INSIDE: HOT & COLD - FROM THE SURF TO THE SNOW - JAPAN & PNG | MATT WILKERSON & BERTLEMANN BOARDS | ALOHA BARRY ART
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ALSO AVAILABLE
The Little Longboard All Riley boards are hand built in Australia and everyone is unique, they can be built to any size and shape to suit your wall or the water.
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There is always wow factor when Mark adds some stringer detail. This board has a combination red cedar and balsa wood rail band to give it the aesthetic and strength appeal. It can be built from 6 foot to 10 foot without any butt joins. It is polished up polyester resin with any sort of fin configuration that you desire. With over 1000 sticks of balsa to choose from there is all the potential to build your own light and beautiful board. For more info check out the web site and send Mark a message.
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Fin boxes with all wood covers Wood coloured fin boxes Fin box install kits Easy, DIY clear and clean paint-on grip Clear board grip tape - Let the beauty of the balsa show through with clear Versa Traction Grip Tape. Environmentally friendly and suits all size boards. Timber fins Surfboards Blanks Cork tail pads & SUP deck grip Aussie-made leashes Raw balsa/ cedar DIY board kits Instructional DVDs Board racks Tide clocks Sharkbanz shark deterrent wearable devices LICK liquid surf wax. Wholesale enquires welcome
SURFBOARDS THAT DON’T COST THE EARTH!
SHIPPING ANYWHERE, INCLUDING NZ
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HANDCRAFTED IN AUSTRALIA Riley Balsawood Surfboards are made using renewable resource balsa and recycled polystyrene for performance, durability, beauty and lower environmental impact
Call 0412 376 464 or Email mark@riley.com.au www.balsasurfboardsriley.com.au Australian Environmentally-friendly handcrafted surfboards for the individual in all of us, with a guarantee. Enjoy Responsibly
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Surfing and snowboarding, similar in their approach and appeal and yet the question forever remains, which one is better? Well, after experiencing JAPOW a couple of months back in Japan, the answer to that question is becoming increasingly difficult to determine. In this edition, we take you to opposite ends of the spectrum. Surfing vs snowboarding. Hot vs cold. Bitterly cold winds vs stifling heat and humidity. A highly civilised culture compared to a developing nation. Mark Riley provides us with an insight into his travel journal from his recent trip to Papua New Guinea, one of the world’s least explored countries, both culturally and geographically. Mark headed over to PNG earlier this year to check on the
balsa trees from which his beautiful boards are made, have a few surfs and craft a couple of fresh sticks for the good folks at Nusa Island Retreat. And while Mark was sweating his arse off, we headed to the other end of the world to freeze ours in sub zero temperatures as we explored the Japanese Alps on the main island of Honshu in Japan. So do we have an answer yet to the question posed above? If you look at the photo on this very page of backcountry carving in Hakuba by one of the Central Snow Sports crew and then look at a couple of pics from Mark’s trip, the answer is, we don’t know. You will just have to do both to solve the quandary yourself. After all, as they say, variety is the spice of life. A true smorgasboarder surfs, snowboards and skateboards with abandon wherever and whenever they get the chance.
KINDRED SPIRITS, YET WORLDS APART Photo supplied by the cool folks at Central Snow Sports, who decked us out with all our gear in Hakuba .
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Enjoy.
Cheers!
WELCOME
Aside from these two tales we have all the usual good stuff; surfing news from around the traps, inspiring people, heaps of surfboards, one very enjoyable chat with the man behind the Larry Bertlemann twin fins now available in Australia and our mate Curl with Aloha Barry front and centre.
rders
sboa the Smorga
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WHAT'S
INSIDE... BARRY RE-IMAGINED 16 Talented takes
DETAILS, CREDITS & STUFF Grab SMORGASBOARDER FREE at quality surf stores, shapers and cool cafés on the coast of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia and New Zealand... Be nice and buy something while you’re there. Or read it online.
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If you can’t get to a store or other venue to pick the mag up in person, you can also choose to have SMORGASBOARDER delivered to your door. See www.smorgasboarder.com.au. Very few back issues are also available for $5 a piece, plus t-shirts & more!
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THE COVER SHOT CHILLING OUT 40 Family snow time
PNG never loses its shine. The balsa master, Mark Riley, fills us in on his recent trip there - see page 26.
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CONTRIBUTING...
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ADVERTISING/EDITORIAL: Dave Swan dave@smorgasboarder.com.au 0401 345 201
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This is YOUR mag. It’s here for you to tell your stories, show your pictures and share your thoughts - and score some free stuff on the way too, to boot.
8 Reader photos 10 News 62 Surfboards 73 Ding Repairs 75 Directories 79 Socials 82 Aloha Barry
DESIGN/EDITORIAL: Mark Chapman mark@smorgasboarder.com.au
rfboard All sorts of su you e designs to se ! See er nt wi h ug ro th re... mo r fo 67 Page
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: James Ellis james@smorgasboarder.com.au 0410 175 552
There’s only a few of us here, so please be patient when you get in touch - we’ll try our best to get back to you as soon as humanly possible. Get in touch to discuss any ideas you’d like to be considered for a future edition or online.
ACCOUNTS: Louise Gough louise@smorgasboarder.com.au GEAR TESTS & REVIEWS: Gus Brown gus@smorgasboarder.com.au
FEATURED WRITER Mark Riley shares his PNG travel diary... Page 26
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E: editorial@smorgasboarder.com.au P: PO Box 501, Moffat Beach QLD 4551
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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.
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Keep your goods dry wherever you are
Keep your goods dry wherever you are
Keep your goods dry wherever you are
1987 Watershack Smorgasboarder Ad.indd 1 1987 Watershack Smorgasboarder Ad.indd 1
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READER PHOTOS Great coffee, roasted daily. Volcom Lane, Raglan NZ WWW.RAGLANROAST.CO.NZ
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With a bit of cappucino foam in the foreground and a some warm coffee tinge to the lighting, we really couldn’t go past this classic (almost retro) shot by NZ snapper Pieter ten Broek when it came to choosing a winner for the kg of coffee beans from Raglan Roast. But how good were the other shots he sent in too? Congrats Pieter! Enjoy... If you’re in NZ, send in your surf shots and you could be the next reader to score a bag of quality beans! Email submissions to letters@smorgasboarder.com.au WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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AKA: THE NEWS... COMMUNITY WHAT’S HAPPENINGS & OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS letters@smorgasboarder.com.au
Australia’s first skate, surf and youth culture professional haircare range
www.madhair.com.au Mad Hair
@madhairproducts
SURFING DOESN’T HAVE TO BE HARD! Sizes from 7 foot soft surfboard to 10’2” soft SUP! Surf-school quality construction
S1 PERFORMER SERIES Brand new design and construction for a longer lasting experience!
WWW.GERAGHTYSHAPES.COM
ORDER ONLINE OR CALL DEAN ON 041 6442 042
Become part of an exclusive members only surf brand. (Surfers of all ages and skills welcome) Membership has its privileges: Visit www.1lovesurfing.com for details. Ambassadors wanted: Apply for a 1 Love Surfing Ambassadorship.
smorgasboarder
FIRST REGIONAL SURFING RESERVE First came National, then World Surfing Reserves, and finally there is the world’s first ‘Regional’ Surfing Reserve, declared on 1 May in South Australia. It’s now officially recognised as the Mid Coast Surfing Reserve, or as locals like to call it - Nature’s gift to Adelaide’s surfing community – the ‘Magic Mid’. This stunning coastline is the traditional land of the Kaurna people, which has a variety of reefs and beaches, red ochre cliffs and pristine waves stretching from Moana to Christies Beach. Since the 1920’s this unique surfing environment has served Adelaide’s surfing community. Objectives of the Mid Coast Surfing Reserve focus on: celebrating surfing heritage and culture, ensuring a safe aquatic and beach environment, protecting the environment, and supporting Council’s Coastal Park initiatives. Since the National Surfing Reserve Board accepted the Mid Coast as Australia’s first regional surfing reserve, a local steering committee made up of representatives from Surfing SA, Surf Life Saving SA, City of Onkaparinga, Surfrider Foundation and free surfers have been working closely with the local community to ensure the successful reserve dedication. The steering committee released a Mid Coast Surfing Reserve celebration publication, ‘The Magic Mid’ at the dedication, which is available from Preece’s South Port Surf Shop.
RESPECT THE RIDE! 10
For more go to the reserve’s Facebook page Mid Coast Surfing Reserve or the website www.midcoastsurfreserve.com
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NEWS: PADDLE OUT Photo: Photolife Photography
NO TUNA CAGE FOR VICTOR HARBOUR PROTESTERS have swam, rowed, paddled, kayaked and sailed from shore at Victor Harbor twice in the past few months in protest against a “swim with the tuna” development near Granite Island, amid concerns that the planned tourist attraction will draw increasing sharks to popular beaches looking for food.
Organisers were overwhelmed when 1000 people — 500 of whom took to the water — gathered on the foreshore to oppose the tuna pen, primarily over fears it would lure sharks to the popular resort and surrounding surf coast that includes Chiton Rocks and Middleton. Tourists will be able to hand feed and swim with tuna or observe them underwater on a clear water day (which is reported to be around 30% of the time). “The Tuna Cage? Jawesome Idea”, said one placard. Another showed an image of caged bluefin tuna being stalked by a shark with a surfer nearby. Spokeswoman Nisa Schebella exaplined the Friends of the Encounter Coast group had raised funds, engaged a legal team and launched an appeal against the Development Assessment Commission in the Environmental Resource and Development Court over its social and economic impacts, including the risk of increased shark activity as a threat to the reputation of the South Coast relative safety. Other concerns are about due and proper process, impacts on the environment and the Great Southern Right Whale population in slow recovery, existing tourism
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businesses which will be in direct competition, surf and aquatic schools who employ many of the local surfers, the prized view to Granite Island and the lack of a comprehensive management plan. “The evidence does say that sharks and seals do congregate around fish pens, regardless of whether it is 5 tonne or 50” she said. “The potential negative impacts are many. There is nothing better than to get out into the water for a surf with the dolphins and the whales through winter - more often than not each year. I can’t imagine a coastline without the whales. It would be a crime to lose that and even worse if someone lost their life due to a shark attack” Donations for the legal fund are welcome. ` NO TUNA CAGE FOR VICTOR HARBOR on Facebook to find out more.
Photo: Jono Kingston/Much Media
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WINDANSEA SUPPORT Windansea Surf Club based in Caloundra have run the Ma and Pa Bendall Memorial Surf Comp for the past 42 years, the second longest running surfing competition in Australia, only surpassed by the world famous Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. Each year a portion of the profits from the comp are handed back to local community members who are in need of some help. This year’s ‘Share the Love’ recipients of Windansea’s donation of $1000 each are the Disabled Surfers Association, Trevor Picken on behalf of his son Alex, and Andrew Gosden on behalf of his son Ethan. Tim Byrne runs the local Disabled Surfers branch and collectively they do an outstanding job supporting and assisting young kids through to adults to experience the joy of catching waves. Trevor Picken is the father of adorable 3 year old twins who both suffer from Cerebral Palsy and little Alex is in desperate need of a walking aid. Local boxer Andre Gosden’s little baby boy Ethan has a rare brain disease and the family are in need of funds to assist with their huge medical bills. A big thumbs up to all involved with the Windansea Surf Club.
SOUTH COAST UNITES On Wednesday March 30, 2016, Kiama local, Brett Connellan was attacked by a White Pointer and left with severe injuries to his left thigh and hand. Brett reportedly lost ¾ of his quad muscle and had to undergo extensive surgery to save his leg. To assist Brett and his family with costly medical and rehabilitation bills the Jones Beach Boardriders and several good friends have begun a fundraising campaign. Robbie Marshall of Soul Arch Surfboards and the good folks at the Rivermouth General Store in Tomakin have also chipped in offering up several great prizes including one of Robbie’s Soul Arch 7’0” sticks. Tickets are $5 with 100% of proceeds going into @brettconnellan trust . The print tickets are available exclusively from The Rivermouth, with board tickets available from Soul Arch Surfboards and DP Surfboards Thirroul, Zink Surf Kiama, The Adelaide Hotel Moruya and Moruya Hospital. www.surfersforbretto.com | ` The Rivermouth General Store
OLD SKOOL LOGS TO HIGH PERFORMANCE BY STEWART MAXWELL ALL MADE IN-HOUSE, FROM START TO FINISH 45+ YEARS EXPERIENCE SURBOARD REPAIRS ACCESSORIES AND MORE 46 CURRUMBIN CREEK ROAD, CURRUMBIN WATERS, QLD
0400 338 098 | MAXIMUMSURF@BIGPOND.COM
MAXIMUMSURFBOARDS.COM.AU WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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VINTAGE SURFBOARD COLLECTOR AND PROPRIETOR OF NOOSA’S UNDERGROUND SURF, ANDRE ‘ONDI’ MARSAUS, IS THE SURF SAGE AND HERE IN OUR REGULAR FEATURE HE PROVIDES THE ANSWERS TO ALL YOUR QUESTIONS.
Got a question you want to ask the Surf Sage about an old board you have found under the house or from a curbside collection? Email editorial@smorgasboarder.com.au and we will get Ondi onto it.
Q &A Russell brought this beauty in to me at the shop asking for an estimate of price and any shapers details I may be aware of. Looking past the old wax, the board is in great original condition. A really nice 6’3 with downrails/rounded pin, single fin box, nice pin-lining and tint. It’s a classic 1978 Brian Jackson shaped by Jim Parkinson at Caringbah, NSW and cleaned up it should fetch Russell around $350 or more to a collector. It’s a great board from one of Australia’s oldest shaping/glassing works (1958).
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SURFBOARDS OF SIGNIFICANCE by Ondi Marsaus, Underground Surf Emporium & Cafe
Wilderness
1977 Asymmetrical 6’ shaped by MICHAEL CUNDITH Michael Cundith, the founder of Wilderness surfboards USA in 1967, shaped this rare beauty in Australia ten years later in ‘77, based on a George Greenough design. A fantastic asymmetrical single fin with a yuk off resin job, pin lines and textured deck. The rails are downrail forward of centre also carrying foam volume with a more refined tail rail. The bottom shape is relatively flat with a 7-inch whippy fin and rides really well in 2 to 3 foot swell. I haven’t surfed it in any other size as it needs sealing in a few places, but I am definitely keen to. Michael and George Greenough created beautiful boards with amazing designs and function. In 1968 George Greenough and Chris Brock set up in Byron Bay with shapers Bob McTavish, Gary Keyes and Chris Brock. After a year they moved to the infamous Wilderness farmhouse in Palmer island, Yamba. Remember the farmhouse in Albe Falzon’s Morning of the Earth with Baddy Treloar building a surfboard in the house and field outside? Well this was the place and the rent was $5 per week. The asymmetrical design accommodates your forehand and backhand making it easier to transfer your lines to suit your style and was patented by Carl Ekstrom from San Diego in 1967.
porium & Espresso B f em ar Sur
Noosa
UNDERGROUND - SURF -
custo
m surfboard shop
See this board in the flesh... OKAy, the FOAM... at UNDERGROUND SURF Upstairs 9 Hastings St, Noosa T: 07 5455 4444 www.undergroundsurf.com.au EASTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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FIRST ! PRIZE
Alex Keegan (Keegs)
LEFT: On ‘yer bike, Barry! RIGHT: Tut, tut... For the sake of the children, we’ll just assume Barry’s learning to play an oddly painted didgeridoo here..
