Glad that Sydney still has household throwout / council collection roadside verge collections.
I scored this the other day.
5 '11 x 19 3/4 x 2 1/2 "
Fin test platform , yewww !!
Be interested to see how I go paddling it…
Many of you out there in your 50s and older ( I’m 56 ) ride boards these dimensions every surf ?
PLENTY of Sydney surfers DO !
Whereas …
when I was living in Perth (WEST Australia ) for 30 years , it seemed that every second guy over 45 or so , was riding a mal (?!!)
Could have had something to do with the relative lack of waves there , compared to here , though , I guess ?! 
( I even bit that bullet myself , around 50 , there. And made a mal with " Hicksy " , back in around ? 2004 ? , or so , from memory ?! )
Cheers !
Ben 
I think that 90’s and early 2000’s shortboards were a lot harder to ride than the shorter, wider and thicker equipment we’re using today. Thus in the 90’s if you were getting old you were pretty tempted to go to a longboard. A lot of my friends are in their 50’s and none of them are riding longboards, whereas the previous generation pretty much all were riding mals by the time they were 50.
I also think that Kelly Slater has something to do with it. I’m the same age as Kelly and I gotta say, to see a 45 year old dude surfing at that level is pretty inspirational to me. My goal is to still be riding shortboards at 70!