The Old Farts Surf Co. Fabulous Tour of Coolangatta - Day 6

The Dude (Oldfartsurfer No. 12) and Mexican (Oldfartsurfer No. 4) jumped out of bed at first light to check the surf, despite tired muscles from extensive tour surfing and sore heads, from extensive tour beer research.  (Of course there were to be no secrets on this tour, no "what happens on tour stays on tour", as the boys were accompanied by the good ladies, keeping a lid wild oldfartsurfer behaviour.)  When the sun finally rose over the superbank on the sixth and final day of the Old Farts Surf Co. Fabulous Tour of Coolangatta it revealed clean glassy 1' swell  peeling perfectly around the point.  The Mexican was tempted to grab Bob the Bobsled and slip out before the Saturday crowd arrived.  "I thought there might be a wave with enough grunt to push me and Bob along" said Mex, "but the Dude was doubtful and suggested there might  be more grunt if we went back to bed for a while".

(Sunrise on Day 6, perfect glassy 1' superbank)

After a bit more of a nap, the oldfartsurfers and the good ladies woke to a leisurely breakfast and a bit of chat.  The oldfartsurfers were distracted and couldn't keep their eyes off the superbank in case the swell suddenly jacked up. A rise in the swell wasn't predicted so it was just wishful thinking.

(Glassy conditions on the inside section of the superbank)

After breakfast the team packed up and put their bags in storage.  Of course boardies were put on top, just in case that swell did rise.  Then the team went for a leisurely walk around to Duranbah, on the State border with NSW at Tweed Heads.

(Saturday morning crowd gathers at the superbank)

On the walk around to Duranbah there was plenty of action on the superbank.  "There were some great team waves with about six surfers on each wave"  said the Dude,  "it was pretty amazing for such small waves, a testament to the quality of the wave."

(A six surfer team wave at the superbank)

Once the team reached Duranbah they stopped for a latte' in a lovely cafe' on the top of the hill.  The Cafe' had an art gallery out the back so a full morning's entertainment was complete with a browse of the artwork.  We were pretty pleased with this little find" said the Mex, "I think it was the high point of the tour for the Good Ladies, and their last memory of the Tour was what made if so fabulous".

(This kid scores one to himself)

The lady running the gallery was keen to leave the rat race of Coolangatta and the Gold Coast for the secret island home of the oldfartsufers.  The Mex filled her in on some good spots as long as she kept it a secret from the hordes.  "Made me appreciate how good we have it at home" said Mex, "We can still get six on a wave on a good day, even though we have less people and its really cold this time of year, its fantastic, you have to leave home to appreciate how good it is". 

(The kid gets slotted, while predators on the shoulder wait for him to fall)

"We'll have to do some more research for the next Old Farts Surf Co. Tour" said the Dude as he and the Good Woman jumped on the plane and left the Mex and the Good Lady to find Spot.

(Two for the price of one, tandem ladies surfing on the wave of the day)

(Duranbah, had enough grunt to support about 10 surfers on one wave)

Click here to read the previous installment of the Old Farts Surf Co. Fabulous Tour of Coolangatta.
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Spot, Moose's Mum and the Moose

Never being a man to shy away from a challenge, Spot (Oldfartsurfer No. 6) left the southern hemisphere at the end of November so he could catch the massive winter swells on the West Coast of Canada.  "I get so bored surfing in warm water" said Spot, "I need the danger of losing whole limbs to frost bite or killer whales, and Canada has all that thrill for me".  Of course his sojourn to the arctic north has nothing to do with catching up with Canadian upstart Moose (Oldfartsurfer No. 5).  Moose, of course, has promised to look after Spot and is trying to keep him away from Vancouver Island's big wave spots.  She has even tried distracting him by introducing him to the sport of curling.  "Spot thought he was going to be riding the curl" said Moose laughing, "but instead he found himself hurling 100kg lumps of granite across an ice rink".  Spot was positive about it saying "at least it help me bulk up the muscles for when I hit those big slabs off the coast"

(Moose teaching Spot how to ride the curl)

In order to distract Spot from his biggest rival, Kelly Slater, Moose's Mum (Oldfartsurfer No. 33), took spot on an expedition into the Rockies to toughen him up and prepare him for his big wave destiny.

