular news on programs and events.
FREE BOARDS FOR BROKEN ONES The ever-busy Peter Neely of Indo Surf & Lingo has been doing travel insurance for some time now, but has recently stepped up the options and coverage for surfers. He’s now organised cover for any damage to surfboards - even while surfing - and unlimited medical and evacuation costs from anywhere overseas. There’s also an option for travel within Australia, so if you plan to catch a cyclone swell, and if you snap your board, you get one free... Well, the cash to order one from your favourite local shaper anyway! You’re looking at from $700 to $1,000 for the international trips, and $500 for Australian trips. Peter tells us you can even get cover of up to $6,000 for more expensive custom boards, SUPs and the like. For more information, see the full details are on the Indo Surf website: www.indosurf.com.au/insurance.php
GOT NEWS? 14
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twitter.com/smorgasboarder
No entry fee. Anyone can just come along and buy/sell/swap any used surfboards. There will also possibly be some live music and some other interesting stalls.
CUTTING EDGE One of our favourite shapers, Thomas Bexon of Thomas Surfboards and his mate and right hand man Jake Bowrey have teamed up with Malakai Mitchell to create a barber shop/clothing store/surfboards/ lifestyle products/hang-out space with a skate halfpipe called Captain Sip Sop’s Barber Shop & Outfitters on Noosa Eumundi Rd, right beside Thomas Surfboards. Congrats and go easy on those pompadours fellas. captainsipsop.tumblr.com
CLARK RELOCATES South Australian board workshop the Ding King and Clark Surfboards has moved and has a new location at Units 7 and 8 of 9 Chapman Road in Hackham, SA. Drop in your boards with dings or talk with Leighton about custom orders 9-5, Monday to Friday. Call 0422 443 789 for info.
DON’T SHELL OUT! On the subject of not paying up, Ocean Addicts in Maroochydore are offering easy finance on their gear, so rather than part with your hardearned cash straight up, you can spread costs of gear, lessons and more across a few months. www.oceanaddicts.com.au Send it in. Upcoming events, charity happenings, interesting stories, email to: editorial@smorgasboarder.com.au
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Tom Wegener,, stoked at the Byron Surf Festival 2011
BYRON GETS SET TO CELEBRATE From all accounts the Byron Surf Festival appears to have set a benchmark for other surf festivals to follow. Last year’s inaugural celebration was a huge success with surfing legends such as Dick Hoole, George Greenough, Alby Falzon, Taylor Steele, Tom Wegener, Andrew Kidman, Neal Purchase Jnr, Rusty Miller, Danny Wills, Mick Waters and the like attending and contributing to what was considered by many to be one very special festival. It’s on again this year from Friday 26-28 October and is shaping up to be even better. This three-day fusion of community focused events highlight the creative culture within surfing including surf-art, music, film, photography, surf markets, workshops, surf history display, kids stART me up events, surf swap meet, freestyle&stoke expression session, surf demo’s, mermaids, charities... There will be a number of ‘Surf Culture Now’ events being hosted all around beautiful Byron town and it’s beaches with the Opening Ceremony Friday 26th Oct being held at the Byron Bay Brewery & Buddha Bar, which is shaping up to be a night not to be missed. This year there will be other additions to the festivities including beach debris art creations, more surf legends and environmental kids projects as well as a ‘Surf Shorts’ short film competition where budding surf film makers get a chance to present their 7min short films to a esteemed panel of judges. For the winner and runner-ups there are some amazing prizes up for grabs, including a film mentorship from a renowned surf filmmaker and a screening at the 2013 Byron Bay International Film Festival and all final 5 entrants will be shown on the Saturday night 27th Oct at the Byron Community Centre before the Taylor Steele film premier ‘This Time Tomorrow.‘
The legendary Radiator vest essential waterwear Perfect on its own or as extra warmth under conventional wetsuits. Since its launch the Radiator vest has become standard equipment for surfers, whether on its own or under a convential wetsuit, our four revolutionary layers make it the thinnest, most flexible suit on the market. All our products are backed by our legendary quality, no questions asked returns policy and just the best product from the guys who make them. View the full range of lightweight waterwear and accessories online.
For more information see the website: www.byronbaysurffestival.com
CORRECTION! A huge apology to Vicco photographer Hugh Webb, who missed out on the accolades for this fine photo in the last edition. Sorry about that Hugh! We hope a copy of SEWN NZ Longboarding DVD will make it a little better.
available direct online only
www.radiator.net jul/aug 2012
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RSF members showing the young’uns how it’s done in the Mentawais. Photos: Supplied RSF
LATEST: COMMUNITY
NO WORK, JUST WAVES The dream of surfing all day without worrying about getting back to work is a reality for the retiree.
At beaches around Australia and worldwide, groups of retirees are experiencing the same relaxed and enjoyable lifestyle and a Point Plomer chapter recently joined the fun. The aim is to have other surfing retirees join the fraternity as their own chapter (beach) and expand the idea worldwide
so when travelling on the endless search for waves and spotting a Retired Surfers Fraternity member, an instant association is formed. For any budding surf bum retirees keen to get involved, check out the website for more information: www.retiredsurfersfraternity.com
Photo: Supplied
Being a permanent surf bum is the core idea behind the Retired Surfers Fraternity - a new organisation pulled together by a group of surfers from Shelly Beach on the Central Coast of
NSW. A fraternity of local retirees, the Shelly Beach Chapter, proved to be very popular at their local beach, gathering in the morning to check the breaks, surfing, having a chat in the water, enjoying a coffee while telling some stories and generally having a good time away from the workforce.
SCHOOL IS IN... Nick Wright is a TAFE instructor in cabinetmaking who found inspiration in the recent Shaper’s Apprentice design submissions and came up with a great novelty design himself. This unique craft is 8’ x 22 ½” x 3”, has an extended tail rocker for leverage in turns, a viewing hole through the board’s centre, fins made from a kitchen chopping board and, for no real reason, a solar-powered LED light. 16
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WHEN BEING CRAP IS COOL “I rode the board in rubbish surf so the jury is still out regarding the wide tail and odd tail shape for turns,” he says. Regardless, with this out-there design, Nick shows that cabinetmaking is more than white box construction, but can be individual and fun. His eventual goal is to incorporate the making of a board into the cabinetmaking curriculum as an elective. Fingers crossed for Nick.
By the time you hold this mag in your hands, the Third World Championships of Crap Surfing (WCCS III) will have graced Praa Sands in the UK with general awesomeness and dazzling displays of surfing prowess. Examples of said prowess include the magic moment shown above as Julian Burns performs his signiture
move, yet to be achieved by any noncrap surfer, ‘The J.B Rear Dismount’. We wait with baited breath for the results of the crowning of the King and Queen of Crap Surfing - and possibly a Duke or Duchess. Look out in the next edition for full coverage of this milestone in surfing history. www.crapsurfer.com
jul/aug 2012
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What’s this
aflexbtailoo
thing about?
STOP WONDERING - TRY ONE AND FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF AT WALLY'S WATER GALLERY, MARCOOLA -RIGHT ON THE BEACH. DEMO A UNIQUE BUSHRAT FLEXTAIL BOARD TO EXPERIENCE THE INIMITABLE SPEED OFF THE MARK, PURE PERFORMANCE AND WHIP OUT OF YOUR TURNS... IN PERSON. WE HAVE A STUNNING RANGE OF FLEXTAILS IN STOCK TO SUIT YOU AND YOUR SURFING.
It’s all about the beach
6 Lorraine Ave • Marcoola Beach QLD
07 5448 8560 STOCKING QUALITY SURFBOARDS BY BUSHRAT, HIGH TIDE, BLACK APACHE, TOM WEGENER & SAS surf art • shells • driftwood things • chenille shorts beach stuff • retro sunnies • thongs • stripy towels umbrellas • hammocks • GoPro cameras
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D e m o availab
le
in store
jul/aug 2012
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BE WELL PREPARED
You’re finally on the surf trip of your life. The last thing you need is to wind up curled in the foetal position in bed while your partner or all your mates are out surfing.
The Saltwater First Aid Kit is specifically designed to fix you, or at least stick you back together again so you can get straight back in the water. It also comes with a handbook with step-bystep instructions showing you what to do if you find yourself in a dodgy situation. So whether you have stepped on one of those little pricks (sea urchins), been stung by some tentacled beast, chomped by a large fish with teeth, had a heart attack as a result, cut yourself on some coral or eaten something you shouldn’t have, the Saltwater First Aid Kit for Surfers will come to the rescue. And it ain’t no regular first aid kit. Sure it may have the regulars like gauze bandages and the like, but it also has a range of stuff not found in a normal kit - things like waterproof dressings and tape, gastro stop, Lucus papaw ointment, hydrogen peroxide and Panadol, all in a water resistant, padded bag.
When you’re surfing in any location, albeit a remote or tropical destination, the risk of infection is significantly increased and the smallest of cuts can easily turn into something horrendous overnight. To prevent infection and, more importantly, to keep you surfing, it’s important that all cuts, grazes and scratches are sterilized and covered. This little kit is a must for any surfer, especially those travelling overseas or to particularly remote locations.
The Saltwater First Aid Kit for Surfers is available for only $69.95. Buy your own online at www.saltwaterfirstaid.com
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A great lightweight cover for carrying two boards. 10mm protective foam gusset and 5mm waterproof padding with external tightening straps. Perfect for transporting your quiver to the nearest surf break. If taking your boards on a plane, go the heavier 20mm cover for added protection.
LATEST: & GREATEST
GOOD COOKIN’
DOUBLE BAG IT, PLEASE
What a cool little BBQ! This little multi-finctional Safari Chef by Cadac is as compact as it is clever.
The Double Compact Fish 7’2” board bag from Ocean & Earth retails for $219.95 - www.oceanearth.com
They call it the “pickup-and-go-anywhere, anytime outdoor kitchen” and they’re not wrong. Grill fish, BBQ snags, roast a leg of lamb, flip some pancakes or whip up a stir-fry - there’s everything you need for it in one compact bag that weighs less than 5kg. Perfect for day trips and small enough to just keep in the trunk of your car for those BBQ emergencies. And for only $169, you really can’t go wrong.
TRIPLE STINGER If a bee and a wasp had a fight, we reckon the wasp would win. Why? Because the bee only gets one hit. The wasp gets multiple stings... See the setup? Like the combo of bags? Multiple stings? Okay, while that is possibly the worst intro ever done, it’s for seriously cool bags that we love and use all the time ourselves.
For more information, see www.cadacbbq.com.au
WASP are offering the complete range of waterproof bags as a combo deal to keep your gear dry and save you some dollars.That’s a Mega WASP, a King WASP and a Baby WASP for $99.99. BUT WAIT! Use the discount code SMORGASBOARDER and you save an extra $10! That’s right, just $89.99! www.waspbags.com.au/products/complete-combo-deal
LOUD AND PROUD
RRP $44.95
DRIP DRY
Something that gets us excited is new people trying new things. Loud Life is one such new thing, so we’re excited!
Clip’n Drip Glove and Boot Hangers from Seventh Wave Wetsuits- $25 NZD (approx. $20 AUD) are a great idea for getting your gear dry quicker. Who wants wet boots anyway? www.seventhwave.co.nz
Roasting lid, or wok - you decide
Flat, or flip for ribbed griddle
Fat-free grilling on the BBQ
Stove top for pots and kettles
A clothing venture kicked off by two young Sunshine Coast entrepeneurs - artist Jamie Edwards and surfer Gus Murray - Loud Life is all about chasing your dreams and living every day to the full. Great gear with a good sentiments behind it. Join the boys on www.facebook.com/ LoudLifeIndustries.
Following our wetsuit tests last edition, we were given the world’s smallest wetsuit by our mates at Ocean Addicts in Maroochydore. It’s only 0.6mm thick! We haven’t got to test it yet though...
Uses 500g gas cartridge Legs fold away for storage
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Ross Clarke-Jones captures world-first 3D footage from inside an 18-foot barrel at Shipsterns Bluff, south-eastern Tasmania. Photo: Andrew Chisholm 20
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LATEST: INTERVIEW
EYE THE
STORM BEHIND THE
Have you ever wondered what it would really be like to charge down the face of a monster wave? Not just a big wave - a humongous wave. To experience that initial drop, hurtling down the face at 100 miles an hour, the rush of adrenalin, even the wipeout? Soon you will be able to endure the death defying without risk of life or limb, or even getting wet. Storm Surfers 3D takes the audience along for a ride, in, under and over the kind of waves most mere mortals would never even contemplate surfing. INTERVIEW: DAVE SWAN, PHOTOS: SUPPLIED
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For those unfamiliar with the Storm Surfers concept, it’s a reality series developed for the Discovery Channel which follows the exploits of two-time world champion surfer Tom Carroll, big-wave hellman Ross Clarke-Jones and meteorologist and expert surf forecaster Ben Matson in the pursuit of gigantic storm swells around the world. Six years on from when the original show was aired, a feature length film - in 3D - has recently been completed.
Underwater Director of Photography Dean Cropp captures Tom Carroll’s wave of the day. Photo: Dean Dampney
Storm Surfers 3D takes us on a journey to Shipstern’s Bluff in Tasmania, Cape Solander south of Sydney, Hawaii and a never been surfed break seventy-five kilometres off the coast of Western Australia. The stars of the show need no introduction - their feats are well documented in surf magazines, newspapers and the like, but what really grabbed our interest was an opportunity to talk with the men behind the film and the actual making of what appears to be the world’s first 3D surf film. We were lucky enough to have a chat with Justin McMillan, co-director of Storm Surfers 3D, who is the nutcase directing from onboard a jetski, out in the water, whilst his other partner in crime, co-director Chris Nelius steers proceedings from a helicopter overhead, or from one of the boats. DAVE: So am I right in saying, this is the world’s first 3D surf film? JUSTIN: There has been a 3D production before called Ultimate Wave, with Kelly Slater, but it was developed for Giant Screen Imax theatres, not for normal cinema screens. We wanted the film to be accessible to a larger audience and to provide an honest account of what Tom and Ross actually experience when they are tackling these monstrous waves. For viewers to be totally immersed in what takes place. DAVE: Was it your first time filming in 3D? JUSTIN: It was and it really was a steep learning curve. It took me a while to grasp the concept - learning the parameters of 3D and what you can and can’t do. Visually it was a matter of understanding what works in terms of the foreground, middle ground and background and the layering required to get that 3D effect. The ocean naturally assists in that regard because you have swell lines. It was an exciting discovery. DAVE: I understand the equipment side of things was quite complex? JUSTIN: We used a range of equipment from 3D GoPros with modified housings to giant side-by-side rigs on the back of fishing trawlers. A lot of the technology in terms of the rigs existed but only in bits and pieces, not as a whole. We really had to design and build from the ground up. The gear we required, such as the main camera unit, which was a beam splitter rig that allowed us to shoot wide angles and then punch in really tight close up shots. We wanted a mix of beautiful big landscapes in 3D as well as up close and personal shots of Ross and Tom. The giant side-by-side rig itself is a four-man operation just to run that camera out at sea. Plus, none of the systems were waterproofed at all, so we had to develop a waterproofing system along with a means to keep water off the lenses. We were shooting in harsh environments, so it was essential. We had a lot of challenges. We needed a lot of time and money to develop this gear and we had neither. We were basically developing equipment as we were shooting. There were a lot of ridiculously late nights and testing gear in crazy conditions. We would learn what we needed to change and then come back and work on the rigs again.
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LATEST: INTERVIEW jul/aug 2012
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LATEST: COMMUNITY TOP: The Storm Surfers camera crew secure their purpose-built 3D camera rig to the fishing boat, which is about to take them 75 km offshore to a never-beforesurfed break. Photo: Mick Curley INSET: The camera boat gets knocked by a massive swell, almost destroying the Side x Side 3D camera rig. Photo: Mike Riley BOTTOM: Justin McMillan and Dean Cropp track Tom Carroll as he flies down the face of a giant wave at a previously un-ridden break. Photo: Jamie Scott
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DAVE: So how long did the project take? JUSTIN: From start to finish from the first day of shooting to the last day of edit was a year and a half. The filming took around four to five months. In terms of developing the gear, shooting the film and the editing suite, not one of those stages was easy. The editing, if anything, was harder than the shooting. So many shots to sift through, fix up… So many different camera formats. We had 1500 hours of footage. No one had done it before so there wasn’t anyone you could call for advice. We couldn’t bring in an expert. We had to figure it out for ourselves. We were just so lucky we had some intelligent people working on the project and such good post-production partners. DAVE: I gather filming a movie of this nature presents a number of challenges particularly when your studio is a heaving ocean? JUSTIN: It is a logistical challenge. I mean, some of the locations we are filming in are quite remote and we essentially have a four-hour window where the conditions are just right to get twenty-five crew, five jetskis, helicopters, light aircraft and all the gear – camera rigs, some twenty-six 3D cameras - and other various bits of equipment out to the break. In Western Australia we travelled six hours in a cray-fishing boat just to get out there. Once out there, there’s no, “Take two.” People are putting their lives on the line and you pray we have captured it. DAVE: You are also keen on surfing big waves. Does this help with positioning the cameramen to get the right camera angle? JUSTIN: I like surfing biggish waves, but about a third of the size that Ross Clarke-Jones likes them. I’ve never considered myself to be a big wave surfer in any shape or form. I have spent a lot of time in the ocean when it has been massive. The more time you put yourself on the coalface, the more comfortable you become. You gain a better understanding of the ocean. Ever since I was young, that type of ocean has made me feel alive. So I can see how guys like Tom and Ross get addicted to riding those waves. I get addicted to trying to capture it on film. When I talk with the likes of Jack McCoy and Tim Bonython - those legends of the industry - they have the same addiction. I think it is pretty common for anyone who does this kind of stuff.
You want to be in the trenches with the guys to show them you are just as committed as they are, despite a huge gap between filming in the water to catching these waves. But I think everyone in these circumstances has their sleeves rolled up and their hands dirty. I think that’s really important if you are going to lead a team of close to thirty people.
Photo: Dean Dampney
JUSTIN: Anyone that goes on these things is definitely putting themselves at risk. I’m on a ski the whole time, running things from the water. Chris is either on a fishing trawler nearby or a helicopter with Ben Matson.
TOM CARROLL Regarded as one of the world’s best surfers. He won two world surfing championship crowns in 1984 and 1985 and won the Pipeline Masters in Hawaii three times etching his name in the record books as one of the greatest surfers of his era.
We have had situations where Chris is in the helicopter and has lost altitude due to an exploding wave and the rear rotor has almost clipped the lip of a wave. I’ve had numerous instances where the jetski has stalled with a 20ft wave coming towards me. If you are going to go out there, then you‘re in the firing line. It’s not as dangerous as the surfing, but the stakes are high nonetheless. Everyone is putting their lives at risk and because we are working in the ocean. That tired, old cliché rings true: ‘Expect the unexpected.’ If a wave has never broken in that particular part of the channel, don’t think it can’t. You get freak occurrences and when you combine that with people who are caught up in the action filming something, you find boats drifting too close to the break and inevitably yourself or your crew in precarious situations. We are all spotting for one another but the call may come for the cameraman to get closer… Then a wide one comes and you are in a situation. With that said, if you kept thinking about something that nearly happened and that could have happened, you probably wouldn’t end up doing anything.
ROSS CLARKE-JONES The first non-Hawaiian to win the prestigious Eddie Aikau Memorial at Waimea Bay on Hawaii’s north shore. The competition is only held when the waves break consistently at twenty feet. He is one of the all time great big wave surfers and a pioneer of tow-surfing. BEN MATSON Photo: Rodd Owen
It would have been really easy to throw a project like this into the ‘too hard basket’. I think in four or five years time there will be better technology out there where you will be able to shoot a film such as this a lot more easily, but we just weren’t prepared to wait that long.
MEET THE (HELL)MEN
DAVE: An in-depth understanding of the ocean helps, but there is obviously a lot of danger involved in putting together a film of this nature?
DAVE: Was there ever a point where it was just too big or where you said, “Did you just see the size of that thing that just swam past?” JUSTIN: There was a situation in Western Australia where Tom went over the falls on a jetski and we were towing the ski back in. A pod of forty dolphins went past and then a giant Southern Right Whale that was as big as a bus came right up alongside us. It’s at times like that you feel so insignificant in the ocean - in a place where, I guess, humans aren’t really supposed to be. You are a part of something a lot bigger. If anything was going to happen, there were so many opportunities for it to happen this year whilst filming the movie. Dangling in deep water, 75km off shore waiting for sets to come… In Western Australia where I think there has been six fatalities in the last 12 months. There are things you have to do that are unavoidable. You have to be in the water to rig up skis. We will spend up to twenty minutes in the water swimming around getting these skis on and off the trawler. You have deckhands on these trawlers looking over the side keeping an eye on things, shaking their heads because they know what they have seen off the back of their boats in these environments.
“IF YOU KEPT THINKING ABOUT SOMETHING THAT NEARLY HAPPENED AND THAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED, YOU PROBABLY WOULDN’T END UP DOING ANYTHING.”
A world leading meteorologist and surf forecaster and the man who developed www. swellnet.com.au, one of Australia’s most popular surf forecasting sites. It all started for Ben when he was studying meteorology and posted his surf forecasts on the noticeboard of his local surf store in Adelaide.
Photo: Rodd Owen
We had a camera department that was completely devoted to not being beaten by the elements. I get a sense of gratification from the narrative of the story but also a sense of achievement from what went down. I am proud of what we achieved as a team technically to allow the audience to go to these environments.
JUSTIN MCMILLAN & CHRIS NELIUS It would be impossible to produce a film of this nature without the pairing of these two co-directors working in unison. The director/ writer/ producer partnership began six years ago with the making of Ross Clarke-Jones’ biopic The Sixth Element. They teamed up again with Ross to surf the Cape of Good Hope resulting in a half-hour documentary Cape of Storms and then again with Ross, Tom and a number of other big wave surfers in Red Bull: Tai Fu. From there, with the help of Firelight Productions, the Storm Surfers series began: Storm Surfers – Dangerous Banks 2008, Storm Surfers – New Zealand 2010 and now Storm Surfers 3D. jul/aug 2012
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PLANNING ON SURFING
WEST SUMATRA? Make sure Huey 1 is your weapon of choice! Insane food, a boat that is a class above and a crew to match.
I suppose it is just one of those instances where ignorance is bliss. If you don’t know what’s there and you don’t see it come up and give you a nudge, then you just get on with things. It is in the back of your mind though. In terms of the surf, Tom’s wipeout shook us all up. The jetski he had at the time was a little more agile than what he is used to and it handled a little differently. It was a little more ‘slidey’ and he ended up going over the falls on a fifteen foot wave. It’s dangerous enough in itself, but what made it even more dangerous was that we had attached carbon fibre camera brackets to the front of the ski and had put air tanks on the back for our air jets to blow water off the camera lenses. Once he went over the falls, the gear just exploded off the ski and was floating around in the white water with him. He could have been impaled on the camera bracket or knocked out by one of the air tanks and been underwater. We wouldn’t have found him for quite some time. That was a wake-up call for everyone. It’s a fun job but we almost lost one of our mates. It certainly rattled me quite a bit because I am pretty close with Tom’s family. To deliver that kind of news to anyone would be the worst possible thing you would ever have to do. DAVE: Was there a particular surf spot that was a standout? JUSTIN: To be honest, there wasn’t one break that stood out against another. I had been to a couple of these breaks before but I didn’t prefer one break over another. Each wave brought something different to each guy throughout the course of the year. By taking the guys to all these different waves, we discovered that one felt more comfortable on a certain wave and vice versa. That’s where the narrative of the story started to form. We were noticing chinks in their armour and we were able to craft a story from all their different reactions to these different breaks. We also started to notice we had stumbled upon a turning point in their careers. That’s a nice thing as a filmmaker to figure out. We wouldn’t have encountered this had we only done one mission. We were fortunate to uncover a real honesty of character in both surfers. That was the essence of the film and what I think has fortunately come across. To be a part of the event, catch the tour around Australia from August 14. The film premieres in Sydney, followed by 25 special event screenings around the country featuring Ross Clarke-Jones and Tom Carroll live on stage. If you miss one of those, the movie will be rolling out nationally thereafter. Visit the Storm Surfers event website stormsurfers.com.au to view the trailer, buy tickets, request a screening in your town and more.
• Big solid steel boat • Plenty of room for boards of all sizes • Spacious hangout areas onboard Ross Clarke-Jones at Cape Solander NSW Photo: Rodd Owen
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TRAVEL: THE MALDIVES Having watched the Aussie-made movie about a surf trip gone wrong – Caught Inside – it will now forever be impossible not to picture “The Bull” going off his nut when hearing of a girl going on a surf charter boat full of boys - and in this particular case, to the same location as the movie was shot too! Fortunately, the reality of being the only girl surfer on board in the Maldives was far more pleasant than the furious fallout on film, as Sunshine Coast surfer Alyson Ramsay was happy to find out. WORDS: MARK CHAPMAN PHOTOS: JADE AT LIQUID DESTINATION
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ABOVE: Relaxing at the resort. You’re welcome to have a few drinks here, but not outside on the islands. RIGHT: Relaxing on the boat... Life’s looking pretty good. Photos supplied by Alyson
“No… It was all good,” Alyson says with a big smile. “There were only five of us surfers on the boat and we were all individuals. There were no groups, I wasn’t on the outer and everyone was very sociable. It was a perfect mix. I was the only girl surfer, but there were two other girls as part of the crew. They were stoked as well to have a girl surfer on board.”
“Yes, there are bogan freaks among us,” Alyson concedes, but was happy to report that there were none on board with her. And as it turns out, the surf conditions were as friendly as the people on board.
Before she left there were plenty of warnings and much concern from family and friends about this ‘going on a surf trip with a bunch of blokes thing’, including being handed a copy of Caught Inside on DVD to prepare her for the worst. But fortunately, due to the busy life as chef at Marcoola Beach coffee shop, Bulli, and spending all her spare time in the water training for the trip, Alyson never got around to seeing “The Bull” lose it and as such, was just unbelievably excited about a trip to paradise instead. (Not sure what we mean? Watch Caught Inside - seriously - and check out our interview with Ben Oxenbould in the Nov/Dec 2011 issue of smorgasboarder.)
“We had two or three surfs a day, and I must have got 30 or 40 waves a session. I’m a bit of a groveller, so I just trawled around to get everything I could.”
The crew obviously saw the funny side of the feature film though and made sure to pop the movie into the DVD player on board. “It was so frustrating, watching people not taking their lives into their own hands!” Alyson laughs… “We were shouting at the screen “Just do something! Hit him!”
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“There are sections that are crazy shallow, but it wasn’t dangerous. Even the casual surfers had fun.
With 1,192 islands in a chain of 26 atolls over 90,000 square kilometers there would be plenty trawling choice in this Indian Ocean wave paradise. The reefs that provide the water funland are made up of coral perched on top of a 960km long undersea ridge that runs north to south off the Indian Lakshadweep islands, SouthWest of Sri Lanka and India. Perfect waves in tropical water is a few degrees up on the thermometer from how it all started for Alyson though, growing up in Victoria and enjoying her first surfing experiences on the Mornington Peninsula. “I probably started surfing at around 12, but only once or twice a year,. Being in Melbourne. It was so cold and I wasn’t very good, but every year we came up to Noosa for family holidays and stayed at the Sunshine Beach caravan park, which was great.
