Rough & smooth

Put away the rubber

New idea for a surf comp - a winter contest where you cannot wear rubber. GfG demonstrating below that it can be done in the middle of winter, though sunshine and a big beach bonfire might be mandatory.

80mm manual

After surfing this spot for 30+ years, I finally got out the back with an 80mm on a Nikonos. Even on a sunny day the water looks dark here and this morning darker than usual. The view from the multimillion dollar houses on the cliff might be good, but give me the water angle any day.

World Wide Winter

"It sure been a cold, cold winter
My feet been draggin' 'cross the ground
And the fields has all been brown and fallow
And the springtime take a long way around"
from Winter by the Rolling Stones' album Goats Head Soup 1973
You could be forgiven for wondering about the scientific validity of Global Warming for a nanosecond or two down here. It feels more like the ice age is coming - the world wide winter. Rubber up.

PS Gaston's "missing" board is still out there somewhere - if you see please pass on the info.

"G" is for Glidelove

Jaca-moff

The days are now longer than the nights and already we have had the first thunderstorms of the season as the jacaranda trees grow their annual veil of purple. I drag a sharp object across my face to remove yesterday's bristles and enclose my ten toes away from the light and any opportunity of getting wet, yet smile as I recall that session at Moffatt's.

Ancient DNA

The ride we enjoy tomorrow is built upon the ancient surfing DNA of all the wonderful shapers and surfers of yesterday.

Catch One (or two)

Have a great weekend!

Catch one or two or five.

Happy Birthday Auntie Clair

If you have ever been to the Pa Bendall Contest or checked the surf at Moffatt's in the last 40 years, good chances are that you will have seen Aunty Clair who lives on the beach there. If you see her this weekend on her morning walk, wish her happy birthday and ask her about the time her father competed against The Duke when he came out to Australia in 1915. She might even tell you about the Queen of the Colonies memorial up on Moffatt Headland.

As kids we would wander the Moffatt's headland tidal pools and try and climb the Moffatt's cliffs and talk about the sailing ship that got wrecked there bringing migrants out from Ireland, England and Scotland. Years later, while waiting for sets out the back of this deep, fickle spot I would look down at the inky black shelf and wonder where the shipwreck actually was and how come you couldn't see any ship bits like you could at Byron. Even when the water is clear it looks dark down there. 

Painting by Don Braben

Turns out the actual 1300 tonne clipper ship was never there. A group of castaways from the ship were rescued from the area after surviving for 14 days on shellfish and berries. They became stranded during a storm after coming ashore on Moreton Island to bury a female passenger who had died in childbirth during the 3 month trip from England.

And in a neat twist, Auntie Clair's grandmother was born on the same ship during an earlier voyage!

What do you want from life?

The first time I saw snow was on top of the Grand Canyon last century. Coming from the hot sub-tropical land of Brinetopia, I don't know what was more awesome, seeing that dirty big red, yellow orange, brown, green canyon or the thick layer of snow contrasted against the blue Arizona sky like wedding cake icing. Around that time, I came across The Tubes, a band originally from Arizona who headed west like so many others to California.There, they released such ascerbic classics as "White Punks on Dope", "What do you want from Life?" "Don't touch me there" and "I was a punk before you were". Social satire in a punk visage - almost like a hybrid between the Mothers of Invention and The Saints.

"What do you want from life?

To kidnap an heiress

or threaten her with a knife?

What do you want from life?

To get cable TV

and watch it every night?

------

There you sit

a lump in your chair

Where do you sleep

and what do you wear

when you're sleeping?

-----

What do you want from life?

An Indian guru

to show you the inner light?

What do you want from life?

a meaningless love affair

with a girl that you met tonight?

-----

How can you tell when you are doing alright?

Does your bank account swell

while you're dreamin at night?

How do you know when you're really in love?

Do violins play when you're touching the one that your loving?"

excerpt from What do you want from life? by The Tubes 1978

Moffats Headland - this view currently for sale for several million $$$. Retro single fin available in a range of tints and fin options. Uncrowded waves no longer available.

