Okey Dokey, where is it now?
Anything, anyone???
Hicksy,
i think h20h still has it?? i can grab it when he has finished with it and bring it to SA for the next leg. i was planning to head his way for a surf anyway.
cheers
marcus
You’re most welcome to have a go Boothy, just contact H2Oh and make arrangements for the hand over…
Don’t forget to get some piccies of it being ridden…
Are you going to pass it onto Doug?
Yep i have sent a pm to h20h so when he is ready will go and see him. i read Doug was keen too so will post when its here.
will do my best to get some snaps too…
cheers
marcus
Have you got it yet Boothy???
hi Hicksy, i have spoken to H20h on the phone and i am going to head down that way in a coupla weeks, need to do some work on the hq to get me down there first!
but yeah, its imminently heading to south oz and then we can suss out the next leg.
cheers, Marcus
Update from Boothy
Quote:
just an update, got the front end back in the van and heading to meet H2oh on the weekend for a surf and grab the auslocks and bring it back to south oz. will then let the others know and pass it on for its trip back to you.
cheers again for the chance to be part of this, i am hopefully gonna get some good snaps for you too.
It’s heading your way Doug!!
Have you got it in your hot little hands yet Boothy??
Hi Hicksy,
well, lets start at the beginning… i spent the week leading up to the weekend getting the upper and lower ball joints and front shockers and 2 new tyres on the van. so she was all sweet for the long drive. we snuck out of work early and left on the friday night. got 1.5 hours into the 6 hour drive and blew a rear tyre. had a pretty big moment i tell you, but no real damage apart to my pride when i remembered the spare was in the trailer still in the driveway. so a call to the tow truck and they took me back half an hour to the nearest town, no matter how much i tried to get him to take my forwards to the next town. so he dumped the car, me, my girlfriend and our dog out the front of the (closed) tyre garage, at dusk, on the side of the highway. luckily, there was a pub in a nearby street, so as the saying goes when in rome… needless to say the pub did pretty well out of me and it was pretty late when i crawled into the back of the van and crashed out. didnt even hear the road trains going past us all night.
then woke up on the saturday am with a screaming hangover, got the tyre fixed and the garage even had a spare holden rim out the back so he chucked that in the (very expensive) deal. sweet. so anyway, things back on track. i couldnt remember why i was so keen to drive on the friday night anyway…
that was until about 10am when it hit 40 degrees in the shade…and no air conditioning in the car… so we had an esky with a bag of ice in it inbetween the front seats, drank about 8 litres of water, 6 neurofen (see note about wicked hangover) and all the time trying to keep the bloody dog cool aswell.
so we got to port fairy and caught up with h2oh (hey ya buddy) and checkout a couple of spots for a surf, and by then i was still hungover, half dead from heat exhaustion and ready for the water. i couldnt wait to check out the auslocks, and wanted to get out on it. as i stood infront of a reasonably solid onshore point break i realized that the task was much tougher than first thought. my normal board is 6’4" thruster and i had my 6’2" bat tail quad in the car aswell. holding the auslocks i realized that this transition may not be so smooth (anyone who has seen the auslocks will understand my predicament). so we went to a much smaller beach break for a play, probably 1-1.5’ and i took out one of my boards and then did a board swap.
the board is not like anything i have surfed before, i have never surfed a board where my feet are out of the water when paddling out, so thats how much trouble i had to begin with! but a couple of waves under my belt i could start to feel the drive and its got a fair bit of speed when you trim it right… the main drama i had was catching the rail up near the nose when trying to do a turn, its interesting for me especially reading the post recently about the effects of nose shape on a surfboard, and i have to say that i now believe that when you see a longboard turn the nose is way out of the water (back foot turning), but i think maybe i surf a bit more front footed and perhaps a standard thruster type nose is slightly more forgiving? also add to the fact i have never surfed a single fin, you can see i have a fair learning curve ahead of me, but hey, thats why we do this isnt it? will try some of chips fins, keen to add some side bites with the big single. (cool fins by the way chipfish… need to get some advice from you about trying to make some bonzer fins… )
but there is one photo of it being surfed already, all-be-it a small black dot on a wave… there is more to come and they boys are hanging out to try it also. last weekend i didnt get out due to work but hopefully after work this week maybe. all i need to do is work out how to post pictures!
so there is a quick update, photos to follow shortly, hopefully with some nice waves…
bit of a drama filled trip, but cant help but think thats the way it should be… there is no story to tell if its wrapped up on a plane.
thanks again to all who were involved with this, the gravity of such a thing really only hits you when you are carrying the board down the beach.
sorry i didnt get this post done last week, was hoping to get the photos first, but thats the next lesson. stay tuned i guess!
cheers,
marcus
Hey Marcus,
Sounds like a few trips I did in the late 70’s, you had me laughing my head off!!!
Yes it’s a bit different to “normal” boards (if there is such a thing) but that’s what I intended after liaising with others on this site, mind you I didn’t have much room for error in the nose area. At least the swing weight is much lower…
Try it with the side bites, they seem to do the trick, Chip makes great fins…
I think it’s meant to work from the tail but I’m sure you’ll dial it in to suit your own style…
I hope you enjoy it while you have it, can’t wait the see the pics…
PS: how’s it holding up…
overall the board is in good condition, wish my boards looked as good! there is one or 2 small chips, i will get some resin into them, just to make sure its watertight. but i will send some close ups of your baby too to jog your memory!
marcus
Hicksy and others,
taken a while, this work thing is a bit of a bugger, but had a couple of surfs on the auslocks and i can say i am starting to get the hang of it. its really fast down the line, just need to work on slowing it down for a turn. but to dig the back in and you seem to be able to get around any section. i did put the side bites on the board and it made a big difference. chip, your fins are fantastic.
the last surf i had on it was on a stiff offshore day, the spray in the face, waves very full type of a day and the board was brilliant in these conditions, easy to pick up waves and held its speed well. i would not have been able to take my normal board out in those waves.
Still cant work out how to put pictures icant seem to get photos small enough to attach.
and i am about to go on 2 weeks holiday, so hopefully can get out some more in that time and get some snaps (and work out how to post them)… then i reckon its time for me to pass it on to the next player… so anyone in south oz keen to have a crack?
cheers
marcus
…good on ya marcus !
enjoy it
i hope you’re getting more swell there than perth is at the moment [down south here was all time on tuesday , apparently]
Unreal Marcus,
Good to hear the report, sounds like you had fun with it…
Check your PM re the pics…
Doug, are you up to it?
Fixed the piccies up for you Marcus
Shredded tyre picking the board up
Handover with H2O
What Marcus usually rides compared to the Auslocks
and
Being ridden!!!
What’s happenig with it now,who’s got dibs on it next???
hicksy i still have it, coupla good sessions on it… long weekend this weekend yay. fingers crossed for some waves.
i am happy to pass on to anyone else who wants a shot whenever it suits… let me know
cheers
marcus
Hey Boothy, I’m keen to give it a go. Where in Adelaide are you?