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SURFING PICS: A choice of lefts and rights were on offer for the entire trip, all captured by the on-board photographer, Jade.
BEHIND THE SCENES: What’s better than a surf trip with proof? Here’s Liquid Destination photographer, Jade, hard at work capturing those magic moments.
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“Later on we went to Little Cove and hung out there. I would just try and surf whenever I could on holidays. Then I moved up here and finished my chef’s apprenticeship when I was 21, have been here ever since and don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. So now I just surf as much as possible.” From these warmer waters of the Sunshine Coast, Alyson has travelled a fair bit already and ticked a few must-surf destinations off her list, including Pipeline in Hawaii. “I surfed Pipeline at around 3 to 4 foot. It was still scary as hell, but I just wanted to say I’d surfed it,” she says modestly. With the travel bug’s bite not going away anytime soon, the decision to surf in the Maldives was an easy one and lived up to every expectation. “It looked beautiful and the surf is cruisy, not too heavy or gnarly - which I don’t mind - but for a holiday you want to enjoy yourself regardless. It was consistently 2-3 foot, clean waves a nice crew and good people. “I had my own room – probably one of the better ones - so privacy was never an issue and there was always space to just chill out and get away from everyone.
“We also stopped off and went to a resort a few nights for dinner, which was amazing. It was like, ten stars, if that’s even possible.” Not content with just dinner, Alyson even ended up getting stitches from the friendly folk at the island resort after a little argument with the reef. (See the tough-girl duct tape in the photos) “But yes, going to the islands really broke the trip up well,” Alyson says. Having experienced the islands, Alyson can also now say that she’s set foot in the ‘lowest country in the world.” At it’s highest elevation, the Maldives reaches up to 2.4m above sea level. With 80% of the islands being less than 1m above sea level, it’s no wonder the country was named third most endangered in list of Island nations at highest risk of flooding due to climate change by a recent UK university study. While climate-change-influenced flooding wouldn’t be top of mind while relaxing on a luxury surf boat, Alyson had a couple of floatation devices handy anyway… “I had my 6’4” Josh Dowling and a standard 6’0” Shotgun thruster. I actually didn’t damage my boards at all. I got a tiny little ding on the Dowling on the way home. No-one else had any injuries or breaks or anything … 34
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TRAVEL: THE MALDIVES When not surfing, Alyson is the chef at Bulli Café in Marcoola – a great coffee shop right across from the beach, only a few steps to the sand. “It’s my partner, Andoni’s business. He started it and I came on board about three months into it… He calls me “the polish,” so I guess I bring the polish (laughs). We’re just a little coffee shop and we try and keep it really simple, fresh. We do pizzas of an evening, again just simple and fresh. “I enjoy the social aspect of it, meeting new people, great people. It’s all good, and we’ve got great staff too... It’s like a little family. ABOVE: The stoke behind the smile is as crystal clear as the water itself.
“I try and surf in between, whenever I can. Wally (of Wally’s Water Gallery just across the road) has put some flags out just for me, so all I have to do is look out the window. If they’re offshore, I’m very happy.”
FAR LEFT: War wounds... A brush with the reef, neatly stitched up by friendly resort staff and tough-girl duct-taped-up to go surfing again LEFT: Lean back, relax. There’s not too much to stress about here.
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ONLY $69.95 While the Maldives is a very mal-friendly destination as well, she had prepared to make the most of the conditions on her shortboard, surfing her favourite spots at home regularly in the lead-up to the trip - glassy, a-frame beachbreaks along the Sunshine Coast North Shore and the pointbreaks of Noosa. All the first aid products you need to treat common surf-related ailments and a handbook with step-by-step instructions to make sure you can best take care of yourself when things go wrong in the surf. BUY ONLINE AT:
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“I just got myself as ready as I could, surfed as much as possible before I went, which seems like the logical thing to do,” she says. The preparation paid off in spades and Alyson got to make the most of the early season Maldives waves. Now she’s keen to get back as soon as her busy schedule allows. “Absolutely,” she says. “Get involved. Do it. Get out there. “I’d love to be able to go back at the drop of a hat, when it’s on.” We’re sure the Liquid Destination crew will have Alyson on speed-dial to have her back over any time. Who knows - with the season far from over and those glassy, empty waves going unridden, it might just be enough of a reason to leave the Sunshine Coast for another ten days, sooner than later.
TOP: In between all the playful waves were plenty more serious ones too. The Maldives is definitely a surf destination for all levels of experience. BELOW: Once again, the smile says it all. RIGHT: Sweeeet(s).
Alyson was a guest of Liquid Destination and the photos in this story were taken by Liquid Destination on-board photographer, Jade Rogers. If you think you’d be even half as photogenic as Alyson and would like a similar surf trip of a lifetime, with the memories and visual proof to boot, get in touch with Liquid Destination, or check out the website for more information - www.liquiddestination.com 36
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FOLLOW THE ACTION DAILY VIA THE LIQUID BLOG! Liquid Destination is an Australian owned and operated company with a vast amount of experience surfing all regions of the Maldives. It doesn’t matter what level surfer you are Liquid can tailor a trip to suit your ability. Operating surf charters is no part time gig for these guys they live and breathe the place. The introduction of an exclusive vessel in 2012 focused on chasing the biggest and best the Maldives has to offer confirms their desire to show people what this place is truly capable of. If on the other hand a tour of the region with a surf photography package, island adventures, fishing trips and just generally kicking back and taking it all in then the well known N1 boat is for you. If you have ever wondered what the Maldives is really like check out the website and get as close as you can to experiencing one of the world’s premier surf destinations.
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TRAVEL: THE MALDIVES 38
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It’s an annual surf trip with a difference. As the saying goes, ‘You only get out what you put in.’ The attendees of this annual conference certainly get the opportunity to partake in some Maldivian magic but truth be told, they also do a lot for the local community and surfers in general. WORDS: DAVE SWAN
MAIN: Hussein ‘Iboo’ Areef, the resident Maldivian government liaison officer. ABOVE: In response to a recent tragedy where five year nine schoolgirls died at a school camp, along with their principal who was endeavouring to save them, AMPED have introduced a CPR program to train local teachers as well as a ‘learn to swim’ program.
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TRAVEL: THE MALDIVES Senior Paramedic Harry Gatt
In September 1986 a group of twentysomething healthcare professionals from around the globe gathered at Tavarua Island, Fiji, for the world’s first medical conference to focus on the treatment and prevention of surfing related injuries. This was in response to the worldwide surge of people of all ages taking up surfing. During the first conference on Tavarua, it also became apparent how little the local community had in the way of medical services. As a result the aim of future conferences was extended to incorporate an active role in improving the medical infrastructure of the indigenous community visited, contributing to their health and welfare. The Surfers Medical Association (SMA) was born. In the years to follow, conferences were held in Gnaraloo, Western Australia (where an independent body, SMA Australia was spawned), Grajagan, East Java and the Mentawai Islands off West Sumatra. It was the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, where SMA Australia worked closely with the Maldivian Health Ministry that proved to be the catalyst to an ongoing understanding with the Maldivian Government. All conferences since have been held at the Dhonveli Resort in the Maldives and organised exclusively through Atoll Travel. The medical symposiums feature presentations and debate from a diverse group of speakers that encompass a broad range of topics in the medical field including the latest clinical studies, evidence and personal experience. The
relaxed setting and informal nature of the conference encourages interactive audience participation to fully utilise the expertise present. Harry Gatt who is the Secretary of SMA Australia, recently renamed AMPED – the Allied Medical Professionals for Education and Development, explains the charter of the organisation. “Our aim is to provide educational sessions to medical staff at the two hospitals in Malé, offer advice to government departments and run clinics at community health care centres. We also acquire medical equipment for the disadvantaged and raise much needed funds for people in need. “That’s what possibly differentiates us from other medical conferences. Plus there is an opportunity for conference delegates to participate in long running projects that AMPED conducts. We get in plenty of surfs but also work hard for the local community.” The organisation’s recent name change more accurately reflects the work they undertake but is also aimed at attracting professionals from across the medical field. “We don’t want to simply focus on one area of medicine. Our invitees and guest speakers are from various sectors within and affiliated with the medical industry. We have had doctors attend the conference, psychiatrists, plastic surgeons specialising in the field of reconstructive surgery, orthopaedic surgeons, geneticists, paramedics and even lawyers with experience in the medical field.”
FROM THE TOP: Surfing, working, surfing and more working... Not a bad way to spend some time in the Maldives.
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Harry himself is a paramedic of some thirty-two year, his last twenty-two years spent working with the Ambulance Service of NSW Helicopter Rescue Service. “We really bring some incredible people together and many of them have ended up life-long friends.”
deeper water and aren’t as hollow as what some reef breaks can be. They are still very, very good though. The water clarity and marine life in the Maldives is something I have never experienced surfing anywhere else. It’s stunning.”
Aside from their ongoing work with the local community, Harry rates the Maldives as superb. “There is just a really good vibe on the island. We have Pasta Point for our exclusive use and within ten minutes we have another two world-class right hand breaks and another left-hand break. “The breaks deliver really nice, quality long rides suitable for a range of skill levels. The breaks are fairly uncrowded and appeal to a slightly older surfer. There are still some hot young surfers over there but not as many as perhaps some other surf destinations. In terms of price, it is still good value but it is not as cheap as say Indo so you don’t get the same crowds. “The waves can be challenging when overhead, but they break into
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Doing good and having a good time. A mix of work and play is what the members create for themselves on their annual trip. FAR LEFT: Dr. Mark Gillette of the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney at work.
Dates for 2012:
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August - SOLD OUT September - weekend October - midweek November - weekend December - midweek
www.treetosea.com.au email: info@treetosea.com.au or phone: Robert 0409 211 751 Gary 0423 804 975 Instructors of the Tree to Sea Australia workshops Surfboards are designed by Rich Blundell (USA) Workshops are held in Mt Eliza on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula
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Assisting with the clinical development of the Ambulance Service and Emergency Department at the Malé Indira Ghandi Hospital.
AMPED’s long association with Atoll Travel is testament to the service they provide. Around three quarters of Atoll Travel’s present day clientele have booked the same slot, year in, year out through Atoll Travel for some sixteen years. That’s some pretty serious client loyalty.
SMA Australia has installed a series of Automated External Defibrillators (AED) across three island village communities.
The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami produced a new set of problems in mental health for the country. A subgroup of the SMA, spearheaded by 2010 Australian of the year Professor Pat McGorry, is working with local authorities to develop a national mental health policy and plan to unlock new resources and programs.
Since the Maldives’ islands are spread over a large area, the challenge of providing contemporary health care can be greatly assisted by utilising both marine and aeromedical resources. SMA members are assisting local authorities to develop this.
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It all started with Ian Lyon, the owner and director of Atoll Travel coordinating bookings for the very successful Atoll Adventures surfing program run by his good friend, the late Tony Hussein Hinde’s. Tony regularly attended the AMPED conference and much loved friend to many of the attendees. Atoll Travel now represent several other surf resorts and boat based trips in popular surf destinations such as Samoa, the Maldives outer atolls, Mentawais, North Sumatra, West Timor, Sumbawa, Bali, Fiji and Sri Lanka. Concentrating on a limited number of destinations means Atoll Travel work closely with the respective resort and boat operators to ensure client satisfaction. For more see: www.atolltravel.com
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TRAVEL: CAROLINE ISLANDS 44
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Grant Shankster of World Surfaris gives us a look into the Caroline Islands, and the cool waterfront accommodation of the Pohnpei Surf Club. WORDS: GRANT SHANKSTER PHOTOS: RICHARD KOTCH
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TRAVEL: CAROLINE ISLANDS
North of New Guinea and East of the Philippines you’ll find the scattered archipelagos of the Caroline Islands. On a map it looks like God knocked over the pepper pot, as 500 small coral islands are dotted into the vast blue of the Western Pacific. Of the 500, Pohnpei, is the major Island - home to the infamous ‘Palikir Pass’. Roughly circular in shape and surrounded by surf, Pohnpei is home to epic scenery, amazing people and even a little mystery. One of the Federated States of Micronesia, it’s a surfer’s dreamland. That’s before you even start to take in the breathtaking scenery and the coral reef lagoons, teeming with life.
Pohnpei has developed an unfair reputation for being purely 8-10 ft bombs, sheer drops, followed by huge cavernous pits and all while the reef zips by under your feet at breakneck speed. For the average surfer it comes across as a little intimidating, but the reality however, is far different. Bigger days definitely happen and pros flock last minute for a slice of the action which has just augmented the reputation. But looking at it over time gives a much clearer picture. You can expect 3-5ft and consistent, long walls and very makeable sections. It is, for all intents and purposes, an ‘every surfer’s’ destination.
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Another common misconception about Pohnpei is that it’s a one wave wonder - that one wave being Palikir Pass, or P-Pass. In fact there are dozens of setups - lefts and rights. Most are hidden and some are fickle, but all them require a guide with local knowledge, and of course the means to get you off shore and into these secret spots. P-Pass will definitely serve as the staple of your wave diet during your stay at Pohnpei. Pro surfer Dylan Longbottom explains the ride:
and if you sit right there it just lets you roll into it without much fuss. From there it’s just a bottom turn, line it up, hold your ground and get tubed for five seconds. When it’s in that 6-8 feet range, it’s just this perfect hole.” But like all good buffets, there’s so much more on offer. There are over 15 passes and reef bends that do produce world class waves. There are some real hidden jewels on the east and SE side of the island that get surfed only by a few lucky guys every year. Local knowledge is essential.
“For how gnarly it looks from the outside, the wave is actually really easy to surf. There’s a spot on the reef,
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Fishing is amazing in the region. If you’re up for a walk there are numerous nature hikes, cultural tours and the scattered remains of abandoned World War II relics to see. The ruins of the Nan Madol are also well worth visiting. Centuries old, the ruined city is made up of artificial islands - rock and coral platforms - surrounded by canals. The name Nan Madol actually means “spaces between” referring to these canals. The buildings were constructed using huge blocks of stone, but no-one can say exactly where the stones came from or how they got there.
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A perfect way to experience the magic of the Caroline Islands is by staying at the Pohnpei Surf Club, the PSC. It’s situated on the estuary that opens to the island’s lagoon, so it’s just a case of waking up, waxing up and sitting in the boat until its time to get wet. With great positioning and a relaxed atmosphere, everything you need is at hand. PSC voluntarily limits surfer numbers to an easily manageable twenty people at a time. If the people make the place, then this place has it made. The host, Allois, is heaps of fun and goes out of his way to make guests as comfortable as possible. The saying ‘arrive as a stranger, leave as a friend’ definitely applies here. His local knowledge is second to none and he knows the area intimately. When it’s the off-season he scours the island, usually to feed his appetite for fishing – and the fishing is unreal. Tracking swells days in advance, Allois’ almost supernatural talent for picking the right spot has guests surfing on the best waves to suit their personal surfing ability.
Open every day Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tapas till late.
Cnr Lawson & Jonson, Byron Bay
02 6680 9666
www.balcony.com.au
Legendary surf guides Richard and Amy Kotch signed on at PSC last year and decided to come back for the 2012/13 season. Fun, friendly and super handy with a camera (most of these photos are taken by the dynamite duo) this married couple work as surf guides around the world and are a great asset on any surf trip. Then throw in a bunch of larger than life characters that go above and beyond to make sure your surf holiday is just that ‘a holiday’. These locals themselves are happy and inviting, like all Pacific islanders. Allois is also the proud owner of whole flotilla of seaworthy and fast vessels. Jet skis, long boats with photography towers, twin engines and huge canopies for comfort. This armada of surf tenders is the icing on the cake when you’re staying at PSC. What a place to stay, what an amazing place to explore with so much to offer.
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World Surfaris offer peak season spaces starting from $2,265pp for 7 nights and $2,935pp for 10 nights with return flights flying United Airlines. For a full list of inclusions and package details visit theWorld Surfaris website at www.worldsurfaris.com or phone the World Surfaris Pohnpei expert, David Scard on 1800 611 163 for a chat and get the ball rolling on your perfect Pohnpei escape. A friendly heads up: United Airlines is the only airline to fly to the Carolines. There are regular flights but early bookings are essential to guarantee you a seat.
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Regardless of whether or not you’ve been bitten by the Bali bug, when you see this classy villa, you definitely want to be there. That was definitely my first reaction when seeing the stunning fitout of Dukes at Bingin - not any average surfie shack. WORDS: DAVE SWAN, PHOTOS: DUKES
It’s hard to believe, for me at least, that I met Warwick Martin close to twenty years ago when I was first rediscovering longboarding. Back then, Warwick was running a cool little surf store at Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast called Dukes Longboards. A few years ago, he mentioned he had started to build some villas in Bali, about forty minutes south of Denpasar. Warwick’s trips across to Bali became more regular and about twelve months back he moved there permanently. You can see why. Warwick has established two classy, private villas near the village of Bingin Beach on the beautiful Bukit Peninsula. The area is central to five great wave locations - Bingin, Impossibles, Padang-Padang, Dreamland and Balangan - catering for all manner of surfers from beginners through to the highly skilled. The beaches of Dreamland and Padang-Padang are also renowned for their white sand and clear water. When you add to that the fact the world famous Uluwatu is just 10 minutes drive away you pretty much come to realise this is surfing heaven. The villas themselves are equipped with everything you could possibly want from TV, DVD and sound system to a fully stocked refrigerator and spacious lounge, kitchen, sunbeds... You name it... Even a maid service and daily breakfast and lunch. One villa caters for six people (3 bedrooms) and features its own private 10m swimming pool, and the other sleeps four people (2 bedrooms) and it too has its own private 8m swimming pool.
There are even surfboards available to hire if you’re too lazy to bring your own and considering the fact Warwick used to run one of the best surf shops on the Gold Coast, you can only guess he’ll have some quality boards. Who said there is no such thing as a classy surf trip away with your partner and a few close friends? www.dukesbingin.com jul/aug 2012
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RIGHT & ABOVE: Looking inside from the safety of the boat. Photo ‘Rusty’ Russell 52
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TRAVEL: FIJI Heightened interest in Fiji as a surf destination followed the recent Volcom Pro in June at the world famous Cloudbreak. Even those scarcely interested in the ASP World Tour would have found themselves marveling at some of the best pro surfers and big wave hell men tackling a monstrous Cloudbreak when competition was called off on day three of the event. With Fiji well and truly on every surfer’s radar, we spoke with David ‘Hutch’ Hutchison from The Surf Travel Co. about Fiji as a surf destination and what impact the Surfing Decree brought into effect on July 9, 2010 has had on the region. INTERVIEW: DAVE SWAN PHOTOS: ‘RUSTY’ RUSSELL
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TRAVEL: FIJI Smorgasboarder: So Hutch, for those unfamiliar with the Surfing Decree, would you mind explaining how it came about and what laws were in place beforehand? Hutch: Prior to the legislation Fiji had a longstanding law that related to the customary ownership of rights to fishing grounds, which extended to the outer reef slope. Like land rights, traditional fishing area rights were the order of the local village, which regulated its use. Any waves that fell within those areas were deemed to be the asset of the village that held the fishing rights. The government was, and still is of the belief that this practice hindered tourism and so they stepped in. They felt if they abolished this law they could attract more surfers and hence increase tourism to the area. The new legislation allowed public admission to a range of world-class waves such as Cloudbreak and Restaurants on Tavarua and Swimming Pools on nearby Namotu that were previously only accessible through the patronage of these private resorts. So basically the Fijian government legislated that exclusivity on breaks would no longer exist and that a custodian sentence would be imposed upon anyone stopping surfers from entering the water anywhere in Fiji. It’s now two years since the decree was brought into effect. Has it had an impact on surfing in the region? For the first month or so Cloudbreak was nicknamed ‘Crowdbreak’ but it simply wasn’t true. Nothing has really changed aside from the fact there are a few more transient surfers out at Cloudbreak and Namotu. The main issue now, some two years after the law was passed, is the regulation of the breaks - particularly waves like Cloudbreak. Those that did catch the action from the recent Volcom Pro would understand why some sort of regulation of the break is required. Otherwise, someone is going to get seriously hurt out there. We need to avoid instances where surfers are just dropping in and treating it like a beach break when it really is a serious reef break. Tavarua and Namotu have a duty of care to their guests and look after them at the various breaks surrounding the resorts. They patrol the breaks 54
with lifeguards and jet skis. In stark contrast to this, some resorts send their guests out on open banana boats. If their guests get into trouble it is the guys from Tavarua or Namotu that often have to assist in their rescue. I think what the Fiji Surfing Association is working on together with Tavarua and Namotu is cutting edge stuff. They are trying to get the wave regulated for safety reasons. Certain competitions in Hawaii are regulated but what we are talking about here is a permanent presence at the break to monitor proceedings and keep crowd control in order. The number of surfers at the break will also be taken into consideration. When Tavarua had exclusivity over the break, thirty-two people could stay on the island but only twenty-one surfers were allowed at Cloudbreak at any one time so they could be safely monitored. What number of surfers would be allowed on the break at any one time in the future will be dependant on conditions and a ruling by the Fiji Surf Association. A resolution to this complex issue is not going be arrived at overnight or without consulting all those affected by it. Aside from safety concerns and ensuring first aid is at hand, how else do they plan to regulate the break? At their own expense, Tavarua puts out boat moorings at the reef to limit reef degradation. Now you have other boats just throwing their pick over and obviously, when they pull it up, they break the coral. So there is increased reef degradation. So crowd factor is one concern but so is the environmental impact. It is a matter of striking a balance so everyone can enjoy the break safely and responsibly. I don’t imagine how but would they ever try to regulate the break according to a surfer’s ability level? I don’t know how you would apply such a thing. What I do know however is that when you see Cloudbreak breaking in all its glory, you know personally whether or not you have the ability to surf it.
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Photos ‘Rusty’ Russell jul/aug 2012
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Photo ‘Rusty’ Russell
TRAVEL: FIJI There is a certain level of surfer who can ride that wave at 6-8 foot. Then you have days like the one when the Volcom Pro was called off. The waves were 20-30 foot with 50 foot faces and even Kelly Slater was sitting on the boat a little apprehensive. I think the size sorts out what ability you need. Check it out at www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEEG8J9Xaxs You still may get a few cowboys who just want to go out there and this is what they are trying to regulate. They want to ensure people have a clear understanding of what it takes to surf a break like this. Any regulation will be a work in progress because it is such a unique idea. It will be a while before you could sign off on any one rule.
What are some of the positives regarding the opening up of Fiji’s surf breaks? For Australians - unless you managed to sneak a week in at Tavarua or scored a place through the lottery system, where surfers can get a chance to surf Tavarua on the Sunday after island guests have departed on the Saturday - it has been difficult for surfers to go there. It’s one of our closest big wave destinations to mainland Australia but has been dominated by the Americans. Forward bookings by US travel agents who represented Tavarua and Namotu made it near impossible for any Australians to access the surrounding breaks.
With the Surfing Decree, Australians have the opportunity to surf the likes of world famous breaks such as Cloudbreak and Restaurants as well as many other Fiji surf breaks that in the past could only be surfed exclusively by guests staying at a particular resort. We have found there is now a substantial increase in surfers wanting to go to Fiji. In my eye that is a positive because it spreads out surfers outbound from Australia. Surfers aren’t just going to Indonesia, the Mentawais or the Maldives any more. They now have a South Pacific option that is just as consistent and as good as Indonesia. Aside from Tavarua and Namotu, Surf Travel Co. represents many others within Fiji. The Decree has opened up a lot of waves in Fiji that surfers simply don’t know about. And we are back on the search. We are researching new areas throughout Fiji. That’s exactly what the Surf Travel Co. is all about – bringing to light new and exciting destinations for surfers to experience. And the beauty about Fiji is that it caters for all budgets from the backpacker to five star luxury accommodation.
Photo ‘Rusty’ Russell
The Surf Travel Co. represents numerous resorts and charters throughout Fiji and are one of only three companies in the world that now represent Tavarua and Namotu resorts. For more info, see the website www.surftravel.com.au or call 02 9222 8870
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LEFT: There was no shortage of spectators during the recent Volcom Pro. jul/aug 2012
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Jordan David and Guillaume Call are arguably New Cal’s best surfers. This is Jordan charging hard at Tenia. Photo Gill.
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TRAVEL: NEW CALEDONIA WORDS BY BEN HORVATH, COURTESY OF THE PERFECT WAVE TRAVEL EXPERIENCE WWW.THEPERFECTWAVE.COM.AU PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHABAUD GILL.
Australian politicians of all ideological persuasions have been debating the merits or otherwise of the so-called ‘Pacific Solution’ for the best part of the last two decades in Australia. In case you’re not a follower of news and policy, the discussion has been an often heated argument about the humane implications of processing refugees offshore or in Australia. Whilst the refugee debate has received blanket coverage across many media forums, the prime ‘Pacific Solution’ I am putting forward is one of a completely different context, targeting Australian outbound surf tourists as opposed to inbound refugees. My ‘Pacific Solution’ suggestion will hopefully stimulate a more lighthearted, albeit slightly self-indulgent debate, bringing New Caledonia to the fore as a fresh alternative for Australian surf adventurers hunting down quality, uncrowded waves - a completely new surf travel experience. Coincidentally, New Caledonia shares some similar historic parallels with Australia. It was originally inhabited by indigenous Melanesians around 1500 to 2000 years ago. Europeans, The French in New Caledonia’s case, took possession of the island under Napoleon III in 1853. Cook had discovered it on his 1774 voyage and christened jul/aug 2012
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THIS PIC: Guillerme Cal ducking under the roof at Ouano left, and ACROSS: We only saw one other
crew of surfers during our trip - some lads from Woonona, south of Sydney. They were really mellow, highly competent surfers. This is one of the boys getting shacked at Tenia. Photos Gill.
the land ‘New Caledonia’. Some 22,000 French convicts were sent there between 1864 and 1894. In 1894, French Governor Feillet turned the island into a voluntary immigration colony where, under contract, Malabar Indians, Vietnamese and Javanese workers arrived to provide labour for the first nickel mines. That period was responsible for the great ethnic diversity you will find in New Caledonia’s population today. Speaking for the affirmative in my surf-centric ‘Pacific Solution’ debate, the initial points I would make in New Caledonia’s favour are : • New Caledonia is only a short two to two and a half hour flight from Sydney or Brisbane.
