Surf is up

I guess its now time for a new and the next exciting challenge in my life ,
and its now time to once again,
get wet.

When i was younger i had a bit of a crack at surfing on an old Greg Hogan
6. 2 single fixed fin ,
gun board ,
that i brought secondhand from the local Sundance surf shop that was owned by Greg ,
and away i went

I tried hard and a lot and i had no trouble standing up on a wave but every single time i caught one i would nose dive ,
Do a massive summersalt and get absolutely smashed to oblivion

So soon enough i gave up and years later my nephew Jayke ended up with my board ,
and that was that

I was at a friends house one day six months ago and there was an old Trigger Bros 7. 5 board in the back shed with a broken off fin doing absolutely nothing and it was quite dead 

 and basically land fill

To me it was just going to be practice at surfboard board repair ,
so I brought it for fifty bucks
I repaired it a while later when i got around to it and i put it aside ,

A month ago a mate of mine Donut sold his house and he is moving overseas soon and he said to me that i can just have most of his boards for free and that i have to buy his 9ft mall

Deal

Cool as
So i get a bit excited and the next thing I’m down the Wonthaggi main St in Vortex surf and Scate looking to buy a suitable wetsuit that actually fits

Steve the store owner was on hand so he personally picked out a suit for me to try on

Wetsuits have changed so much since the old days when you just simply stepped into the legs and then easily put your arms in and then just reach over behind your back looking for your zipper bungie cord and then zip it all it up .

Hmm
Now its more like entering a confined space ,
as you have to basically put it on now more like a tight as sleeping bag 

Ok 

So i grabbed the suit and there was no one in the shop except for Steve , me and the lovely young lady behind the counter

So i ripped off my clothes in the middle of the shop on the spot
Steve looked up and said why dont you use the change rooms Curly ?

I said whats it matter ?
because there is no one else here and I’m standing there in my Woody boxer shorts and the young lady behind the counter has the biggest smile on her face  ever 

WE were all laughing then  and lucky i wasn’t actually in the change rooms as it took ages and lots of uncoordinated moves from me and a lot of coaching from Steve for each step necessary to put this thing on .

And i had a massive uncomfortable wedgie to boot .

It was in one way all just hilarious

Bugger ,
all that effort and its a bit too small
The next one was just right ,
and i asked Steve for a leg rope also ,
and i learned something new and interesting
There are all different ratings on leg ropes so Steve picked a good Bailin  allrounder out for me and he asked me when i go for a surf if i could let him know so that they could come and watch me ?

Hmm
I said if i do that everyone will be watching me so im actually planning to sneak out to a small local break sometime on my own and see how i go first as there will be no pressure.

So he really looked after me on the price because my old scate park membership from twenty years ago was still valid well he might have used Ben or Dylan’s membership number and he honoured his  store discount

So i was really quite excited and i took my new wetsuit home and showed Blacks when he came over later
He said in a thorough inspection that is the best wetsuit he has seen and so flexible

Its a Vissla

So thanks heaps to Steve and his Lovely assistant and Vortex so much
But now I believe that I have to leave home at least an hour earlier ,
to get in my wetsuit in the carpark
lol

It will be a site to see i assure you

So we are sitting that night having dinner and Blacks was talking about his new SUP

Stand up paddle board

So i got interested in what it was like and apparently its the best core exercise going around by miles
It sounded like fun and i started looking at sups on marketplace and i found what i thought looked like a nice priced ripper board so I messaged Blacks and i brought it

It was local and pick up was in Cowes and Blacks was over there already so he sussed it out and he picked it up for me.

The plan at the moment is to leave it at Blackies house and do trips from there for now as there are no roof racks on the Stato  so best get the old mans ute fixed for surfing 

The Gods’ must have shined on me though because it turns out to be a Naish sup 
Along with a carbon fibre adjustable paddle and a proper board bag 
its an absolute gem

It has
A massive main changeable box fin at 10.5 inch length but it looks visually for some reason over a foot long to me and unfortunately there is a slight crack in the  front third on the rail.

We were going to go paddle boarding the next arvo but i decided its best to repair the crack while the board is completely dry
So its on top of the spa
Now the crack has been caused by dropping the board there is absolutely no structural damage to the core
it is a hairline crack in the glass only.
I have basically sanded the crack and then just epoxy resin covered it to waterproof seal her off
So now im going to add thick tape specifically to the side paddling areas to stop any more chipping

And I’m good to go

Now i Know absolutely nothing about the board or its owner i just came across it ,
and last night ,
while i was writing articles against our government while the footy was on and Blacks watched the game
I flicked some surfing on for him at the end of the game and just kept on at it

Later i glanced up and said to Blacks hey mate theres my board
He said its like a documentary Curly on the man that makes your board
So i took a bit more notice while i still wrote

The mans Name is
Robbie Naish
He is regarded as the worlds best athelete ,
and he made his name on the surfing scene at the tender age of thirteen ,
by competing and winning the world windsurfing championship

Obviously this board is just one his personal designs

And im smiling so much mate ,
thanks Robbie

So the aim for us two in the end is to take the dogs out on the boards  with us and just spend some quality friendship time together out in mother nature ,
on the same sea that bound us together for life ,
all those years ago

We have discussed the techniques that we will be using during our adventures ,
and i cant go as shallow as Blackie because my fin is heaps longer
I laughed and said not for much longer Blacks because ill hit the rocks sooner or later and then ill grind down the damage on my fin to fix it so it will slowly disappear mate look at the skeg on my Mercury
We both just laughed 

So the epoxy is almost dry its time to buy the tape visit old Curls and smile at the finer things in life

Life is an amazing adventure if you participate
I think that i have a fair crack

Cheers xxx
Curlyg