Successful Sea Trials of the Young Dude's Gun

The Young Dude took delivery of his hollow 6'6" rounded pin (pictured above) a couple of weeks ago but poor surf had frustrated any attempts of sea trials and getting the board up to reasonable speed. "I've had had 1' mushy beach breaks, rediculous 4' sand and seaweed straighthanders (refer post where The Dude tried to dial up some decent surf with a special iPhone application)" the Young Dude lamented, "but finally cracked onto some size and shape at Eaglehawk on 4 July". The forcast was for a 1.5m SE swell and west winds were forcast to blow 30-40knts with a front later in the day so the test crew, consisting of The Young Dude, the Dude (mastersurfcraftsman and the board's creator), The Other Dude and The Mexican decided to head down early. Arriving at first light with a cold rain and light offshore the crew found the beach closing out with the occassional hint of shape. The Other Dude, who was keen to crack onto some size, was keen but it was decided to check Tessos first. Tessos looked small and inconsistent but there were two brave soles out on Lufra reef. The reef was solid but looked impossible with the SE swell causing the end section to close down. The oldfartsurfers, The Dude and The Mexican decided they still had a lot to live for and decided not to take the long paddle out. The Mex said "its been 31 years since I last surfed the reef and you need the right equipment - balls". The crew then checked out Eggs, which was a bit smaller on account of the swell direction. Checking the surf in the rain the Mex came the grief in the mud, sliding into the cutting grass but despite the access difficulties, the crew decided the sea trials were on. Getting fully rubbered up for the 9 deg C air temp and 13 deg C water temp the boys found the path way to slippery for wettie boots and chaos rained as they all slid and caked themsleves in mud. The crew enjoyed some lovely 4' glassy take offs and the Young Dude, showing patience beyond his years, waited out the back to pick up the best of them. He had a grin from ear lobe to ear lobe and said "ooooh this board feels so good". "Sea trials a success" said The Dude, proud of both his creations.

The crew noticed that the swell was building and a couple of jet skis heading out to the reef so went back to check out what was happening. The following pictures tell the story. The reef turned on and so did Tessos which also got crowded. Surfed out the boys hit the bakery.

Lufra reef layout.

Lufra barrel 1.

Slotted at Lufra Reef.

Lufra barrel 2 - someone's in there!

Lufra barrel 3.

Imminent destruction on the lufra reef - yes there is someone in there!

Booger exits the reef.

Booger scraping the bottom of the barrel.

The Young Dude, The Dude and the other Dude contemplate mortality from the car park.

Tesso's turns on inside the reef for the more faint hearted.

Bottom turn at Tessos.

Empty Tesso's barrel.