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• It has a warm, temperate, sub tropical climate with water temps averaging 21-22 degrees during our winter. • It’s a western style island, yet you still experience a pleasant cultural hit with a potpourri of French speaking/ Euro and Melanesian locals with their different customs and language. • New Caledonia only has a population of 250,000. It boasts the largest lagoon in the world, surrounded by a 1,600 km coral reef. The surf, fishing, diving, wind and kite surfing possibilities are endless. • The classy capital city of Noumea is only 45 minutes from the international airport. You can stay a night or two in a slick hotel and do all your
shopping or you can choose to depart on a surf catamaran charter the day you land. • There is no shortage of reef pass options all within a day or so travel by Catamaran. There are all sorts of nooks and crannies and reefs facing different directions to accommodate most wind and swell angles and variables. • The surf is quite consistent and generally uncrowded. • The fishing, diving and food are just insanely good. • The internet, mobile phone and general communications services are excellent. The only negatives I encountered or could envisage were that sometimes travel is a little slow on the Cat. The majority of surf
breaks are reef passes on the outer atolls so they are exposed to any wind. Any breeze over 20 knots can blow out the outside reefs and also make travelling to more protected options on the Cat a little uncomfortable. To combat those minor hassles you can choose to stay at land camps at Ouano or Nekweta. Both have numerous reef pass options less than a few kilometres offshore accessible by camp based speed boats. Both options have their pros and cons. My tip? Combine the two. Make your first few days or first week a boat trip on The Black Lion or Kuare and then settle at Ouano or Nekweta or both, for the remainder of your New Caledonian stay.
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TRAVEL: NEW CALEDONIA There are so many reef passes that work in such a variety of conditions in New Caledonia. If it gets real big there are even quality set ups inside the lagoon. That’s Dumbea Pass Left in the foreground, and Dumbea Pass Right in the background. These reefs are some of the closest to the capital Noumea. Photo Gill.
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Perhaps the most critical ingredients of our New Cal trip, without which we couldn’t possibly have expected to travel and access most of the reef passes - or indeed either surf camp - was hooking up with The Perfect Wave’s local guide Sebastian. Seb was our host, our cook and surf guide all rolled into one. He and his team (Manu, Pierre, Fabricio, Dominique and Gill all went out of their way to accommodate every little request our crew of six demanding average Aussie surfers – Jamie, Matt, Charlie, Josh, Ken and myself threw at them.) Our crew were probably more demanding than most, as all six of us work for The Perfect Wave Travel Experience and were effectively on an educational recon mission, sampling the waves, food and travelling conditions first hand so we can pass our knowledge onto all prospective individual clients.
a step up 6’3“ and a 6’8“ or 7’2“ to cope with the reef passes, open ocean power and long-period swells you will encounter. During autumn and winter in the the South Pacific, storms charging through the Roaring Forties push swells up through the Tasman and Coral Sea, directly towards the SW Pacific island of New Caledonia. Strong storm activity in the Southern Ocean extending into the Tasman Sea delivered a solid eight to ten foot SW swell to New Caledonia’s offshore reef passes during the second week in June, coinciding with our visit. It was the same swell that delivered fifteen foot plus Cloudbreak and eight foot Restaraunts during The Volcom Fiji Pro. The long 15 to 18 second swell period ensured the swell wrapped into all sorts of nooks, crannies and reef passes up and down the New Caledonian coast. Based on our experience, I strongly recommend you take a quiver of three boards - Your standard shortboard,
Open to swell from the Tasman and Coral seas, all of the surf spots are at least a few kilometres from land and so are well and truly at the mercy of local winds. New Caledonia can occasionally get a tad funky in winter with the predominant wind being SE. Most south-facing Pacific coasts are onshore or cross shore in these conditions. However most of the surfable reef passes on New Caledonia are on the west coast which means the majority of setups are offshore or at least side/offshore in SE trades - the same trades that effect SE Qld.
If New Caledonia sounds like your scene, go to www.theperfectwave. com.au and type your details on our enquiry page. One of the experienced surf consultants will be in touch to advise you about the trip of a lifetime. Alternately, call 02 9939 0890 and we will be able to connect you with Seb and even Gill if you wish to have your trip documented by a pro photographer. www.theperfectwave.com.au
This, combined with the fact that New Caledonia picks up mostly SW to SE swell makes it an awesome alternative for an uncrowded autumn/ winter surf trip.
BEN HORVATH ON ONE OF THE MANY REASONS TO VISIT
LEFT: Jamie Gray director of The Perfect Wave on a R&D mission at Tenia. BELOW: The Perfect Wave Sales Consultant Charlie Pierce out of the office and into the field researching what he sells with a solid hack at Tenia Left. Photos Gill.
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SHOW US YOUR BOAT
BUSINESS PROMOTION
The Perfect Wave Travel crew fresh out of Sydney and into a beer aboard The Black Lion as they depart Noumea Harbour on a work research mission. L-R Josh, Jamie, Ben, Charlie, Ken and Matt. Photo Gill.
WORDS BY BEN HORVATH.
The boat we called home on the water in New Caledonia is The Black Lion - a slick 46 ft Bahia Catamaran from Fontaine Pajot with two double cabins with ensuite bathrooms and two twin cabins. She can comfortably cater for 8 passengers, but for an all-male charter surfing New Caledonia’s best reef passes as per the featured Perfect Wave Travel staff trip, you would be best advised to limit numbers to six, so each surfer gets their own bed. They have a Mac in the common area for multimedia purposes, so you can watch DVDs, videos and pictures of your trip, and listen to music. The cat is equipped with a sound system which allows you to switch on the music in either cabin, on the deck or in the common area.
LEFT: Excuse the cliché. The Black Lion literally sailing off into the sunset New Caledonia style. BELOW: The Perfect Wave Travel crew chilling out on deck. Photos Gill.
Captain Pierre and multi tasking chef and guide Sebastian both speak fluid French and English, and are mellow, educated and fun-loving. The food is an eclectic combo of seafood, salads and beef, the coffee’s awesome, and the beer and spirits free flowing. Catamarans are very stable, and most of the travelling is done inside the reef passes within the safety of the lagoon, so sea sickness is not an issue. Oh and did I mention the fishing is mind blowing, the scenery insane, the temperature just right, and the vibe so chilled. Lunchtime siestas on deck are a pre-requisite. To book a New Caledonian surf charter aboard The Black Lion log onto www.theperfectwave.com.au and list your details on the enquiry page and one of our trained professionals will help you arrange the trip of a lifetime.
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BUSINESS PROMOTION
TRAVEL: BUSINESS PROFILE
The Perfect Wave is a surf experience company with a pretty simple philosophy “To help surfers discover their perfect wave.” From isolated surf camps in Sumatra; to luxury launches in the Maldives, and Catamaran Surf tours in New Caledonia The Perfect Wave will get you there. They also know how to get you the best deal for your surf adventure and guarantee it with a ‘Best Price Guarantee.’ The staff at The Perfect Wave Surf Experience’s main goal is to give as many people as possible the chance to experience the same amazing adventures that they have been fortunate enough to experience themselves.
ABOVE: The Perfect Wave staff at work outside their Brookvale HQ. Photo Joel Coleman. RIGHT: The Perfect Wave Marketing Manager Benny Horvath has spent most of his life in search of The Perfect Wave. Photo Bouma.
Everyone idea of what the perfect wave is varies, so The Perfect Wave director Jamie Gray said, “Our motto is - Your search for the perfect wave. We help you find it.” Jamie also points out that there are misconceptions out there in the marketplace, the prime one being that booking a trip with a reputable full service travel specialist like The Perfect Wave is more expensive. Jamie said,” I can guarantee you it is not more expensive to book with The Perfect Wave. We will get you the best price and look after every little detail for you. The Perfect Wave have assembled a team with years of experience, knowledge and relationships with the best operators in the ultimate surf destinations all over the world.”
LEFT: Bossman at The Perfect Wave, Jamie Gray, coming in from a sesh at Tenia stoked as. Photo Horvath BELOW: The Perfect Wave staff. Boys on the juice at play on board The Black Lion in New Caledonia. Photo Gill.
For more about The Perfect Wave Travel Experience and their staff, visit www.theperfectwave.com.au
THIS PIC: This is the kind of experience that The Perfect Wave are constantly chasing. Guillaume Cal perfectly positioned on an insane day at Ouano in New Caledonia. Photo Gill. The Perfect Wave director Jamie Gray
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COG
“We make surf travel easy for you...
...and we guarantee the best price”.
theperfectwave.com.au 1300 009 283
Explore New Caledonia’s epic uncrowded reef passes on a catamaran. jul/aug 2012
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Takashi Yamada is a Japanese gentleman that has chosen his career well. Working for the Papua New Guinea Tourism office in Tokyo Japan, part of his job was the recent hard slog of joining fellow Japanese surfers on a trip to paradise Vanimo in PNG. I believe they call it ‘research and development’ over there too... Thanks to Takashi, we have some amazing images to share with you as well as a unique perspective on this surfing paradise... It’s not just Aussie mates that travel in search of waves. Plus, we seem to have a soft spot for PNG in this magazine and this trip was just too good not to have in here. Enjoy. WORDS AND PHOTOS: TAKASHI YAMADA
Japanese surfer Hideyoshi Tanaka makes the most of the sunlight in PNG
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Surfer: Yasushi”Tyron”Toyoda
Surfer: Hideyoshi Tanaka
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Surfer: Taro Hirano
Admiring the local handiwork
in the shade cast by the coconut trees to hide from the blazing sun. Even though the offshore breeze gently brushes across my skin, sweat oozes out from my pores and I am reminded that I have come to a country between latitude 5 and 12 in the South Pacific.
This country is said to be the closest in the southern hemisphere to Japan, but it is completely different. In fact, the difference is overwhelming. I close my eyes and remember the landscape I saw during the flight from the capital, Port Moresby, to our destination, Vanimo. Deep shades of green filled my entire view. There’s no other way to describe this sight than as overgrown, dense “lushness.” Within this lushness,
the coffee-coloured Sepik River zigzags like a serpent. You can imagine from seeing this terrain that the country is all tropical rain forests, high temperatures and humidity. It feels as if this landscape will remain unchanged even after five, ten, or a hundred years have passed. I don’t want this place to change.
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My face begins to bead with sweat. I open my eyes and get ready to go into the ocean. Wetsuits aren’t needed. A t-shirt, to prevent sunburn, is enough. As I paddle, I can see to the tips of my fingers even in the depths of the ocean because the thick, lukewarm seawater is so clear.
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Mixed with the local surfers of Papua New Guinea at the lineup about 150m from the shore, I’m able to distinguish the members of this trip. Leading the crew is Hideyoshi Tanaka, the 2011 surfing champion of Japan followed by Taro Hirano, Taisei Sohn, Atsushi Sakai, Yasushi Toyoda, Eiji Yamamoto, and Eisuke Hirayama - a total of seven members. Hideyoshi Tanaka takes a nicely shaped right-hand wave from the deep position.
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TAKASHI YAMADA ON THE LOCALS
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is relatively small but the set is about overhead. Hideyoshi smoothly but powerfully leaves tracks on the face of the wave like a knife scoops butter and his sprays are occasionally sky high, demonstrating his surfing skills. The other six members are enjoying about 100m of Vanimo’s main break at Lido Right.
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Like these surfers, the surfers of Papua New Guinea attempt manoeuvres off the lip and cutbacks. Although their surfing level is not at all high, they have extraordinary physical abilities, outstanding balance, and the way they actively copy other surfers’ moves will definitely make them better surfers in no time. On top of that, since the ocean is not crowded at all and they are free to enjoy every bit of the finest breaks,
they are in an environment where they can improve their surfing abilities. They welcome us with smiles. Even though we enter the sea as visitors, we share the waves at a good pace. As for localism, there is nothing to quibble about. Besides Lido Right in Vanimo, there are also Mahema, Waromo, and Yako, with rights and lefts, waves fit for both beginners and advanced surfers. Surely this place must be a new paradise for surfers.
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A group of children approach me as I return from the ocean. Grinning, they try to tell me something by pointing fingers. I look in the direction they are pointing to and see the members of this trip surrounded by local children. I walk toward them wondering what was going on... Coconuts. The children have short knives attached to their waists. They have climbed the coconut trees with ease and harvested coconuts for us.
The children crack open the coconuts with superb knife skills and then they tell me to drink the juice inside. My body, sunburnt and tired from surfing quickly absorbs the natural sports drink. They laugh joyfully when they see my delighted face. One day, we visited Waromo village and Yako village near the village we stayed at, Lido. The wind was not blowing preferably when we were there but when the conditions are right,
good left-hand waves break at both Waromo and Yako. I peeked into the lifestyle of the villagers. It was as if time had stopped. The sea breeze softly blew through the village. Children popped their faces through the windows of the raised floor houses. Adults puffed cigarettes underneath the shades of the trees. This was a sight that could not be seen in a hectic city. As I was watching these villagers, a fundamental question crossed my mind, “What is happiness?�
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TRAVEL: PNG
Surfer: Taisei Sohn
from Taro Hirano’s blog which I found after returning home. “I want to engrave in my memory how the time passed by peacefully and how the eyes of the children who play in the abundant nature, filled with colors like a reference book on primary colors sparkled.”
Surfer: Eiji”Kotetsu”Yamamoto
His description of Papua New Guinea says it all.
To find out more about surfing in PNG, check out the website: papuanewguineasurfing.com.
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TRAVEL: ROTE ISLAND Nembrala (T-land) is known as one of the longest and most consistent best lefts in Indonesia. There's around ten waves, including lefts and rights, to suit all levels of surfing from beginners to intermediates. The swell ranges between 4-8ft faces, getting over 15ft on occasion.
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To the southwest of the larger island of Timor lies Rote Island, the southernmost island of Indonesia. Sue Custer takes a trip with her husband Dave to discover not only strange beachgoers, but a slightly different Indonesian experience to the norm. WORDS & PHOTOS: SUE CUSTER, FREELINE INDONESIAN SURF ADVENTURES An hour’s flight from Bali to Kupang brought us to the starting point for our Rote trip, and a pleasant surprise with the comfortable Krystal Hotel, located directly on the sea wall. The night markets were small but interesting, and in a town of not much to do, it was our entertainment. The locals eat here, and not much English - if any -is spoken, so a lot of pointing and guessing went to decide on the tasty treats on offer.
piglets were all out in force at dawn, nuzzling along the sand and creating snail-like trails as far as the eye could see. Pigs and dogs contentedly fossicked side by side through the wet sand. I was engrossed in watching this strange parade of pigs, dogs, surfers, seaweed people and colourful fishing canoes getting about their business set to the beautiful backdrop of the blues, greens, whites of the ocean, palm trees and sand. It was difficult to have a photo-free day.
Day two and we boarded the ferry for the two hour trip to the island of Rote, then drove one hour through very dry and sometimes barren landscape to the small, one-street town of Nembrala and to our accommodation at Anugrah Losmen (homestay). Anugrah is located directly on the beach front, with only five rows of perfectly lined palm trees between it and the beach – thatched, twin-bed bungalows, all with a simple en-suite.
Rote is a mainly Christian island, and as such is quite different to the atmosphere on other Indonesian Muslim islands. Females can feel quite comfortable swimming, or walking down the main street in shorts.
We arrived in time for lunch, and were fortunate enough to enjoy fresh tuna and mackerel sashimi. In tune with the open island setting, meals are taken in the large communal eating area. During the course of my stay I realised this was by far the healthiest I had ever eaten, on any trip, to any country, and I have been to six of seven continents. Breakfast included a bowl of fresh fruit salad, a pancake, toast and egg. Lunch was often fish and two salads. And dinner: soup, chicken or meat with two vegetables, a salad and dessert (when I could fit it in). The TV in the eating area was the perfect day’s finish for any surfing AFL enthusiasts, with games televised. For the non-sporting fans, there was also a range of DVDs. T-land is the break located directly out the front of the losmen, and with two boat transfers per day included in our trip, we had the option of relaxing on the losmen’s wooden beach chairs or under the pergola, and picking the time of day for a surf, depending on wave size and numbers in the line-up. This also was our sunset viewing spot. The beach faces west so the sunsets over the water are as colourful and varied as they are stunning. BELOW: (from left) Seaweed drying on the beach; Night markets; Anugrah Homestay; Porky takes a stroll; watching those magic barrels.
The wind picked up on some of the days and with it, the heat. This gave the opportunity to find a comfortable shady spot for relaxation or people watch all the goings-on along the seafront. Another non-surfing activity I was happy to jump into was snorkelling, as the coral directly out the front of the losmen has fantastic opportunities. I found resident ‘Nemos’ – the clownfish – as well as lionfish, sea stars, and many other beautiful and unusual coral creatures just 20 metres off the waters edge. We were advised to line up our spots to avoid the seaweed bouys – aka soft drink bottles. Nembrala seems to be the country’s seaweed growing capital, with many locals working from dawn to dusk, planting, harvesting, drying and finally carrying it away in palm baskets. Nembrala must also be the ‘pigs on the beach’ capital of the world. Massive males, pregnant mums and tiny
The main form of transport is moped or motorbike. Town is quiet, and can easily be walked. Doing this had us meeting so many friendly people - there was a lot of waving going on, and we constantly heard “Hello Mr, Hello Mrs” from passers by, or even from doorways way out of sight. Tuesday morning was market day and we’re glad we set the time aside to visit. The place was alive with people peddling amazing fruit and veg, homemade pastries, everyday household items and clothing. Shopping aside, it was fantastic for the peoplewatching and colours alone! The other main event on Rote takes place every Sunday morning. Children and adults dress in the Sunday best and head off in all directions to church services. Singing can be heard from halls and churches. Even the shops shut. Everyone is at church. One place we recommend visiting is the Bakery – the only bakery I’ve known that has no advertising other - than a tiny sign at the side of their house - and even more strangely doesn’t have any baked goods to display. You just order off a list – from doughnuts to banana, coconut or chocolate cake and more. You just write your name and when you want to pick it up. When we went to pick up ours, it was so warm it felt like it would melt the bag! Just delicious. All word of mouth, and easily the busiest ‘business’ in town. Our trip to Rote was an amazingly laid back experience and we were very sad to go. A word of advice - do not plan to leave the island on a Sunday! People visit each other on Sundays, so with double the amount of people, motorbikes and chickens to unload and load, the ferry seems to ignore the ‘schedule’. You wouldn’t want to miss your departing flight! Or maybe you would, and stay back for another few days. If this chilled trip sounds like the perfect antidote to the rush of everyday life, Freeline Indonesian Surf Adventures do both land based and boat trips to the island and would be happy to have you along. For details see: www.freelinesurf.com.au/surf-roti.htm and www.freelinesurf.com.au/surf-rote-anugrah-homestay.htm jul/aug 2012
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TRAVEL: PERU
After reading the article by saltmotion’s Joel Coleman about his trip to South America a few editions back, we were convinced that the continent was very much on our visit wishlist. To find out a bit more about another South American surf destination, we asked Oscar Corzano of Peru Aventura to tell us a little about what to expect from one of their trips. WORDS AND PHOTOS: OSCAR CORZANO, PERU AVENTURA
“Surfing in Peru is definitely going to be a unique surf experience. Coming from Australia, you will find a completely different landscape from what you see here and the Pacific islands. The surf is very consistent and the quality of waves are world class. “Peru has everything: point breaks, beach breaks, rock reefs, barrels, long waves rights and lefts. There are waves of all sizes, for all levels of surfing and it’s on all year round.
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“The water temperature depending on area changes. In summertime you will be able to surf in boardshorts further north in Peru, or in a 3/2 wetsuit down south. In winter it’s best to wear a 4/3 to stay warm as temperatures drop to 14-12˚ Celcius. Some areas like Chicama and Lobitos can get very windy and even a bit chilly on a summer afternoon. “Winter (April to October) brings the south swells which usually hit the coast of Peru with power, shaping amazingly solid waves. Depending
on the location, you should be able to find 3-6 foot in a small to medium swell and 10-15 foot waves on a big swell. And it gets bigger in some spots if you’re looking for a highadrenaline surf. It’s recommended to bring shortboards and guns for the advanced surfers. “In summer (December to March) the predominant swell comes from the north. Hitting with lots of power especially on the north coast of Peru. This area is mostly right-handers and barrels. Central and South coast of
Peru are not as consistent as in winter but you’ll get to find good waves for sure.There’s also some beach breaks that work well with north swells in central Peru and the Lima area. “Our surf trips mix waves with history. While surfari-ing we will stop and enjoy a few pre-Incan and Incan monuments and museums like Pachacamac Fortress in Lima, Caral Pyramids in northern Lima, Chan Chan in Trujillo and Mr Sipan museum in Lambayeque. After our surf trip is finished you’ll have an idea
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OSCAR OFFERS A FEW VERY COMPELLING REASONS TO VISIT
of Peru’s history and culture. (Tickets to monuments and museums are not included in the price.) “Our guides are always the most experienced in their fields. Felipe Calle, our surf guide, is a naturalfooter from Peru and has great knowledge of the surf conditions. He studied a university degree on the Gold Coast, where he was part of the surf lifesaving team. Felipe speaks fluent english and is always keen to go surfing - definitely a Peruvian waterman.
“Our trips are basically custom made. We do one week, ten day, two week and three week adventures... Or as many days you like. The price includes all accommodation during the adventure, all breakfasts (continental), Lima airport pickup, all transport (private) to beach breaks and back, your guide, leader and lots of fun. The transport that we normally use is a H1 Hyundai 12-seater van as the minimum group number to travel is 4 people. The bigger the group the less expensive the price.
“All accommodation is based on double rooms. If it happens that someone requests a single room then we can do that (fees apply). Peru surf trips and adventures are suitable for singles, couples and whoever is keen to explore Peru, but for the hiking adventures, we recommend you have a certain level of fitness.
“Peru in general is a very consistent place wave wise and there will always be a good, uncrowded spot to surf. Sounds like a cracker for the adventurous soul! For more information on visiting, please see www.peru-aventura.com
“Accommodation for our surftrips is always as close to the beach as possible, 1-2 stars and clean, comfortable and safe. jul/aug 2012
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TRAVEL: SHOW US YOUR BOAT
BUSINESS PROMOTION
PHOTOS: SUPPLIED BY HUEY SURF CHARTERS
For most of us, there’s not really a question of whether you’d like to go to the Mentawais or not. This chain of lush, tropical islands with an uncountable number of world class waves in pristine lukewarm water is what surfer’s dreams are made of. The equatorial doldrums (calm prevailing winds) mean that most days here, the water is like sheet glass. The question is then, ‘How?’ Huey Surf Charters is one way. Huey’s an eighty-two foot exJapanese customs vessel, so you can gather it’s bloody quick. It has been customised for surf charters and the vessel has undergone constant upgrading, recently jumping up a class while still maintaining an affordable price. Below deck there’s three airconditioned sleeping cabins, plus a dedicated TV room with full surround sound, satellite TV and an 800-movie library.
Steve, (aka Sooly) is the owner of Huey and captain, host and surf guide. He’s been travelling Indonesia for some twenty years. Amril is Huey’s Indonesian Captain - a born and bred Padang local who also has over twenty years experience at sea. He’s been with Huey since 2002 and knows these waters well. Khairul is the chef who has been on board since 2000. Arry, the kitchen hand and maintenance man, has been with Huey since 2007 as has Amon, the youngest member of the five man team. He has completed 2 levels of schooling and will become a fully qualified Captain within the next 2 years.
All five crew members are certified with Seacom, Indonesia’s Governing body for ocean going vessels. Huey Surf Charters go for ten days and eleven nights leaving Padang around 9pm and arriving in the islands at dawn the following morning. The boat travels mostly at night so as not to waste valuable surf time. The Mentawai Islands are known to offer some of the best and most consistent waves in the world and Huey Surf Charters has been operating in these waters since 1999, providing surfers with a variety of waves to suit all ability levels.
Huey 1 with, BELOW: a view of the dedicated TV room and the deck area for relaxing between sessions.
The above deck dining area provides you with full views of the surf, so you can recount your surfing heroics over a meal, or lounge around in the shaded front deck with a book or a couple of drinks. The five crew have a combined total of forty-two years working on this boat so they know how it works.
For more information on Huey Surf Charters and the Huey 1 as well as schedules and bookings, visit the website at www.huey.com.au. Alternately, email surfcharter@gmail.com or call +62 811 661 4839 jul/aug 2012
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Working overseas in Brunei, Sunshine Coast surfer Malcolm Oosterbeek was happy to discover he didn’t have to miss out on too much surf. In fact he’s got more than he bargained for. WORDS AND PHOTOS: MALCOLM OOSTERBEEK When I decided to take up a two year teaching contract in Brunei I had come to terms with the fact I would be kissing goodbye to the coastal surfing life I had on the Sunshine Coast. I had heard rumors that Brunei had (some) surf. I even found some footage on You Tube, but I assumed this was a freak occurrence. How wrong I was!
As far as the waves go, they are short and wedge-like, generally running off man-made groynes - I still can’t work out who put them there though, or why. The waves are punchy and steep at low tide and very workable at high tide. Given the right swell it can get quite heavy. I definitely know that!
For the last year and a half Brunei has been home to my wife Lyssa and myself, and let me tell you, I‘ve surfed more in that time than I did living on the Sunshine Coast QLD.
The surf culture is growing quickly here with locals, but is still mainly expats who are teachers or Shell workers. I would say our community consists of about 25 surfers. I only really ever see five of them at one particular time. Any more than five of us out is a rarity so competition for waves can be non-existent. The locals that do surf are still enjoying learning from us.
Quick Info - Brunei is not Dubai, there are no camels or desert. Forgive me if your geography is great, but most people ask me how I am going in the desert. Brunei is 70% jungle that meets the coastline and is situated in Borneo, with a quick step to enter Malaysia. It faces Vietnam across the South China Sea. Brunei Darussalam (The Abode of Peace) is its full name. It is an oil-wealthy country and being tropical and steamy hot, there’s no need for any wetsuits or rubber. Brunei is a Malay Islamic monarchy which has a low population of less than 400,000. The Sultan is the King, and is one of the richest men in the world, said to be worth US$55 Billion. He supposedly has a car collection worth US$4 Billion alone. The waves are seasonal, but come August, things change here dramatically. Most swells are from 1-3 foot with the odd bigger day. Come December, the surf can be very consistent and you can find yourself hoping for one flat day to rest the weary body. But, given the seasonal nature, it would be a crime not to keep going. To make things better... we only work half a day here. My shift starts at 1.00pm and finishes at 5.30pm. And that leaves plenty of time to take in the swell.
A friend of mine here is still waiting for the right sized and angled swell for a mythical sand and rock point up the road to break at a decent six foot with endless lefts. I’m yet to believe this... All in all, the season may only last five months maximum, but the extra time you get here due to lower work commitments and fewer surfers presents one surfpacked period. To top it all off Indonesia and Mentawais are a stone throw away and very cheap. I have just booked tickets to Mentawais for $85 AUS. It pays to know the locals here too, because most of them have housing in places like Mentawais. Anyway, when my contract ends here I’m sure I will be stoked to leave my tax free earnings, return to the Sunshine Coast and share the surf with my fellow Australian surfers, who no doubt will be calling me into any wave I like?