SECOND PLACE Shaun Adams
THIRD PLACE Ian Morton
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THE WINNERS!
WOW - YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME. Barry artist Curl had a hard time deciding the winners of the Make-A-Barry art comp, but here they are! Congrats to Keegs for taking top honours with his image of Aloha Barry sunning himself after an afternoon hanging ten in Raglan, NZ. He scores the great prize pack above, AND you’ll soon see him immortalised as a character in the next Aloha Barry! Congrats also to Simon Mac for making it so hard to decide that we just decided to chuck in a wildcard and part with one extra of the ten limited edition Ben Brown posters!
THE WILDCARD!
Simon Mac
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LATEST: AND GREATEST
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EARTHLY PLEASURES
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Good for the planet and the soul.
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SURF ORGANIC SURF WAX Biodegradable and environmentally friendly soy wax packaged with 100% recycled materials. $4.95, 100gm
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SURF ORGANIC WAX CANDLE Soy-based wax and scented with coconut oil. Groovy.
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UKULELE GIRL BOTTLE OPENER Aloha beer-o-clock! $14.90 sadhanasurfboards.co.nz
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UKULELE Keep the good vibes going - get yourself a ukulele and rock some tropical tunes.
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SMORGASBOARDER Annual subscription just $25 www.smorgasboarder.com.au
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SURF BUSINESS
GRASSROOTS
We’ve long said SMORGASBOARDER is about the grassroots surfing community. Through the years we have brought you stories about everyday surfers with interesting tales to tell right through to our talented surfboard shapers, the true heart and soul of the surf industry. We’ve always been about shining a light on those who have never enjoyed the spotlight. Well through this new series we would like to introduce you to other unsung members of our surf community who provide valuable services and who ply their trade up, down and along our coastlines. Meet the first two surfers in our Grassroots Series.
MATHEW BADGER SURFERS EARPLUGS
PAULL DISNEY-SMITH THE DING HUT
Hailing just south of Newcastle, Mathew’s done plenty of things in his lifetime including youth worker, TAFE lecturer, and even worked as a surf guide in the Maldives, and for many years he owned and ran the Dudley corner store and café with his girlfriend. Nowadays Mathew’s the owner/ operator of SURFERS EARPLUGS AUSTRALIA running up and down the east coast of Oz selling his plugs to any surf store, general store and surfer hangout that’s interested.
Surfing has forever been a part of Paull’s life and what he describes as his “ever-enduring passion.” As a former industrial electrician he repaired boards for friends for some 20 years, and most recently set up a super clean new workshop at Warana on the Sunshine Coast to take his ding repair service full time. Paull explains, “I shaped and glassed a few boards when I was younger and dabbled with ding repairs and that continued on as a hobby right up until now. Through the years demand just grew and grew to the point I thought I should go full-time.
Matthew’s already made quite an impact in a very short space of time on the back of the very product he sells. His Mighty Plugs for watersports are all-natural, mouldable ear plugs made from beeswax, purified lanolin and sterile cotton. They are antibacterial, non-allergenic and reportedly very comfortable to wear because they mould to your ear cavity. The plugs keep water out as they remain malleable in your ears, even in cold conditions. www.surfersearplugs.com.au
“My goal is to provide a professional reliable ding repair and restoration service. I’m not here to make a fortune. I am here to build a reputable business that can survive so I can live and work local and be engaged in the local surfing community. I recently became secretary of the Kawana Boardriders. I want everyone who comes through my door to recommend me to their friends and their friends because of the service I provide.” Paul repairs all manner of surf craft from polyester and epoxy shortboards, longboards, kneelos and SUPs through to surf lifesaving boards, kayaks, windsurfers and kiteboards. Considering his doors have only been open a couple of months and his factory is near full, we figure he’s already building quite the reputation for his service. www.thedinghut.com.au
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FORSTER
GREAT FAMIL S U R F ES Y
AUSTRALIAN FOR AWESOME.
C A PE S
We review one of our favourite Australian East Coast towns.
FOOD SURF MAIN BEACH stretches from the breakwall to the ocean baths and can hold a nice little wave from time to time but it doesn’t really get good until it is huge and when it is, it’s unreal. The wave breaks a couple of hundred metres off Second Head at the southern end where the baths are on a rock-reef, known as Hayden’s Rock. It’s a right-hander, best midtide, easterly swell, offshore westerlies and it’s for experts only. There’s plenty of waves on offer all the time however on the other side of the Wallis Lake Mouth at North Wall Tuncurry – long right-handers. Can handle big swell.
I know there are some great restaurants and cafes in the area but I can’t resist heading to Beach Bum’s Café right on Main Beach every time I am in town. It’s relaxed, has a great view, great service, food and coffee and if there’s no swell about you can swim a few laps of the ocean baths a hundred metres up to work off your bacon and eggs. It also happens to be voted the best of 61 restaurants in the area on Trip Advisor. Bella Bellissimo is a great little Italian restaurant in the heart of town as well. Other than that, Forster to me means oysters. Find a fresh seafood outlet and devour oysters by the dozen.
FISHING
Head a little further south into the Forster residential area to the top of One Mile Beach. Here there are left and right hand beachies. The northern end is the access to Bennett’s Head lookout where you can get 360-degree views of the area. There’s also a giant sandhill here if the surf is flat where you can practice dry face plants. Heaps of laughs and heaps of fun.
The Great Lakes are famous for fishing. You name it and you can probably catch it here. Beach, river, estuary and deep sea fishing, you can do it all. Better still the 99 sq km Wallis Lake has my favourite fish in abundance, Flathead!
Further south and there is more gold to be found – Seven Mile, Boomerang, Blueys Beach, Seal Rocks. I have had some absolute crackers surfing this area.
You are surrounded by water so if you are not surfing there is paddleboarding, snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing and sea kayaking along the stunning rugged rocky coastline. Then there are coastal walks and pristine national parks to explore with plenty of hiking trails. Head along the Cape Hawke Bicentennial Walkway to the viewing platform at Bennett’s Head to check out the whales and a sunset you won’t believe. You will see heaps of Humpbacks this time of year.
ta er readers ge Smorgasboard the l - just check fantastic dea on the left! offer on the ad
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WHAT ELSE?
You can take a day trip to Pacific Palms. Here there’s Boomerang and Blueys Beach (I learnt to ride an alaia here because the waves are just so perfect). Then there’s Seal Rocks with its Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse and Stroud, a little town within the Great Lakes Hinterland. I took what I perceived was a short cut along Thunderbolts Way near Stroud in an effort to avoid a major traffic jam caused by an accident on the Pacific Highway. The journey took me twice as long due to the fact I could not stop pulling over to take in the gobsmackingly, amazing views of Stroud Valley and the surrounding hinterland. This stretch of countryside just has to be seen!
WHERE TO STAY FORSTER BEACH HOLIDAY PARK. Lose your car keys if you choose. You have Wallis Lake, Main Beach and town all right there on either side of the park. You can see dolphins making their way from Wallis Lake out to sea in the afternoon and hear waves crashing on the shore at night. There is a range of different accommodation to choose from such as grassed caravan sites, deluxe beach cabins and villas and there is even a marina with boat ramp situated directly next door. See more at: www.northcoastparks.com.au WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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LATEST: LOCAL
CELEBRATING
LIFE ON PHILLIP ISLAND
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WHEN YOU MENTION THE BIG “C” it’s usually not the word ‘celebration’ that comes to mind. Cancer takes far too many far too early, and it’s never something to take lightly. Yet if nothing else, the seriousness of a life threatening illness or condition forces all of us to take a long hard look at life, and maybe, just maybe find a little bit of a reason to celebrate what we have, those we know and love, and the memory of those no longer with us.
It’s in that spirit that a brand new book by Rachel Musgrove includes images by Phillip Island photographer Andy Biddington, who recently passed away after his own personal battle, and is dedicated to those who have fought their own battles and those fighting cancer right now. Rachel shares a bit more about her own journey and in the book “Carving the Coast”. WORDS: RACHEL MUSGROVE PHOTOS: RACHEL MUSGROVE & ANDY BIDDINGTON Surfer: Drew Johnson WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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LATEST: LOCAL
LIFE ON PHILLIP ISLAND RACHEL MUSGROVE “I grew up in Melbourne but spent many weekends exploring Cape Woolamai’s sand dunes and playing around in the surf. I come from a very musical and artistically talented family - I painted for several years, but after being involved in a motor vehicle accident was restricted due to injury. Percussion was my only musical talent and hitting the occasional high note while singing in the shower! Doctors discovered I had a brain condition called Chiari Malformation (which affects balance and co-ordination – ed.) brought on by trauma from the accident. “I wasn’t going to sit around and let it destroy my life so I bought myself a camera a few years ago and haven’t looked back. I’ve always had a passion for nature, wildlife and the ocean, so this gave me the chance to spend time doing what I love. GETTING BUSY
Surfer: Cody Jefferey
“My inspiration started with Jen and Clint from ‘Places We Go TV’. Many years of watching their lifestyle and work with travel made me see what was important, and that was not focusing on what I couldn’t do but rather on what I could. I then got out there with my camera and met some amazing people through the surf culture of Phillip Island - not to mention the moments I have up close and personal with our local wildlife. “I started my page ‘ Phillip Island Images’ to show the world the beauty I see everyday. Its extremely rewarding to hear that an image I’ve captured has put a smile on someone’s face. To boost the ego of a surfer with an image of themselves pulling off a spectacular stunt as I call it is priceless.” ANDY BIDDINGTON “I was working on a project with local surfers when I came across some amazing go pro images by a local surfer, Andy Biddington. His spontaneous underwater captures took my breathe away. Andy and I later talked about collaborating. I found this image of a building in the shape of a wave and showed Andy - a dream gallery for the future perhaps?
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BUILD YOUR OWN WOODEN SURFBOARD Alaias & Paipos Due to popular demand we now offer 1 Day Surfboard, Alaia & Paipo Shaping Workshops
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There’s nothing like the ride, feel and experience of an authentic wooden surfboard . . . and when you’ve built that board yourself, with skills that will stay with you for life, nothing beats the feeling. Tree to Sea Australia offers 3 day workshops enabling you to build your own wooden board and give you the skills to build many more. Our wooden boards are environmentally friendly, and the feeling of riding one . . . incredible! See website for workshop dates and further details. Gift Vouchers are available.
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The goodness of wood. Plantation grown timber. No fibreglass. No foam. No resins. Just wood (and glue). Keeping our environmental splash to a ripple.
“Unfortunately Andy lost his battle with cancer. I wasn’t going to let this stop me so with the help of good friend Chris Heenan, who himself is fighting his own battle with an incurable cancer, we decided to put together this book – Carving the Coast - sharing images of Phillip Island by Andy and myself, and we’ve dedicated it to the memory of this amazing, talented man and to all those fighting cancer.” TOP Phillip Island photographer Andy Biddington (RIP). LEFT: Rachel and Chris, publishers of Carving the Coast
For anyone who’s ever been to, or surfed Phillip Island, the book is a window to some amazing places, great surf spots and fantastic scenery. Carving the Coast is available at Rip Curl Phillip Island and other outlets on the island. You can also contact rachellouisemusgrove@gmail.com for copies. For more images, updated regularly, like Rachel’s Phillip Island Images page on Facebook. WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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RILEY GOOD
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D TIMES IN PNG MARK RILEY TAKES A WORKING/SURFING SABBATICAL SOME 4,000 KM AWAY, BUILDING HIS ECO FRIENDLY BALSA BOARDS WITH THE PNG LOCALS WORDS: MARK RILEY | PHOTOS: LIME LIGHT CREATIVE STUDIOS
F
or those who don’t know Mark Riley, he is the founder and head shaper of Riley Balsa Wood Surfboards based just near Cronulla. He exquisitely crafts some of the most stunning, lightweight balsa surfboards, from shortboards through to paddleboards that you have ever seen. Mark sources and imports most of his balsa from Papua New Guinea.
Recently Mark went over to check out the operation, see how the trees were coming along, shape a few boards and of course, get in a surf or two. We take a look at his personal travel diary... Lucky bugger.
I headed over to Kavieng, which is on the Northern Tip of Papua New Guinea in April of this year to a place called Nusa Island. I travelled with my father John, son Seb, videographer Ian Hamilton from Lime Light Creative Studio and camera assistant Oliver Hamilton. Dylan Jeffrey, a surfer and camera tech who was to travel with us, did not receive his visa on time and followed 4 days later. The organising and planning of luggage, seven surfboards and camera equipment was immense to say the least. With Dylan unable to fly with us meant we were a man down to distribute 220kg of equipment. Needless to say there was a lot of haggling at all the Air Niugini check-ins but thankfully they were really understanding and everything worked out okay.
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Ian and Oliver came down on Friday night from Newcastle to stay at my place and go over the plan of attack for the next two weeks. We went into Cronulla for some Thai food and a beer to start our close and funny two-week relationship. Ian is a real character. He never goes anywhere without his camera -except for the toilet, maybe. To get a word in with Ian you have to be sharp, quick and on the ball all the time. Whilst we worked out our trip the Aussiemade Ohana Ocean Athletic crew were putting the final touches to our rashies only hours before we flew out and they were exceptional.
Saturday - Day 1 The minibus was booked for 5am to take all personnel and baggage to Sydney airport. After a few quick happy snaps we were in the terminal counting our 13 bags, making sure we got the right ones to Kavieng and the right ones to Rabaul. To make life a little easier (or harder not sure which one) we decided to send John and Seb straight on to Kavieng with most of the baggage while Ian, Oli and myself headed to Rabaul [to the balsawood factory]. That way we only had to take two boards, one piece of luggage and two camera cases - the rest would be sent onwards to Kavieng. While we were waiting to check in I spotted another surfer with some boards and a World Surfaris baggage ticket. I asked him where he was off to and he said Nusa Island Retreat. I said great, so are we. His name was Sean and I asked him if he could help John and Seb in Kavieng with our 9 bags, which he obliged. I asked him about World Surfaris and he said they were the perfect booking agent and I agreed with him totally. Once we had sorted the luggage and dropped the boards off to the oversize counter we could relax for an hour. Oli and Seb decided to get some McDonalds and free wifi before we hit the jungles of PNG. We bordered the plane on time and everyone was happy with their seats. The service was great and we were starving. A great morning tea was served with my first Export SP larger (PNG’s finest). The flight was only three and a half hours to Port Moresby. We arrived in PM and had to collect all our luggage and take it to the domestic terminal. We thought we had plenty of time but by the time we found the terminal, got ALL our bags, checked in again, made 28
sure they had the right bags going to the right location, there wasn’t a second to spare. The temperature was intense. John bought some water and lo and behold it was local water from FIJI? At this stage anything wet was good after the amount of talking, drinking and dragging bags around. Panic soon set in when it was discovered we were running late for the plane to Rabaul. There was some nervous button pushing on the keyboard to push us through and all of a sudden we were following a receptionist to the x-ray machines before heading onto the tarmac for a quick photo whilst marching up the staircase. Huge relief to be on the plane without any dramas.
