Recently, one Mr. Mike Malloy, built a couple of wooden, hollow,Tom Blake style paddle/surfboards.Inspired by his work,his 3 sons(Chris,Dan and Keith)and a couple of their friends, built some as well.All toll, 6 regular size boards were built(10-14’)as well as several smaller ones, including a 7’ twinnie.One thing lead to another and the next thing you know, we held a contest.It was the first annual Kook Box invitational, held this past Sunday at a local,easy rolling break.The weather was perfect & the surf knee to waist high.Rules were simple.3 man heats, 15 min. long.NO wetsuits allowaed, and in fact extra points were given for most authentic shorts.riders were timed while standing.The winner was the one with the most accumulated time standing(turned out to be arond 3 minutes after 30 minutes of surfing).Longest wave was shared by Chris and Dan who cruised it for 65 seconds.First place recieved a 4’kook box, second place the book on Tom Blake.third, a wetsand t-shirt.A total of about 80 people were present for the fun and activities.For next year, all contestants must make their own kook box.could be the next summer event on the circuit!? Ready to make it down next year Paul Jensen??Later… p.s. the battle cry of the day was:“Foam go Home!”
yeah! I love it!
I can see it now. Cowells…200 people out…60 of them on kook boxes. How about Cooperboxes? What about BoxTech epoxy boxes? Boxes with “hulas”? How 'bout a LeMans start where you have to build the board on the spot and surf it all within a time limit? Ideas galore!
scary Peter
then again it might help the crowd problem
Morey/Pope Folding Boxes…Boxes with Red-X plugs to fit Red-X legs so they can double as a workbench or picnic table…
I like it.Put some kind of waterproof hatch and store stuff inside.Plexi panels to watch the fish.Endless possibilities…wood…nails…coat of varnish …no toxic stuff.This is better than my cork board fantasy.
how 'bout if the surf schools have to use kookboxes? hmmm
Since it’s an invitational, I’ll be there if invited… It sounds like a hoot… Keep me posted… The idea of no wetsuit is weird…It’s March…There might be snow in the air up here this week… Paul
I am a kook!!!
I’ll make sure you are invited, oh king of hollow wood boards!it really was fun!One complaint, common among the contestants a day or two later, was lower back pain-due to length/weight of boards.stay tuned for upcoming pics.
“One complaint, common among the contestants a day or two later, was lower back pain-due to length/weight of boards.” – Matt… one thing that has aways impressed me in nearly all the old photos Ive ever seen of surfers prior to the late 1950s, was their impressive physical condition. Those guys were buffed-out! If it looked like they were all hardcore weight lifters… well, in a sense, they really were!
10-4 on that.those guys didn’t need to head to the gym-ever.surfin’,swimmin’, divin’.they were indeed buff mo-fo’s.