If you see that the Philippines and Vietnam are unfortunately getting hammered by a typhoon Brunei will be getting some epic waves. Unfortunately for typhoon affected areas this lasts for a good five months. The water in Brunei is chocolate brown due to the tannins and jungle run-off. It contains a lot of silt and debris. The only real pest is the occasional croc, but locals assure me they’re only near the river mouths. My eyes still wander when in the line up though! Driving down the highway the beach is not obvious till you turn off, drive down a gravel road through dense jungle and then it clears as it hits the coastline. Sadly, most beaches are littered with rubbish. It makes one realise how important educating our generations about the environment is. Unfortunately this message doesn’t seem to be conveyed here to all. 82
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MAIN: Mal makes a meal of some chunky brown FAR LEFT: Enough power to go airborne LEFT: Strange groynes and chocolate shakes jul/aug 2012
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TRAVEL: THE MALDIVES Over a few beers in Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka, Victorian surfer Jules Tehan and mates Ofer and Chris had a flash of inspiration… Could it be possible to explore the Maldives on the cheap – not to do it by a surf boat or luxury resort – but to stay on local islands, eat local and get around on local ferries? There’d be no surf safari boat, no luxury resort and no guidebook - just have to fly into Male and figure it out from there. The plan was to score world-class waves while travelling on a tight-arse budget. Using the powerful logic a dozen beers creates, the three concluded there was only one way to find out. WORDS AND PHOTOS: JULES TEHAN We stepped out onto the tarmac a week later and were greeted by the neon lights welcoming us to the Male International Airport, our naive idea quickly started to become reality. Male is the capital and the primary transport hub. It’s a cosmopolitan city covering the entire 2km by 3km island, where the call to prayer is easily heard over the whole island. For most visitors it’s just a meeting point for their resort transfer. There’s one main break and nearby Villingilli Island also works on a big swell. With 1-2 foot closeouts, neither option seemed appealing, so it was time to move. After scanning and comparing maps to get our next destination, we heeded local advice and headed south to Guridhoo Island, as it looked likely to have three accessible breaks: Riptide at the west end of the island which breaks with most swells, holding up to 10ft; the very racy hollow left-hander of Foxy’s that breaks over a super shallow reef; and the shallow, fast, right-hand barrelling reef break on the other side of the neighbouring island of Kandooma. We boarded the old wooden ferry heading to Guridhoo and stowed our boards amongst shopping bags, boxes of fresh fruit, fresh bread, pieces of furniture, motor scooters and random household items of mops, brooms, lights and a new fridge. Local families on board watched us quietly but curiously. The ferry headed south from the aqua-
green waters of the Male dock and in no time we were passing by luxury resort wooden huts nestled together over lagoons. Dolphins drifted by in the distance and flying fish continuously leapt out of the way of our slow noisy vessel. Word must have spread quickly of our pending arrival because Amman - a short, thin wiry local fisherman, father of eight and man-abouttown – was there to greet us at the dock. He’d taken the liberty of waiting to show us all of our accommodation options on his island. Little did we know that Amman, his thirteen brothers and their wives and families, made up the vast majority of the island’s population and had good reason to know exactly what our options were.
inconsistently across the reef. Added to this was the discovery of aquamarine water so clear the reef itself, the colour of its coral and the bright tropical fish only metres below, were clearly visible while sitting out the back. We savoured it all morning, with the only interruption being a pod of some 200 dolphins passing through the channel we had just crossed earlier.
We scouted the small tropical island made up of dirt roads, brightly painted concrete houses and narrow streets occupied only by pedestrian traffic, and quickly settled on the empty surf-camp style local hostel that was easily within the realms of budget accommodation.
Riptide provided a mixture of waves over the next few days, shared with the occasional passing surf boat. We still needed to get access to Kandooma Right though. It is situated on the opposite side of the neighbouring Kandooma Resort island, which is separated from Guridhoo by a shallow channel 20m wide. Relying on complete naivety and some gall, we paddled straight across the channel and attempted to sneak straight across the resort island to the break. But in less than a minute we were confronted by at least four island security guards. No powers of persuasion would convince them to change their minds, and sent us straight back across to our island.
First thing next morning we set off to check the offerings of Riptide. Breaking over an isolated reef some 500m off the island, it is reached by walking first across a shallow sandy reef, paddling out over a narrow deep channel, and then into the break. We reached it in ten minutes to find an empty break made up of 3-4ft right-handers peeling
The next logical step was to negotiate a ride with local fisherman, but this was becoming as complex as the Middle East peace negotiations and was ridiculously priced for the distance involved. So with a mild dose of dengue fever putting Ofer out of action, Chris and I decided we’d paddle to Kandooma Right. jul/aug 2012
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Leaving the north end of the island, we paddled past the resort pool (it’s wooden jetty used for guest boat trips) past the day trip boats moored nearby, and around the western end of Kandooma Resort island. All the while we were being tracked by security guards in starched white resort wear and carrying hand-held radios.
individually belting tennis balls at each other in rapid succession while gaining points for the number of balls caught during the fire fight (they’re confident it’ll be an Olympic sport one day). As a conservative Muslim nation, drinking on local islands is illegal, so the nightlife was kept to a minimum.
As we rounded the corner, into view came the perfectly peeling 4-6ft right-hand, barrelling waves we’d read about. With only five people out, and light offshore winds, there were plenty of waves to go around. In no time we were in the line-up, paddling into the fast, zippy, hollow waves that broke over the shallow reef and into the rocky beach on the banks of the island. Occasionally, Chinese tourists watched from the balconies of their luxury bungalows, snapping photos and pointing, as we surfed wave after wave until sundown.
A month passed quickly and it was time to move on. One option was to travel into the Southern Atoll region by ferry. This required an overnight ferry ride of fourteen hours, but couldn’t guarantee an island with easy access to nearby surf breaks. The other obvious alternative was just north of Male.
The swell over the next three weeks remained consistent, offering morning sessions at Riptide and afternoon sessions on Kandooma. These were shared with nearby resort tourists or the occasional surf boat, with crowds either nonexistent or super low. Combined with turquoise water so clear you could see coral formations below with bright green coral trout, yellow darting butterfly fish, black clown triggerfish drifting below, and almost daily visits by turtles or dolphins. We had found ourselves in a tropical surf heaven while living on a shoestring. The local island residents made us very welcome, curious about the foreign surfers that were still on the island after nearly a month. Out of the water, entertainment was very simple. The one main street was the social hub where we’d laze with locals in Maldivian hammock chairs, listening to the dreams of local Bangladeshi workers or to “Aunty” chatter away between her hookah pipe puffs. The two local restaurants were our mainstays for all things tuna and rice. Our cricket skills were tested with the local Bangladeshi boat builders. Fishing with local kids, by hand, saw us catching fish regarded at home as ‘exotics.’ Fridays served up the obscure sport of bashi which involved local women of opposing teams
We settled on Thulusdoo Island, three hours north of Male and nestled amongst the chain of surf breaks popular with the majority of surf boats operating in the Maldives. Importantly, it is home to the fast, consistent, right-hand reef break of Cokes, which captures most of the southerly swell and can be easily accessed from the island. It’s regarded by some as the heaviest wave in the Maldives, with a steep take-off and good barrel opportunities. With a two month visa extension, we trawled on another slow, noisy public ferry ride up into the northern region of the Kaafu Atoll and past the well known breaks of Jails, Honkys, Sultans, and Pasta Point. Arriving on the larger island of Thulasdoo island we adopted the same approach of wandering the island to seek local advice on accommodation. With a thousand residents and the Coca Cola factory on the island, options quickly came available. These included a small local hostel, two new surf camps, and local homestays. We settled on a local two-bedroom house seconds from the surf break that was within budget-traveller limits. The main break of Cokes was easily accessed from the island. A short walk across a tidalchannel, a quick duck through the short mangrove trees and we were standing at the reef. We were munching on long 3-4 footers that had more punch than a Collingwood boxing bag. It remained consistent for the next two weeks, offering
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morning and afternoon sessions, providing the strong current running briefly each day wasn’t making it impossible to sit on the take off. These waves were shared with local kids, surf camp residents and visiting surf safari boats. Two weeks in, a powerful southerly swell made its way up from South Africa and turned it on. Pumping through 6-8 foot sets with fast, powerful waves, solid stand up barrels and near vertical take-offs, the crowds were quickly reduced. We quickly discovered this also set a test of judgement.
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Ofer carving at Cokes
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Time it well, and we were out the back in minutes and looking back onto a palm tree spotted tropical island. Time it badly and our paddle out quickly trebled in length, as we were washed down the reef on the inside, coping set after set on the head. Given the surf conditions we were experiencing and budget we were living on, we quickly concluded the Maldives is set to experience a surge in independent surfers seeking longer periods of stay. A number of considerations will influence those travelling there though. The first is that alcohol is strictly not permitted on any non-resort islands due to Islamic law. This limits the appeal to the surfing contingent demanding post-surf partying on their trip. Added to this is the modesty of dress Islamic law encourages. So nude or topless sun baking is prohibited everywhere in the Maldives. Likewise, homosexuality is against the law and if you’re convicted, you may face lengthy prison sentences, fines, deportation or - if you’re a born-again same-sex naturist couple - all three. In addition, few local residents eat in the local restaurants on the islands. This makes food options limited and repetitive.
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Admittedly it was only having three options for dinner every night - fried rice, fried noodles, or the same curry and rice - that encouraged my departure. So after two months, it was time for myself and Chris to leave the Maldives in search of new food and a cold beer. The Maldives had delivered far more than we ever expected – amazing surf that lived up to its reputation, easily affordable travel options, and a new adventure. It’s likely to experience changes over the next few years as word filters out, but so many local islands remain unspoilt by mainstream tourism that there are likely to be many more to explore for quality waves.
PLEASE NOTE: You can’t just rock up the Maldives with no plan, as their tourist industry is well regulated. Accommodation that Jules and friends stayed in were all official resorts and homestays, and they had appropriate permissions to visit the places they did. In certain areas in the Maldives, interaction between locals and tourists is frowned upon, so make sure you do your homework, or simply talk to one of the travel companies servicing the area to make sure you stay out of trouble. jul/aug 2012
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A North Island Kiwi lets us in on his summer job. WORDS AND PHOTOS: SIMON EGGINTON
It’s been a very busy few months leading up to this point but as the New Zealand winter sets in, my surf school in Tutukaka slows down to only a few lessons every couple of weeks. With the onset of colder weather, my brother and I board a flight in pursuit of the sun – destination, Holland, with a slight detour to Hong Kong. We planned a few days in the ridiculous humidity of the city for a bit of sight seeing and skating. This will be my ninth trip to Holland since first coming here in 1985 as a snotnosed four-year-old to visit my mother’s side of the family. Following that trip, it was another ten years before I returned in 1995. At that stage I was fourteen and being a mad-keen little grommet from Sandy Bay on the Tutukaka Coast of NZ, I always had surf on my mind. It was during this trip that we went on a family outing to a place called Scheveningen and sat on the harbour wall eating Haring and Parling (sprats - a species of herring - and eels), which is traditional Dutch seafood fare. It sounds gross, but in actual fact is pretty good and must be tried. It was there I noticed a few little waves peeling down the beach. There were only a few guys. It had me thinking: “If only I had my board, I would so be out there.” MAIN: Simon getting his surfing fix on land on his Smoothstar skateboard. ABOVE: Hard at work back home in Tutukaka NZ. LEFT AND BELOW: The smiles and thrill of learning.
Holland may not particularly known as a surf destination, but seeing surfers there that time always stuck with me. After another short trip there for the millennium, I moved to Holland in 2001 and stayed until 2006. I saw the popularity of surfing grow during those five years. Now I’m back again. Having returned for the summer months, working on the beach as a surf coach at Surfles.nl run by Hans van den Broek, it’s amazing to see how busy the surf schools are here now. The swell might not be as big or good as back home in NZ, but the stoke the students get from learning to stand up for the first time is exactly the same. It goes to show that it doesn’t matter where in the world you are, all you need is a few fun waves to get hooked by the bug that is surfing. In fact, just before I wrote this story, I was surfing down at Scheveningen for the last four hours in some very fun little two foot, clean waves. Walking back up the beach to Surfles.nl the surf classes were getting ready to hit the waves and there were so many huge smiles on the faces of the people returning for their next lesson. Holland and New Zealand in a geographic sense couldn’t be further apart, and the lifestyle is quite different, but I still get the same stoke surfing here as I do back at Sandy Bay. That is, apart from when I take a surf trip to Shipwreck Bay, but that’s another story... Simon Egginton has his own surf school called Tutukaka Surf Experience near the top end of the New Zealand North Island, not far from the Bay of Islands. www.tutukakasurf.co.nz
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Exceptionally keen surfer, home board builder and luckily for us - smorgasboarder reader - Mike Roberson was kind enough to let us into his life surfing the Great Lakes in the United States of America. WORDS & PHOTOS: MIKE ROBERSON
California has long been the hotbed of surfing in North America and the East Coast has many decent breaks too. Unfortunately, I live over a 1000km from either ocean, yet I am a surfer. I am one of the fortunate few that surf America’s third coast - the waves that break along the shores of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes are a chain of five large bodies of fresh water located in the Midwest part of the United States. But these are no ordinary lakes. They are hundreds of kilometres long and wide and have a total combined coastline of over 17,000km with waves just waiting to be surfed. I live in Grand Haven, Michigan - a quaint tourist town on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Grand Haven is a popular vacation spot known for its beautiful beaches and is quite possibly the birthplace of lake surfing. People first started surfing in Grand Haven as early as the 1940’s with a growth in popularity in the 1960’s that continues today. TOP: Surfing Mike’s homebreak of Grand Haven takes a lot of love and a plenty of rubber. ABOVE: Mike with one of his personal surfboard creations
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People are often surprised to hear that it is possible to surf the lakes, but due to their large size we do occasionally get pretty decent surf. In an average year there are over 100 surfable days. Of those, about 30 days would be considered very good and about 15 days of excellent surf. Most days it is knee to waist high, but occasionally we have chest high or bigger surf.
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Unfortunately, offshore and glassy is not a regular part of our vocabulary. Our biggest surf is generated by strong onshore winds, which creates blown out disorganized surf… But we still occasionally go out because it’s big! Our cleanest and smallest surf occurs with a strong wind blowing the length of the lake parallel to the shoreline forcing waves to wrap around a pier. The best surf is when the wind blows at about a 45 degree angle to the beach which produces a decent size wave that is cleaned up by a pier or jetty sticking out into the lake, creating a mini point break. Another issue is our best surf usually occurs in the fall and early winter. While you can occasionally surf in trunks with warm and sunny conditions in the summer, in most cases we surf on what most people would consider non-beach days. The best waves typically occur on cloudy, cold gray days with rain or snow requiring a wetsuit up to 6mm thick by winter. Because waves are wind generated on a relatively small body of water, our waves tend to break very close together with some inconsistency. A seven second period would be about the best you can hope for with most days closer to 4 or 5 seconds, which can make paddling out a real challenge. Most people prefer to surf along the backside of a pier or jetty that blocks and aligns the waves, while creating a bit of a calm area for paddling out. Sounds tempting, doesn’t it? Cold water, cold air, wind-blown onshore surf while fighting for your life just to get out. Believe me, it’s not as bad as it sounds. Actually, it’s pretty darn good. There are no crowds. Best estimates put the number of surfers in the Great Lakes Region at around 500. That means there is a lot of coastline for everyone. An average day will have only 4 or 5 guys in the water, on a crowded day there maybe as many as 10 surfers sharing a long beach break with many peaks. On about half my surfing days, it’s just my buddy Derek and me with the waves all to ourselves. There are no contests or competitions. I have to believe surfing the lakes is closer to the true roots of surfing. People surf for the pure pleasure of riding waves. They simply enjoy being in the water and being in harmony with nature. As a result, you have a real sense of community
among lake surfers with virtually no localism. In most cases, people welcome your company and are eager to share their knowledge. There are no sharks! No one has ever been attacked or killed by a shark or stung by a ray or jellyfish. The Great Lakes have been called sweet water seas. One of the real treats of surfing the Great Lakes is the freshwater. There is no salty taste in your mouth, residue on your wetsuit or the critters that live in the ocean. It gives you a real peace of mind knowing as you enter the water that your surfboard is the most dangerous thing in the water. While I love to watch videos of perfect waves in tropical locations in hopes of visiting someday, I feel very fortunate to be a part of a community of surfers that truly appreciates the experience and are passionate about surfing regardless of the quality of surf. Every so often, however, it all comes together and we have near perfect waves with warm water on a beautiful summer day. When this occurs we realise how truly fortunate we are to be able to surf these amazing freshwater seas.
Find out more about Great Lake Surfing GRAND HAVEN SURF CAM Website for webcam at my local break http://surfgrandhaven.com/cms/ UNSALTED The trailer for Unsalted, a movie about lake surfing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl4f3JlWdHQ THIRD COAST SURF SHOP A local surf shop with a photo section and forum will give you a feel for what it is like on the lakes. www.thirdcoastsurfshop.com
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SOUTHERN COMFORT WETSUITS, JETSKIS AND FROSTBITE
It takes a whole heap of dedication to get great surf shots. Forget the preparation, equipment, training, study - those perfect tropical down-the-line shots mean a whole lot of swimming and timing a brilliant beachie barrel snap means putting your body and gear on the line... But add in ice-cold water, gigantic waves and even snow on the beach and the game steps up a few extra notches. On our recent journey of discovery through NZ our last stop was the city of Dunedin, all the way down on the South Island. Between seeing amazing sites and getting great waves in the cold water, Graham Carse of Quarry Beach Surfboards introduced us to the unbelievable work of an extremely dedicated local photographer Mark Stevenson, better known as StevO. Armed with a camera and jetski, he’s spent years documenting the local surfing scene and beyond in all kinds of extremes. Prepare to be blown away... WORDS: MARK CHAPMAN PHOTOS: STEVO www.photomarkstevenson.com
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BEHIND THE LENS
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MEET THE MAN... StevO is a sixth generation and well settled Dunnos (Dunedin) boy - half Irish/half Scot-like many over there and by his own description a ‘totally a Southern Kiwi Man’. “I dated a local girl, Ann, at 21, followed her to the wild west coast, over to Greymouth for her teaching before heading off on our big overseas expedition to London. We used it as a base to photograph and surf Europe and North Africa, before returning home via southern Africa and West Oz ... Best waves. “On returning, I married Ann and now have two damn fine kids - Jacob who is now the second generation Stevenson surfer and Eliza Jean.” In an area that takes being tough just getting in the water for a surf, let alone taking photos, we were curious as to how StevO got sucked into it… “Since I turned into a grom at 14 all I’ve done is surf - no school qualifications, as I was too busy surfing to worry about exams. “I picked up a Super-8 movie camera and shot a couple of movies of the boys back in the late 70s, but with only a couple of quick part slashes from the boys working out, it was costing me megabucks for very little, so I thought there was more chance to get photos of my mates and even sell the odd shot to the boys or mags. “I needed to learn more, as I was really interested in the photographic thing, so I started doing a black and white photo course. I then did a 3-year photographic degree while on the west coast. I did weddings and graduations as they actually paid, but I got a great kick out of photographing the surf and surfers around the world. I managed to get some photos published in books and mags, and that’s a real buzz. “Because of my passion for surfing and love of photography, it makes absolute sense to pursue this type of photography. It gives me a real buzz, especially the big wave stuff and extreme slabs.” But surely you have to be nuts to brave water that cold so often? “We’ve got great waves here, pretty constant like daily - and it’s been mostly uncrowded, until recent digital years. It’s hard to leave a paradise. But yes… What’s ‘normal’? Most who surf their whole life in cold water, I’m sure are ‘insane’well going by most of my mates anyway, but I guess they’re used to it.
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“IT MAKES ABSOLUTE SENSE TO PURSUE THIS TYPE OF PHOTOGRAPHY. IT GIVES ME A REAL BUZZ”
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STEVO SAYS: Kyle Davidson @ The Island Dunedin - the colour of the wave and of course that lip is insane and where Davo is placed on the wave makes this one of my fav shots
BEHIND THE LENS
STEVO SAYS: Taane Tokina - I love how hollow and the colous are in this wave, so clean and the morph in the lip all make this shot.
“I’m not crazy. I realised that I couldn’t continue to get colds, flu and pneumonia swimming in the old sh*tty wetties we had back then, taking photos. There’s also the White Pointer factor here - seven attacks with three fatal just before I started surfing and getting into photography in Dunedin... So, when one of the local big wave surfers, Davo, introduced me to the jetski, that was it. I was sold. “A huge bonus is that the camera angle is better from ski – it’s not so low -and I’m out of the water most of the time. It’s pleasant for the few warm days we get with solid sizable waves, but most of the time it’s either frost on the beach or snow on the hills, so it’s harder and colder work sitting on the ski for 4-6 hours, shooting in negative windchill 96
temps… But as I say, we’re used to it, and thank goodness for the continuing invention in better wetties.” Stevo’s Yamaha jetski is an integral part of his setup and as for the rest, he’s a Canon man all the way. “L series lenses, SPL housings and my land baby the Canon 600f4 and now I’ve starting making fun movies on the GoPro as well.” Any tips or tricks of coping with the cold for aspiring photographers? “Don’t smoke as your blood won’t circulate as well. But then again, smoking keeps the hands warm! Oh,
and keep those nasty, biting sandflies away when shooting from land or the ski. “Seriously though, layer up. Have packed in your bag a rain jacket, gloves, gum boots, polyprops (thermal underwear), an umbrella, insect repellant, a tarp and rope which you will need at some point in the day especially shooting from the land. “Polyprops also work well under wetties, and get on as much rubber as you can – hood, booties, kidney belt, heated vest... Possum gloves are great too, warm when wet and not as bulky as wetsuit gloves. “Finally, keep your flask filled up with hot milo great to re-warm the body along with your ciggie.”
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BEHIND THE LENS ABOVE: Once the boys (Kyle, Gordie, Taane and Oscar ) got use to the jetski, this amazing wave really opened up. It gave us Hawai-type power in our backyard and introduced a whole new level of surfing. What we were doing at the time is summed up in this photo, as Davo looks into the eye of a beast, three times as hollow as high.
RIGHT: I’m not into naming spots, but this is a exception to the rule. It’s so hard to get to, lying a third of the way out in one of the worlds roughest straits, Faux Straight, which is a White Pointer breeding area. It’s open to the most wild weather one can imagine - so changeable and very dangerous and only for the MADDEST of surfers. This was our first year attempting to surf this crazy place. Dave Stevenson (Mong) has a crack at paddling it. jul/aug 2012
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GO RIGHT: NZ is well known for its long lefthand points. Well, we’ve got a few rights as well!!
STEVO SAYS: There’s nothing better than seeing a wave morph so much... You’re shooting, your’re looking through the viewfinder, sitting on a ski as well as driving it , knowing sometimes the small channel will close out in solid 8-12 ft swells. There’s so much going though your head while clicking, but it’s all worth the work and financial losses when you capture a moment in time like this.
REMOTE: This is shot off the west coast of the South Island - NZ’s most remote surfing area with huge waves and snow in the Southern Alps in the background. It’s such a special place. Only those who have ventured into the Fiordland World Heritage Park will know the real feeling of being an explorer. 98
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BEHIND THE LENS Back to the insane shots of yours at Quarry Beach Surfboards, of some big wave surfing near Dunedin. Tell us a little more about that… “Yeah, unbelievable – we never thought as groms, we could have accessed waves like that in our backyard. “We would get the odd big 8 or 12 ft session in Dunedin every year or two, and that was huge. A couple of others would surf out of town in bigger waves, but it was Hawaii for the huge surf… That was, until we started a big wave memorial for one of the big wave searchers, Rex von Huben, the biggest big wave warrior around. (Rex was a local Dunedin surfer that sadly died in a car accident.)
“The memorial started in the first year as a big wave adventure for 30 of NZ’s best big wave surfers. It was held in the south, finding 6-8 ft solid, maybe odd 10 ft. But by year two it was up to 12-15 ft waves at Centre Island in Foveaux Strait. (Recently, with the use of shark tagging Centre Island has been found to be on route to NZ’s white pointer home base, Stewart Island, which is right next door.) “This was serious now, as it was definitely life threatening between deep water hold downs, sharks and 20-25ft waves now possibly on the agenda. Jetskis also helped us to venture further into Milford on the West Coast, Port Craig in southern Fiordland and the Catlins in search of the biggest beast.
“I eventually came to the conclusion that the area around the Catlins is easiest for big waves, especially for access and time. And it’s just a lot cheaper - just drive up and you’re out there, no choppers or boats needed.” As far as travel goes, StevO’s been a lot further afield than just the local waves. To date, he’s racked up visits to 35 different countries and reckons every different trip has had its own magic moment, or in his case life-threateningly dangerous ones. “Once an elephant in South Africa nearly killed me, thought it would have to go round the tree to get me 10m away, but no… He went straight through the bloody tree -a full size male with huge tusks. jul/aug 2012
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Now
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“LOTS OF GREAT WAVES, LOTS OF PARTYING AND I MADE SOME GREAT LIFELONG FRIENDS.” I only just jumped onto the ladder of the Land Rover, which was having trouble starting… Scary stuff.
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“On the same trip I was a bit cheeky….well stupid really, as me and a friend got out of the Land Rover to sneak up on sleeping lions. Again, I have never run so fast as when they stood up and looked our way, yawning… We were nearly half of the 300m to them, but did get some cool pics you don’t see that in NZ ! “Then there was a time we went into Milford Sound... We wore frost for the 2hr drive in at 2am, icicles hanging off trees, shooting all day 10 miles up the coast in 10-15ft waves only for the boys to get their ski washed up and stuck on the rocky beach. They needed a helicopter to get their ski out. I had to put in a sparkplug for the return trip down the coast and fiord. “The sun was gone and the temperature was freezing. I had two pairs of gloves on and still got frostbite on my fingertips. We finally arrived back at the car to find a letter on the windscreen saying if we bring our jet skis back into Milford, we would be fined $100,000 each. Finally, to cap it off, I fell asleep at the wheel driving home, but luckily I made it home safe, we all said we would never do a day mission there again. “The Rex Von Huben inaugural Big Wave comp was definitely the highlight in my life and work. I surfed some big waves in the contest, shot pics as the only photographer onboard and drove a crew of four mad. It was awesome for surfers around Otago, Catlins and Southland for a week - a bit like the cannonball run but with surfboards. (laughs) Lots of great waves, lots of partying and I made some great lifelong friends.”
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There’s been no shortage of excitement in StevO’s life so far and he’s fortunate enough to have the photographic proof to back it up. Here’s to many more years, many more adventures and of course many more great photos for the rest of us to enjoy. For more on StevO’s work going all the way back to the 80’s, visit his website: www.photomarkstevenson.com. There are countless images of surfing, people and landscapes from the South Island and around the world. To order StevO says to email him the details of the image and he’ll get back to you with a price for print, postcard, canvas, digital file or whatever you might need. Alternately if you happen to be lucky enough to be visiting Dunedin, you can purchase from one of the local stockists: St Clair Hot Salt Water Pool & Café, Carly Jones Floral Design, Quarry Beach Surfboards and St Clair 4-Square.