That said, there was still a weight on my shoulders. I hoped there was someone in Kavieng from Nusa Island Retreat to help John and Seb with ALL the luggage (smile) as they travelled to Kavieng. I couldn’t worry or focus too much on Dad and Seb though because we had our own meeting to concentrate on. Once again Oli was starving, so the orange juice and two biscuits had to tide him over for 15 minutes during the PM to Rabaul flight. As we leave the jet I look under the cargo hold and here is the balsa longboard with the nose of the board leaning on the ground and the tail still up in the hold. Straight away my thoughts are that it has been dropped
I GO TO ASK HIM IF HE IS PICKING US UP AND HE HAS NO IDEA, NO PAPERWORK AND SPEAKS NO ENGLISH.
3m onto the tarmac and the nose would be smashed to smithereens. Upon unpacking it was slightly damaged and cracked but nothing major. Fine rain is tumbling down as we scramble across the tarmac to the run down airport of Rabaul. I am nervous about the hotel that I booked with booking.com and whether they are going to pick us up as arranged. As soon as I get into the terminal I start looking for the Gazelle Hotel rep or a sign or number and nothing is to be seen. I grew even more nervous because it took them 4 days to reply to an email I had sent. I tried calling but there was no answer. It’s about 5.30pm now and we get all our bags and boards and I ask security if he has seen the Gazelle. He told us to wait so we pulled up a concrete seat and tried to relax, but it’s difficult when the sun is setting and we have camera gear and surfboards out the front of the airport and local bus drivers are constantly asking where we are going. Oli is starving and so am I. There was a little kiosk there but nothing substantial. After waiting for an hour I said to Ian “The next bus or taxi that comes with a Hotel on it, we’ll take it”. The next bus that arrives is the Gazelle. He pulls up and I go to ask him if he is picking us up and he has no idea, no paperwork and speaks no English. At least he has the Hotel name on the side so we all jump in. I’m on edge wondering where we are going and what the hotel is going to be like. We followed the main road for about 10km and the areas were looking pretty dodgy in the semi dark streets. We then turn off and I spot a threelevel hotel. What a relief! As we drive in we see some coloured lights in one of the rooms. It’s 6.30pm on Saturday. Our driver helps with the luggage with a smile and that’s about it. We hurriedly check in, have a quick shower and head straight down for a beer and dinner at the restaurant one that would not be out of place in Australia. Oli is about to chew his arm off when we order. It’s a large menu so Oli goes for broke on the Surf and Turf, Ian orders a steak an me the pasta. Oli’s meal is the smallest so he thought he would help Ian with his. Because it is early days in our relationship, Ian allows Oli to get away with murder, stealing his dinner. A few days later Oli tries this trick again and his fork is cut down.
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After a great meal we have a quiet beer and suddenly we hear pumping native pop-rock-n-roll in the Hotel. I go pay the bill and ask, “What’s the music” She said “A disco, do you want to go?” “Why not, its our first night in PNG.” The girl leads us through a doorway with no signs or anything and we pass all these poker machines down and around a maze and through another door. As the three“mastas” walk through we feel like we are under the microscope with about 20 locals staring at us. We freeze staring back at them. ”Come on let’s have a beer at the bar and a game of pool”. Oli and Ian start kicking some butt on the table and strike up some friendships with Frank and Danial, the local rugby 30
league ground announcer. After a few games and a few laughs, Dan tells me that if I made a time with a local for a pick-up at 10am tomorrow, that could mean 7am or 11am. That made me worried because we were on a tight schedule to catch our flight for Kavieng in the afternoon after we had seen the balsa farms and wet saw mills.
Sunday - Day 2 I could not sleep because of the pounding music and wondering if Darrell would arrive on time. I was up at 5.30am sending emails to Darrell asking if he could come at 9am but
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LATEST: TRAVEL he informed me he was going to church. Darrell arrived on the dot in his Sunday best at 10am, much to my relief. Like everywhere in the world most people take Sundays off and of course the Papua New Guineans are no exception – they like to party and rest. As a result, I asked Darrell if we could get a couple of workers to run the saws for an hour to demo the saw mill. To my surprise there was 30 workers working away including men and women in harmony (maybe in harmony because the saws were so loud they could not hear each other). It was like watching a welloiled mad house with a log getting carried and cut, and then passed to another saw and then cut again, and
then onto the women who stacked the balsa neatly into a pile ready for drying the wood in the large kilns. What I was most impressed with was the limited waste. The scraps were being reused by the locals for hand carved souvenirs and toys for the kids. The most impressive and surprising however was the use of the sawdust as an additive for lightweight concrete.
balsa for (there was not a lot of enthusiasm). I then showed them 2 balsa boards I had made in Australia. I wanted them to get a feel for what the balsa was being used for, and why I wanted certain balsa cuts and to also understand why the particular weight I was requesting was so important to the surf industry. These weights and cuts of balsa cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
After nearly an hour it was getting close to 12 noon, which was lunch time for the crew so we gathered the workers together and I thanked them all for coming in on a Sunday. I described what I was using the
When I pulled out the boards, you should have seen their faces. They could not believe that this was the same wood that they had cut 1 year ago. They all crowded around and were touching the boards and
posing with them for photos. Then they opened up by asking all kinds of questions under the sun. The boards broke the ice because Papua New Guineans are generally shy. 15 minutes later the questions were still firing and so were our bellies. We were so hungry we could have eaten a low flying duck, and of course Oli is hungry so we asked the driver if we could get a drink and something to eat before we set out for the balsa farm. We headed for Andersons Supermarket. I asked the driver what he would like and he said WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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WHAT A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES SHAUN AND SHANNON AT NUSA ISLAND RETREAT WITH A NICE COLD CIDER OR AS SHAUN CALLS IT, “A GIRLS DRINK”.
a meat pie. I replied with WTF? A MEAT PIE? (not sure if he understood WTF!) Are you pulling my leg? But he was serious. Oli and myself headed in. One big security guard came over and everyone was looking at us like we were ALIENS (we are in this place). I asked him where the meat pies were and he pointed around the back in the bakery. Just like in Australia there they were - Chicken, mushroom and beef pies, but I was not game enough on the second day to try what’s inside the pies. We hit the road again and headed back to the hotel to have a quick shower before setting off to the airport so we could get to Nusa Island before sunset. We made it to the airport with an hour to spare and with the checking-in system down, we had to wait. Oli suggested we get something to eat so we headed over to the kiosk we ignored the day before and there they were, the Aussie special again, more meat pies. This is all there was there so we had to try them - and they were great. Pretty soon everyone was boarding except us and when we requested we board late the manager of Air Niugini grabbed a pen and hand wrote a boarding pass. It was classical PNG at its best. Landing in Kavieng at 6pm, the humidity was intense. After all, it’s only set 2 degrees off the equator. We waited for our luggage and across it came in the cart and trailer. You pretty much just
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grab your own bags(hopefully all of our boards and bags are there) so everyone was scrambling for their gear and security was rushing around checking baggage tickets, or trying to. Because we had so many bags by the time we got all of ours, there was no one there to collect our tickets but thankfully Luke from Nusa Island Retreat was. He helped us load all the gear into the truck and we headed for the port for our 5 minute banana boat trip across the harbour. What a sight for sore eyes - Shaun and Shannon at Nusa Island Retreat with a nice cold cider or as Shaun calls it, “a girls drink”. It was also great to see John and Seb made it there safely. Not long after we dug straight into a 3 course buffet dinner of fish, prawns and fresh veges. Oli thought he was in heaven. Shaun and I had a lot to catch up on with plans for the next two weeks
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LATEST: TRAVEL and what was happening the next day. After dinner and a few beers, I pulled out the custom-built 9 foot longboard and 7’6” mini-mal to show Shaun and the boys. You could see the grin on Shaun’s face after he launched the mini-mal under his arm and started caressing and asking questions about the board. I knew he liked and wanted this board.
Monday - Day 3 The next morning we were pumped to get out there so we headed for Ral, a small island about 10 minutes away. The reports hadn’t been too good but this was the best option for catching as much swell as possible. It was messy and all over the place. Ian was not happy with the position
of the sun but I told him I could not change this. We got a few waves but not what we came for.
since we booked everything with World Surfaris).
We headed back to Nusa for breaky and started preparing to build some boards. We had to build some rack stands to hold the boards first. Shaun and I discussed what was possible with the 10 sticks of balsa that had arrived from Rabaul 2 days before.
Tuesday - Day 4
I asked what Shaun wanted for him and his crew and the tourists. Of course he wanted a range of different craft to cover all waves and guests’ abilities - very hard to do with just 2-3 boards. There was enough timber to build a mini-mal and a longboard or 2 mini-mals and a short board. Shaun went for the 3 boards. We went for another surf at Ral that afternoon but still lighting and waves were not good. So Luke suggested we head down the east coast tomorrow on a surf safari (how fitting
We got some fun 2-3 foot barrels down the coast at a spot called SS – The Secret Spot and Ian was pretty happy with light and positions for shooting. We shot some more video with the kids riding their flitches. The surf was a little bigger but sprinkling with rain. They were catching the smaller waves and crouching on their 2 foot planks for 3 seconds. It was amazing. It’s a shame that I didn’t bring more flitches (offcuts) from the saw mill because balsa would have been lighter with more floatation than the hardwood ones they were using. I gave a balsa fish to one of the boys. The first wave he caught he stood and raised his 2 arms as high as he could, WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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punching the air with excitement. I filmed it from the beach. All the kids were laughing and cheering him and so was I. I even ran in front of the camera cheering and pumping the air. It was one of my dreams to see this. We played some games on the beach with the kids and gave them some gifts. My daughter Elyss had given me her old dance concert uniforms to hand out to the girls, so I picked out a girl and gave her a pink tutu. She was very shy and would not look at me. We finally convinced her to put it over her dress and she looked and felt great, another great moment in my trip and this was only day 4! Later we began building the first 7’6” mini-mal solid balsa board with 20 of the locals. They were as keen as mustard so I had to watch them and slow them down. They charged out of the gates like wounded bulls. I had 3 groups of 6 people doing different jobs, one group marking rocker curves on the balsa, another group cutting the rocker curves with a 9 ¼” Makita
portable power saw, and another making templates off Shaun’s favourite board. I was watching them carefully because they were moving so fast that anything could have happened like saws jamming, fingers flying or overcutting curves. We got through the day and had 1 blank glued up and another cut out ready to glue. We had a few beers around the Quicksand Bar (always hard to get away from) with Shaun later that night and started chatting about Dylan and what had happened. We were expecting him to arrive on Wednesday but because both Ian and myself had tried several times to contact him with no reply, we all thought he might be a no show. But surprise, surprise he answered the phone and said he had his visa and was heading off the next morning.
THE SURF WAS A LITTLE BIGGER BUT SPRINKLING WITH RAIN.
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Wednesday - Day 5 We headed back to Ral for a morning surf and to see the light and position for shooting from the island. I also took the drone to do a fly over the 100m long island and it was spectacular. The surf was still unsure of what it was doing with no real straightness in it and it looked like it had a hangover (all over the shop). So it was back to the grind stone and the board building at Nusa Island. We started rough cutting the first minimal and glued up the second fun board. The guys were on time and motivated to carve up these new balsa boards. There was still some apprehension from Luke saying that these boards are not going to work. I assured him to be patient. All good things take time. He was thinking this was another scam by a tourist. I decided I needed to concentrate on getting onto of these 3 boards while the surf was a little small. Meanwhile the guys kept on top of their fitness program of large breakfast followed by a medium lunch followed by a huge buffet dinner.
Back in Oz Dylan had boarded his plane, what a great job Miriam from Air Niugini did to get him on this flight. We were so happy to see him that night. There was a big drum roll from the bar when the boat pulled into the beach at Nusa. There were bets offered left, right and centre on whether he would show. And there he was - what a relief!
Thursday - Day 6 Thursday morning the boys headed off down the coast again but returned with not so good news. The swell had dropped and the onshore winds were starting to become more frequent and a little stronger. We knew this was late in the season for surf and had taken a risk to come here in April but having Nusa Island Retreat and the boats and staff all to ourselves was too hard to resist.
Friday - Day 7 We decided to break up the monotony and all went diving off Nago Island (only a 5-minute boat ride from Nusa) and it was unbelievably clear. The coral is in great condition with clown fish and turtles frolicking around the brain corals and blue starfish. We then headed another 5 minutes further on to the sunken Japanese Aichi E13A “ Jake” Seaplane in only 15 metres of clear water. There are plenty of historical artifacts in this region. Another 5 minutes away is a sunken fishing boat that is also a good shallow dive just near the famous Nusa Lefts break.
Saturday - Day 8
Sunday - Day 9
Saturday afternoon we headed off to the Kavieng Market to check out the local, fish, fruit and clothes and betel nut. The majority of the market was betel nut - great for the locals but a bit of a downer for a tourist. However I decided to buy some betel nut or buai in pidgin for the party tonight. I bought 6 nuts combined with mustard stick and lime powder, which turns the mixture red. Chewers get a mildly euphoric feeling and a sense of well-being. This is very common and even 2 year olds will start on this.
Sunday arrived and we were all feeling refreshed and ready for what the islands could hand out. What about church to feed the soul, ask for forgiveness and ask Huey for some help? What about a cup of coffee with binoculars to check the surf over at Pikininis (which means child)? This is a right point that can pump like Kirra but over reef. It looked good but only 2 foot from a distance.
After building boards all day in the 34 degree heat and a huge lobster tail buffet, I was buggered and hit the sack at 9pm. In fact none of us ever made the party, we had too much going on around us and could not afford a hangover the following day.
For me Sunday was to be the day to start glassing - so I was up at 7am to beat the heat but it was already 32 degrees. I didn’t know how the boars would turn out, but surprisingly it was pretty good. We flipped one of the boards over at 10am and it was now 34 degrees. The mix had gone off faster because of the extra humidity and the finish was not as good as I like. We learnt from this, and filler-coated early the next day. WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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During laminating the local boat builder Kavelo had started on a fresh betel nut. He sneezed and blew red stain all over the wet glass. He was trying to clean it off and I told him to leave it. “This will be the only board in the world with betel nut fibre and juice in it.” Kavelo’s very unemotional but with this comment he had a good laugh. We spent the arvo fishing and got a few sticks but nothing was landed. Seb was very disappointed and determined to catch something before he returned.