Cyclone watching

More goofiness out the front of Aunty Clair's place.

And a long way to the north

two cyclones spin their stereophonic vibrations

promising wind and rain and

SWELL.

Australian weather bureau satellite pic - Summer 2010

One for Lozza 1956 - 2009

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.

Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom, 

blown on the steel breeze.

Come on you target for faraway laughter, 

come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,

rode on the steel breeze.

Come on you raver, you seer of visions, 

come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine! 

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (I-V) Pink Floyd 1975 

Christmas 2009

I’m sitting in the bathroom on a 5-wheel office chair that belonged to my late brother and thinking about him and the other guys I used to surf with who are no longer with us. Like goofy footer Mick who used to live in a caravan at Coolum but never owned a car. He used to catch the bus with the school kids to Nambour everyday to work in a bank. Mick was just hanging on his own one Christmas while the rest of us were pigging out on all manner of Aussie tucker with loved ones. To their credit, my folks thought it would be a good idea for him to join us for Christmas lunch.

Mick never showed much emotion, but he was into music in a big way. I have fond memories of watching John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers and other acts with Mick at a pub at Alex Headland (the Chifley?) around 1986. I still have an old mix tape (cassette) called Mick's Modern Music he made for me from vinyl singles he bought on holiday in Sydney, stuff like - the Screaming Tribesmen, Harem Scarem, the Go Betweens, Husker Du, the Chills, the Wet Taxis and the Triffids. I have no idea why he took his life.

Pete Hansen Moffats Winter 1978

“You've got jowls like your mother,” the Bride of Brine says as she deftly turns my 30 year beard into a goatee, like Bob Cooper’s only way less famous. I guess you can get away with that call when you have been with me for 27 years. I’m not good at sitting still, even on the 5 wheel office chair and shut my eyes and try to think about a late arvo September Session I had on my DVS quad at Tea Tree. But my mind flicks back to memories of Pete Hansen another goofy footer no longer with us. Sadly a mosquito bit him in Egypt when he was on his way back from the oil rigs in the North Sea.

Pete was my cousin’s cousin. We shared a wooden double desk in the fourth and fifth grades. I didn’t see Pete for a while after he switched schools. One day he lobbed up to Coolum with a beautiful 6' Bob Cooper Bonza, with long triangular side fins and concaves, when the rest of us were riding 6' 10" pintail single fins. We thought it came from outer space.

We met up again at university where he was the king of the anti-Trend trend. Pete and I used to hitchhike to the Rainbow Bay SLSC. He was a clubbie there. Around 1977, it was undergoing renovation and there was nobody there in winter. We would hole up in the unfinished draughty clubhouse and ride Snapper and Greenmount. Pete had this great backhand slashing style, but we brought him down to earth by telling him he waved his left arm around like a windmill.

Sometimes Graham, one of the older guys would  take us to 24^th Avenue at Palm Beach, where he would shred on his stubby Darby rounded square tail. I ditched the pintail after having a go of that board at Rainbow. It could turn on a penny. Pete would pester you into going for a surf with him even when it looked lousey. I still use his saying “It’s always better than it looks” to motivate myself, when it’s too crowded or too flat or too fat or too big or whatever.

The Bride finishes up my beard makeover and it’s time to get ready for Christmas dinner, as another black cloud rolls over the tin roof of our old wooden house. Merry Christmas to all of our friends both absent and present.

Long Time Locals

The graffiti in Pa Bendall Park at Moffatt Beach said "Long Term Locals Only".  Maybe these two sisters qualify - Aunty Clair and Nana Brine, who have more than 70 years of coastal living under their belts. Next time you see them chattering away at the cafe at Moffatt Beach, stop to ask them about the time their father swam against the Duke when he came to visit Oz back in 1915. Or maybe what it was like camping at Kirra before the groyne and leg ropes. Or what Noosa was like when there were three camping areas in Hastings Street. Or raising six sons during the longboard to shortboard era.
Big Thanks to the staff at One La Balsa Cafe for making Nana Brine's 85th birthday yesterday memorable.