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BOARDS • SKATE • TESTS • REVIEWS • FASHION
APPRENTICE IN WAITING
A LOVE FOR THE FINER THINGS Rather than just talk about a particular aspect of surfboard design, we discussed with Paul Uscinski of Cod Surfboards something as paramount as the design itself, attention to detail. “I feel boards today have lost the love. It’s just pump out, pump out. Nothing is unique. That’s why I don’t like shaping machines. I love hand shaping. It takes a lot more time and effort but the performance and durability of the boards is superior in my mind. “I put as much effort into a board for my customers as I do for myself. I get excited with every board I shape. “I find people want to know first and foremost that you care about them before they do business. Personally I enjoy spending time with my customers to truly understand how they surf and what they require. “It’s then a matter of taking more time again in the shaping phase. When you hand shape, you take less off the blank than a machine. This adds to the strength of the board. This is because the cell structure of the foam closest to the skin is strongest. “When I finish off my boards I use 400 grit sandpaper. It adds another half hour to the process but I find by doing this I can really fine tune the shape and this method ensures the board holds less resin. When boards are finished with just gauze, as some shapers do, it leaves big scratches. This ‘depth’ is then filled with resin making the boards heavier. “This added attention to detail once again improves performance and delivers a lightweight performance surfboard that doesn’t sacrifice durability. And because the board is lighter you can add a little more foam if required to improve paddling power. “Equally important is the fin configuration and how it relates to the shape. A great board with poor fin
placement can’t be fixed. A lot of companies make nice boards and then just mark the fins out. There has to be more attention to detail, particularly with regards to the angle of the fins and how they are toed out. If done correctly, it dramatically improves how water flows through to the tail of the board heightening performance, increasing drive and maneuverability. I pride myself on my accuracy. “I tailor make every board to suit the customer so every board I create is different. I do have a particular love for channel bottoms though. They take a lot of extra effort but again, I find you get so much more out of the shape. I have always admired the work of shapers like Al Byrne. “There is only one problem with dedicating so much time to getting a board perfect, I have to undertake other work to survive. If I was trying to make a living solely out of surfboards alone, in the manner I create them, I would have to charge up to $2000 for a channel-bottom board. The margins on boards today are forcing shapers to undertake other work.
We will see the Archer’s ‘Squid’ brought to life in our forthcoming September edition of smorgasboarder. Gus, Ned and Sam, winners of Classic Malibu’s Shaper’s Apprentice Competition, are champing at the bit to get amongst the foam shavings in Peter White’s shaping bay.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
You’ve heard the saying, ‘Everything old is new again’. Well how about, ‘Everything new is old again’ as is the case with the latest creation from Classic Malibu. A brand spanking new board made to look like an old classic, pardon the pun. Modelled on an old Gordon & Woods shape and made for the Wrecks & Relics event in Noosa. The trick? Leave the blank under a tree for all manner of things to drop on it and discolour it, then glass it up with clear Volan. The only departure from a true old mal is the nose concave Peter added to improve performance. And so it’s reborn, or should I say born or whatever. I’m confused.
“This is what I really want to do full time but there is just not the money in it these days. I don’t do this because I am trying to make dollars out of it. I shape surfboards because I absolutely love it.”
Paul Uscinski started Cod Surfboards with Daniel Miau back in 1984 and has been hand shaping a range of shortboards through to longboards ever since. For more visit www.codsurfing.com.au
For more: www.classicmalibu.com jul/aug 2012
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GEAR: BOARDS
SHAPER’S PROMOTION
Go on... try me!
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THE HOT DOG
THE BIG EASY
POPSTER PRO
THE FIZZ
DEMOS ARE GO
Shaper: Dean “Dino” Tziolis Dimensions: 5’4” - 6’ Suits: Anyone - Custom Description: Fun shortboard. Super quick, easy to get up and planing, yet responds positively to rider input. Wider planshape for small surf. Enough rocker for medium surf. Ride about 4” shorter than a standard shortboard. Original print Goodtime logos - it’s a piece of Australian surfing history. Construction: South Coast Foam. 2 x 4oz glass. Rails are lapped on the bottom edge in carbon Fins: AFC Shaper comment: Goodtime prides itself on making quality surfboards and has done so since 1971. Whether it’s a classic shape, a performance thruster or a simple fish tail, no matter how many fins... its been here or its in here. Goodtime is what surfing is all about. Over thirty years later, we’re still having a good time surfing!
Shaper: Simon Jones Dimensions: 6’2” - 7’ Suits: Anyone - Custom Description: Semi roundhouse wing round tail with a vee through centre toward tail. Construction: Burford blank, fully handshaped. 6/6/6oz Bay Mills glass Silmar polyester resins. Fins: Thruster FCS set up Shaper comment: Goodtime prides itself on making quality surfboards and has done so since 1971. Whether it’s a classic shape, a performance thruster or a simple fish tail, no matter how many fins... its been here or its in here. Over thirty years later, we’re still having a good time surfing! Rider comment: “After catching a couple of waves went to the back and found it was really maneuverable, very fun and you could walk up and down it as well” Tyler Wright
Shaper: Ed Sinnott Specs: From 5’4 - 6’4” Get in touch for customs Ideal conditions: Anything up to 6’ Description: This is a combination of all my old single fin and twinfin templates combined with new school bottom curves and rails. The result is a sensational hybrid that flys. Flat entry, deep vortex concave, razor edges and wet and dry finish. Construction: Burford/ South Coast PU blanks, Silmar polyester resin, Colan and Surf Nine glass. This combination has stood the test of time. Fins: Quad or thruster Shaper comment: A unique and amazing hybrid board that goes ballistic in anything. Developed by Josh Sleep, Jono Salfeild and the Afends boys in Byron Bay. They see it as a majestic alternative for all round surfing. Tried and tested, it’s proved them right.
Shaper: Scott Newman
Shaper: Dave Verrall
Specs: 6’0’’ x 18 ¾’’x 2 5/16”
Specs: From 4’2”-10’6”
Ideal conditions: 2-6 foot.
Ideal conditions: Today’s surf.
Description: Our new model. We have faded out our Boombox and Vulture models by combining them with our Impala model. This is the FIZZ.
Suits: Diverse range of happy surfers.
Lower entry and tail rocker than your normal shortboard with a single to double concave. Fast and responsive.
Description: Demo boards are available to anyone. With a massive range to choose from you’re bound to find a magic stick.
GOODTIME SURFBOARDS 29 Ipswich Rd, Woolloongabba QLD 4102 Ph: 07 3391 8588 info@goodtime.com.au www.goodtime.com.au
GOODTIME SURFBOARDS 29 Ipswich Rd, Woolloongabba QLD 4102 Ph: 07 3391 8588 info@goodtime.com.au www.goodtime.com.au
ESP SURFBOARDS 2/81 Centennial Circuit Byron Bay, NSW Ph: 0404 059 321 www.espsurfshop.com.au www.edsinnott.com.au
SLS SURFBOARDS 2/57 George St, Moffat Beach, QLD 4551 Ph: Scott 0424 314 183 slssurfboards.com.au
Construction: EPS/Epoxy with carbon tail patches. Fins: Scarfini FX2 Shaper comment: I’ve been working on this board for the last six months with all my riders and they’re all riding them.
Ability: Experienced enough to care about the right choice.
Construction: From traditional PU to space age composites. Fins: 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5 Shaper comment: I care that you really do get the right board before you spend any money...
DIVERSE SURFBOARDS 476 Gold Coast Hwy, Tugun, QLD 4224 Ph: 07 5598 4848 dave@diversesurf.com.au diversesurf.com.au
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SHAPER’S PROMOTION
GEAR: BOARDS
a Loose as is h ic goose, wh d ir e w in just pla ’s g it considerin a cat.
THE JORDYN Shaper: Paul Carson Dimensions: 5’6” x 19” x 2” Suits: Jordyn Description: A grommet board with plenty of surface area for stability but not a wide tail so they turn easily. Very light double concave through the tail. Construction: Hand shaped Burford blank, quality glassing. This one has a resin colour swirl on the bottom. Fins: Thruster setup. Plugs or set. Shaper comment: Great intermediate board before progressing to a performance shortboard or something else.
THE FACTORY SURFBOARDS CALOUNDRA 17 Allen Street Caloundra QLD 4551 Ph: 07 5492 5838 factorysurf@southernfoam.com.au thefactorysurfboards.com.au
CARBON FIBRE KNEEBOARD Shaper: Dave Parkes Dimensions: 6’0” x 23” x 2 ½” Ideal conditions: 3- 6 ft Suits: All round waves but excells in good quality surf. Ability Level: Anyone. Description: 4 -fin “SQUISH TAIL’’ Construction: EPS stringerless core. Laminated with one layer carbon all round and some glass on the deck and rails. Glossed and polished. Fins: Powerbase Ceramics. Shaper comment: I have been surfing this board as a part of my quiver since late 2010. Done a couple of Indo trips and been through some cyclone surfs. It’s hanging in there REALLY well .
ZAP CAT Shaper: Glenn ‘Cat’ Collins Shaping experience: I am pretty certain Boards made: Don’t count Description: I am tall, dark and handsome. Think of a suave caveman Construction: 100% pure muscle with a twelve pack, to boot Suits: Anyone with an open mind Shaper comment: My own trip on the McCoy Lazor Zap
B A Y
.
A U S T R A L I A
PARKES AUSTRALIA 4/83 Centennial Circuit Byron Bay, NSW Ph: 02 6685 6627 E: d-par@bigpond.com parkesaustralia.com
WORDS: DAVE SWAN
Fullish conditions, to which the board is not suited, a bad back, then loads of work meant I was destined to never really get a taste for this board. Then one morning a couple of days from printing this edition, some nice clean faces allowed me to see what it could do. I must admit it took me a while to get used to it. That’s not a criticism of the board but of the surfer. I have become accustomed to riding a range of small boards such as mini Simmons, miniature fish and finless creations but all have a fuller outline. The Zap Cat’s plan shape is designed so you don’t need to move your feet. You simply surf off the sweet spot being the wide tail. The problem was I kept placing my front foot far too forward and with not much width in the nose, I would stall the board. If anything, this little craft highlighted a problem with my surfing.
CUSTOM KNEEBOARDS B Y R O N
ZAP LIKE A CAT
Surfboards and surfing props for movies and ads SURF1770NOOSA.COM
Once I corrected my stance it gave me a shock at just how loose it was. I ripped into one forehand turn and nearly pulled off an accidental 360 – most of my maneuvers are accidental anyway. The Zap Cat is a sweet little ride. Highly maneuverable, easy to paddle and fun to surf.
surf1770@bigpond.com surf1770noosa.com jul/aug 2012
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SHAPER’S PROMOTION
GEAR: BOARDS
Mirror, on mirror, rd... oa b e th
8FT DRIFTWOOD
SWINE FLU
CROSSOVER
STANDARD MAL
LOG EXCEPTIONAL
Shaper: You! Specs: Complete range of build-your-own kits from 5’6”Fish to 12’ SUPs. Ability: If you did woodwork, played Lego or ever built a jigsaw puzzle, then you can build a board with these kits. Description: Buy a complete kit, construct your own board. There’s no better reward than surfing a board you’ve built. Kits are CNC-cut for perfect shape and have been tried, tested and refined to create performance surfboards. These are no wall-hangers! Construction: Your first board will take around 30-40 hours. Some can build a board in a week, others take months, but the satisfaction of a complete board is the same - pure stoke! Fins: You decide. Disclaimer: Responsibility for wives/husbands/ girlfriends/boyfriends annoyance at the lack of quality time spent with aforementioned partner not taken by Surfing Green or any of its affiliates during the construction of your board.
Shaper: Jesse Watson Dimensions: 9’6” x 23” x 3 1/8” Ideal conditions: Up to head high sliders Suits: Hepcats to kooks, kicks flicks and hanging heels. Description: Traditional pig-inspired modern sled, but with modernised rockers and foils for the logger who wants to noseglide and whipturn like it aint no thang. Construction: 6/4oz deck + 6/4oz bottom resin tints, 60’s comp stripe and a full gloss and polish. Fins: Black Apache revised D-fin Shaper comment: This one is a modern sled for the discerning kook, traditional in looks - but a real hotrod under your feet. It’ll flash you a smile and then punch you in the face.
Shaper: Terry “Snake” Bishop
Shaper: Bronte Bampton Specs: 9’1” x 22 ½” x 2 3/8”- 3” Suits: 1-6 ft average to quality surf Description: Standard mal for all level surfers. Single concave with slight doubles through fins. Medium entry with average tail lift med/low rails. Construction: PU blank, FGI resins, Aerolite cloth. Stock: 6 x 6 x 6 Fins: Fin box plus stabilisers – can be ordered in quad. Shaper comment: This is our most popular mal which suits absolutely everyone whether you are a beginner or experienced.
Shaper: Peter White Length: 9’1” Width: 22” Thickness: 2 ¾” Nose: 16” Tail: 16 ¼” Ideal: Ideally point breaks but guaranteed to put a cheesy grin on your face on mellow beachies. Suits: Hipsters and SoulKats, Freaks and Fiends. Ability: Int - Adv. Description: Soft 50/50 rails with mirror-like tints on deck & bottom. Old school style, but thinned out rails on tail and nose for responsive turns & manoeuvres. Construction: 6/6+6 oz glassing. Choose your own colour tints. Fins: Beautiful fixed timber single fin. Comment: A board you’ll fall in love with.
Dimensions: 9’1" x 22 ½" x 2 5/8" Ideal conditions: Any size with punch Suits: Someone that can really surf. Ability Level: Intermediate to Advance Description: This is the latest in our performance mal, lots of rocker in both nose and tail. Nose rider front end with a performance back end. A lot like a shortboard so you can really turn it. Thinned out so it’s light and manuverable. Construction: Standard PU construction. Fins: 8” or 9” cutaway with side FCS GX
black apache surfboards
SURFING GREEN Coolum Beach, QLD Mobile: 0412 042 811 surfinggreen.com.au
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BLACK APACHE SURFBOARDS Ph: 0410 419 791 blackapachesurfboards@live.com.au
blackapachesurfboards.com.au
CARABINE SURFBOARDS 36 Finders Street Wollongong, NSW Ph/Fax: 02 4229 9462 carabinesurfboards.com.au
LIQUID STIX SURFBOARDS Moana, South Australia Ph: 0407 606 685 E: liquidstix@bigpond.com www.liquidstix.com.au Available @ MCS & Preece’s
CLASSIC MALIBU Cnr Gibson & Eumundi Rd Noosaville, QLD 4566 Ph: 07 5474 3122 info@classicmalibu.com www.classicmalibu.com
jul/aug 2012
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SHAPER’S PROMOTION
GEAR: BOARDS
r, on rd...
Leave the rest in your wake...
PERFORMER
ALL-ROUNDER
THE LIMB
THE MACKEREL
THE SURFSKATE
The best of both worlds - a recycled EPS foam core and 2-3mm balsawood skin. With a weight of only 7-8 kg and an emphasis on manoeuvrability and maximum speed, the Performer is designed and shaped for today’s high performance longboarding. The Performer comes with a single box fin and two smaller stabiliser fins. Custom orders are welcome.
The Allrounder is an EPS foam-core performance Mini-Mal. It is the only board that features our newly designed 1/8’’ cedar rail stringers for added stiffness on smaller waves. This type of board is suited to most riders – perfect for small to medium sized conditions and great for all ages.
A balsa skinned EPS foam core shortboard, the recycled EPS foam and the absence of a stringer create a significant reduction in weight, with great memory and flex. A great board for beach breaks from 2 - 8ft waves, the Riley Limb has a set thrusters fins, but boxes are optional at no extra cost. The Riley balsa coloured fin system allows for changing fin setups and lets you choose between fin size, rake, angles, material, and more.
This is the modern version of the retro fish. It has a little less volume with a rolled deck giving it better and tighter turns. This has a quad fin box set up that can be used as a twin also. The cedar stringers separate the stained balsa strips to represent the Striped Mackerel.
The surfskate translates to new style wake surfing by using a thinner, smaller board for more tricks, flips, pops and airs. This board can be used in small hollow waves or behind a large wake boat.
SPECIFICATIONS Length: 9’0’’ - 9’4’’ Width: 22 ¼’’ - 23’ Thickness: 2 ½’’ - 3’’’ Weight: 7 - 8kg Suits: intermediate Ideal waves: 1-8ft Construction: foam core modern longboard Stringer: Triple, 30mm apart Bottom: Vee Tail: Rounded square Rails: nose - 70/30 centre - 80/20 tail - 90/10
SPECIFICATIONS Length: 7’0’’ - 8’6’’ Width: 20 ½’’ - 23’’ Thickness: 2 ½’’ - 3’’ Suits: Beginner to experienced Ideal waves: 1 ft to 6 ft Weight: 3.5 kg Construction: EPS foam core Stringer: Riley cedar rail stringers and centre stringer Bottom: Vee Tail: Square Rails: Hard 80/20
SPECIFICATIONS Length: 5’10’’ - 6’8’’ Width: 18 1/2’’- 20’’ Thickness: 2 1/2’’ - 3’’ Weight: 3 kg Suits: Advanced to experienced Ideal waves: 2 ft to 8 ft Construction: Recycled EPS foam core Stringer: none Bottom shape: Vee scoop in the tail to concave centre and concave nose Tail: Rounded square Rails: 80/20 Logo: Computer cut cedar balsa giving it the natural look and feel. Fins: Stick on 4 ½” wood combo thruster
SPECIFICATIONS Length: 5’10’’ - 6’4’’ Width: 20’’ - 22’’ Thickness: 2 ½” - 3’’ Weight: 4.6 kg Suits: Advanced to experienced Ideal waves: ½ - 5ft Construction: EPS foam core Stringer: Cedar parallel stringers Bottom shape: Vee from nose to centre and flat at the tail Tail shape: swallow Rails: Vee at front and centre, flat at tail
SPECIFICATIONS Length: 4’10” Width: 20” Thickness: ¾” centre and 7/8” nose and tail Nose and tail shape: Pin Fin: Single wood – reverse fish dorsal in box Construction: The solid balsa construction gives it good strength, flex and buoyancy. Suited to the experienced and agile waker or surfer.
RILEY BALSAWOOD SURFBOARDS Ph: 0412 376 464 E: mark@riley.com.au www.balsasurfboardsriley.com.au
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SHAPER’S PROMOTION
GEAR: BOARDS HIGH PERFORMANCE
SUPERMAL V2 FLEX
Shaper: Wayne McKewen Specs: 6’0” x 20” x 2 ½” Ideal conditions: All rounder for beachies points and reefs from 2-6ft. Suits: Heavier surfers 80kg+ Ability: Novice to Advanced Description: The high performance Magnum maximizes buoyancy without sacrificing maneuverability. Available from 6’0”to 6’4”. Construction: Burford PU blank 4 x 4oz deck and 4oz bottom. Fins: FCS 5-fin setup. Shaper comment: This model came about by working with some of our heavier customers to get an all-rounder that has good floatation and performs well. A lot of work has been done to get the best paddle rocker possible. 5-fin set up gives you more options to suit a larger variety of waves.
Shaper: Mitchell Rae Specs: 7 to 9 feet . This one is 8’ x 21 ½” x 2 ¾”. Custom handshaped to suit your needs , body weight and fitness level. Ideal conditions: If I had to choose one board, this would be it. Exceptional ride in anything from 2 to 8 feet. Description: Spiral chine entry, medium concave. V2 Flex with Kinetic Carbon Construction panels, which control the flex pattern and increase the reflex/ping out of the turns. Available in light, medium and strong glassing. Fins: Single, thrusters and quad. My favourite is quad. Shaper comment: Extremely quick, positive and manouvreable. An excellent travelling board... Will excel at places like Uluwatu and Nusa Dua. If you don’t have a Supermal V2 Flex in your quiver, do yourself a favour and get one!
MAGNUM
MT WOODGEE SURFBOARDS Stores at Coolangatta, Currumbin, Burleigh Heads Ph: 07 5535 0288 www.mtwoodgee.com.au
Join us on Facebook 108
7FT FATBOY
6FT STOMPER
THE UN-NAMED
Shaper: Mark Rabbidge
Shaper: Mark Rabbidge
Dimensions: 7' x 20 ½” x 2 ¾”
Dimensions: 6’ x 20” x 2 3/8”
Description: My most popular board designed in ‘84 and still going strong for your everyday surfer.
Ability: All surfers who want to have fun
Shaper: Rory Oke Dimensions: 5’9” x 20” x 2 3/8” Ideal conditions: Hopefully Tom Suits: Skate-inspired surfers Ability Level: Average to pretty good Description: Fuller nose, pulled-in round tail and a lower rocker makes this board surf super smooth. Currently surfing this model myself and they go insane. Now we just need a name. Construction: Handshaped PU Ocean Foam blank, 4 x 4 x 4 polished finish. Fins: Speeedfins s108 Shaper comment: The first board for my nephew. Enjoy it Tommy!
Fins: 3-fin setup or single fin. Shaper comment: Catch more waves. Surfs most like a shortboard, but with great paddle power. Can surf all size waves with all around performance.
Description: Straight out of the 80s, but modernised. Fins: 3-fin setup Shaper comment: Everyone’s making one of these models, but this is my version and is getting good feedback.
OUTER ISLAND SURFBOARDS 7 Bayldon Drive, Raleigh, NSW Ph: 02 6655 7007
RABBIDGE SURF DESIGN Ph: 02 4456 4038 Mobile: 0427 767 176
RABBIDGE SURF DESIGN Ph: 02 4456 4038 Mobile: 0427 767 176
outerisland.blogspot.com
Bendalong, NSW 2539 www.markrabbidge.com
Bendalong, NSW 2539 www.markrabbidge.com
info@outerislandsurfboards.com outerislandsurfboards.com
OKE SURFBOARDS 1/1-7 Canterbury Rd, Braeside, VIC, 3195 Ph: 03 9587 3553 okesurfboards.com
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BE BRIGHT! NOT BORING! THE UN-NAMED Shaper: Rory Oke Dimensions: 5’9” x 20” x 2 3/8” Ideal conditions: Hopefully Tom Suits: Skate-inspired surfers Ability Level: Average to pretty good Description: Fuller nose, pulled-in round tail and a lower rocker makes this board surf super smooth. Currently surfing this model myself and they go insane. Now we just need a name. Construction: Handshaped PU Ocean Foam blank, 4 x 4 x 4 polished finish. Fins: Speeedfins s108 Shaper comment: The first board for my nephew. Enjoy it Tommy!
Get GASfins multicoloured plugs, any combo, any colours put into your next board. Make a statement and fight bland and boring with high-quality plugs, fins and hardware that is
GENUINELY
GET GAS COLOUR UNDER YOUR BOARD Ask your local shaper for GASfins PROUDLY USED BY SHAPERS ALL DOWN THE EAST COAST OF AUSTRALIA AND INTERNATIONALLY.
SHAPERS:
Jul2012_Smorgas_Boards.indd 109
OKE SURFBOARDS 1/1-7 Canterbury Rd, Get in touch to try GASfins yourself. Quality and performance for your customers without the price tag for you. 0417 980 524 • gasfins@gmail.com Braeside, VIC, 3195 Ph: 03 9587 3553 mar/apr 2012 109 okesurfboards.com 4/07/12 2:04 AM
SHAPER’S PROMOTION
GEAR: BOARDS
QUAD FIN FISH
DEMO FLEXTAIL
TWIN FISH
MINI-BONZER
Shaper: Jordie Brown Dimensions: 5’6’’ x 21 ¾’’ x 17’’ x 16’’ x 2 ¾’’ Ideal conditions: This is an extremely versatile design, it goes amazing in under shoulder high waves and performs great when it gets a bit bigger! Suits: The surfer looking for a board that paddles and surfs great. Description: Short flat and fast! Construction: Resin stringer, Light 6oz/4oz trimmed lap glass-job, custom art by Tiphaine Flurette. Fins: FCS quad fin setup (also available with custom glass on fins) Shaper comment: I traveled with only this design for 6 months last year and it never let me down, no matter what conditions I came across!
Shaper: Jed Done Dimensions: 6’2” x 21 ¼” x 2 5/8” Varies from store to store Ideal: Everyday up to 6 ft. Extra width in this puppy will be a bonus in fatter surf. Suits: Anybody with a free sprit feeling trapped by boring, slow thrusters! Description: For those interested in the flextail concept but have never experienced it before, I have made boards available to demo at: • Wally’s Water Gallery Marcoola Beach • Dripping Wet Bondi • Offshore Moruya • Bushrat Merimbula • Zak’s Melbourne Construction: Twin stringer carbon fibre flextail, resin tint, pigment pinline, finish coat. Fins: 4WFS custom quad. Fully adjustable to suit individual style and different waves. Shaper comment: Not a gimmick, this suits clean surfing. It’s fun, loves to carve lines and travel fast. Test it and find out.
Shaper: Woody Jack
Shaper: Thomas Bexon Specs: 5’6” x 19 ¼” x 2 ¼” Ideal conditions: Head high to double over. Suits: This size board is built for around a 75kg guy, but scale the dimensions up and down to suit your size. Ability Level: Intermediate to advanced Description: A mini Bonzer inspired by Campbell brothers Bonzers, widow makers and two-plus-one fin setup boards. There’s plenty of drive, plenty of hold and yet still lots of release. Construction: PU foam, polyester resin, screen printed fiberglass cloth. Fins: Two glass-on keel bonzers with centre box. Shaper comment: call me
Dimensions: 5’5”x 19 5/8 x 2 ½“ Ideal conditions: 1-5 foot Suits: Smaller beachies and point breaks Ability: Intermediate to advanced surfers Description: pigmented twin fish Construction: Burford polyurethane blank, with 6oz pigment Fins: FCS FK2 Shaper comment: Great fun when the waves are a little smaller and gutless. Super responsive from top to bottom, but also holds plenty of speed out on the face of the wave... A really fun board for summer.
WOODY JACK SURFBOARDS AUSTRALIA
HIGH TIDE SURFBOARDS Skenes Creek, Vic 3233 Ph: 0401 437 392
hightidesurfboards@hotmail.com
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BUSHRAT SURFBOARDS Merimbula NSW Ph: 0409 813 431 E: jed@bushrat.com www.bushrat.com
Unit 7, 25 Leonard Parade, Currumbin QLD Ph: 0415 789 706 E: wjboards@gmail.com www.woodyjack.com
THOMAS SURFBOARDS VISIT THE SHOWROOM: 175 Noosa-Eumundi Rd, Noosaville QLD PO Box 239 Noosa Heads QLD 4567 Ph: 0412 131 491
thomas_bexon@hotmail.com
thomassurfboards.com
HAWK TAIL Shaper: Marty Allen Dimensions: 5’10” x 20 ¼” x 2 3/8” Ideal: 1-4 foot Suits: Someone looking for a fun, fast and unique board that produces quick and flicky turns. Ability: Beginner to advanced. Description: A wider forward outline, flat and wide, with forgiving rails and a nice kick in the tail for tight turns. Features low rocker and radical concaves to get you deeper in the pocket to smash out those critical manoeuvres. Construction: PU or XTR using A-grade materials. Fins: Quad + 1 FCS or Futures set-up. Shaper comment: Available in 5’ and up, with tints, sprays, pigments... You name it. A lot of testing has gone into the Hawk Tail with insane results.