Monday - Day 10 Monday sunrise was fantastic from the Retreat. The sun rises from Kavieng town and puts an orange glow over the harbour and lights up the Retreat with some magnificent colours changing from orange to pink to blues to aquas to light greens and dark green. It certainly is an experience to sit on the platforms hovering over the still water of the harbour from 5am to 8am. I look to the sky with the drone to capture this with some amazing footage thanks to my mate Daile.
Tuesday - Day 11 Both Oli and Dylan gave the betel nut a go when a torrential tropical downpour hit. There wasn’t much to do so it was time to chew. With some direction from Tony on what to do and what not to do, like swallow it, it was hilarious to see the boys chewing and 36
spitting. Should be good to replay the video of this in slow mo. My body was starting to suffer with cuts on my toes, heels and knees but the surf was starting to build so I tried strapping myself up and we all headed for Nago lefts. We took Titima with Louie, Dylan, Oliver and Ian and faithful skipper Matt. Titima is the current PNG short board and longboard champ and had been missing in action for the past few days. He was looking a bit green around the gills (must have been a bad prawn!) “Get it out Tity,” I called, and thar she blows! The green turned to blue just like the landscape. The surf was starting to build, straighten and clean up. Later on sanding of the boards continued as my sea ulcer injuries dried out. Nothing like some sand and dust to dry out some holes in your legs (maybe some resin to fill these holes?). The boys continued to search for the perfect wave and they caught a great wave down the coast again. Seb was hounding to go fishing and we hit gold with a barracouta. The look on his face was just sheer joy and relief - this was his goal for the trip. That afternoon Seb and I grabbed the stand up paddleboards and paddled around to Long Longs. This is a long peeling right-hander that walls up nicely with a down the line fast barrelling wave. It was only one foot that arvo but near perfect. Another 3 foot on this would be unreal.
Stand up paddleboards are a great relaxer and the water, coral and fish were just amazing to view from my board. We came across a massive school of baitfish that covered the bottom completely black with the odd shimmer of a fish rolling on its side, the sun catching its scales and making them sparkle. The bait fish trail was 1m wide and extended over 100m long.
Wednesday - Day 12 Our second last day had arrived and the wind and swell were favourable for the secret spot down the East coast. With our hopes high for a great session, the anticipation was mounting through our 1-hour drive there. We arrived into the shaded palm trees and there were the righthand A frames standing to attention at around 3 foot and building. It was looking to be the best day. The locals came around observing all of us. There was no hurry to get out there. The tide was on our side and the swell was getting better and bigger. Titima, Oli and Dylan hit the water with the locals on their flitches. We were getting some killer barrels on the balsa longboards and mini-mals and the locals were taking off in the zone getting buzzed just like cracking a betel nut. Ian was shooting like mad capturing the perfect wave, location and atmosphere of PNG with some golden moments he and I had dreamed about. It was a short wave
but with perfect drop-in barrels and a backdrop you could die for. Five hours later the boys were struggling with sunstroke, hunger and tiredness. We were thinking this was it for our last surf and the gods had smiled upon us.
Thursday - Day 13 The last day arrived so fast and it was time to relax, so John, Seb and myself went for a walk around Nusa Island to see the cannons and armoury still in situ from World War 2. We met up with 4 boys whose ages ranged from 5 to 9 years. They started following us and kept us entertained climbing trees and opening coconuts with their bare hands and some rocks on the ground, finally prying them open with their nice white straight teeth before offering up the coconut water. Later that afternoon we decided to go search for the handicraft village on the island. As we’re walking off, unaware of exactly where we are going, Kavelo spotted us and asked where we were off to. Turned out it was near his place, so he took us there. He pointed to the small village but said he’d show us his place first. Kavelo said “Sit here - would you like a banana?” We said “Yes, please” and he brought a bunch of small finger bananas - the best bananas I had ever tasted! As soon as you opened them, they had the fresh, live, distinct aroma of an island banana. Inside his hut, Kavelo had fashioned a small handicraft store. There was some beautifully hand
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WE ARRIVED INTO THE SHADED PALM TREES AND THERE WERE THE RIGHT-HAND A-FRAMES STANDING TO ATTENTION AT AROUND 3 FOOT AND BUILDING.
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LATEST: TRAVEL carved woodworks like sharks and stingrays and beautiful jewellery made from shells. I had to indulge and bought Lourdes and Elyss some beautiful island handmade shell jewellery. After we left Kavelo we headed to the village market and started marvelling at their incredible work. It was then I spotted a boy about 11 years of age with a super old mini-mal with half the glass ripped off, running towards the water with some swim goggles on his head. I shouted out, “Hey, where are you going?” He stopped and said “Long Longs”. His name was Nic and I asked about the goggles, but he could not answer me. We followed him down onto the low tide exposed reef where he had another 2 boards in the water. He put all 3 of his boards onto the canoe and paddled out. In the background, I could see Dylan carving it up on the 4 foot right handers on my balsa mal. John, Seb and I headed back to Nusa Island Retreat to pack our bags for the early flight the next morning while the boys came in on the boat with the umbrella out (I took an umbrella 38
for Ian to stop the sunburn). It looked fantastic to see a new modern blue umbrella on the classic 22 foot banana boat. The boys came back pumped with more great stories of 4 foot perfection with a few local kids. Ian was frothing like a 10 year old grom saying, “WE HAVE GOLD AGAIN!!”
Friday - Day 14 The flight from Kavieng leaves at 6am and as such we had to be in the boat at 4am. Thank god Shaun was not on the island to keep us in the Quicksand Bar all night - but Shannon did a good job on us anyways. As we said our goodbyes to the Keanes, I said goodbyes to the 3 boards I made there, and to another 4 balsa boards I took over - the ones Shaun had his eyes on for an exchange. So there are plenty of balsa boards there now to ride or buy. If you are interested in getting a custom balsa board made either before your trip or during your trip to Nusa Island you can order through my website at www.balsasurfboardsriley.com.au That way you can have your new board waiting for your arrival, made
in PNG with love, soul and PNG balsa.
from this policy to protect our waves everywhere in the world.
It was then on to our final hook up. I had arranged to meet up with Andy Abel in Port Moresby. I was excited to meet Andy because of the great work he has done with the PNG Surfing Association.
Overall, our trip was a great experience and a great excuse for a working holiday, even though it was hard, hot and hectic, but that’s how I like it. We all came away with some great stories, friendships, photos and footage of this untouched area of the world that everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime.
Andy arrived with Silvia his secretary and we headed for a quiet location (well as quiet as possible) in a jungle setting out the back in steaming conditions. I first started telling Andy about how good the trip had gone and how well the locals went in the board building exercise and how good and important balsa is to the world and our environment. He seemed to be shocked in the benefits of PNG balsa to many people. He then went on to explain his plan that has been in place for the past 27 years and how and why it has worked with the local owners of the land. 97% of the land in PNG is owned by the locals. He went on to tell us how important the surf management plan was to keep harmony and stop over crowding around these beautiful reefs. It’s a great initiative and we could all learn
For more info on PNG check out www.papuanewguinea.travel/surfing The people and places were fantastic and we’ve already put in place plans to do this every year in March. If you’re interested contact me at mark@riley.com.au A huge thanks to Nusa Island Retreat, Air Niugini, PNG Tourism Promotion Authority, World Surfaris, Lime Light Creative Media, SURFING ASSOCIATION OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA and Dylan Jeffrey. This would not have been possible without you guys. See you all next year. www.balsasurfboardsriley.com.au
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p u d e k k a ! s R s e e v n ’ i e W s in bus r a e y 0 2 We’ve Rakked up 20 years in business!
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SNOW THIS IS A PERSONAL ACCOUNT. HAVING WANTED TO SNOWBOARD IN JAPAN FOR SO VERY, VERY LONG AND FINALLY EXPERIENCING WHAT IT IS LIKE, THERE IS VIRTUALLY NOTHING ELSE I CAN NOW THINK ABOUT. I HAVE REAL ISSUES. I HAVE BECOME OBSESSED. THIS IS MY STORY AND HOW THE PROBLEMS ALL BEGAN. WORDS: DAVE SWAN
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A
s a result of my own doing we set out on our 35 hour journey from the Sunshine Coast bound for Tokyo, well Narita actually. Yes I can hear some of the peanut gallery already proclaiming, “But it is only a 9-hour flight from Brisbane to Tokyo!” Well yes that might be true but as I said, due to my own doing this trip was going to take 30+ hours. I was travelling with my wife Katie and three kids, Mikaela 15, Phoebe 13 and Sam 10. Yes they are beautiful kids but taking into a consideration our traveling party of 5, I had predetermined this trip would be sponsored by Asahi.
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BLIND Everyone was excited. All were as keen as mustard. Finally a holiday, Japan, the snow, it was a dream come true but occasionally someone would be heard to say, “Why is it going to take 30 hours to get there?” Ohhh zip it! We set off at sparrows from Caloundra around 4am so we could be at Coolangatta airport (yes the Gold Coast) by 6.30am and then it was simply on to Singapore with a wee stopover of around 8 hours, and then on to Taipei in Taiwan and then Narita. I shall speak no further of the trip other than to say we got there just after 3pm the next day and I love Asahi. Prior to departing I had taken into consideration our journey and had refrained from the temptation
to push on to Tokyo. You see Narita International Airport is the main international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area but it is located in Chiba Prefecture some two hours away by train from the heart of Tokyo, which is understandable. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world. A 2014 estimate puts the population at 37,832,892. Australia is presently 24,106,203. Anyhow, another two hours of traveling was simply out of the question so I booked our first night’s accommodation in Narita. Now most who know me know I am a little pedantic on the organizational side of things. The word “compulsive obsessive” and “anal” have been bandied about from time to time but I think that’s a little harsh. I would simply say I like to
have everything in order and well researched. Unfortunately we were working around the clock for months on end prior to our departure and so I had basically done bugger all reading up on where we were staying or going. Pretty much didn’t have a clue. Thankfully Josh at World Snowfaris is a legend at this kind of thing and had us all sorted for the entire trip aside from our first night at Narita. He was heard to enquire, “So why aren’t you pushing on to the snow right away or at least heading into Tokyo?” I explained the 30+ hour trip upon which he said, “Why is…” to which I replied, “Ohh give it a friggin’ break already”. Anyhow, Narita was left up to me. I booked our accommodation before we set off from Australia. I found a nice little hotel called WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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Naritasan Shinsho-ji
Omote-sando
the Richmond Hotel 20 minutes from the airport in the heart of town and thought if anything, it will enable everyone to recover from the trip over and we might even get in a little sneak peak of town. I knew very little about Narita other than there was a temple near town that was worth checking out. Knowing nothing about where you are going all adds to the excitement and adventure I guess. So firstly, Richmond Hotel; it was super central, nice and clean, the rooms were quite large by Japanese standards and the price wasn’t over the top. I highly recommend. There’s good reason it was voted number 1 on Trip Advisor. I needed a solid start to win some brownie points back with the family after a horror trip and thankfully the Richmond didn’t let me down. Secondly, Narita; well let me tell you, to anyone who has been to Japan and has not had a stopover in Narita, this little town was absolutely sensational.
What a superb introduction to this truly magnificent country. The best way to describe Narita is charming. The kilometer-long main shopping street called the Omote-sando lined with old wooden shops winds through the main centre of town all the way to the town’s main attraction, the Naritasan Shinsho-ji. This popular Buddhist temple is said to date back to 940 AD and features a wide assortment of classical Japanese pagodas and halls. It is magnificent. Being a Buddhist temple I immediately fit right in with my bald head. In Narita there was not the hustle and bustle I expected there would be in Tokyo. It immediately put us at ease and allowed us to instantly relax into holiday mode. In short it was the perfect start. Later that night there was sushi, sashimi and a few of those magic 500ml Japanese beer cans. I was in heaven. The family was in heaven.
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Sam
Behold The Schneider Hotel
Phoebe
NoZAWA ONSEN We wake the next day and we’re off to the snow. We enjoy a great breakfast at the hotel and then are straight back to the airport for our bus to Nozawa Onsen. We still cannot believe we are in Japan. The bus travels through what appears to be the outskirts of metropolitan Tokyo and we can’t believe its size. A couple of hours and we are out of the city making our way through the Japanese countryside and the excitement is starting to build. Three hours into our journey we stop for a short break at a local café/ convenience store and bingo, it starts bucketing down snow. The kids go wild. They had seen snow once before in New Zealand but had never seen snow falling down, and this was getting heavier and heavier. We arrived in Nozawa Onsen on dark and can’t make out much aside from the fact it is snowing and heavily. We wondered why our bus didn’t drop us all the way to our hotel door but it pretty 44
soon became evident when a snow mobile picked us up to take us to The Schneider Hotel. Our accommodation was right on the slopes! We check in and can’t believe how cool this place is. We are still pinching ourselves. At this stage we are starved so we quickly drop our bags in our room and head downstairs to the in-house restaurant. The food is sensational and Hayden who looks after us is just superb and makes us feel so at home. A little later on I meet Gardner, one of the joint owners of The Schneider Hotel and again we are made to feel so very much at home. We grab a few drinks after dinner at the in-house bar complete with wood fireplace and let this experience all soak in. We love this place already. Next morning everyone is up at day break brimming with anticipation and it is absolutely bucketing down snow. Bucketing down. At night we couldn’t
make out whether we had a view. Well we were on the top floor looking straight up at the slopes. Unbelievable. Better still, Schneider’s was right at the base of the mountain. Indeed it is the first hotel you see as you come down from the slopes. Our first day was incredible. We chose the family friendly Paradise green run for several passes to get a feel for it all. The kids had only skied/ snowboarded once before for 3 days in New Zealand and had each had 1 lesson. All were travelling pretty well, as was my wife Katie but I admit to being quite nervous for the first few hours as you could hardly see anything. It was near a complete white-out (low visibility and because of the snow falling down so hard you have no real figure-ground perception). I was trying in vain to keep an eye on them all as we descended down each run. I couldn’t help but visualise Psycho Sam careering out of control at high speed off a cliff.
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Psycho Sam
Head bowed, moments after the break
Mikaela and Katie
The slope was perfect, not too steep but with a decent gradient to build a fair amount of speed if you wanted to. It was also as wide as two golf fairways put together, just what I love. You feel like you are carving the face of this huge 200ft wave with big sweeping arcs. I love snowboarding.
Pensive, tough Phoebe
Phoebe, charging again with new armguard
field. I checked for rapid swelling and bruising to appear. Uh ohh... Check. To her credit though, Phoebe didn’t shed a tear. I think she was more distressed with the prospect of not snowboarding for the rest of the trip than the break itself.