(Spot sliding into some mountainous waves in the Rockies)

"I thought I could get him sliding into some mountain waves to get him acclimatised to the temperature before he hit the big liquid waves of the North Pacific" said Mouse's Mum.  "We also thought we could distract him from chasing Moose during the day" she said.  The distraction was only short lived, however, and Spot, with all the skill of an experienced hunter, managed to track down a real Moose.  "A poor substitute for a killer whale" said Spot, "but it still gave me that buzz from the potential of losing a limb when I snowboarded between its legs".

(The real moose Spot tracked down in the Rockies)

The last reports of Spot, Moose's Mum and the Moose were that they were doing altitude training in board shorts and tee-shirts on the highest peaks of the Rockies.  The Old Farts Surf Co. is sponsoring the training session by providing gingernut snap biscuits and good coffee.

Click here for the previous installment of Spot's adventures in Canada.

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Moose's Mum & Kelly Slater

When Canadian upstart, Moose, spent a couple of months on an island off the south coast of Australia last Christmas getting secret surf refinement lessons from the mastersurfinstructor, The Mexican, she kept it a secret to avoid being mobbed by adoring fans.  "Can you imagine if the word got out", said the Mex, "the beach would have been swarming with bodies and the island would have slipped off the continental shelf into the Southern Ocean."

(Moose receiving instruction on the finer points of surfing from The Mexican)

Fortunately, word of Moose's secret training sessions didn't get out until after she had left the island.  Apparently one of Moose's biggest fans is 10 time world champion and the greatest athlete who ever lived, Kelly Slater.  Moose's mum has sent the Mexican a Canadian surfing magazine with an advert showing the great man surfing on the secret island on the back cover, soon after Moose had left the island.

(Kelly Slater on the back cover of a Candian surf magazine)

Rumour has it that the great man begged his sponsors to place the advert in the hope of getting noticed by Moose, who it is believed is now back in Canada.  Kelly has been a fan since first reading the Oldfartsurfer's stories of her surfing prowess and exploits south of the equator last summer.  Apparently, he had private investigators chase down her location and when he found out he made the trip south to see if he could impress.  Photographic evidence of Slater on the island appeared on the front cover of Australian Surfing Life stating the date it was taken as 20th March.  Unfortunately for Kelly, Moose had already left the island by this date.

(Slater on 20th March)

"The photo on the Canadian back cover and the Australian front cover are identical" said Moose's mum, "the placement of the photo in both magazines is an obvious ploy by Kelly to get my daughter's attention".   The Mexican defended Slater's actions saying " he's not stalking her or anything, he's just a big fan".  Kelly was pretty cool getting towed into some massive waves and he is quoted as saying "towing good waves is surfing's equivalent to a hot woman feeding your grapes".   "We're still analysing that" said the Mex, "we are not sure if he means surfing without towing is the equivalent of eating grapes or the equivalent of a hot woman".  Either way, as the Dude would say "we need to do more research".

Click here for the previous installment of the Moose documentaries.

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Home for Oldfartsurfers Relocating

You may have noticed that the old web site for the Old Farts Surf Co. has disappeared and that we have a "splash page" site in its place.  This is because we are upgrading the old template based site, which didn't look so good, and replaceing it with a professionally designed site.  We have also, we have decided to let our old host go and will be using a new host at considerable cost savings.
The new site is being designed and prepared by Billy Foran at MWPR who keeps telling the Oldfartsurfer this is going to be the best surfing web site anyone has ever seen.  We look forward to it getting up in the next couple of weeks.