UNDERGROUND SURF 3/77 Noosa Drive Noosa Heads, QLD 4567 Ph: 07 5455 4444
kirra@undergroundsurf.com.au
undergroundsurf.com.au Like us on Facebook
jul/aug 2012
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BOARDS WITH WHEELS
ARBOR RIDER COMP WRAPS UP
Newest Arbor team rider Dylan Reid
Arbor’s search for a fresh face is over, with a very happy Dylan Reid (above) taking the top spot of a year’s full sponsorship including boards and apparel. Rod Ball of Arbor here in Australia was very impressed by Dylan’s video clips, self-produced with a GoPro camera and filmed on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and the hills of Wellington in NZ. (To check the clips out yourself, look up “Sic Clint” on YouTube.)
Levi Cranston (above) from the Sunshine Coast came in a close second with his surf-influenced skate style, as did Todd Berecz (below) of Woonona. Both score themselves an Arbor skatebooard and t-shirt. For more on Arbor and to check out the seriously unbelievable range of boards, see the Arbor website at
www.arborcollective.com.
mar/apr 2012
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TEST G EVERKNYOCTKHITIN TILL “DON’T IT” YOU’VE TRIED
ROAD TRIP living WORDS: JEFF MORRIS
Last edition, we had a chance to experience the Britz Navigator motorhome. This edition smorgasboarder NZ man, ‘Jiff’ got to compare notes and spend some quality time in the Maui Mercedes Ultima.
When the smorgasboarder “All Black” edition needed to be distributed around the South Island, a call to our friends at Maui for a van was definitely the smart choice. “A two-person camper would be great if one is available please.” What I got was a luxury Mercedes Ultima campervan, and thought “Well this’ll do nicely, thanks very much.” Throw in 700 shiny new magazines and a bag of gear and let’s go! There was still plenty of storage room left. I got a call from home on Tuesday morning... Really bad weather heading my way, minus 5 degrees and plenty of snow forecast. “No problem Dear. Maui have supplied snow chains, two duvets plus blankets and I’m not afraid to use them.” After seeing everyone in Christchurch and talking my head off as usual, I realised the day was disappearing and I better get down to Timaru before closing time. Grabbed some supplies for dinner and breakfast and got into town well after dark. Again, no problem: Turn on the heater, nuked a meal in the on-board microwave and settled down to a few wines and a DVD. Outside temperature minus 1 but who cared? With a shower and toilet on board plus the van being so spacious I wasn’t getting on my own nerves and I definitely didn’t have to go 112
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outside to change my mind. Talk about selfcontained! Feeling romantic, I put on the downlights and enjoyed the 5-star atmosphere. After a comfortable two-duvet night’s sleep, I awoke to find a winter wonderland outside. After some breakfast, I unplugged the van (jeez, it’s cold out here) and hit the road, dropping off mags as I went to Dunedin. Queenstown, Wanaka, Lake Tekapo – the van drove like a dream, was really comfy in the driver’s seat (no sore back) and after all that snow the scenery is unbelievable. Arriving back in Christchurch on Thursday night there was snow and ice everywhere, but once again the van had no trouble in the challenging conditions. A busy few days, but the Maui Ultima made it a comfortable and stress free breeze. To book see maui-rentals.com
Baby it’s cold outside, but it’s warm in here.
SPECificationS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Suits two adults Three different bed configurations Shower and Toilet 3 burner gas stove, exterior slide out gas BBQ and Microwave Fridge/Freezer (80 litres) Floor safe Radio, CD player, LCD screen and DVD player with external Speakers Awning is available for hire on request Internal walk through access Solar panel Pressurised hot and cold water Air conditioning and heating Exterior fold-out table 140 litres fresh water tank 80 litres waste water tank Plenty of storage room for surfboards
LEFT: A more summery vision of the Ultima... BBQs in the sunshine on the beach! Photo: Maui
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CLOSEOUT: BUSINESS
BEHIND AN ICONIC CALIFORNIAN SURFBOARD LABEL Dewey Weber is recognised as one of surfing’s all times greats, first noted for his surfing in the 50s. In the 60s he was known as one of the most innovative surfboard manufacturers. Dewey was born in Denver Colorado but later moved with his family to Manhattan Beach, California. As a young boy he would sit atop the local pier and watch the likes of Dale Velzy and other members of the Manhattan Beach Surf Club. At age nine, he started surfing himself and within two years had got the knack of it. Dewey was later sponsored by Velzy and even ended up managing his Manhattan Beach Surf Shop. He was part of the legendary class of ’57 who headed over to Hawaii and pioneered that famous stretch of coast known as the North Shore. Dewey appeared in numerous surf films of the era such as Bud Browne’s Cavalcade of Surf and Goin’ Surfin’, Bruce Brown’s Slippery When Wet, John Severson’s Angry Sea, Dale Davis’ Inside Out, and Greg Noll’s Search for Surf.
BUSINESS PROMOTION
WITH DEWEY WEBER BOARDS NOW AVAILABLE IN AUSTRALIA, WE WENT TO FIND OUT A LITTLE MORE OF THE STORY BEHIND THE NAME.
THE NAME LIVES ON Whilst Dewey himself passed away in 1993 his memory lives on with his family continuing to build surfboards and associated merchandise under the Dewey Weber label. The Weber family has dedicated themselves to the continuance of Dewey’s commitment to excellence in all their product lines. And perhaps, most importantly, they have remained ‘close to the soul’ of the surfing lifestyle. As Shea Weber, now President of Dewey Weber, puts it, “We don’t follow industry standards... We set our own. We have very definite ideas on how we develop and produce our products. We have a responsibility to not only our consumers, but to our heritage. “Each shape and material is tested and taken to the limits by members of the Dewey Weber Competition Team.
“DEWEY WEBER ISN’T JUST A LONGBOARD COMPANY, WE ARE A SURFBOARD COMPANY... ALWAYS HAVE BEEN.”
The company currently boasts different shapes, from traditional longboards to performance shortboards.
DEWEY WEBER ARRIVES The legendary Californian surf icon’s gear is now available in Australia. Adam and Michelle Jenkins have recently become the Australian distributors for Dewey Weber’s boards and merchandise. Adam gave us a little insight into his new venture. “Its about preserving a classic name that shaped the surfing world back in
the 60s... Bringing back that era that has been lost. “I have a passion for the old school style of surfing and also the history behind these great shaper’s names. “My main aim is to make sure names like Dewey Weber - the little man on wheels - continue to be known well into our generation of surfing and beyond.” For more information or to get in touch with Adam, visit the website: www.deweyweber.com.au
Upon returning to California in 1960 he began Dewey Weber Surfboards. He enlisted the best of the best and his elite stable of team riders included Nat Young, Randy Rarick, David Nuuhiwa, Rell Sunn, Mike Tabeling and Jackie Baxter to name but a few. Pretty soon Dewey was making 300 boards a week, the most notable being the Weber Performer. Just as Dewey heralded the age of hotdogging in surfing he showed as much flair in business, doing everything with flamboyance and style.
RIGHT: Dewer Weber Surfboards circa 1964 ABOVE: The man himself, back in the day. Photos supplied courtesy of the Weber family. jul/aug 2012
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THE MORE THINGS CHANGE,
THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME Surfer: Orbit
Sponsored rider Scott ‘Whippy’ Denis (photo: Simon Punch)
NEW LOCATION, SAME GREAT SERVICE, BEST BRANDS & FRIENDLY STAFF
FEELS LIKE A NEW MAN Back in our very first edition of smorgasboarder we had a close look at an iconic surf shop on the NSW South Coast - Southern Man Surf in Ulladulla. The same store that began some 38 years ago has most recently undergone one massive transformation. A ‘facelift’ would be an understatement, there’s been more work done here than on Shane Warne’s face. WORDS: DAVE SWAN
Southern Man has not only moved premises down the road to the new Woolworth’s Centre, but has also created a whole new shopping experience. The store has been segmented into unique shopping zones that individually cater for men, women and children showcasing the latest gear from the likes of Billabong, Quiksilver, Roxy, Rip Curl and Rusty. Undeniably one of the biggest, brightest and freshest surf stores on the entire South Coast, the new Southern Man store is a real feelgood story amongst all the recent economic gloom. Kent Saunders explained the move and how the new store has been received. “After 28 years in our old location we found that we had outgrown the building. Further to this, in our existing space and location we were unable to provide the shopping experience that our core customers needed. For the above reasons we looked for a larger store. With the help of retail architect and avid surfer, Jim Buda, we wanted to redefine the way people will think of the ‘surf shop’ on the South Coast for the next ten years.” Aside from all the bells and whistles, the store and its team headed by Juanita and Kent still remain true to their roots. You’ll still find superb surfboards by local shaper Vern Jackson, boards by Channel Islands and more.
38 years on, surfers still surf and Southern Man Surf still stands strong as Ulladulla’s original and best surf shop. For personal service and a great range of fashion and accessories, surfboards, skateboards, bodyboards and much more, visit Southern Man Surf shop in Ulladulla on your next surf trip.
CALL US: (02) 4454 0343 T7/119 Princes Hwy, Ulladulla The Woolworths Centre Ulladulla NSW 2539
WWW.SOUTHERNMAN.COM.AU LIKE US ON
“We’re still the same privately-owned coastal country town surf shop we’ve been since 1974. Our greatest strength continues to be our personal, informed and down-to-earth customer service. Our strong sense of family also still remains with my wife Juanita, sons Tim and Martyn, along with Perry, Sam, Dani, Sterling, Bryce, Elyse, Jamie-Lee and Tash making up our team. “It has been a terrific team effort bringing the new store to fruition. Everyone has put in some enormous hours and we also couldn’t have done it without the assistance of Toni Ashcroft VM, Bruce Turner, Adam and Jenn from GSM as well as Charissa of Otis and the guys at MP Construction who were able to bring the project under budget and on time.” The new Southern Man Surf is located in the Woolworth’s Centre at 119-122 Princes Highway, Ulladulla, just 200 metres down from the old store closer to the centre of town. Another thing that remains unchanged is the opening hours -seven days a week - rain, hail or shine - aside from Christmas day. As for the old site of Southern Man, Kent says, “Watch this space for further surf concept developments this coming summer.” www.southernman.com.au
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CLOSEOUT: BUSINESS BUSINESS PROMOTION
“WE’RE STILL THE SAME PRIVATELY-OWNED COASTAL COUNTRY TOWN SURF SHOP WE’VE BEEN SINCE 1974.” KENT SAUNDERS, SOUTHERN MAN
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CLOSEOUT: HISTORY
FAR LEFT: The Aragorn ‘Penta Fin’ LEFT: Michael Peterson (RIP) with a modern Aragorn single fin. ABOVE: ‘Penta Fin’ details. Photos supplied, Underground Surf.
THE WILD TIMES OF ARAGORN SURFBOARDS, KIRRA 1976 – 1981
WORDS: ANDRE ‘ONDI’ MARSAUS
The infamous and highly sought after surfboard manufacturer on the Gold Coast in the late 70’s, Aragorn Surfboards, was formed by a couple of surfing louts - Steve ‘Zorro’ Goddard and his good mate Bruce Greig. The boys built their first factory on Golden Four Drive in North Kirra in 1976, just in time to celebrate Zorro’s 21st birthday. The Aragorn factory crew made up of Zorro, Bruce, Wayne Deane, Michael Peterson and Tommy Peterson were well-known for their constant misbehaving and wild times consisting of surfing, parties, beers, women and horrible substances. Steve Goddard was dubbed Zorro during his time as a barman at the popular Patch nightclub in Coolangatta by one of the locals. He had tall, dark, good looks, a moustache and wore fitted black pants with a white stripe down the side. He was also well known for his radical surfing and carving big ‘Z’s in the waves, so the nickname stuck. Aragorn surfboards were known for speed and maneuverability and were some of the wildest shapes on the Gold Coast – almost as their wild as their sprays. These were outrageous, made up of rude, psychedelic, gory or comical designs. For the local surfing crew, they couldn’t get enough of them. People were totally blown away
and the boards were walking out the door at a rapid pace. The only other sprays at the time were taped line fades and basics, whereas Aragorn’s were the full airbrushed works and the rudest and crudest of the seventies. As far as the Aragorn crew were concerned, the wilder the better. Visiting American surfer Mike Purpose and his mates caught wind of these boards and asked Zorro to make the Hot Lips Aragorn models, which were sold through Kirra Surf. Zorro was later written up in the New York Times as being the most insane shaper and surfer on the Australian coast. He was also asked to do Ben Aipa’s label in Australia but due to decal royalty costs, he turned it down. At this stage Zorro was shaping Peter Drouyn’s personal boards using Drouyn’s decals and shaping Aragorn’s for Raymond Manicaros, Serena Townend (Peter’s sister), big wave surfer Tony Rae, Reg Riley and more, but the most famous was Michael ‘MP’ Peterson. Aragorn Surfboards paid $500 for MP to enter the Inaugural Stubbies competition at Burleigh in 1977, which was a huge amount at the time, but of course, MP made history on his selfshaped Aragorn and brought home the trophy, so the investment was worth it.
The smorgasboarder history page is proudly brought to you by Underground Surf
In 1979, Aragorn moved from Golden Four Drive to MP’s factory in Appel Street, Kirra where they joined forces and added kneeboards to the offering.
Turner’s boards and glassed in some cockroaches, which they were amused to tell people stayed alive for 3 months.
The Aragorn surf shop also opened in Kirra, which Bruce ran while Zorro focused on the manufacturing. At this point Zorro had taken on other labels such as Ocean Boulevard, sold through Peter Drouyn’s Surfline store in Surfers Paradise, and was making fifteen boards a week. He’d drop them off on a Friday afternoon and by lunchtime on Saturday they were all sold.
In 1980, Zorro caught up with his good mate Simon Anderson in Narabeen, who was telling him about the 3-fin thruster concept. By the next day Zorro had flown back to Queensland and was in the factory shaping one up. Graham Black was watching Zorro create this weird looking thing and told him he was tripping, but Zorro was surfing it that afternoon and look at the world of thruster’s now!
Even though they were producing boards at this high level, the Aragorn crew were still a wild bunch. One Christmas party they glassed a radio and a resin penis onto fin-maker Feather’s brand new custom board. As the party progressed and there were no waves to be surfed, they decided to sacrifice it to Huey, and it was set alight. The next day Feather turned up to pick up his new stick and was not impressed after hearing the story. Needless to say, they made him another one and he left a happy surfer. In true form, Kirra turned on 6 foot slabs that day and the Aragorn boys were out getting barreled all day long. Zorro’s memory of that time: “Wild sh*t went on!” Once they carved a tunnel on the deck of one of Peter
In 1981, Zorro and Bruce parted ways and Zorro kept the manufacturing side while Bruce kept the retail going and continued shaping the legendary Aragorn kneeboards.
In 2010, Underground Surf co-incidentally opened in Kirra in the same spot as the original Aragorn Surfboards 30 years beforehand, with a focus on retro surfboards. Underground teamed up with Zorro and re-birthed the label with the original templates and now produces Aragorn’s hand-shaped modern single and twin fin surfboards.
New surf shop, old-school feel WWW.UNDERGROUNDSURF.COM.AU
3/77 Noosa Drive, Noosa Heads, QLD PHONE: 07 5455 4444
RETRO LONGBOARDS & SHORTBOARDS • NEW & CUSTOM BOARDS • BOARD HIRE • REPAIRS• SKATEBOARDS • CLOTHING • AND MUCH MORE... 118
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ECOLOGY & SURF TRAVEL: NATURAL ENEMIES? CAN YOU REALLY LEAD A GREEN LIFESTYLE AND STILL FEEL GOOD ABOUT TRAVELING IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT WAVE? AND IF WE WANT TO BE GREEN, DOES THIS MEAN WE HAVE TO GIVE UP THE GIFT OF SURF TRAVEL? As surfers, we love to travel. Most of us dream of finding that perfect, uncrowded wave and enjoying the ocean on a different part of the earth than our regular break. Surfing endless tropical barrels, venturing deep downunder to the chilly waters of NZ or living the Californian dream – it doesn’t really matter, if there are new waves on offer most of us will jump at the chance to ride them. So does the inevitable plane trip to reach these oceanic wonders come at an ecologically unfriendly price? Well, yes if your alternative is to stay at home and walk or bike to the beach. But put into perspective your conscience will be relieved to discover that recent findings suggest it’s not all bad. The aviation industry has now been overtaken by the IT industry in terms of their CO2 output. So even just turning off your computer daily when it’s not in use can, over a year, help to counteract the negative impact of an annual surf trip. Reports also show that an aeroplane gets about 20.4km to the litre per seat. Longer flights are more efficient, newer planes are better, but on average it’s 10.4k/l. Thus, traveling solo in an SUV is more harmful in terms of emissions than buying a plane ticket. Of course, there is also the more touchyfeely aspect to global surf travel... We can help educate the masses and expose pollution, before it becomes irreversible. So go forth and enjoy that next trip to Indo, but counter your ecological footprint along the way by boycotting polluted areas and visiting places that embrace eco-tourism and sustainability - the waves will be just as good and you’ll not be eating plastic within the walls of the green room either.
POINTS OF VIEW
STOP THE SCREAMING & SHOUTING AND GET WET The other day I visited my local surf (dog) beach with my trusty Labrador Lizzy who is teaching my wife to body surf. Yes that’s right. The black two-year-old lab loves the surf and chases after the frisbee, turns around when the wave is about to break, and bodysurfs her way into the beach. Further along the beach I was curiously watching a young personal trainer take his clients for a beach session. Two things really struck me: Firstly, it’s about time he dropped the army screaming and yelling technique, which is not only old hat, but disturbing to think that he didn’t know that most of us - the rational ones at least - don’t want or need to be yelled at or bullied to get a good workout. As I continued to watch I noticed a woman who looked about forty-five years old huffing and panting her way around a wooden boardwalk out of sight of the personal trainer. She was carrying a lot of weight, particularly around her waist, and looked like she was about to have a coronary. She was obviously far too heavy to be running, as her joints and connective tissue would have been taking a pounding. No doubt she was working hard and doing her best, however I thought I would have to give CPR any minute. I’m not a big fan of this type of training as many people are at such a different level of fitness. It’s hard to manage these larger groups effectively. If you were a nineteenyear-old male who’s fit and just entered the army you may just get away with this. I’ve watched trainers push people above their ability level and inevitably they leave, never to return to fitness ever again. It’s our job to effectively assess our clients’ fitness, coach them slowly at a comfortable level, encourage them, and build a good rapport with them so they feel safe and happy to return. It’s really important that personal trainers have the ability to work and understand the needs of the very young to the very old. Personal trainers need to know how our bodies change as we age and what is appropriate for these different age groups and also have an understanding of rehab in relation to those coming back from injury. So perhaps ditch the khakis and don the boardies. It’s fun, makes you feel great. You don’t feel like you’ve just enlisted and it’s relatively low impact.
Nicola O’Reilly is the better half of the nice folks from Surfing Green, a couple passionate about providing sustainable surfing products.
John Hart is a qualified fitness instructor and personal trainer with a Masters in Education who writes books, trains and rehabilitates people, takes photos, directs movies and is happy to share what he’s learned.
www.surfinggreen.com.au
www.johnhartfitness.com
Guardsg,s le d d a P Nose &pe & Leash Plu Rail Ta
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Pro Tec
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SURFTECH AUSTRALIA www.surftechaustralia.com.au 02 4226 1322
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MEET THE TALENT
SHAPING UP WELL
Regular smorgasboarder readers will be familiar with Clayton Beatty - the face behind TotalSurfingFitness.com and the regular fitness column in the magazine. He goes surfing at his local beach when the waves are on and spends time on a balance board in his home gym when they’re not. He’s an exercise scientist from Perth with a website that provides workouts for surfers to help improve fitness and generally whip you into shape for surfing. We asked Clayton what got him inspired to create the site and his business, and figured - being a travel edition that he gives us his pointers on getting fighting fit to make the most of a trip. “I grew up in the South West of WA and used to bodyboard up until my early 20s. By that stage a few of my mates had switched over to stand up and I decided to make the change myself. What got to me early on was how much I struggled with the fitness side of surfing, especially paddling out to the line up. “I remember lots of times, even surfing small waves, how long it would take me to paddle out and how frustrated I would get. By the time I got out, my arms would be so fatigued I would have no energy left to pop-up properly, even if I managed to paddle onto a wave. “This was frustrating me for quite a while as I wasn’t getting out in the water consistently, so it was like I was starting over, learning to surf every time I got in the ocean. “Around the same time I was studying exercise science at university. I was keeping reasonably fit playing other sports and going to the gym, but none of that seemed to make much of a difference to my surfing. I was doing more traditional bodybuilding-style workouts at the gym and even managed to injure my knee going too heavy on the leg press machine. This led to minor knee surgery to repair some cartilage damage. “Not long after my knee surgery I had a snowboard trip planned to Canada with some
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mates, and knowing I had to rehabilitate my knee effectively, it lead me to start doing some more research into strength and conditioning for extreme sports like snowboarding and surfing. “Unfortunately I couldn’t find much specific training information, so I set about learning more about general sports conditioning so I could apply it to surfing and snowboarding, whilst adding a few of my own tweaks to the workouts. “This changed my training style from more isolated muscle exercises to focusing on multi-joint functional movements, using more free weights and bodyweight training tools as opposed to machines. “The results in my own training were that I was moving a lot more efficiently and the injury niggles were starting to disappear. I also found my surfing start to improve. I noticed that I could pick up where I left off when I surfed, even if I had been out of the water for a month or so. “In early 2008 I thought it would be a good idea to share my training ideas with other surfers so I created TotalSurfingFitness.com and uploaded a comprehensive, 12-week functional training program using only dumbbells and a swiss ball. Straight away, I
started getting surfers from all over the world using my workouts to improve their surfing fitness and I was getting great feedback on their results. “Since that time Total Surfing Fitness has just kind of snowballed into what you see today. I have since added other workouts and programs including snowboarding and skiing, and have also added more advanced workouts using lots of different functional training equipment. I‘ve also revised the workouts, updating them to my current training philosophies. “My programs are now used by surf and snow athletes from all over the world, men and women, from teenagers to older surfers in their 50s, 60s and even a few in their 70s. A large portion of surfers who use my programs are those that are getting prepared to go on a surf trip to make sure they are going to maximise their time in the water. “I understand the importance of staying in shape when you don’t get to surf all the time. So, hopefully people can learn something from my training advice and use it to enhance their surfing fitness and catch more waves.”
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CLOSEOUT: FITNESS
CLAYTON’S GET FIT TIPS FOR YOUR SURF TRIP
MAKE T THE MOS OF IT
HOW LONG BEFORE THE TRIP SHOULD I START MY FITNESS TRAINING PROGRAM? It’s best to start your training plan at least a couple of months out from your trip to make sure you have enough time to get in shape. I would recommend three months training time, however you could still benefit from as little as four weeks training time. HOW MANY WORKOUTS EACH WEEK? You can get results with 2-3 workouts per week, however if you really want to make the most of it I would go for three functional strength workouts per week and three cardio workouts per week. You can also substitute cardio training for surfing, because at the end of the day, the best way to improve your surf specific cardiovascular fitness is to surf more. WHAT SHOULD MY WORKOUTS CONSIST OF? The warm-up Start with a good 5-10 minute warm-up to get ready for the workout. Instead of the traditional cardio warm-up, a smarter idea is to do bodyweight exercises that promote joint mobility, muscle activation and fundamental movement patterns. This will help prevent injury and improve your movement skills in addition to preparing your body to exercise. Bodyweight exercise like squats, lunges, push-ups, jumping jacks and so on are a great place to start for the warm-up. Functional Strength The next part of your workout should focus on functional strength exercises to build total body, multi-joint strength. Think about training movements, not muscles. To build a balanced body you should be doing exercises that include movements such as squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling, and lifting as well as exercises that promote balance, core stability and rotational strength. The most efficient way to train is to do the exercises either in a circuit or in supersets (where you do two or more exercises in succession with minimal rest). This allows you to work different muscle groups without having to spend as much time resting between exercises, which means a faster more efficient workout. You don’t need access to a gym, in fact you can do a great workout at home using only a set of adjustable dumbbells and a swiss ball. For your lower body try strength exercises like dumbbell squats, split
LEFT: Clayton puts his fitness to use
If you’re planning a surf trip in the near future now is a good time to start thinking about getting your body fit for the trip. Don’t spend all that time and money, then wind up pulling a muscle or being too fatigued to make the most of the waves on offer. So here’s the low down on how to get in shape and make the most of your surfing expedition.
squats, lunges and single leg straight leg deadlifts. For you upper body you can do exercises like dumbbell rows, swiss ball chest press, pull-ups and dumbbell shoulder presses. Finally you need to incorporate some core and balance training using exercises like planks, swiss ball rollouts, swiss ball jack-knifes, dumbbell chops and swiss ball balancing (on your knees or half kneeling). Cardio Training This can be done after the strength component or on the alternate days. For cardio exercise there are a number of different options such as running, riding, skipping, boxing, rowing, etc. If you have access to a pool or are near the ocean then swimming can be of great benefit as you can improve your lung capacity and also build some endurance in your arms and shoulders which can transfer into improved paddle fitness. If you don’t have a pool nearby you can also try band paddling to increase your paddle fitness. Do this by lying chest down on a swiss ball and paddling against the resistance of a light exercise band. This is a simple exercise you can do at home and can enhance the endurance in your arms and shoulders which is critical for a surf trip. The best cardio workout should be interval based where you do periods of harder work, mixed with recovery periods. This has been scientifically proven to effectively improve both your anaerobic (short burst) energy system and aerobic (longer duration) energy system, which is important for surfing. For example if you were swimming you could do a lap fast or sprinting followed by a lap slower recovery, then repeat for 10-20 laps. If you were running you could do 20 seconds fast, followed by 40 seconds recovery, repeat for 10-15 minutes. Stretching / Flexibility The final part of your workout should consist of some good old fashioned stretching to help promote increases in flexibility and aid in muscle recovery. Try and stretch all of your major muscle groups and hold stretches only to the point of tension, not pain. Once you have done this, that is your workout complete. A good total body workout like the one above shouldn’t take much more than an hour or so. Most of us have busy lives, so this is a good amount of time to spend exercising.
OTHER SURF WORKOUT TIPS •
Include some foam rolling (or self massage) before your warm-up to help improve muscle tissue quality and loosen any tight muscles.
•
Change up your routine about every 4 weeks to keep things fresh and challenging.
•
Drink plenty of water and eat a healthy diet – lots of fruits and vegetables, lean protein and wholegrains.
•
Surf as much as possible before the trip!