After a big day we decided to head down the mountain but the winding trails proved a little steep and narrow for the kids on their first day. I was nervous about them going off track and was keeping a close eye on the little man I was sure was bound to injure himself on this trip, Psycho Sam. And then it happened. Up in front of Sam and I Phoebe did a little check to wipe some speed of her snowboard and came a cropper. “Dad I have broken my arm.”
Katie and Mikaela set off down the slope as they were on skis and could more easily wipe any excess speed off their descent. Phoebe, Sam and I began to leg it but only after a couple of minutes we were picked up by three guys on snowmobiles who happily spun around and hurried us down the slope. What a hell of a lot of fun. Sure it was not the ideal circumstance but you always have to look on the bright side, well that’s what I said anyhow as I hummed my favourite Monty Python tune in my head.
Being a veteran of at least 20 or 30 breaks (yes I am one of the most accident prone people you have ever met) I am an absolute expert in this
Once back at Schneider’s we found out where the local hospital was and headed down with Phoebe. The doctor and nurse were superb and very gentle
but nonetheless confirmed Phoebe had broken her wrist. The tears flowed. What to do come day two? Well, as I explained to Phoebe, “You can’t break it again”. Well you can, but with your cast you kind of now have this fantastic wrist/ arm guard. Look on the bright side it is only your arm not your leg. This will be a true test of your character. Get back up that mountain and back on that horse. Toughen up, buttercup. Whilst encouraging Phoebe to cast away any fears, on the inside I really felt for her. I was very nervous about her falling on her arm again. To see her strap in and shoot straight down the first run at a decent pace, broken-arm-in-cast and all, it genuinely brought tears to my eyes. It was gutsy, incredibly gutsy, particularly for a 13-year old girl only snowboarding for the second time. It was certainly a proud dad moment. WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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Top of Paradise course
Our second day was a cracker. All the kids were improving at the rate of knots, as was Katie (aka Myrtle the Turtle), even increasing in speed a touch, and we sampled several different green runs. Uenotaira was a lot of fun with a few nice little jumps and ramps. The gentler green runs also allowed me to get my mojo back.
Our first three days snowboarding/ skiing in NozawaOnsen, it was unreal. I haven’t done a lot of snowboarding but have been fortunate enough to have sampled the delights of Canada, New Zealand and Australia and this was so much fun. I finally understood why everyone I knew who had ventured to Japan raves about it so much.
Day three was more of the same. It was a family holiday and I was simply happy to enjoy my time snowboarding with Katie and the kids. I didn’t need to push it. I always end up injuring myself anyhow. After all, the kids had their money on me to break something before Phoebe took out first prize. But when everyone headed back down on the gondola this time around I couldn’t help but sample a few red and black runs on the way down. Bloody hell, this place is friggin’ unreal. I want more.
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NOZAWA ONSEN Just as the city of Kyoto is said to showcase traditional Japan, Nozawa Onsen is the Kyoto of the Japanese skill fields. It is a charming hot spring village that sits at the foot of Kenashi-yama Mountain offering visitors the chance to not only sample some super fine Japanese powder snow but take in its rich cultural history as well.
The village itself features some amazing traditional architecture with temples, shrines and plenty of different onsens. The hottest spring, the Ogama Onsen, is said to bubble away at 90 degrees Celsius, enough for the locals to cook their vegetables and entertain the tourists. The first springs were apparently discovered back in the 8th century and as you walk the narrow winding cobblestone streets past traditional ryokan inns and shops, there is steam rising up from almost every corner. It is truly magic. On the snow side, Nozawa Onsen has become increasingly popular for its variety of terrain, an average annual snowfall of around 10 metres, its family friendly appeal and the fact it is made up of one ski area unlike some other Japanese snow resorts. It is said to be the second oldest ski resort in Japan with skiing first introduced in 1912. It was not until 1930 however that the sport really took
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Ogama Onsen
off in Nozawa Onsen when one of the world’s most famous ski instructors, Hannes Schneider, visited, more on him a little later. Interestingly, Nozawa Onsen has reportedly sent more athletes per capita to compete in the Winter Games than arguably any other place on earth.
Snapshot • Nozawa Onsen is located in the northern part of the Nagano Prefecture on Honshu Island. It is 46km northeast of the city of Nagano (about an hour’s drive) and 249kms northwest of Tokyo (about 4.5 to 5 hours by shuttle/ 5-6 hours from Narita Airport). • Unlike several other ski resorts in Japan the mountain hasn’t been sliced and diced by several
different companies. Here the local village runs the company that operates the mountain. One lift ticket gets you all over the mountain. • What we particularly loved is the Uenotaira green run is at the top of the mountain, as opposed to most green runs elsewhere that are at the very bottom. As a result, beginners and advanced skiers can enjoy the thrill of being at the very top of the mountain and take in the breathtaking views. • There is around 740 acres of terrain, 50 kilometres of slopes and a vertical drop of 1085 metres. Piste runs are equally distributed between beginner, intermediate and experienced riders. • Nozawa Onsen caters well for kids with group lessons, a great snow play park, child care, babysitting and English speaking instructors.
• Lift tickets by comparison with Australia and New Zealand are so cheap – a 3-day pass is around $55 per day for an adult and about $25 for a child as opposed to $100+ per person. • It is within an hour or two’s drive of other Nagano ski resorts so it is easy to combine a stay here with a few other resorts over a week or two, which thanks to Josh at World Snowfaris is what we did. • As it is not a purpose built snow resort there are no huge towering hotels. • Nozawa has become increasingly popular with Westerners, which is starting to slightly erode its traditional Japanese charm. The answer to this is to be quick and experience it for what it is now. WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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LATEST: TRAVEL Crocs are still cool here...
The world’s best vending machine
Gardner, Tai and Natsuko
THE SCHNEIDER HOTEL
our room was awesome and don’t get me started about those vending machines on each floor.
My comments on our Smorgasboarder Facebook page at the time were, “What a great crew and fun place to stay. Absolutely loved it. Highly, highly recommend” and I stand by these comments.
Aside from the amenities however, the hotel had a nice relaxed vibe, not too uppity and not an out-ofcontrol party hotel. It was a good casual, neat hotel just perfect for powderhound families. And it was the people who worked there who made it all the more special.
The Schneider Hotel is a true ski-in ski-out lodgestyle hotel located steps away from the Kandahar and Utopia lifts, and a 3-minute walk to the main Hikage Gondola Station. It’s the highest hotel on the mountain. It doesn’t get any better! It has everything from an in-house restaurant called Schneider’s Base Camp Bar, which is a great place to relax at the end of the day with a beer or two by the fire, there’s ski hire in the basement, fussball table, onsite onsen, 48
I had the pleasure of meeting the owners Gardner and Dave over a few beers one afternoon and it was immediately clear just how they have created such a welcoming homely atmosphere. Australian born Dave Elsworth is originally from Ivanhoe in Melbourne and has seemingly done it all having worked for Coke and then ad agency Ogilvy & Mather before starting his own online
pet supplements business and now lives 6 months a year with his Japanese wife Sachi and two beautiful daughters in Nozawa and 6 months in Manly. Oregon-born Gardner Robinson studied journalism in college, landed a job with Pacific Travel, travelled through Australia, New Zealand and Canada bungy jumping and rafting as an adventure guide, got the travel bug, ended up in Japan for the 1998 Nagano Olympics and his been in the land of the rising sun ever since. Today he runs The Schneider Hotel and a media company he founded 20 years ago called Outdoor Japan as well as being the publisher of the Japanese edition of The Surfer’s Journal. He lives in Nozawa all year round with his lovely Japanese wife Natsuko, and child Tai. Gardner and Dave are also partners in the popular watering
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Get back to the roots... with paulownia
Native Hawaiian surfer with alaia board, circa 1911
Schneiders is the last on the right - perfect location
hole/ café in town called The Craft Room, Nozawa’s first craft beer and coffee haunt. Incredible drive, incredible achievements and yet as down to earth as they come. After our stay I felt like I had know them for ages, not just three days.
Interesting Fact The Schneider Hotel pays homage to the skiing legend that played such a pivotal role in the village, Hannes Schneider. The Schneider Course – Japan’s first competition course – was named after him, as was The Schneider Hotel, which bears his name. Gardner, Natsuko, Dave and Sachi decided to keep the name because of its historical significance to the town.
Our buoyant, lightweight timber floats all around the world. • Tom Wegener preferred alaia blanks • Alaia & Kite Boards • Long Boards • Hollow Boards • Chambered Boards
The Rundown • Ski-in / ski-out location steps from the slopes, lifts and main gondola • Lodge-style hotel with 30 rooms; 14 western rooms with en-suite bathroom and shower, 12 Japanese tatami rooms with shared facilities and one “family room” that has a small kitchenette and shower. • Guests-only Japanese-style bath (men’s and women’s) • Cozy fireside après at Base Camp Bar also serving wings and snacks • Slope-side dining at Schneider’s Restaurant • On-site Ski and Snowboard Rentals • Evening private snow shuttle to/from The Craft Room in town
SURFBOARD SUPPLIES
Buy the Best Paulownia Timber Australia has to offer. Contact David Evans P: 03 9588 2533 E: info.sales@paulowniasurfboardsupplies.com W: www.paulowniasurfboardsupplies.com
• Drying room, ski/snowboard storage area, washing machines and dryers WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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Nic, Mami, Youki and baby Hugo
Our next stop entailed an hour’s drive back down to Nagano and then an hour up to Myoko Kogen. The mountain after which it is named, Mt Myoko, stands at 2,454 metres above sea level and dominates the landscape. I read with interest the name Myoko actually comes from Buddhist culture and means ‘holy mountain standing in the center of the universe’ whilst Kogen is Japanese for ‘high country’. What this region is most famous for is snow and lots of it! Myoko Kogen reportedly averages a whopping 14 metres of snow each season. People come here for the snow.
Seki Onsen, Myoko Ski Park, Madarao Kogen and Tangram Ski Circus all with their own unique appeal. There are resorts with treed runs and moguls, others with family friendly options and some with super long cruisy runs. Myoko Suginohara in fact boasts the longest ski run in Japan (over 8km) and Akakura Onsen Ski Resort is known to have the steepest ski run in central Japan. In short, there is lots of variety and you can literally ski until your heart’s content…. In heaps and heaps of snow!
a trip that takes about 4.5 to 5 hours by shuttle (5-6 hours from Narita Airport).
Like Nozawa Onsen, Myoko Kogen is a nonwesternised Japanese ski resort but it is not a single resort per se. The Myoko Kogen Ski Area is made up of several. The main ski area is Myoko Akakura, which is made up of two resorts;Akakura Kanko (aka Akakan) and Akakura Onsen. Then there is Ikenotaira Onsen, Myoko Suginohara,
Snapshot
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Mt Myoko
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MYOKO KOGEN
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• Myoko Kogen is located one hour north of Nagano in the Niigata prefecture in Joshinetsu National Park. It is 270km northwest of Tokyo,
• Here the real Japan remains. This is a Japanese ski resort frequented mainly by Japanese and that adds to the appeal. I am a proud Australian and love Australia but it is great to get away and experience different cultures and not be surrounded by your fellow countrymen. • Lift tickets are incredibly affordable –as low as $45 per day for an adult and about $30 for a child • Myoko offers child care and group ski and snowboard lessons in English. Most other resorts that offer such services tend to be very westernised. • Everything is quite central and within a short walking distance.
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SNOW BLIN
Red Warehouse
• The town of Akakura Onsen has a good range of traditional restaurants and izakayas (Japanese bars that serve snack food). Our 2 nights here saw us enjoy 2 absolutely incredible Japanese meals at local restaurants.
RED WAREHOUSE Red Warehouse is a funky family ski house that is a former renovated IBM retreat located about one hundred meters from both Akakura Kanko and Akakura Onsen ski resorts and just up from the main street of town. It is owned and run by Mami and Nic Klar. Mami comes from a well-known local family with deep roots in the Myoko tourist trade. Nic originally hails from Adelaide but has lived here for many years and was instrumental
in Myoko’s foreign tourist trade boom creating the Destination Myoko Kogen website in 2003 well before any information on the town was readily available in English and foreign visitors were near non-existent. The origin of the name comes from Akakura Onsen, which in English translates as “Red Warehouse Hot Springs”. All rooms have been beautifully renovated with distinct Japanese appeal. We stayed in the specious Family Room on the top floor, which had great views of the surrounding mountain ranges. This large 10 tatami mat room with adjoining bunk area also had it’s own toilet and wash basin. We were all pleasantly surprised by the size of the room. It was the perfect space to simply chill out and stretch out after a big day on the slopes.
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Akuakura Kanko Hotel main slope
SNOW BLIND The Rundown
• M ami and Nic have an intimate knowledge of the local area they are only too happy to share to ensure guests have a truly memorable Myoko experience. We certainly did. • There’s a variety of rooms to suit all tastes and budgets • Guests have access to Red Warehouse’s full commercial kitchen • There’s an on-site hot spring onsen located on the ground floor for the private use of guests be it as a family, group, couple or individual • There is a communal living area adjoining the dining and kitchen area with a potbelly stove fire where you can chill out and even sit in the massage chair! • Adjoining this area there is an outside balcony to take in the great views over to Madarao, 52
Nozawa Onsen and the now closed Myoko Pine Valley. • A kids play area and games room is in the basement as is the ski and drying room, washing machine and dryers • Free wifi throughout We only had two days to indulge in the Myoko white magic, which clearly isn’t enough, but this trip was never about trying to do it all. It was more a reconnaissance mission of sorts. A chance to check out a few less frequented hidden gems of the Japanese snow scene, report on them to our readers and hopefully return one day and possibly linger a little longer. To that end, would I return? Most definitely. Even though Myoko had less snow than previous years, you could see the potential and it was still incredible to experience it. In our two days we took to the slopes of Akakura Kanko and Akakura Onsen, the two resorts were only a hundred metres from our doorstep. Here there were some gentle runs winding through
treed areas, some big bowls to carve some high speed (well in our minds anyway) turns and a few steep descents. When checking out the suitability of a few higher runs for the rest of the family I managed to hurtle myself down a nice steep black run champion course. Always fun on a snowboard when you have limited skill like I do. I got a few funny “this bloke is crazy” looks on the way down I can assure you.
Proudly it was here that Katie and the kids tackled their first of a series of intermediate red runs on just their fourth day on the slopes. Once we had overcome any initial reluctance their confidence grew and we could all tackle a greater variety of runs. Top tip: If in need of ski hire visit the lovely Kaneko-san at Aoyama Sports in town just a few streets up from Red Warehouse where we stayed. Unbelievable service.
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ND Akuakura Onsen ski area WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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Stephen, Sarasa and Joe
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hakuba
The journey from Myoko Kogen to Hakuba is similar to that to Nozawa Onsen - an hour down the mountain to Nagano and then about ž of an hour on to Hakuba. Coming into the outskirts of town you could just see this huge, impressive mountain range and there appeared to be a big dump of snow on the way. This had us all pretty excited but there was more excitement to come.
