While sitting on the deck with the Salty Crew having coffee last week, I contemplated the surfboards we have and took a ride down memory lane.
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When we first started surfing, it was a privilege to own a board. It was either save up a lot of pocket money, or in my case mowing a lot of lawns and pulling out a lot of weeds to earn my first board.
I asked a few about their early days.
Dawso (it's his birthday this week) pipes up, "I only had one board and that was in the 1990's."
Looking back, we all only had one board in the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's.
Moving forward to more modern times, Bobby has about 10 short boards and one long board.
Cherie has tallied her boards and said she has 13 total (two longboards, a Wirefire board, a quiver of short boards ranging from 5ft 8 to 6ft 10, and one she recently shaped herself.)
Now myself, I own five boards- all of which are short boards around the 6ft 10 mark.
Three of them I currently ride, plus my original board which is mounted in the shop and the other one I bought in the early 80's. It's a bear's board which currently languishes in my son's garage at the moment.
We now tend to pick one of our multiple boards depending on the conditions. Bigger boards for smaller days, with smaller boards used for the chunky quick waves.
We now tend to spend a fair chunk of income on our boards.
The funny this is, when the surf is pumping, we always go back to our favourite board.
With me, it must be the red rocket which my staff and surf crew bought for me for my 70th birthday. This board gives me the most pleasure and always a great surfing experience.
Conditions this week, looking ahead it all looks pretty good, with swell 1.3-2M over the weekend falling to 1.2M next week coming from the ESE.
Winds will be mostly WSW to NW 10-12 knots in the morning with light NE 5 knots in the late afternoon.
Tides will vary high 1.3-1.7M in the mid-morning with lows 4am to 7am around the 0.4-0.5M mark.
Water temperature will be around 20 degrees, so there should be good smaller waves on most beaches with the open beaches Flynns and Middle Rock having a little more size.
Take time this week to catch a wave or two with your mates. This is only possible because a lot of our family members went to war especially WW2.
My older brother Les spent six years in prison camps- two years in Singapore and four years in Changi.
Take a moment over the weekend and thank all our service personnel both past and present who help protect our country.
Lest we forget.