•
Ease back in your training about a week before you leave to make sure your body is fully recovered for the trip
WHAT SHOULD I DO DURING THE SURF TRIP? So you have arrived at your destination and the lines are rolling in. What now? First thing is keep eating healthy to make sure you have plenty of energy. You can probably eat a few more carbs the day before a long surf, however don’t try and do anything to dramatically different to normal - just listen to your body. Stay well-hydrated before your surf sessions. Make sure you warm-up before you get in the water. You can do some stretching on any tight muscle groups, but make sure you also do more of an active warm-up, as this is a more effective way to get your body ready for the waves. Roll your arms around, do some squats and lunges to warm-up your knees, legs and hips and do some trunk rotations. This will help prevent any unwanted muscle strains and get your body switched on and ready to go. Finally, do some recovery work after each session. Stretching and foam rolling are the easiest options here and will do wonders for keeping your muscles in working order. Apart from that, catch lots of waves and get plenty of rest! SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. That’s my blueprint for getting fit for your next surf trip. If you want a comprehensive, step-by-step workout plan that maps out every exercise to get you in peak physical condition for the surf, visit www.TotalSurfingFitness.com and download the 12-week functional training plan.
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SURF TRIP ACCOMMODATION QUEENSLAND
Planning a surfing holiday or weekend away? These fine accommodation options offer great proximity to surf beaches in some of Australia best surf spots and beyond. Get out there.
NEW SOUTH WALES
PORTOBELLO BY THE SEA 6 Beerburrum St, Dicky Beach Caloundra Fantastic surf spots right on your doorstep. Moffat, Neill Street, Dicky Beach all within a 5 minute walk. Luxury accommodation within 50 m of some of the best restaurants Caloundra has to offer. Proximity: Across from patrolled Dicky Beach, on-site dining and shopping. Phone: 07 5491 9038
E: info@portobellobythesea.com.au
www.portobellobythesea.com.au From $325 for two nights.
TASMANIA
SHAMBHALA @ BYRON 14 Childe St, Byron Bay
SOUTHVIEW BULLI 19 Southview Street, Bulli
Majestic, hidden beachfront just minutes to the heart of town. Relax after a day in the surf in our ambient and tranquil environment. Beautiful rainforest setting with private spas, steam room, sauna. Perfect for couples or families. 5-star, selfcontained tree house retreats.
Southview is a bed & breakfast and self contained holiday accommodation, nestled between Sandon Point Beach and Bulli Beach. Recently rated 4.5 stars by AAA tourism it is the perfect place to unwind and perfect for the surfer and their family.
Proximity: Absolute beachfront, on surf friendly Belongil beach. 15 m walk to centre of town P: 1-800-SHAMBHALA E: enquiries@shambhala.org.au www.shambhala.org.au From $279 per night Quote promo code: SURF AD
Proximity: Nestled Between Sandon Point and Bulli Beach Telephone: 02 4268 6303 E: info@southviewbulli.com.au
www.southviewbulli.com.au From $145 per couple
KIAMA COVE BOUTIQUE MOTEL 10 Bong Bong St, Kiama
MARRAWAH BEACH HOUSE 19 Beach Road, MARRAWAH
UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
The Beach House is located on an organic beef farm on the wild, west coast of Tasmania. The comfortable, self contained twobedroom cottage has spectacular views of the Southern Ocean and easy access to the beach. The perfect base to explore the wilderness of the Tarkine and Arthur River areas. 1 ½ hrs drive from Burnie Airport and 2 ½ hrs drive from Devonport Ferry.
Kiama Cove Boutique Motel is in a fantastic location right near the heart of Kiama overlooking Surf Beach. The motel offers ocean views, king sized beds in most rooms, off-street parking, free Austar, swimming pool and a fabulous sun lounge area overlooking the beach. Proximity: Right on Surf Beach and a short stroll to the main street of Kiama. Phone: 02 4232 4500 E: info@kiamacove.com.au
www.kiamacoveboutiquemotel.com.au
Proximity: Close to quality reef and beach breaks as well as the local general store and hotel. P: 03 6457 1285 or 0428 571 285
Room rates are from $90 to $200 for family rooms
Rates from $140 per night
E: marrawahbeachhouse@activ8.net.au
VICTORIA
COOLANGATTA SANDS HOSTEL Cnr McLean and Griffith Street, Coolangatta
NOVOTEL WOLLONGONG NORTHBEACH 9 Shirley Street, BYRON BAY
Your ultimate surf HQ! Where else can you find some of the world’s best beaches and beach breaks on your doorstep - Kirra, Snapper Rocks, D-Bah, Rainbow Bay, Greenmount and Coolangatta? Free breakfast, free pick-up, economical shared and private rooms. Stay three nights and you can travel to Byron Bay for free on our shuttle bus! Part of the Coolangatta Adventure Crew.
Outrigger Bay is the perfect Byron getaway for the ultimate relaxing holiday. With direct access to the beach, these fabulous 2 or 3 bedroom apartments are not only in a stunning location but are also so close to Byron’s great restaurants and bars. This is an ideal location for a surfing holiday with the family or a group of friends.
Proximity: Across from great surf breaks, restaurants, nightlife Phone: 07 5536 7472 E: hostel@taphouse.com.au
www.coolangattasandshostel.com.au
Proximity: DIRECT ACCESS to beach - only 50m walk. 2 min walk to town centre shops. P: 02 6685 8646 E: info@outriggerbay.com www.outriggerbay.com
Rates from $29 per night
From $195 per night
TV 122
gym
laundry
kitchen
parking
wi-fi
2-14 Cliff Rd, North Wollongong
Stunning ocean views, spacious, light filled rooms and a reputation for exceptional service has made Novotel Wollongong Northbeach one of New South Wales’s most popular getaway and business venues. Opposite North Wollongong beach, the 4 ½ star hotel boasts 204 rooms and suites. Catering for both the leisure and business traveller, there’s a range of facilities and services including pool, spa, fitness centre, day spa, restaurant and two bars.
SCAMANDER BEACH SHACK 130 Scamander Ave, SCAMANDER SILVERWATER RESORT 17 Potters Hill Rd, San Remo Spacious one, two and three-bedroom self-contained apartments all with spectacular bay views and modern conveniences. Complementing the 4.5 star accommodation is an excellent range of resort facilities including indoor and outdoor pool, billiards and games room, tennis and basketball courts, restaurant and bar.
Proximity: Beach 50m, CBD 2km, train Station 1km, Sydney Airport 70km Phone: 02 4224 3111 www.novotelnorthbeach.com.au
Proximity: Five mins to surf beach, two mins to town Phone: 1800 033 403 res@silverwaterresort.com.au www.silverwaterresort.com.au
From $209 per night
From $175 per night
pool
airconditioning
family-friendly
pet-friendly
This is the ultimate authentic beach shack and only $130 per night, anytime of the year! Amazing location right opposite Tasmania’s premium east-coast surfing beach. Uninterrupted views of waves and the Scamander River mouth provide breathtaking scenery sitting in the comfort of the shack. An ideal getaway for surfers and their families or keen fisherpersons plus a cosy getaway for a couple. Proximity: Right opposite Scamander Beach. Phone: 0400 912 583
www.scamanderbeachshack.com
$130 per night, all year round
spa
bbq
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FEATURED PROPERTY:
Keen to hop on a plane? Accommodation now further afield!
PORTOBELLO BY THE SEA
NEW ZEALAND
Dicky Beach, Queensland
“Portobello By The Sea is located opposite beautiful Dicky Beach, an unspoilt stretch of sun-drenched white sand, on Queensland’s magnificent Sunshine Coast. Dicky Beach is patrolled every day, and is known for both safe swimming and excellent surfing, and is great for walking and fishing. With other famous surf breaks nearby, such as the point break at Moffat, and the always reliable Neil and Ann St breaks, Dicky Beach is the place to enjoy some great surf conditions, as well as enjoying a beach holiday with family and friends.
PIWIWIWI SURF CAMPERVAN RENTALS Raglan NZ DON’T STAY... EXPLORE! The only campervan rentals company in New Zealand aimed at surfers. Vans are kitted out with all the gear you need including straps to hold your boards safe INSIDE the van. PiwiWiwi is a small, friendly company based in the magic surf town of Raglan.
“Portobello by the Sea offers spacious, fully equipped 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments for your holiday. Enjoy the heated lagoon style pool, tropical gardens and barbeques. All the services you need (restaurants, takeaway, convenience store, bakery, butcher, chemist, BWS, etc) are on site or next door, and the Surf Club is across the road for lunch and dinner 7 days. Discover Portobello By The Sea and see for yourself why it’s the perfect place to stay & surf!”
Transfers to and from Auckland Airport available.
Call 07 5491 9038 for more info, or email: info@portobellobythesea.com.au
Raglan Office: +64 7 825 0974 NZ Free Phone: 0800 74 94 94 E: info@piwiwiwi.co.nz www.piwiwiwi.co.nz
WWW.PORTOBELLOBYTHESEA.COM.AU
From $25 per night
CHRISTMAS ISLAND SURF
NO CROWDS! GREAT SETUPS!
London Village, Kiritimati
AU$1,395 per week/guest. This includes: Airport transfers, accommodation, all meals and daily boat transfers to the best waves. Check out ‘Kiritimati Island’ on Google Earth. We have no crowds yet and many, many set-ups. Be one of the first to surf this new discovery. Flights go via Fiji with Air Pacific’s ‘Bula Saver’ airfare special. Proximity: 100m walk to London’s waves, half hour boat ride to Paris’ waves. P: + 64 027 4484 598 E: info@christmasislandsurf.com
www.christmasislandsurf.com
ADVERTISE IN SURF ACCOMMODATION Sup
TRAVEL TIPS: WINTER WONDERLAND
er-affordable rates for the smallest of budgets. Call 0401 345 201
Call us crazy but we consider the appeal of our southern states even stronger during winter. ‘Why in hell…? you ask... The swell is generally best during the cooler months and the crowds in the water and about town are well down. That means more waves less queues, everything is way cheaper and there is nothing better than relaxing after a refreshing surf with a cup of coffee, a craft beer or fine wine in front of a roaring log fire.
TASSIE’S WILD WEST
We have heard so much about this place it ranks amongst the top in our to-do list. On the wild west coast of Tas with spectacular views of the Southern Ocean. $140 a night. marrawahbeachhouse@activ8.net.au
AND A BREAK IN EAST TASSIE
Just down the road from the stunning Bay of Fires is Scamander. Expect peaky but surprisingly powerful lefts and rights. Uninterrupted views to the beach from your own shack. $130 per night. www.scamanderbeachshack.com
PUMPING WAVES & PAMPERING
San Remo is at the gateway to Phillip Island, one of our favourite all time surf spots. Quality waves, penguins, Rusty Water microbrewery and good times. $99 a night in the luxurious Silverwater Resort is further motivation to visit. (Conditions apply) See www.silverwaterresort.com.au
DIRECT FLIGHTS
Air New Zealand and Virgin now offer direct flights between Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast and Auckland. Never been a better excuse to hop the ditch.
THIS PIC: Christmas Island surf
CHRISTMAS ISLAND
GET OFF THE GRID
There are still surfing frontiers relatively unexplored. Translucent waves and twenty-four class breaks in just five kilometres. Where? Christmas Island. Not the island you’re thinking of at the centre of so much local news, this is Christmas Island, part of the Republic of Kiribati. It’s way, way out in the Pacific Ocean, south of Hawaii. Check it out on Google Earth. www.christmasislandsurf.com
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Brought to you by
SURF TRIP ACCOMMODATION
COOLUM BEACH
Noel Mooney - 0417 756 076 coolumbusinessandtourism.com
Welcome to a world of beachbreaks, boosts, barrels and brilliant fun - Coolum Beach on the Sunshine Coast North Shore. Beyond the tourist strip of Mooloolaba and just south of the righthand pointbreaks of Noosa, the water here is warm all year ‘round and there’s no shortage of surf breaks. It’s a true surfers playground and a top destination with a unique personality and charm. Here are your top choices for accommodation.
EXECUTIVE ACCOMMODATION
PET-FRIENDLY ACCOMMODATION
YOUR CHOICE OF HOLIDAY APARTMENTS
Managing over 25 executive beach homes and apartments from Twin Waters through to Coolum Beach, Coolum Holidays has the perfect property to indulge all of your needs while on vacation.
Take your four legged friend on your next holiday! Enjoy a stress free holiday knowing your pet is safe with you. Pet friendly holidays are becoming increasingly popular and Coolum Holidays has 30 holiday homes that specialise in providing the right accommodation for you and your pooch. All our holiday homes adhere to strict policies and conditions so that your holiday with your beloved pet is safe, secure and comfortable.
Managing an array of self contained apartments on the beautiful North Shore, Coolum Holidays will help you find the perfect apartment to relax in whether it be for two nights or two months.
All of our executive properties are tastefully decorated throughout and provide a high standard of facilities including swimming pool, air conditioning, bbq and pay television. Accommodating singles, couples and families, our portfolio of executive accommodation will surely not disappoint. P: 1300 303 423
www.coolumholidays.com.au
A $110.00 non refundable pet fee applies to all bookings made – a small price to pay for peace of mind. P: 1300 303 423
www.coolumholidays.com.au
From $1300 a week, shorter stays available
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From $490 a week, shorter stays available
Stay in one our apartments and stretch out with more privacy and space than a hotel room, perfect for an extended stay or corporate accommodation. We can offer you a great deal on one, two and three bedroom apartments – phone our friendly booking consultants today. P: 1300 303 423
www.coolumholidays.com.au
From $490 a week, shorter stays available
COOLUM BEACH GETAWAY RESORT 3-7 First Ave, Coolum Beach A modern 4½ star resort. 18 spacious, air-conditioned 1, 2 & 3 bedroom townhouse-style units and apartments with self-contained kitchens, laundry and lock up garage. Tropical gardens, heated pool and spa, half tennis court, plus bike and surfboard hire. One street back from the beach with a quiet, pleasant family atmosphere. Proximity: Only a short stroll to Coolum’s fabulous beach, alfresco dining and shopping. Located centrally on the Sunshine Coast, the tourist attractions, world-class golf courses and rainforest walks are all within easy driving distance. P: 07 5471 6759 F: 07 5471 6222 Australia: 1300 723 263 E: info@getawayresort.com.au www.getawayresort.com.au Phone for your special price
SEACHANGE COOLUM BEACH 1864 David Low Way, Coolum Beach
A world away from the everyday... 35 boutique holiday apartments with style and character... The ideal retreat for your tropical getaway. Designed to be different from the rest, Seachange features fully selfcontained one, two bedroom and family apartments - some with private rooftop spas and ocean views, all immaculately presented by resident managers who offer you personalised friendly service. Isn’t it time you experienced Seachange? Proximity: Walking distance to beach, local shops, restaurants P: 07 5471 7799 F: 07 5446 5380 Freecall: 1800 008 112
info@seachangecoolumbeach.com.au seachangecoolumbeach.com.au
Call for best rates
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BUSINESS PROMOTION
SURFING COOLUM Surf spots within close vicinity include Coolum main beach where a consistent left-hander reels in from in front of the surf club. At the southern end of the beach below the lookout at Point Perry, when the swell is 4 foot plus, a quality righthander can break close to the rocks. This wave is definitely the standout when it’s on but typically a place for the chargers in the surfing community. Just over the headland the FIRST and SECOND BAY (from the water it is really one bay) are also popular and fairly consistent. Although surrounded by rocks, the bottom is largely sand and the lefts and rights can be found depending on where you want to sit. In rare conditions, THIRD BAY breaks but this is definitely rocky and risky.
COOLUM CAPRICE 1770 David Low Way, Coolum Beach Located right in the heart of Coolum Beach, our ocean view, fully self contained apartments cater for couples, families and groups. With 1, 2 or 3 bedroom apartments to choose from, Coolum Caprice boasts the best views and location in town. Proximity: Middle of town, walking distance to shops and restaurants. Directly across the road from the beach and Surf Club. 15 minutes Sunshine Coast Airport and 1½ hours from Brisbane Airport. Phone: 07 5446 2177 E: relax@coolumcaprice.com.au www.coolumcaprice.com.au From $140 per night Smorgasboarder reader special:
Call today for 20% off!
ENDLESS SUMMER RESORT 9-21 Frank St, Coolum Beach
COOLUM SEASIDE 6-8 Perry St, Coolum Beach
This is the perfect place to stay in Coolum for holiday resort accommodation. Ideal for couples or the whole family. Choose from fully self-contained and spacious apartments located in a peaceful setting, away from traffic, but only a 100m stroll to the surf beach, main restaurants and sidewalk shops. Fantastic 25m heated pool, waterslide, children’s playground and mini golf on-site.
Perfectly positioned to take full advantage of the Sunshine Coast’s natural scenic beauty and holiday attractions. Our fully self-contained AAA 5-star rated one to four bedroom apartments are air conditioned and have Austar, LCD TVs, CD & DVD players. Roof terraces are available with majestic coastal & hinterland views. Facilities include 3 heated pools, 4 spas, tennis court, gymnasium, internet lounge/ library and poolside barbecues.
Proximity: 100m to patrolled surf beach and shops. Phone: +61 7 5471 9800
E: holiday@endlesssummerresort.com
www.endlesssummerresort.com Keep an eye on our web page for specials throughout the year or call direct to ask for our special surfer’s rates.
Proximity: Short stroll to patrolled beach, shops, cafes and restaurants. Phone: 1800 809 062 E: info@coolumseaside.com www.coolumseaside.com Check our specials online
COOLUM MOTEL & BUDGET ACCOMMODATION 1862 David Low Way, Cnr Ann St, Coolum Beach
ELEMENT ON COOLUM BEACH 1808 David Low Way, Coolum Beach
Coolum Motel is ideally located across from beautiful Coolum Beach. We offer a variety of room types ranging from Private Ensuited Rooms to Budget and Backpacker style and facilities. For a family friendly venue offering fantastic deals and discounts Stay with us!
This is seaside luxury right on Coolum Beach. These self contained luxury Coolum beach apartments combine the best of urban chic and beachside living. Stay in either a one, two or three bedroom holiday apartment right in the heart of Coolum and right across from Coolum Beach. Surf all day and stay in style at Element on Coolum Beach.
Proximity: Short walking distance to restaurants, shops and clubs. Phone: 07 5471 6666 E: info@coolummotel.com www.coolummotel.com From only $ 35 per night. Quote this magazine for 20% DISCOUNT!
Proximity: 1 minute walk to beach, shops and restaurants. Phone: 1300 139 744
stay@elementoncoolumbeach.com.au www.elementoncoolumbeach.com.au
From only $149 per night in a one bedroom apartment
Dates and conditions apply
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SURF DIRECTORY QLD CENTRAL COAST REEF 2 BEACH SURF SHOP 07 4974 9072
Shop 1, 10 Round Hill Road Agnes Water/1770 www.reef2beachsurf.com
THE BACK OF GLENN CAT’S VALIANT
Anywhere from Agnes Waters to Noosa
FRASER COAST RAINBOW BEACH TRADING CO.
07 5486 8558 Shop 1 & 2, 14 Rainbow Beach Rd, Rainbow Beach
SUNSHINE COAST NOOSA SURF WORKS 07 5474 4567
DICK VAN STRAALEN/ CLASSIC WATERMAN
1/11 Bartlett St, Noosaville www. shotgunsurf.com www.lagunabaysurf.com WATERLINE 07 5474 1010 - 2/15 Venture Dr, Noosaville, www.zeewetsuits.com CLASSIC MALIBU AUSTRALIA 07 5474 3122 Cnr Gibson and Eumundi Rds, Noosaville, www.classicmalibu.com LOCAL KNOWLEDGE 07 5474 1222 3 Gibson Rd, Noosaville GOLDEN BREED 07 5455 3722 - 15 Noosa Dr, Noosa Heads, www.goldenbreed.com.au NOOSA LONGBOARDS 07 5447 2828 2/55 Hastings St, Noosa Heads www.noosalongboards.com
UNDERGROUND NOOSA
3/77 Noosa Drive, Noosa Heads www.undergroundsurf.com.au SURF SHOP 07 5471 3489 - 224 David Low Way, Peregian Beach, www.surf-shop.org COOLUM SURF 07 5351 1742 - Birtwill St Coolum Beach www.alexsurfshop.com.au BLUE LINES 07 5351 1986 - 1776 The Esplanade, Coolum Beach WALLY’S WATER GALLERY 07 5448 8560 6 Lorraine Beach, Marcoola Beach BOARDSTORE SURF 07 5448 7025 15 Mudjimba Esp, Mudjimba WEIR’S INSIDE EDGE 07 5443 4143 14 Memorial Ave, Maroochydore DA BOMB 07 5451 0620 - 3/25 Plaza Pde, Maroochydore www.dabombsurf.com.au OCEAN ADDICTS 07 5309 6624 103-105 Aerodrome Rd, Maroochydore www.oceanaddicts.com.au ALTERNATIVE SURF 07 5475 4811 11/140 Alexandra Pde, Alexandra Headland BEACH BEAT 07 5443 2777 - 164 Alexandra Pde, Alexandra Headlands; 07 5491 4711 119 Bulcock St, Caloundra www.beachbeat.com.au ALEX SURF 07 5452 6276 188 Alexandra Pde, Alexandra Headland www.alexsurf.com.au WORLD SURFARIS 1800 611 163 2/174 Brisbane Rd, Mooloolaba www.worldsurfaris.com THE FACTORY 07 5492 5838 - 15 Allen St, Caloundra thefactorysurf.com.au SLS SURFBOARDS 0424 314 183 2/57 George St, Moffat Beach www.slssurfboards.com.au SURFWARE AUSTRALIA 07 5491 3620 2 Bulcock St, Caloundra
BRISBANE PRIMITIVE SURF 07 3266 1001 - 601
Nudgee Rd, Nundah primitivesurf.com GOODTIME SURF & SAIL 07 3391 8588 29 Ipswich Rd, Wooloongabba www.goodtime.com.au FIIK Unit 2/3366 Pacific Hwy, Springwood www.fiikskateboards.com COD 07 3207 0116 - 51 Ziegenfusz Rd, Thornlands www.codsurfing.com.au
NTH STRADBROKE ISLAND MINTY SURFBOARDS 07 3409 8334 - Point Lookout www.bobmintysurfboards.com
GOLD COAST KOMA SURFBOARDS 0402 863 763
4/39 Bailey Crs, Southport komasurf.com
SIDEWAYS 07 5592 3849 - 3012 Surfers Blvd,
Surfers Paradise sidewaysboardsports.com.au STUART SURF DESIGN 07 5572 0098 2576 Gold Coast Hwy, Mermaid Beach www.stuartsurf.com.au BOARD CULTURE 07 5572 9866 2442 Gold Coast Hwy, Mermaid Beach www.boardculture.com.au LOCAL KNOWLEDGE 07 5526 6377 2251 Gold Coast Hwy, Nobby Beach THE BOARDROOM 07 5527 7877 2084 Gold Coast Hwy, Miami HARVEY SURF GALLERY 0414 557 624 3/10 Pacific Ave, Miami www.harveysurf.com
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MT WOODGEE 07 5535 0288 1730 Gold Coast Hwy, Burleigh Heads 07 5598 2188 - 2 Stewart Rd, Currumbin 07 5536 5937 - 122 Griffith St, Coolangatta www.mtwoodgee.com.au PATAGONIA BURLEIGH James Street, Burleigh Heads www.patagonia.com.au SEAN SCOTT PHOTOGRAPHY 07 5520 2774 Old Burleigh Theatre Arcade, Shop 10, Goodwin Tce, Burleigh Heads 07 5599 1150 - Shop 3, 120 Marine Pde, Coolangatta seanscottphotography.com.au 0409 262 729, 7/3 Ramly Dr, Burleigh Hds dickvanstraalen.com, classicwaterman.com SOUTHCOAST FOAM 07 5522 1600 - 15 Greg Chappell Dr, Burleigh Gdns Estate, Andrews www.southcoastfoam.com.au GOLD COAST SURF WORLD 07 5525 6380 Tomewin Street, Currumbin www.surfworldgoldcoast.com DMS 07 5559 5949 3/56 Currumbin Creek Rd Currumbin www.dmshapes.com SHAPERS 07 5534 4228 - 9/7 Traders Way, Currumbin www.shapers.com.au
BURFORD REINFORCED PLASTICS
07 5534 3777 - 5 Stewart Rd, Currumbin
WOODY JACK SURFBOARDS
0415 789 706 - 7/25 Leonard Pde, Currumbin DIVERSE SURF 07 5598 4848 - 476 Gold Coast Hwy Tugun www.diversesurf.com.au DORRINGTON SURFBOARDS 07 5599 4030 16 Musgrave Street, Kirra www.dorringtonsurfboards.com KIRRA SURF/WORLD SURFARIS 07 5536 3922 8 Creek St, Bilinga www.kirrasurf.com.au COOLANGATTA BOARD STORE 07 5536 7850 152 Griffith St, Coolangatta www.cbsboardstore.com COOLY SURF 07 5536 1470 - Cnr Dutton St & Marine Pde, Coolangatta
NSW NORTH COAST SIDEWAYS 07 5524 6699 - 13-21 Greenway Dr,
Tweed Heads sidewaysboardsports.com.au FULL FORCE SURFBOARDS 07 5524 2933 18/48 Machinery Dve,Tweed Heads SURF XCESS 02 6674 5350 88 Marine Parade, Kingscliff CABARITA SURF SHOP 02 6676 3151 1/38 Tweed Coast Rd, Cabarita Beach
ELUSIV SURFBOARDS
3/16 Coast Rd, Cabarita Beach BRUNSWICK SURF 02 6685 1283 1/12 The Terrace, Brunswick Heads www.brunswicksurf.com.au McTAVISH 02 6680 8807 - 91 Centenial Circuit, Byron Bay www.mctavish.com.au ESP SURFBOARDS 0404 059 321 - 2/81 Centennial Circuit, Byron Bay www.espsurfshop.com.au PARKES AUSTRALIA 02 6685 6627 4/83 Centennial Court, Byron Bay www.parkesaustralia.com MADDOG SURF CENTRE 02 6685 6022 Ewingsdale Rd, Byron Bay maddog.com.au MC SURF DESIGNS 02 6685 8778 - 3 Banksia Drive, Byron Bay www.mcsurf.com.au MUNRO SURFBOARDS 02 6685 6211 - 29 Acacia St, Byron Bay munrosurfboards.com.au T&C SURF DESIGN / McCOY 02 6685 7485 10 Acacia Street, Byron Bay BYRON BAY LONGBOARDS 02 6685 5244 Shop 1 - 89 Jonson St, Byron Bay MADDOG BEACH SURF CENTRE 02 6685 6466 4 Jonson St, Byron Bay www.maddog.com.au HO’OKUPU 02 6685 8861 - 2/9 Lawson St, Byron Bay hookupusurf.com UNPLUGGED 02 6685 7441 - Shop 1/ 2 Lawson St, Byron Bay www.unpluggedbyronbay.com LENNOX HEAD SURF SHOP 02 6687 7038 71 Ballina St, Lennox Head ALL ABOVE BOARD 02 6687 7522 68 Ballina St, Lennox Head MADDOG SURF CENTRE 02 6685 6094 45 River St, Ballina www.maddog.com.au TRIPLE X WETSUITS 02 6686 3939 - 10 Piper Drive, Ballina www.triple-x.com.au GUNTHER ROHN 02 6681 5879 - 3/10 Piper Drive, Ballina www.guntherrohn.com THE PLANK SHOP 02 6645 8362 Top of the Hill, Yamba
NSW MID NORTH COAST GANGSTA SURF
1/15 Orlando Street, Coffs Harbour FLANAGAN SURFBOARDS 0432 361 694 Unit 26, 22 Lawson Cres, Coffs Harbour www.flanagansurfboards.com
Pick up the next edition of smorgasboarder at any of these fine businesses - out in September Businesses that advertise in smorgasboarder allow us to bring you the magazine for FREE. So, be sure to support them! ALPINE BEACH 02 4367 4944 177 The Entrance Road, Erina www.alpinebeach.com.au SLIMES 02 4365 5511 1/203 The Entrance Rd, Erina THREE POINTS SURF 02 4382 1541 170 Avoca Dve, Avoca Beach
NORTHERN BEACHES BEACH WITHOUT SAND 02 9918 2763
WATER SURF+ART+CAFE
Distinctively relaxed atmosphere, exceptional food, coffee and tea, great service, photographic art from Australia’s best photographers, exquisite gifts and select surfwear and boards. (02) 6651 4500 370 Harbour Drive, Coffs Harbour Jetty www.watersurfartcafe.com THE LOG SHACK 02 6658 0223 - 392 Harbour
Dve, The Jetty Strip, Coffs Harbour www.thelogshack.com.au OUTER ISLAND SURFBOARDS 02 6655 7007 7 Bayldon Dr, Raleigh www.outerislandsurfboards.com VALLA SURFBOARDS 02 6568 8909 8 Monro St, Nambucca Heads www.vallasurfboards.com.au COASTAL CURVES 02 6568 6902 - Ridge St, Nambucca Heads www.coastalcurves.com CRESCENT HEAD SURF CO. 02 6562 8306 33 Smith St, Kempsey CRESCENT HEAD SURF SHOP 02 6566 0550 Crescent Head Tavern, Crescent Head INNER VISION SURF ‘N’ SKATE 02 6583 7790 80 William St, Port Macquarie SALTWATER WINE 02 6584 4877 1/125 Gordon St, Port Macquarie www.saltwaterwine.com.au SANDY FEET 02 6584 1995 5/21 Clarence St, Port Macquarie www.sandyfeetsurf.com.au JUNGLE SURF 02 6555 8556 - 86 Manning Street, Tuncurry www.junglesurf.com.au SALTWATER WINE 02 6554 7979 5 Wharf St, Forster www.saltwaterwine.com.au BOOMERANG BEACH SURF 02 6554 0351 Shop 4, Boomerang Dve, Pacific Palms GRAFFITI SURF DESIGNS 02 4981 3409 43 Donald St, Nelson Bay
NEWCASTLE NEWCASTLE SURF DESIGNS 02 4968 9989
4 Maitland Rd, Mayfield SAM EGAN SURFBOARDS 02 4969 7299 28 Maitland Rd, Islington www.samegan.com.au SURF FACTORY 16 Maitland Rd, Islington www.thesurffactory.com.au BREAKAWAY SURF 02 4929 1144 - Shop 6 Hunter Street Mall, Newcastle PACIFIC DREAMS 02 4926 3355 - 7 Darby St, Newcastle www.pacificdreams.com.au SANBAH SURF 02 4962 2420 - Shop 27, The Junction Fair, Union St, Newcastle www.sanbah.com.au BREAKAWAY SURF CO. 02 4943 2699 181 Pacific Hwy Charlestown EGAN’S 02 4945 8055 575 Pacific Hwy, Belmont THE SURF SHACK 02 4945 8965 703 Pacific Hwy, Belmont South SWANSEA SURF SHOP 02 4971 4422 164 Pacific Hwy, Swansea swanseasurf.com.au
CENTRAL COAST BOARD CITY 02 4397 1092 - 150 Main Rd, Toukley www.boardcity.com.au
ADRIFT SURF 02 4332 8355 - 133 The Entrance
Rd, The Entrance www.adriftsurf.com.au BOARDERLINE SURF SKATE 02 4332 7175 421 The Entrance Rd, Long Jetty www.boarderlinesurfskate.com SURFERS CHOICE 02 4334 6532 473 The Entrance Rd, Long Jetty www.surferschoice.com.au BATEAU BAY SURF N SPORT 02 4332 1157 101a Bateau Bay Road, Bateau Bay ONE EIGHTY SURF COMPANY 02 4385 8440 Shop 2, 82a Ocean View Dve, Wamberal www.180surfco.com.au
1a Nth Avalon Rd, Avalon
RAISED BY WOLVES 02 9918 8861 - 40 Old
Barrenjoey Rd, Avalon, 02 9997 4838 Shop 3, 8-10 Waratah St, Mona Vale www.raisedbywolves.com.au LITTLE DRAGON 0403 974 967 1 Bramley Lane, Newport Beach RON WADE SURF DESIGN 02 9979 7071 23 Bassett Street, Mona Vale ronwadesurfboards.com.au CHANNEL ISLAND SURFBOARDS 02 9997 8266 4/76 Darly St, Mona Vale cisurfboards.com QUIKSILVER MONA VALE 02 9999 3727 1729 Pitt Water Rd, Mona Vale DIVISION SURF 02 9979 5334 Cnr Bungan & Waratah Sts, Mona Vale, divisionsurf.com.au
LESSONS TOURS AND SALES Call Peter Japp on 0488 887 SUP or 0488 88 77 87
sutherlandshiresupschool.com.au
STAND UP PADDLE GEAR AUSTRALIA
02 9986 3420 6/53 Myora Rd, Terrey Hills www.supgearaustralia.com BALMORAL BOARDS 02 9970 8600 1228 Pittwater Rd, Narrabeen www.balmoralboards.com.au WICKS SURF CENTRE 02 9971 0760 1103 Pittwater Road, Collaroy Beach LONG REEF SURF 02 9982 4829 1012 Pittwater Rd, Collaroy www.longreefsurf.com.au WIND SURF ’N’ SNOW 02 9971 0999 17 Anzac Ave, Collaroy www.windsurfnsnow.com.au THE PERFECT WAVE 02 9939 0890 Suite 38, 42-46 Wattle Rd Brookvale www.theperfectwave.com.au BENNETT SURFBOARDS 02 9905 5157 180 Harbord Rd, Brookvale DRIPPING WET SURF CO. 02 9977 3549 398 Pittwater Rd, Mona Vale; 02 9977 3549 - 93 North Steyne, Manly www.dripwetsurf.com SUNSHINE SURFING 02 9977 4399 - 89 Pittwater Rd, Manly www.sunshinesurfing.com.au ALOHA MANLY STYLE 02 9977 3777 44 Pittwater Rd, Manly www.alohasurfmanly.com.au MANLY SURFBOARDS 02 9976 0591 - 46 North Steyne Rd, Manly www.basesurfboards.com SALTMOTION 02 9976 6518 Market Place, Manly www.saltmotion.com MANLY LONGBOARD CO. 02 9977 0093 Shop 10, 74 The Corso, Manly www.manlylongboard.com SURFECTION 02 9969 1011 - 522 Military Rd, Mosman www.surfectionmosman.com
SYDNEY PATAGONIA 93 Bathurst St, Sydney
www.patagonia.com.au BONDI UNDERGROUND 02 9365 0870 2/72 Campbell Pde, Bondi Beach DRIPPING WET SURF CO. 02 9300 0055 180186 Campbell Parade Bondi Beach SURF CULTURE 02 9389 5477 - 40 Bronte Rd, Bondi Junction www.surfculture.com.au MAROUBRA SURF AND SKATE 02 9344 4250 198 Marine Parade Maroubra
CRONULLA SUTHERLAND
EASTCOAST STAND UP PADDLE Dedicated to SUP - Sydney’s original Stand Up Paddle outlet. Performance, flatwater, race, and distance boards – we have a board to suit all skill levels.