SNOWLINES LODGE We arrived at our accommodation, Snowlines Lodge, on dark and wow. Wow. We were very, very impressed and I was telepathically sending a LOT of man-love Josh’s way (Josh Allen from World Snowfaris) for booking us in here. The setup is really nice, super clean, warm and inviting and the in-house bar? Well, she was a cracker and I could immediately envisage tending to all my aching muscles and snowboard injuries with some medicinal amber nectar right there. We quickly checked in so I could immediately get downstairs and give it a practice run. I had 54
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to hesitate however when I entered our room. Yep, it was pretty friggin awesome with a view towards the mountains, your own bathroom and better still… the kids weren’t in ours! They had their own separate room! This place kept getting better and better. No longer would we have to endure the teeth-grinding tunes Sam played out on his pearly whites each night. We walked around the hotel; beautiful dining area and lounge with a log fire, awesome onsens, very well-appointed room to store/ dry / get into all your snow gear, big lounge with big screen TV and games and then, well, it was time for me to do my best Cliffy Clavin impression at the bar. Later that night we ventured down the road to a restaurant by the name of Non Jae on the advice on James from Snowlines and proceeded to attempt death by Sukiyaki and Sashimi. It was so good that some guy tried to splash a bucket of water over me on the way home before attempting to push me back out to the Sea of Japan.
Now speaking of James who recommended Non Jae, I have to talk about the team at Snowlines. They are what made our stay truly incredible, and we mean incredible. Not only were we made to feel immediately at home, and shared a hell of a lot of laughs and good conversation, the level of service blew us away. It was just outstanding. Owned and run by South Coast NSW born Steve and his beautiful Japanese wife Sarasa (who is a former air hostess and a complete badass in the kitchen), they have created something very special. The team is completed by James; who is from Melbourne, an absolute crackup, pours a great frothy morning and night (the barista kind and the cooler liquid refreshment drink of champions) and jams out some smashing tunes on his acoustic guitar (don’t you just hate those multi-talented people) and Koji, super quiet and polite but very helpful and you can tell under his shy demeanour there is an absolute hellman inside. Last but
not least, there’s little Joe, Steve and Sarasa’s son who constantly has vacuum in hand. They must start them pretty young in Japan. My kids wouldn’t even know what it does, let alone try to use it. He’s a funny little man and sure to be a handful. What else can I say? Great breakfast each morning. You can dine in if you choose at night – make sure you do when Sarasa does her Sashimi / Sushi / Tempura banquet. That lady is an incredible chef. All the team are pros at making coffee and believe me, I am a coffee snob. Other than that, nothing is too much trouble including dropping you up at the ski fields each morning. Simply put, if we were ever heading to Hakuba again – oh dear lord please – we wouldn’t even bother looking elsewhere. When you have found something this good there is no need.
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WE GET PICKED UP AT OUR HOTEL BY DYLAN WHO’S SO CHEERFUL IT PUTS US IN AN EVEN BETTER MOOD THAN WE WERE ALREADY, NOT OVER-THE-TOP, ARE-YOUON-MEDS CHEERFUL, JUST HAPPY, LOVING-LIFE, YOUMUST-BE-STOKED-TO-BEHERE FRIENDLY.
If we were blown away by the service of the crew at Snowlines Lodge we were about to cop it again at Central Snow Sports where we had organised to get all of our snow gear. At this point let me say, this is not an infomercial! The reason I am making such a big deal of all this is because you just don’t experience this level of service these days. That is not to have a shot at business in general today. There are still many businesses who provide good quality service but in all sincerity the team at Snowlines and Central Snow Sports just took it to another level. It was exceptional. When you are walking away from a place and your own kids comment on how incredible and helpful the people were, you know it is quite unique. So what the hell happened? “Spit it out!” I hear you say.
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We get picked up at our hotel by Dylan who’s so cheerful it puts us in an even better mood than we were already, not over-the-top, are-you-on-meds cheerful, just happy, loving-life, you-must-be-stoked-to-be-here friendly. When we get into Central Snow Sports super flash Happo store, the mood continues. We are made to feel welcome, which unfortunately at times can be a foreign in our own country. Then Dylan, Jess and Risa go about getting our sizes for our gear and explain the fit and what you need and why, what types of boards and skis would be suitable for the present conditions and even why it is a no-no to wear two socks despite how cold your feet may get (Sam). I knew a little about snow gear but nowhere near the extent to which these guys did and the information was passed on for your interest rather than rammed down your throat by some all-knowing god of snow. The store fit-out is state-of-the-art, as is the gear, to hire or buy. They have a huge range of demo boards and skis for all types of terrain and skill levels. Indeed it was the best gear we hired out all trip – the latest and the greatest. At the end of the fitting we were dropped back to our hotel by Dylan with all of our gear. Later in the week we got to meet a few more of the crew and the vibe was just as friendly and helpful. Scott Levy from Australia owns and runs this store at the Gondola area of Happo-One along with two others in Hakuba; one in the Sakka area of Wadano and another at Escal Plaza, Goryu/47. The stores appear to be doing well and to me it is no wonder. It wasn’t until I got home that I realised Scott also has a Central Snow Sports in Mt Hotham and Falls Creek. I know where I will be going if I head down south for a slide. As I didn’t get a chance to meet Scott when we were in town he sent me an email on our return to see if the team looked after us. This is what I sent. “I have to say I don’t think I have ever received the type of service we did from the team at your shop. We were completely blown away. It was incredible. The gear was explained in detail and top notch but the guys were just so incredibly friendly and helpful. We all walked away in complete shock.”
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LATEST: TRAVEL The Central Snow Sports crew in action
Dylan, Risa and Jess
Central Snow Sports, Happo-One WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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LATEST: TRAVEL
SNOW BLIND
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The main event venue for the 1998 Winter Olympics (Alpine, Ski Jump and Cross country), Hakuba is huge but doesn’t appear huge. Make sense? Well by no means does it appear like a city, or even a large village for that matter because it is in fact a series of villages, all spread out. There are 11 ski resorts in total with free shuttle buses linking all together. From north to south there is: Cortina, Norikura, Tsugaike, Iwatake, Happo-One, Hakuba 47, Goryu, Sanosaka, Kashimayari, Jigatake and Minekata. There is over 2,372 acres of ski-able terrain, 200+ courses and I believe 9 terrain parks. We stuck with Steve’s (from Snowlines Lodge) expert local knowledge and went with his recommendation each day according to the conditions, striking absolute gold on Day 3. We skied Hakuba 47 & Goryu, Iwatake and Tsugaike – all well suited to our level of beginner through to intermediate. We are certainly keen to return and ski some more, particularly Cortina that by all reports is a cracker for snowboarders with plenty of treed runs and relaxed freeriding.
Snapshot • Hakuba is 270 km northwest of Tokyo (same distance as Myoko Kogen and just a little further than Nozawa Onsen. It too is about an hour from Nagano. • Hakuba gets blessed with around 11m of powder per season. • T he alpine scenery here is impressive with mountain peaks over 3000m. • With 11 ski resorts there is a huge range of piste terrain for beginners through to advanced powderhounds. The Hakuba Valley also apparently provides great backcountry to explore. • There are a lot of great runs for families and kids’ group ski lessons are conducted by English speaking instructors. • Most lift tickets will only set you back $35-$45, with kids being about 20% cheaper. • Hakuba accommodation is quite varied compared to other Japanese ski destinations and situated in various villages near the ski areas, some of which are ski-in/ ski-out and others a short walk to the slopes. • Hakuba caters well for English-speaking guests and has been Westernised to a degree but has still managed to retain its Japanese cultural charm. • There is more nightlife here than other ski resorts within the Japanese Alps, if you are that way inclined. With that said, there are also quiet little villages within the area and hidden away luxury resorts too. • There is a good range of non-skiing activities to do in and around the area too with castles, temples, historical villages and the famous snow monkeys to see. We’re certainly keen to explore these next time around but you can’t do everything and this trip for us was about the slopes. • Hakuba’s proximity to other resorts such as Myoko Kogen, Nozawa Onsen, Madarao Kogen and Shiga Kogen means you can combine your stay here with one or two others for your Japanese ski holiday.
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SURFWAREAUSTRALIA.COM WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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Best day ever! Tsugaike
Phoebe’s cruising
SNOW BLIN What lies ahead?
Ahh, the champion mogul course
3 DAYS IN HAKUBA HAKUBA GORYU AND HAKUBA 47
IWATAKE
After a couple practice runs to steel Katie and the kids nerves on the Goryu beginner slopes I thought it was time to step it up a notch and so we caught the quad and then high-speed chair all the way to the top of 47. As we went up and up and up, I was starting to question my judgement. A top to bottom run depending on which route you take can vary the pitch from 20-25 degrees to in excess of 30 degrees. And yes, dad accidentally took a wrong turn or two on occasion and lead the family down a couple of Intermediate and Advanced runs. It’s needless to say there was a lot of adrenalin pumping and some very, very tired legs when we finally reached the base. All in all there were some challenging and really fun courses along with a great terrain park that allowed us to develop and test our skills.
The next day we tackled Iwatake. The best way to describe this in the main is big bowls in which to carve a big arc at speed. I loved the expanse of the courses here, which radiated in every direction from the summit. Everyone was really getting the hang of things by now and I could finally relax and let loose myself. There were not any big drop-offs as well to freak me out as Sam came hurtling down each run like the day before. 50% off the resort is intermediate and that allowed the kids to keep pushing themselves on varied runs.
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TSUGAIKE KOGEN After a spell of a few warm days here and there we awoke to our final day at the snow and lo and behold, it was snowing, getting heavier and heavier. If there was a perfect day to finish our Japanese snow holiday, this was it. Our trip out to Tsugaike
saw the snow come down even heavier and by the time we hit the summit it was well and truly bucketing down. This was the stuff of my dreams and what would turn out to be one of the best days I have ever experienced snowboarding. There was heaps of JAPOW to plough big deep grooves in. Throughout the day it varied from bucketing down to complete whiteout. It was friggin unreal. The bowls here as so big in parts they are like steep golf course fairways that you just hoot down until your legs are on absolute fire. You feel like you are riding these enormous waves. I was so excited I was racing everyone here and there going, “let’s go down this one and now this one.” Unfortunately my enthusiasm towards the end of the day and the desire to get “one more in” saw me take the family down possibly the most challenging course of the entire trip. Erroneously I had stopped checking the map and in my state
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IND Mikaela in the groove
of euphoria I saw an expansive course going completely unridden. And there was good reason. Perched at the top we couldn’t see much due to the near whiteout conditions and the dumping of snow had covered over (only on the surface) what lay ahead or should I saw below. Behold it was a Black Run Champion Mogul course. As I hurtled down first I thought to myself, “Heh, this is pretty challenging.” When I paused near the bottom I saw Psycho Sam catapulting himself from one little mound to another several metres down. The little man was going for it and as terrible as it sounds, I could not stop laughing. Then came the girls and from the swearing emanating from the mountainside I could tell my wife Katie was not impressed. Sam wisely advised me to, “Clear out dad. You are going to get killed” and suggested I continue on down the mountain, which would allow everyone
One-speed Sam
time to cool down. Mr Mogul is clearly skilled in the ways of world. Thankfully everyone could see how humorous it was, eventually, after I kept telling them and that it was an experience they would never forget. Anyhow, it makes for a great tale. And that was it. The resort was about to close and that brought to an end our Japanese snow adventure with what was the most memorable day I have ever had at the snow. What a way to finish. To sum up our family trip to Japan it was the holiday of a lifetime. The Japanese people, the countryside, the snow, the food (the beer), the whole experience was out of this world. The final thing I would like to say is a big thank you to Josh and all the team at World Snowfaris/ Surfaris for organising our trip. It was so well planned and organized. It was perfect.
For info on any of the areas we visited and to book your own trip, see www.worldsnowfaris.com
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GEAR: SHAPERS
RETURN OF
THE RUBBERMAN’S RAMP
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Larry Bertlemann, 1974. Stills from video by Steve Sodeberg, CC, ENCYCLOPEDIA of SURFING videos
I
how much time you should spend doing boards. He was impeccable in his prep and execution resulting in beautiful surfboards.
t was the ramp from which Larry launched all manner of insane surfing manoeuvres, reportedly even the very first aerial (pre Slater) or as Larry, aka Rubberman called them back then, “Larryials”.
“It was during my time at Rusty that I began taking many trips to Hawaii. Sometimes with Louie Ferreira and later with Elijah and Mike Young. Louie was a good shaper who made magic twin fins and big wave guns. He himself was an Eddie Aikau competitor and big wave fanatic. I surfed where he surfed. Mike Young was a great Hawaiian musician. His son Elijah was also an accomplished big wave rider who competed in the Eddie Aikau contest as well. The Young ‘ohana’ (in Hawaiian culture means family in an extended sense of the term, including blood-related, adoptive or intentional) really took me in making me ‘hanai’ (adopted son in Hawaiian) and it wasn’t long after, I left Takayama’s and moved to Hawaii to start shaping under my own label.
In the mid-to-late 70’s, Larry Bertlemann epitomized the new breed of rippers. He became a superstar of the surfing world and has since been regarded as one of the pioneers of modern day highperformance shortboard surfing. He was nicknamed the “Rubberman” because of his super-flexible, low, springy, open-knee crouch. Born in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1955, Larry moved to Oahu at age 11. While surfing his regular at Waikiki one session he broke his 9’6, standard for the day, and later tried glassing the fin to the front half of the board. That was the start. Ever since that day Larry’s mindset changed as to what he thought was possible on a wave and the boards he needed under his feet to realise his dream, the rest is history. As it says within the bio on Larry’s website, “He didn’t invent the shortboard; he just showed us how to ride it.” Larry became fascinated with surfboard design. He shaped his first board inside a friend’s house much to the dismay of the boy’s parents. Funny that. Through the years he continued to hone his handshaping skills and later worked with and collaborated on surfboard designs with the likes of Donald Takayama and Ben Aipa. Ben Aipa in particular had a huge influence on Larry. Ben had begun shaping shorter (less than 6 foot), wider, and faster twin fins, swallow tails, and stinger designs. The new shorter designs allowed Larry’s skateboard-inspired, radical repertoire of explosive turns and low gravity cutbacks, beautifully blended and synched to a silky smoothness, to soar to new heights. Pretty soon he had an entire generation of kids riding his twin fins trying to emulate him, first with Town & Country, and then under his own “Hawaiian Pro Designs.”
During the 1970s Larry became one of the most popular and highest paid surfers signing endorsement deals with the likes of Pepsi, United Airlines and Toyota. Indeed the Pepsi swirl emblem was incorporated into many of his board design motifs. In particular it became a signature of his twin fin models.
