High Tide Surfboards: August 2010

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The surf coast winter classic

The 2010 winter classic lived up to its name with rain, icy water and fresh westerly winds all weekend. The Bevan boys made their way down from Sydney with Cronulla shaper Sam Tehan to pick up their new sticks and share a few cold water peelers. Both Jake and Oscar put up a good show in the juniors placing second and third and Justin put his new Gary Proper model Hobie into action taking out the old mal .I was stoked to finally take out the open and back it up with a win in the traditional division.

high tide imperial collaboration

the first board ive had shaped for me in a long time but Dave Boyds designs never disappoint

Justin frothing out over his new quad fin egg

Jake laying a rail on his new comp board.

The Arrawarra sessions

After the long weekend surfing the crowded northern beaches of Sydney and a board delivery run up to the Gold Coast I spent a couple of weeks with my sister Yana and her fiancee Mick at their new place in Arrawarra. Over my time in the sleepy little sea side town I spent as much time in the water as physically possible with Mick testing out a couple of new fish designs. I also had the chance to hook up with good mate Brett Caller and score some pictures with local Coffs photographer Tom Woods and catch up with jake at the NSW state titles to watch him style his way to third place in the junior division.

pics by tom woods/ stsurfimages.com.au

flat day fun. spear fishing at mullaway.

Micks new fish.

Monday, August 9, 2010

the Snowy

By 7.00 Thursday night BJ and I were on the Hume Highway settling in for the overnight drive to Sydney. With 8 logs, 4 fishes, 2 single fins, 2 quad fins, 2 alaia's and an old mal loaded in to the van we were bound for the Snowy McAlester winter classic in Manly then a delivery run up the coast. The Snowy never ceases to provide beautiful weather, fun little peelers and the perfect opportunity to display some freshly polished boards. I was stoked this year to be asked by the guys at the Manly longboard club to make the competitors give away board and even more pumped to be a part of such a great comp!

pics by Bj

the snowy competitors give away

Victorian state titles

The Vic titles are always hotly contested with many old rivals and a depth of young talent making their way up the ranks. You couldn’t have asked for better conditions to crown this years state champion. Sunshine, offshore winds and a straight 3 to 4ft swell peeling of point impossibles shallow reef. The two days ended up being a blur of nail biting heats and high scores. Most valuable play goes to Oscar Laylor for shredding his way through to the semi finals of the open mens and taking out the junior state title. Cheers to the other boys in the open final (Sandy Ryan, Eli Curry and AJ Lynch) for one of the best finals I've surfed in this year!

pics by Colin Person

Tazzy trip

Over the last couple of seasons I’d been hearing from mates returning home, having scored amazing waves off the east coast of Tasmania. Stories of river stone points with the potential to get as good as Noosa or Crescent Head and grinding beach break barrels that could rival any on the South Coast of Sydney. After a month on the road delivering boards and surfing my way to the Noosa and Malfunction festivals, it wasn’t long before the van was being loaded again but this time bound for a totally different and unique part of Australia. With young Sydney side-stylist Jake Bevan on his way down to Victoria for the school holidays, and house mate and surfing buddy Todd Alsop coming in to sometime off work, it was the perfect opportunity to hook up with Torquay photographer Scott Wintle, test out some new designs and check out what the apple isle has to offer.

pics by Scotty Wintle

Malfunction

Surfing picture perfect waves the week before, everybody was primed, ready and on their way to the malfunction at Kingscliff. Although the swell had dropped, a consistent right-hander out the front of the surf-club provided some fun little runners all week. The Lalor boys put up another strong performance, with Brett making the quarter finals of the over 40s, and Oscar making the semi finals of the hotly contested juniors division. This was my first malfunction and it's definitely one comp I'll be chalking up on the calender next year.

free surfing woodsy down the beach by moon walker

surfing borrowed board in retro devision

by Andrew Carruthers

The Noosa festival of surfing

Rolling in to Noosa Heads after scoring some of the best waves the east coast of Australia has to offer, BJ and I couldn’t believe our luck. Sunshine, perfect sand banks and talk of swell to come. Over the next couple of days Cyclone Ului was pulsating lines down Noosa's flawless points. The shallow sand bar breaking from Johnson's through to first point, created the perfect stage for a world class longboard competition and some of the memorable free surfing sessions this year. Oscar and Jake put their new boards into action clocking up some solid hours in the water and ripping there way to the semi finals. We were all nursing ace pains and sunburns by the end of the week, but everyone was smiling ear to ear. Cant wait till next year.

first point with six guys out by Colin Person

free surfing johnos by moon walker

smiles all round YYYEEEWWWWW!

The road to Noosa

Our journey to the Noosa festival of surfing began with a 10 hour drive across the east of Victoria arriving just shy of Merimbula 2 weeks before the competition was due to start. Over the first five days of our trip good mate BJ and I worked our way up the South Coast of NSW, stopping every time we caught a glimpse of a rideable wave. In this time we scored epic sessions at Narooma, Ulladulla and a day and a half of perfect lefts at Green Island before arriving at Gerringong to meet up with Justin and Jake Bevan and drop off their new boards off before the comp.

After spending the weekend with the Bevan boys, surfing the beach breaks around Shell Harbor, we made our way north to the big smoke for and overnight stop to catch up with Manly longboarder Kieran Plim. The next morning we set out on the northern beaches and dropped in to see local logger and surfing buddy Matt Chojnacki. With good friend Yuta Sezutsu over from Japan for the festival, the boys had a similar trip to Noosa planned. So we organized to meet up in a days time at Crescent Head, setting out once again this time to Newcastle for another overnight stop and a few steel city sliders.

The next day we hooked up Matty and Yuta in Crescent to find perfect 2 to 3ft waves on the point and light offshore winds. After two days surfing, the swell rose and we all decided to make our way up the coast, stopping off at Lennex head for a quick fish session before spending the afternoon logging the pass with local shedder Brett Caller.

Although we lucked in to a large variety of quality waves over our two week trip up the east coast of Australia, nothing would prepare us for the week of surfing that lay ahead on the points of noosa heads.