0413 456009 0418 294854 27 Throsby Close Barden Ridge eastcoaststanduppaddle.com.au
CRONULLA STANDUP PADDLEBOARD Everything to do with S.U.P Lessons, Hire, Sales of New and Used equipment, Accesories, Apparel & more 02 9544 2293 0400 085 823 Shop 3,13-15 The Kingsway Cronulla, NSW 2230 www.cronullasup.com JACKSON SURFBOARDS 02 9524 2700 57 Captain Cook Drive, Caringbah www.jacksonsurfboards.com.au
TRIPLE BULL 02 9524 4822 - 41 Captain Cook
Dr, Caringbah; 02 9544 0354 - 23 Kingsway, Cronulla www.triplebullsurf.com CRONULLA SURF DESIGN 02 9544 0433 8 Cronulla St, Cronulla www.cronullasurfdesign.com.au KING SURFBOARDS 02 9521 3645 577 Princes Hwy, Kirrawee
WOLLONGONG RETRO WOMBAT 02 4267 1322
228 Lawrence Hargrave Dve, Thirroul www.retrowombat.com FINBOX BOARDSTORE 02 4268 2050 1/269 Lawrence Hargrave Dve, Thirroul thefinbox.blogspot.com BYRNE SURF AND SKI 02 4226 1122 -115 Princes Highway, Fairy Meadow byrnesurfboardsaustralia.com SURF PIT 02 4283 7196 - 2/100 Railway St, Corrimal www.surfpit.com.au SKIPP SURFBOARDS 02 4229 1202 231 Crown Street, Wollongong (factory showroom); 02 4228 8878 24 Flinders St, Wollongong www.skippsurfboards.com.au CARABINE SURF DESIGNS 02 4229 9462 36 Flinders St, Wollongong
NSW SOUTH COAST SHELLHARBOUR SURF & SKATE 02 4295 3373
Shop 6, 32 Addison St, Shellharbour ZINK SURF 02 4233 1189 - 136 Terralong St, Kiama www.zinksurf.com.au NATURAL NECESSITY SURF SHOP 02 4234 1636 115 Fern St, Gerringong www.nnss.com.au AQUATIQUE 02 4421 8159 - 125-127 Junction St, Nowra; 02 4441 5530 - 55 Owen St, Huskisson www.aquatique.com.au BUSTED SURF CO. 02 4447 3485 10 Fairlands St, Culburra Beach OCEAN & EARTH 02 4441 2482 12 Springs Rd, Sussex Inlet www.oceanearth.com SUN & SURF SHOP 02 4441 1938 Shop 1, 168 Jacobs Dve, Sussex Inlet MARK RABBIDGE SURF DESIGN 0427 767 176 441A Bendalong Rd, Bendalong www.markrabbidge.com
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AKWA SURF 02 4454 5222 - Shop 1, Mellick’s Corner, Princess Hwy, Milton www.akwasurf.com.au SOUTHERN MAN SURF SHOP
02 4454 0343 -T7/119 Princes Hwy, Ulladulla www.southernman.com.au OFFSHORE SURF SHOP 02 4474 4350 66 Vulcan St, Moruya offshoresurf.com.au NAROOMA SURF & SKATE 02 4476 1422 30 Princes Hwy, Narooma DSC SURFBOARDS 0424 867 962 Princes Highway, Narooma BERMAGUI SURF SHOP 02 6493 4849 4/28 Lamont St, Bermagui RAW SURFBOARDS 02 6494 4466 1291 Tathra Road, Kalaru www.rawsurfboards.com.au BUSHRAT SURFBOARDS - 02 6495 9900 Widgeram Rd, Merimbula www.bushrat.com MERIMBULA SURF SHOP 02 6495 1515 Merimbula Drive, Merimbula
COUNTRY VIC
SURF SHACK 03 5155 4933 507 Esplanade, Lakes Entrance ATOLL TRAVEL 1800 622 310 - 4 Bridge Street, Foster www.atolltravel.com SERIOUS SURF STUFF 03 5674 2540 1 Williams St , Inverloch VORTEX SURF & SKATE 03 5672 4112 54 McBride Ave, Wonthaggi
PHILLIP ISLAND OUTEREEF 03 5678 5677 - 73 Phillip Island Rd, San Remo www.outereef.com.au
FULLCIRCLE SURF 03 5678 5873
115 Marine Pde, San Remo; 03 5956 7453 4-5 Vista Pl, Cape Woolamai www.fullcirclesurf.com.au ISLANTIS 03 5956 7553 - 10-12 Phillip Island Rd, Newhaven www.islantis.com.au ISLAND SURF CENTRE 03 5952 2578 147 Thompson Ave, Cowes; 03 5952 3443 65 Smiths Beach Rd, Smiths Beach www.islandsurfboards.com.au ISLAND SURF SHACK 03 5952 1659 150a Thompson Ave, Cowes
MELBOURNE ZAK SURFBOARDS 03 9416 7384
319 Victoria Rd, Thornbury www.zaksurfboards.com TRIGGER BROS SURF & SAIL 03 9537 3222 Shop 2, 1 St Kilda Rd, St Kilda www.triggerbros.com.au RPS (THE BOARD STORE) 03 9525 6475 87 Ormond Rd, Elwood www.rpstheboardstore.com BRIGHTON SURF CO. 03 9593 2211 43 Church St, Brighton SHQ BOARDSPORTS 03 9598 2867 81 Beach Rd, Sandringham www.shq.com.au MORDY SURF CENTRE 03 9580 1716 628 Main St, Mordialloc mordysurf.com.au
ANGLESEA SURF CENTRE 03 5263 1530 111 Great Ocean Rd, Anglesea www. secondhandsurfboards.com.au LORNE SURF SHOP 03 5289 1673 130 Mountjoy Pde, Lorne HODGY’S SURF CENTRE 03 5237 7883 143 Great Ocean Rd, Apollo Bay hodgys.com
VIC SURF COAST MURFS LONGBOARDS 03 5255 5525
82 The Terrace, Ocean Grove www.murfslongboards.com.au STRAPPER SURF 03 5255 2666 67b The Terrace, Ocean Grove www.strapper.com.au STONKER TORQUAY 03 5261 6077 - 1a Baines Cr, Torquay www.stonker.com.au SURF WORLD 03 5261 4606 Surf City Plaza, Torquay www.surfworld.org.au TORQUAY SURF 03 5261 5666 - 3/108 Surfcoast Hwy, Torquay STRAPPER 03 5261 3508 - 96 Surfcoast Hwy, Torquay; 03 5261 2312 - 106 Surfcoast Hwy, Torquay www.strapper.com.au WATERMARKS PHOTO GALLERY 03 5264 7232 38-40 Bell Street, Torquay www.watermarksphotogallery.com.au TIGERFISH 03 5264 7271 - 12/15 Bell St, Torquay www.tigerfish.com.au
BUSTED YOUR BOARD? GET IT FIXED HERE...
SHIPWRECK COAST PORT CAMPBELL TRADING CO. 03 5598 6444
27 Lord Street, Port Campbell WARRNAMBOOL SURF CENTRE 03 5562 1981 136 Koroit Street, Warrnambool SPOONS 03 5568 3452 42 Sackville Street, Port Fairy
TASMANIA LONG POINT SURF 03 6375 1717 60 Burgess Street, Bicheno
BAY SURF SHOP 03 6376 1755 2 Pendrigh Place, St Helens TAS SCAMANDER BEACH SURFSHOP 03 6372 5529 6 Lagoon Esplanade, Scamander www.scamandersurf.com RED HERRING www.redherringsurf.com.au 03 6231 9001 - 75 Liverpool Street, Hobart 03 6431 2455 - 12 Mount Street, Burnie 03 6331 0984 - 127 Charles Street, Launceston 03 6272 7552 - Shop 41, Northgate
SOUTH AUSTRALIA BARREL SURF 08 8555 5422 - 10c Cadell St,
Goolwa www.barrellsurf.com.au FLY BOARDRIDING (08) 8555 5331 Shop 18, Goolwa Shopping Centre, Goolwa BIG SURF AUSTRALIA 08 8554 2399 24 Goolwa Rd, Middleton SNOW & SURF TRAVEL 08 8223 5512 Main Rd, Middleton snowsurftravel.com.au SOUTHERN SURF 08 8554 2375 36 North Tce, Port Elliot THE SURF SHOP 08 8552 5466 -15 Albert Place, Victor Harbor thesurfshop.net.au SURF ESTEEM 08 8557 7201 - Aldinga Central Shopping Centre www.surfesteem.com
THE DING KING / CLARK SURFBOARDS
0422 443 789 - 7 and 8/9 Chapman Rd, Hackham leightonclark01@yahoo.com.au PREECE’S SOUTH PORT SURF 08 8386 0404 159 Esplanade, Port Noarlunga South www.preece-sthport-surf.com.au FLY BOARDRIDING 08 8386 0100 Shop 41 Seaford Shopping Centre www.flyboardriding.com.au ONBOARD SURF WIND SNOW 08 8294 3866 21 Saltfleet St, Port Noarlunga; 1-3 Lights Landing, Holdfast Shores, Glenelg www.onboardsurf.com.au MV2 08 8382 2468 36 Beach Road, Christies Beach
AGNES WATER/1770
LENNOX HEAD
PHILLIP ISLAND
REEF 2 BEACH
QUICKFIX SURFBOARD REPAIRS
ISLAND SURF SHOP - COWES
MOFFAT BEACH
0432 361 791 02 6681 3142
03 5952 2578
EPOXY BOARD REPAIRS
YAMBA
0427 019 420
PLANK SHOP
Mon-Sat, 9-5pm, Sun,10-4pm
07 4974 9072
By appointment
THE FACTORY SURFBOARDS
0432 330 826
SLS SURFBOARDS
BUDGEWOI
Mon, Wed, Fri 11- 5pm, Sat 8 - 12pm
0424 314 183
NOOSA
UNDERGROUND SURF 7 days, 9am - 5pm
07 5455 4444
BRISBANE
PRIMITIVE SURF
Mon-Fri 8:30-5:30pm, Thurs 8:30am - 8pm, Sat 8:30 - 4pm, Sun 10am -4pm
07 3266 1001
SOUTHPORT
KOMA
Mon-Fri 9am -5pm, Sat 9am -12pm
0402 863 763
MIAMI
4 Piping Lane, Lonsdale, SA, 5160
www.cutloosesurf.com.au MID COAST SURF 08 83845522 - 8/200 Dyson
Road, Lonsdale www.midcoastsurf.com.au EXTREME BOARDRIDERS 08 8295 1219 1/118 Jetty Rd, Glenelg JRS SURF & SKI 08 838 47466 - Centro Colonnades; 08 8377 0322 - Westfield Marion; 08 8223 5505 -121 Grenfell St, Adelaide CBD; 08 8231 9577 - Myer Centre, Adelaide CBD; 08 8396 4822 Tea Tree Plus www.jrssurfandski.com.au WALLBRIDGE SURFBOARDS 08 8376 4914 27 Oaklands Rd, Somerton Park www.wallbridge.com.au SNOW & SURF CO. 08 8332 0900 177 The Parade, Norwood www.snowsurf.com.au YORKES SURF 08 8854 4008 Marion Bay
BUCKO’S SURFBOARD REPAIRS & RESTORATIONS Mon-Fri 10am - 5.30pm Weekends by appointment
0422 304 078
LONG JETTY
SANDLOCK SURFBOARDS
Mon - Fri 9am - 4pm, Sat 9am -12pm
0437 032 614
Mon-Fri 9am - 5:30pm Thurs 9am - 7:30pm Sat 9am - 4pm, Sun 10am - 4pm
02 4228 8878
MC SURF DESIGNS 02 6685 8778
7 days, 10am to 5pm except winter - catch us if you can
+64 7 825 0544
THORNBURY
ZAK SURFBOARDS Mon - Fri 10am - 6pm, Sat 10am - 5pm
03 9416 7384
Seven days, 9am - 5pm
03 5261 6077
THE SURFERS SHED Seven days, 9am - 5pm
0437 246 848
FIX BROKEN BOARDS?
Promote your repair business for $15 an edition. Call 0401 345 201 jul/aug 2012
Jul2012_Smorgas_directories.indd 127
0407 606 685
Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm,
TORQUAY
Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm, Sat 9am - 1pm
SURFBOARDS
Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm Sat & Sun 9am - 3pm
BELLARINE PENINSULA
STONKER
0431 740 940
SEAFORD
LIQUID STIX
0424 867 962
Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm
Mon-Fri 8am - 5pm Sat 10am - 4pm, Sun 10am - 2pm
0422 443 789
Seven days, 9 - 5pm
FULL FORCE
DR DING
Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm
NAROOMA
0403 693 333
SURFBOARD REPAIRS
THE DING KING
CLARK SURFBOARDS
Seven days, 9am - 5pm
KIRRA
BYRON BAY
MID COAST
JERVIS BAY
07 5598 4848
07 5524 2933
08 8376 4914
INNER FEELING SURFBOARDS
ROUSA SURFBOARDS
TWEED HEADS
Mon - Fri, 12.30pm - 5.30pm Sat 12.30pm - 5pm
SKIPP SURFBOARDS
DSC SURFBOARDS
0408 701 467
WALLBRIDGE SURFBOARDS
RAGLAN, NZ
0409 727 735
Mon - Fri 10am - 4pm Sat 10am - 2pm
ADELAIDE
RAGLAN LONGBOARDS
02 4441 6756
GRB SURFBOARDS
7 days, 9-5pm
WOLLONGONG
DINO’S DING REPAIRS
Mon-Fri 8:30am - 5:30pm Sat & Sun 9-4pm
OPEN 7 DAYS - 08 8326 0939
TOMBSTONE SURFBOARDS
Tues - Fri 9am - 4pm, Sat 9am - 12pm
DIVERSE
The largest range of surfboards, mals, SUP’s, wetsuits & 2nd hand boards is SA with over 300 boards in stock. Custom boards and SA’s cheapest ding repairs on site. 30 years and still going strong…
02 6645 8362
(07) 5492 5838
TUGUN
CUTLOOSE SURF
Mon - Fri 10am-5pm
Mon, Wed-Friday 9am-5pm, Saturday 8am-12pm
Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm, Sat 9am - 12pm
PAULOWNIA SURFBOARD SUPPLIES
03 9588 2533 - 45 Governor Road, Mordialloc paulowniaparadise.com.au OKE SURFBOARDS 03 9587 3553 Factory 1 1-7 Canterbury Rd, Braeside www.okesurfboards.com TRIGGER BROS SURF & SAIL 03 9770 2223 7 Rossmith St, Frankston; 03 5989 8402 Point Leo Rd, Point Leo; 03 5984 5670 46 Ocean Beach Rd, Sorrento www.triggerbros.com.au PENINSULA SURF CENTRE 03 9783 3811 40 Wells St, Frankston; 03 5975 1800 835 Nepean Hwy, Mornington; 03 5985 4637 - 2137 Pt Nepean Hwy, Rye www.peninsulasurf.com.au BALIN 03 5986 6069 - 12 Newington Ave, Rosebud www.balin.com.au BEAN SURFING 03 5984 5199 4 Ocean Beach Rd, Sorrento
DING REPAIRS
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GRAND DAMES www.indosurf.com.au& OLD FARTS
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Tension was high in the days leading up to the most highly anticipated Over 50s event on the longboard calendar, the Noosa Malibu Club’s 8th annual Wrecks & Relics get-together on 23 & 24 June. After a few weeks of grinding sets on all the points and Indo at the river mouth, the ocean had transformed into a millpond. But the Gods smiled and Saturday dawned to pumping knee-slappers breaking across the bank between the Groynes. Contenders gathered from as far away as Tassie, Victoria and New Zealand, with a sizeable contingent from northern NSW. Everyone pitched in to get the gear to the beach, the Noosa Navies, the Burleigh Boys and the Caloundra Crew leading by example.
No big brands. No marketing hype. Just cool merchandise from the salt of the Australian surf community
ADVER IN THE STISE
DIRECTOURF RY
Superaff the sm ordable rate s for alles Call 04 t of budgets . 01 345 201
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WORDS: LIBBY WINTER, PHOTOS: IAN BORLAND
This year two unique age divisions were introduced, the Over 60 Women and the premier Men’s Over 69ers, each attracting four hot contenders and creating much speculation on the expected outcomes. The surf improved as the tide pushed in throughout the morning. After the first heats, everyone put in their teeth and munched on their fruit, muesli, yoghurt, eggs & bacon. After more surfing, delicious hot curries were served to warm everyone’s cockles as the younger men continued their battle for a place in the pre-final heats the following day.
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EVERYDAY SURFING, NO HYPE IN A GRASSROOTS SURF MAG WITHOUT A COVER PRICE OR A HEFTY SUBSCRIPTION COST.
Main: Ladies of the Over 50’s division. Above: Serious old farts, the Over 65s. Photos: Ian Borland May2012_Smorgas_001.indd 1
The swell jumped slightly on the Sunday. It was another early start and another cold cloudy day, but nothing could dampen the enthusiasm of the competitors on finals day! Everything ran like clockwork, the peer judges coached along by the resident accredited experts. The odd controversial interference occurred, as the young bucks in the Over 50s got serious, but it was the Over 60s who owned the strongest competitive streak. The finals got underway as the kitchen crew cooked up marinated tofu, thai chicken patties and big tender steaks, and the waves kept coming. The anticipation grew as the climax of the event approached and Claw, Big Wave, The Brute & Mex donned their rash shirts & entered the water for the Over 69ers final. A generous donation from John Madill Toyota purchased the fabulous Old Farts trophies again this year, John himself being a regular and ever-smiling competitor at the event. Also attending on a regular basis is Pete White from Classic Malibu who supplied the surfboard for the competitors’ draw. This year was a 9’ 3” traditional longboard that Pete based on John’s original Gordon & Woods - a secret collaboration between major sponsors. The tallies were completed and the trophies handed out while a few cold Summer Brights were enjoyed in the cool winter dull. The winners would take another issue to list so go to noosawrecksandrelics.com instead. Bruce Wilson was the happy winner of the Classic Malibu surfboard, but we are all winners in the end! It’s always great to make it through another day.
10/05/12 8:06 PM
DON’T RISK MISSING AN ISSUE.
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ALOHA BARRY WILL BE BACK NEXT EDITION - OUT IN SEPTEMBER
3/07/12 10:16 AM
IMPROVED QUALITY BETTER MEMORY EXTREME STRETCH KEEPS SHAPE LONGER
P O T S R E NEV
G N I F R U S
With years of local experience and the highest quality materials, every ZEE WETSUIT is built to last. Made locally and 100% Australian owned.
IRECT Available D , or from from ZEE stores select surf
NOOSA: 07 5474 1010 MOOLOOLABA: 07 5444 7007
Unit 2, 15 Venture Drive, Noosaville, QLD
NEW STORE! OPEN HOURS: Mon-Fri: 9 - 5, Sat: 9 - 12
BOTH STORES OPEN 6 DAYS!
122 Brisbane Road, Mooloolaba, QLD
sales@zeewetsuits.com
www.zeewetsuits.com jul/aug 2012
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For those of us who like to surf, hang out with your mates and enjoy a beer