MATHEW WILKERSON, PARADISE SURFBOARDS Enter Mathew James Wilkerson, the man who Larry would later choose to shape his famous twin fins. Born in San Diego he too was fascinated with surfboards from a very young age. Upon finishing high school he started working with Jeff Grygera from Cardiff who let him“hang out when he was doing resin work and shape”. Through a stroke of luck Mathew later landed an entry-level gig
with Rusty Priesendorfer of Rusty Surfboards fame. Here he learnt so much about the handshaping process from Rusty and his team of expert craftsman. It goes without saying that this was all prior to the introduction of shaping machines. It was also during this time Mathew set up a retail outlet in La Jolla, the very first Rusty Boardhouse. His flatmate back then was none other than Stephen Slater (world renowned longboarder) who just so happened to introduce him to Donald Takayama. Donald offered him the opportunity to build and distribute his clothing line and in turn showed Mathew every aspect of his board building business. Mathew worked with Donald for close to four years and recalled his perfectionist streak, “One of my fondest memories was him having me work on a redwood board. He made me sand that board over and over again until the shape was perfect. It was then I realised
“As I got through my work on the mainland I thought I felt like you weren’t really going to get anywhere in the surf industry unless you did your own thing. It was over in Hawaii that I reconnected with Pat Rawson. My shaping grew in leaps and bounds.” Pat Rawson is an accomplished shaper widely revered as the ‘godfather of the gun’ having shaped big wave boards ten years in a row for half or more of the top 16 pro surfers visiting Hawaii. Pat had just made the jump from Local Motion to his own Rawson Surfboards. Matt became Pat’s manager living and working on the North Shore of Oahu. “We developed many designs together like the ‘Summer of ‘83’. Pat was a great craftsman and very intelligent. He is the single most inspirational person in my shaping career. His use of radius curves to develop his board rockers from guns to high performance shortboards were revolutionary.” Matt was then called upon by Pete Johnson who had just purchased WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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Pacific Surf Glass (PSG) as he wanted to create a company based on the fish design having already attracted the likes of Larry Mabile, who was a Skip Frye protégé, and Mike Hynson, who would drift in from time to time. “Directly after this I went for a brief stint at HIC on Oahu but realised I wanted to take it back to the basics - go to a cottage industry style surf a lot and make boards. It was at this time that I met Immanuel “Manny” Kuehu. Manny and I surfed everything - every side of the island. Sometimes one side in the morning and then a swell would hit and we would show up on the other side to surf till dark. There was a group of us; Mark Naone, Kawehi Ponce, James Tolentino, Shane Baschum, Weasel, Kalei Ho’opai, Dave Lyons. It was a great surf crew. I was making most of their boards and getting direct feedback. “It was during this time I was approached by Buttons Kaluhiokalani who was an old friend. He had some investors that wanted to create a label called Buttons Hawaii. I shaped about 300 boards and toured Japan, Australia, and America. I had moved into an A-frame house in Pupukea and shaped 4-5 boards a day. It lost its wheels after a year or so and I realised how important it was that I kept pushing my own label - the dice. It was then I reconnected with Sol Ortiz.” Sol was a Pipeline standout and through Sol, Matt got the opportunity to shape custom orders for the Hilo crew. Under his Paradise Surfboards brand, boards adorned with his dice logo decal were being ridden by the likes of Derek Ho, Arjuna Morgan, Tai Van Dyke, and Ikaika Kalama. Matt set up a small production facility in Waialua Sugar Mill and momentum started moving in an exciting direction. He had been accepted within the inner most circle of inner circles of big name and just downright hardcore Hawaiian surfers. He wasn’t just surfing with them, he was regularly shaping for them. It was then Matt was approached by none other than Larry himself to start shaping his boards under license.
SHAPING BOARDS FOR BERTLEMANN “A great friend and mentor, Larry Bertlemann, asked me to produce his twin fin surfboards. I was 64
Matt recalled his life back then in Makaha and the great sense of community that existed. I could tell how respectful he was of the Hawaiian culture and how extremely fortunate he considered himself to be, to have been so readily accepted by the Hawaiian surf community.
“I HAD ALL THE GUYS FROM THE NORTH SHORE STILL RIDING MY BOARDS ALONG WITH THE WESTSIDE SURFERS.”
living down the street from him in Haleiwa. It wasn’t a huge run of boards but enough and it was indeed a great privilege. ” Larry always firmly believed in hand shaping all of his boards. He felt there was an artistry and craftsmanship that goes into a hand built surfboard. The fact Larry chose Matt to reproduce replicas of his magic carpet wave riding machines was testament to his shaping skills. This relationship still continues today some ten years later with the production of Larry’s boards in Australia. Matt is now shaping Bertlemann twin fins out of the Beach Beat factory in Maroochydore. Matt has the Bertlemann license. He does all the labour and pays Larry a commission for each board. “When I started work here at Beach Beat, given that both Noel (Woods) and Mark (Loh) are mad collectors they were obviously keen on me making some Bertlemann boards. I did a limited run of 20 Twin Fins and they went so fast. Since then I have done a number of custom replicas. They are real period time pieces and Pixie (Michael ‘Pixie’ Andrews) does such a great job of Larry’s famous airbrushes. Just recently I developed a Bertlemann Stinger and I think they will be really popular too.”
Team Rider Sheldon Paishon Photo: Cory Ida
SO HOW EXACTLY DID MATT END UP HERE IN AUSTRALIA? Not long after he started shaping Larry’s boards, Matt moved away from Hawaii’s North Shore. He recalls how the neighbourhood had changed. “When I first went there I remember there were no traffic lights, plantation homes everywhere and it was country. Around 2004/05 it got really high-end and priced a lot of guys out. You used to be able to rent a room with a little hot plate for $500 a month. On a shapers income you could surf a tonne, shape and live there. Towards the end you saw these mansions going up and every surf company had to have one on the beach 4 stories high. Pretty soon there were no plantation homes on the beach. There was a high volume of transient people. The waves never changed but the land changed quite a bit. We joked the endangered species became the Hawaiian. “I moved from the North Shore and into a shaping and glassing facility across from Sunset Beach next to Ted’s Bakery. I had gained island wide exposure by this time but then decided to make another move. John Ferriman and Brian Pacheco encouraged me to move to Makaha. My life would never be the same.”
“Brian (Pacheco) was the kind of surfer you never took your eyes off. As soon as he hit the water you didn’t know what was going to happen next. There was a big spot for us and when it was breaking there would be cars everywhere lining the beach. It was a really dangerous wave. Brian was instrumental in riding that wave. The guy could just make waves you thought were not possible. It is where the travelling pros would head and not anyone could paddle out there. You had to tread lightly on the westside. This is where Brian was the king and so my boards were centrestage and it really put me on the map. My business grew from there. I had all the guys from the North Shore still riding my boards along with the Westside surfers. “We had a core group, Brian Pacheco (In my opinion one of the best surfers on the planet), Sheldon Paishon (who still surfs my boards today), Jackson Kyne, Jebidiah Pacheco, Ian KoiKoinui, John Ferriman, Charlie Boy Carroll, Russ Keaulana, Brian Keaulana, Ha’a Keaulana, Bouvey Bradbury, Megan Abubo, Claire Bevilaqua , Melanie Bartles, Kekoa Auwae, and Kuio Young. These were the best surfers on the west and in Hawaii. Through making boards for them it created a momentum that carried across the island and subsequently developed a strong custom order base. “By working with such a variety of talented surfers it developed all aspects of my shaping of different surfboard designs. During this time I made Rusty Keaulana’s Eddie Aikau 10’6” single fin gun that he rode in the 2009 Eddie Aikau event, that was a real highlight, and his high performance longboards used in the pursuit of his 4th world title. The most special part of all this was that it was documented by Jeff “manaphoto“ Walthal. Through his pictures and support, these Westside surfers and Hawaiian surfers could have their talent displayed. It wasn’t about money. It was about friendship and surfing.”
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GEAR: SHAPERS
Team Rider Sheldon Paishon Photo: Cory Ida
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GEAR: SHAPERS
There was a lot of momentum starting to build with Matt’s Paradise Surfboards label because of the great surfers giving such great feedback and that in turn evolved his designs. But something was about to radically change his life that would turn everything on its head and see him effectively start all over again on the opposite corner of the globe. “Yes I have to laugh. It took a good 10 years to establish my label. All of a sudden guys were showing up and wanting boards. Brian Keaulana was walking down the drive ordering two guns, Megan Abubo, Derek Ho, so many really good surfers and then I got a call from my girlfriend at the time Kat, who is Australian and she said,‘I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you’ and I said okay. Packed it all up.
“I MADE RUSTY KEAULANA’S EDDIE AIKAU 10’6” SINGLE FIN GUN THAT HE RODE IN THE 2009 EDDIE AIKAU EVENT, THAT WAS A REAL HIGHLIGHT”
Matt at the Beach Beat factory on the Sunshine Coast. Photo: Mark Chapman
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“Kat worked for Quiksilver Charities and that is how we met. Every year she would come to the North Shore and I had a friend called Veronica Kay who was a Roxy model and she said ‘You have to meet my friend’. The first time I met Kat I couldn’t take my eyes off her. We became really close friends and then more than that and started a long distance relationship. I was in Hawaii building my board business and she was in Venice Beach (California) working for Quiksilver. When the GFC (global financial crisis) happened they did away with the foundation. She was going to come to Hawaii but her grandmother passed away and she had some other family matters and consequently headed back to Sydney where she was from. My life went on and so did hers for a while but I got that call and I just knew she was the one. I was 36 years old and I was thinking it is time for a family. I moved here in 2011. And the rest is my Australian history. Another chapter.” If you thoroughly enjoyed this interview, as much as we did, make sure to look out for the next edition of Smorgasboarder where we will feature a Q & A with Matt on the surfboard industry here in Australia and abroad along with some of the funny antics of his Hawaiian surf hui. Matt seriously had so many interesting and funny stories to tell, we just couldn’t get enough. beachbeat.com.au
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Man’s Best Friend
Photo: Bowie Pollard
Now available at Beachbeat
Alex
164 Alexandra Pde Alexandra Headland
QLD 4572 P: 07 5443 2777
Caloundra
119 Bulcock St Caloundra QLD 4551 P: 07 5491 4711
Factory
20 Fishermens Rd Maroochydore QLD 4558 P: 07 5479 2811
Fresh Bertlemanns in store. Be quick.
www.beachbeat.com.au WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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GEAR: BOARDS
SHAPER’S PROMOTION
CHARLIE AND THE GIANT SURFBOARD... 9’8” x 21” x 3 ¼”
BARRACUDA by Graham Carse
5 This gun was shaped for large NZ South Island winter waves up to 25ft. Custom-made for Charlie Cox, up and coming NZ big wave charger. The Barracuda model is made for those with larger nuts than your average surfer. Dunedin seems to have more than their fair share!
5’10” x 21” x 2 5/8”
SMARTBOARD V2FLEX Custom handshape by Mitchell Rae
3 or 4
“Custom handshaped to suit needs, body weight and fitness. Glass, light and strong.
Charlie
“Forward control point with very fine tail rails to suit the girls lighter on the back foot. “A sweet, ultra fast all rounder, smooth as silk. Feel sensitive handling, tight arcs and the acceleration of the V2 Flex. “Designed as a quad, can be ridden as a thruster.”
QUARRY BEACH SURFBOARDS 75 David St, Caversham, Dunedin NZ
Ph: +64 3 455 7414 M: +64 27 518 8678 www.qbsurfboards.com 68
The Barracuda
OUTER ISLAND SURFBOARDS 7 Bayldon Drive, Raleigh, NSW Ph: 02 6655 7007 info@outerislandsurfboards.com outerislandsurfboards.com outerisland.blogspot.com
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6’6” x 20 ½” x 2 ¾”
WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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GEAR: BOARDS
SHAPER’S PROMOTION
5’3” x 20 ¾” x 2 3/8”
6’0”-x 20 7/8”x 2 5/8” = 38L
CUSTOM FISH 5 by Leighton Clark
Single to double concave with ‘v’ in the last 6” of the tail. We custom make boards to the surfers ability and requirements, not just stock models with your name on the stringer!! Call in and see us at our factory for a personally made, custom board with your own artwork.
TWIN KEEL by Rory Oke
Steve Lis-style 2 outline with a deep 5” swallow. Handshaped OceanFoam blank, 6oz cloth cut lap tint, wetrub finish, with Futures twin keels. SIZES FROM 8’ – 9’10”
MILKMAN SUP 9’1” x 22 ¾” x 2 7/8”
CHOK’S MAL by Rory Oke
A remake of Chok’s 1 all time favourite 30 year old longboard. OceanFoam blank, 6oz cloth, finish coat and polish, with a single box fin.
Units 7 & 8, 9 Chapman Road, Hackham SA 5163
E: leightonclark01@yahoo.com.au
M: 0422 443 789
facebook.com/thedingkingAUS 70
Technical detail in an ultra-refined design. 4 Kazuma’s trademark “Triple Barrel” concave, pure short board rails, rocker and foil blends, the Milkman is for advanced to professional riders. Absolute top level, professional performance and coming to a retailer near you this Spring.
KAZUMA SUP Retail enquiries welcome
OKE SURFBOARDS 1/1-7 Canterbury Rd, Braeside, VIC, 3195 Ph: 03 9587 3553 okesurfboards.com
74 Quarantine Rd Industrial Park, Nelson NZ Ph: +64 3 539 4500 E: jeff@kazuma.co.nz | info@kazuma.co.nz
facebook.com/kazumasup
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Different strokes...
5’6” x 20 ½” x 2 5/8”
5’5” x 20” x 2 5/8”
GOGO-FISH
LUXE TWIN
Tweaking the iconic 2 Lis fish to suit a modern mindset... this pocket of joy is just the ticket.
The Luxe Twin is a 2 contemporary take on the ‘70s classic. A fuller forward feeling outline with an accelerating narrower tail curve, allows you to have a great paddle advantage with excellent drive and manoeuvrability from the flyers in the tail. If you like fin and edge surfing with continuous glide and acceleration throughout the turns, then this could be your next choice.
by Chris Garrett
For
S K L O F t n e r Diffe
by Chris Garrett
Super fast, tight in the turns with carvey clean lines and speed to burn, it kinda ticks all the boxes when the alternative becomes the new norm. Best ridden quite short for optimised performance and be careful as you may become a surf-crazed, stoke-riddled, surf zombie before you know it!
It performs well in and around the pocket and yet maintains drive and trim out on the face. It is quite at home in either the beach breaks or those super fast down the line point waves. Best ridden with set side fins to maximize performance and longevity and can be fitted with an extra set of tail plugs for the small stabilizer.
CHRIS GARRETT SHAPES / PHANTOM SURFBOARDS Ph: 0424 450 690 E: phantomsurfboards@gmail.com www.chrisgarrettshapes.com.au Custom surfboards available at: SUNHOUSE Coolangatta, or order from Chris direct.
Contact Mark for orders or info....
0427 767 176
www.markrabbidge.com
mark Rabbidge
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GEAR: BOARDS
BLACK HULA
5
9’8” x 21 ¼” x 3 /8” = 79.8L
SHAPER’S PROMOTION
7’6” x 19 ¼” x 2 ¾” = 42.9L
SPARTAN • • • • • • • •
Big wave board Medium nose and tail rocker Vee double concave bottom Medium boxy rail with a refined tail
Gun Medium nose and low tail rocker Vee bottom Medium boxy rail with refined tail
5’8” x 18 5/8” x 2 5/16” = 28.0L
6’2” x 18 ½” x 2 3/8” = 29.2L
• • •
• • •
WACKO •
Step-Up / slab board Medium nose and tail rocker Slight single concave to double concave Medium boxy rail
NAPALM •
Step-Up board Medium nose and tail rocker Slight single concave to double concave Medium boxy rail
RDS are proudly WEBSTER SURFBOAyne bster made in Ballina by Wa We 8 M: 0416 049 205 1/13 Clark St, Ballina NSW 247 om.au E: info@webstersurfboards.c .au com rds. W: webstersurfboa
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DINGS
HAVING A MORE INFORMED GO
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Now that we’ve gone over the four ingredients that make up our favorite beverage, perhaps you’re keen to have a crack at making some beers to share with your buddies?
Homebrew however sometimes has a bad rap for being cloudy, funky tasting stuff enjoyed mostly by its creator. That needn’t be the case and there’s no reason homebrew can’t be as good as any commercially produced beer.
JERVIS BAY
mark@mrdamagesurfboards. com.au
INNER FEELING SURFBOARDS
New Zealand
There are two main ways that you can make beer at home, extract brewing and all-grain brewing. I’d recommend starting with extract as it is far simpler and can produce encouraging results with minimal effort. The cans of hopped malt syrup you’ll see in the supermarket are basically dehydrated and hopped wort (sweet barley juice) and by using them you can skip hours of finicky temperature watching and make beer with far simpler equipment. You’ll lose the ability to create and experiment with individual ingredients but save about 6 hours of labour.
RAGLAN, NZ
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BROWN DOGG 7 days a week - Just call 0416 455 985
Call us for a quality repair 08 8384 5522
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Call Mark 0416 199 764
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•
INGREDIENTS! Try to use a fresh can of extract - check the expiry date. Next up, the yeast, it’s the workhorse that’s going to make your beer, so check that it’s been stored in the fridge. I’d start with making a simple pale ale and probably invest a little more and buy a good quality ale yeast such as US05. If you’re going to add extra flavor with a dry hop, make sure your hops have been stored cold and are vacuum packed to ensure freshness.
•
TEMPERATURE! Ale yeasts ferment best at around 18-22°C, lager yeasts like 10-15°C and Saison yeasts can handle a range of temps up to 30°C! So brew to your environment.
•
SANITISATION! This is the greatest pitfall with homebrewed creations. Unintended bacteria and yeast will create terrible flavors if they get a chance to grow in your wort. Invest in a good no-rinse sanitizer such as iodophor. Remember sanitisers don’t work if there’s organic matter so clean EVERYTHING thoroughly before sanitizing EVERYTHING thoroughly!
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SURGE SURFBOARDS
Bust your board? Call us 24/7 027 428 7453
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You can buy brew kits online and they’ll have all kinds of extras to keep your beers getting better and better and one day you’ll up the ante and move on to all-grain.
ISLAND SURF SHOP, COWES
7 days, 9-5pm 03 5952 2578
Alastair Gillespie holds a Bachelors of Science in Microbiology, is a madkeen surfer and the Head Brewer at Byron Bay Brewery.
byronbaybrewery.com.au WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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TALKING BOARD DESIGN WITH JESSE WATSON OF BLACK APACHE SURFBOARDS
ONE UNDER THE ARM THE ART OF FEELING UP A SURFBOARD
You see, as I tumble further down the rabbit hole that is surfboard design and try to quantify the feelings we experience and marry them up with the more concrete and tangible equations of hydrodynamics, I seem to be losing my grasp on reality.
PUMP UP THE JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, CHANNEL YOUR INNER HUNTER S. THOMPSON, LET’S ALL EAT THE WEIRD MUSHROOM TOGETHER AND JOIN ALICE DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE... I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT I’VE FOUND. It was in the middle of a conversation with a customer... He was the kind of guy I see a fair bit. Kind of old-school, you could say, quite set in a routine of the board he rides and how he likes it. You know the guy - has the same Sunday roast every weekend, everything the same, never varies. As long as the gravy is perfect, he’s set for life. Anyways, in the middle of talking to Mr Sunday Roast (let’s just call him that for giggles) I was, I admit, more daydreaming than listening ‘till he said something that got me back on track. Mr Sunday Roast asked me if I had any stock on hand that he could take a look at. I didn’t at the time; in fact I rarely do, as 99% of my work is custom order. I don’t stock a lot of retail stores – don’t get me wrong I’m not anti retail stores at all and what you read hereafter will attest 74
Jamie Blee feels a Hoopity Hip
But before I’m resigned to my fate of yet another idiot savant, scientist-gone-mad as it were - lets see if I can unravel at least a small part of coherence from the mess and get you all back on your way to surfboard enlightenment.
to that, but the margins on surfboards are so low to begin with that it makes better sense for me to sell direct whenever I can (we will cover that subject further down the track too). I do have some shops that I have stocked over the years and I deal with them out of respect more than anything. So Mr Sunday Roast was telling me he needs to “feel a board under the arm before I can buy it” and it got me thinking about that little quandary for a minute. I mean I’m more than willing to help him figure out his way into a magic board… but what if he can’t quantify the magic? What if the only way he recognises that magic is by the touch of his hand? So it was with one ear still tuned into Mr Sunday Roast’s riveting rendition of his surfing exploits that I started digging into the idea of holding a board under arm… everyone does it don’t they? We pick it up in a variety of different ways… Hold the rail with board outstretched in front of us. We put it under arm and give it a purposeful little juggle. Caress the rails, finger the hard edges… all the while looking stern and like we totally have a reason for all the little micro movements and subtle caresses of new fibreglass. But is it all a charade? A dance? A way of showing we belong in the pack, of
Photo: Patrick Clifford, KaPa Photography (courtesy of Black Apache)
I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING… “THIS GUY’S GETTING WEIRDER EACH TIME” AND YOU’RE PROBABLY RIGHT TOO.
course we can surf! We aren’t kooks! We know our way around a board; we know how to decipher the code of magic boards…. Or is it all a big hoax to impress the shop jockey? Depends on who’s doing the dance I suppose, but what if there is information to be gleaned by the simple act of holding a board under arm? Did you hear what I just said, Bubba? A world where you could actually pick boards up without fear of being found out as a hoax-artist by Senor Customer Service? That’s a world we all want to live in. Well boys and girls, I’m here to tell you there absolutely is a reason and a rhyme to thrusting that resin-coated piece of goodness under your stinky armpit. I can think of at least a half dozen things that we can get a gauge on - so lets go through a few of them to get your retail juices going.
THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE IS THE WEIGHT. I can feel how heavy the board is. Maybe it feels too heavy? Maybe it’s too light? (I don’t like super light boards personally) I can also feel where the balance point is. Where the
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heaviest part of the board is – is it in front of or behind centre? Perhaps the board is tail heavy? This is always an interesting one, lot’s of boards have a five fin setup now and its not uncommon to have a noticeably tail heavy board… not always a bad thing depending on the application. In fact none of these things are inherently bad, again just depends on the application. A performance shortboard for Mr Sunday Roast likely needs to be as neutrally buoyant and evenly weighted as possible. If your talking about big logs then the weight is an asset because of its effects on the boards inertia and subsequent glide. A lot of retro boards too need the extra weight.
SECOND IS THE FOIL
You know this move - you’ve seen it before. Mr Sunday Roast holds the outside of one rail with both hands, he has the rail of the board resting on his feet and he’s looking down the entire side length… what the heck is he doing? – He’s lost in some sort of Zen master contemplation of mysterious attributes incomprehensible to Average Joe Surfer Dude. You’ve likely copied him and not known why. I remember doing it as a grommet, I had no idea why - I just knew that you did it or you were a kook who knew nothing. Well what you were looking at Bubba is the foil. Mr Sunday Roast is checking out the foam distribution. He’s looking at where the thickest part of the board is and how much foam is under chest for paddling ease. He is likely looking at the transitions where the soft rail becomes a hard edge on the underside. This is really the engine room of a performance board and thickness here is critical and underrated. In a cookie-cutter-copy-shortboard-world we get so used to seeing set ideas and measurements that we gloss over it a lot. Check your transitions people - there’s a lot to take in there, and a lot of the magic happens at that point of hold vs. release. Volume there will contribute in no small way to speed in turns, as well as a board’s ability to get up on rail (if there’s too much foam there). It’s also where your fins and concaves start to practise their mysterious witchcraft and voodoo.
two attributes we will cover as one. With fun board shapes you can see the difference between the two rockers and often how much foam has been “hidden” in the front area of the board. If the board has a lot of bottom curve but not much on the deck line you have foam being “hidden”. Mr Sunday Roast can see the entire front half when the board is under arm – he is also checking both sides at once when he performs the previous move listed above to check the foil. He knows how important those rockers are and likely so do you now after our recent little foray into rockers (last installment).
FOURTH PLACE: WIDTH
Width you say? Yes, width. Think of how many times you’ve had your board under arm as you walk down the beach for a morning surf. I’ll let you in on a secret: Unless you’re a grommet in the throws of a hormone-induced growth spurt, your arm doesn’t change length. Accordingly, that board rests on the same spot under your arm and against your ribs every time. You might not realise it, but you’re building up a memory for where your ideal board tucks in under your arm. I can guess, in reasonable terms, a board’s width just by holding it under arm. Granted, I’ve held a lot of boards but the logic is sound. When you pick up a board that’s narrower than you’re used to, it sits so low at your side that it just feels plain weird. Trust me, you will notice.
FIFTH IS LENGTH. To a
lesser degree, but in the same way your all-knowing ribs know where all good boards should rest at your side, your trusty eyecrometers (patent pending) will know the precise length a board should jut out in front of you over time. You carry that board under arm every time you surf, so think about how many times in your life you’ve looked at that nose jutting out beyond you as you sashay your way to the waterline. Same deal.
THICKNESS IS SIXTH.
You can feel how far that arm of yours is forced away from your body by that hunk of foam and fibreglass. Checking foil also gives another angle of the same dimension. An added bonus of having the board under arm besides the thickness is the deck contour. You can really feel how rolled or how flat the deck is, which again can indicate hidden foam or low rails etc. etc...
THE SEVENTH AND FINAL ONE... RAILS.
Top rail, bottom rail – the whole thing really. You have your hands on the rail of your boards more than any other part. In fact I think probably 80% of your time with a board (other than paddling or actually standing and riding waves) has your hands on the rails in one capacity or another. It’s likely one of the reasons why rails are always such a personal thing – a deal breaker or matchmaker.
Now you see what a huge database of information you have there from the simple act of holding foam under arm. Don’t discount that information – you’re likely making more observations than you even realise. You can see now the importance of holding a board under arm. Not everyone needs to do it but for some it is the road map to the Holy Grail and nothing but disappointment can be found without it. My hope here is that you get to the point where you can quantify what your hands feel and turn that into verbal cues for your shaper/shop assistant in the search for the magic. I’m hoping that we can have a conversation that means when I shape you a new board and you put it under arm for the first time it feels like it “belongs” right where it is. At the very least I hope you’re thinking - not just holding your board under arm any more but “feeling” your board under arm. So in the next few weeks I hope to see smudgy black prints on the rail of every board trapped in a retail setting. I hope to see you doing the Zen master stance, the under arm jiggle, engaging the shop-jockey and adding to the database. That’s it for this edition... Take care and be good to your mum. After all she gave you those eyecrometers (patent pending) you’re using to search for the magic. JW www.blackapachesurfboards.com
WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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CLOSEOUT: COLUMNS
THIRDLY ARE DECK LINE AND BOTTOM ROCKER,
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Boardriders club building
Kevin Burgess Snappers
1965 Kevin Burgess Delaware Bay
Aussie Pete Skinner Snappers
NELSON BOARDRIDERS celebrate 50 YEARS A couple of years ago the Rolling Stones completed their 50-year anniversary tour and this April, Nelson Boardriders Club had their 50-year reunion. The two events were almost comparable - well the 50 years bit anyway - any other comparisons may be a bit of a stretch, but I guess the Nelson guys can feel OK about it because they’re younger and not as ugly. The club started in 1967 out of Tahunanui Surf Lifesaving Club and they even ended up with their own council owned club rooms at Tahunanui Beach, a rare situation for boardrider’s clubs in Australia back then and probably even now. The walls were covered in posters of the era, think Hendrix and no doubt the Stones, plus painted murals by a couple of the more artistic members - a good warm surfer’s hangout. However, what the council giveth the council taketh away and that’s what happened around about 1972, effectively killing off the club as it was. Nelson was then and still is now, one of those places that gets surf where no one thinks surf should be and when it happens, there’s good waves to be had. Back then Tahunanui had a reasonable wave occasionally but when the mouth of the harbour was dredged to accommodate larger ships into Port Nelson the waves moved on, except for the odd visit now and then, usually under inclement conditions. Some of the shots from the time that were presented in a slide show at the reunion reveal some great waves and surfing from Tahunanui Beach, Delaware, Cable Bay and the always popular Snappers, still the best local wave and home to the current Nelson Boardriders who recently held a contest in superb conditions there. In the same way the Rolling Stones didn’t break the mould, they made it, so too the guys from the original Nelson Boardriders, made their own mould in their own way, doing what they loved doing, not because it was cool but because it was fun and free. Lots of people from California to Perth were doing pretty much the same things back then for the same reasons and it’s great to hear that they can still keep in touch, still catch up, and in a lot of cases still enjoy the ocean with each other, as well as pass on true and tall tales from the legendary past through these reunions and social media to the new breed of boardrider’s clubs.
Magazine Cover
1967
WINTER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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One fine Saturday a little while back the Third Annual Loggerheads Comp was held at Waipu Cove, a couple of hours north of Auckland. The event is a tip of the hat to traditional style longboarding and is organised by local surf legend Tony Baker. 28 Loggers from all over NZ - North and South Island - make the annual pilgrimage. With the emphasis on pure traditional logging, the high tide banks on offer at Waipu provided a perfect platform for noseriding and fancy footwork. Aside from the Open Logger comp there was an Old Mal, Junior Logger and Lady Sliders division.
SMORGASBOARDER | WINTER 2016
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CLOSEOUT: ALOHA BARRY 82
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Get an even more personal look at Barry - check out the winners of the Make-a-Barry art comp! See page 16
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