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".

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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.

Andy Irons & Kelly Slater

We don't usually make comment about the latest hot shot surfers or surfing fads in this blog, however, events this week have had such an impact on the surfing world that we have to give our respects to Andy Irons and Kelly Slater.
Its amazing how a bloke like Andy can ride the most dangerous waves in the world then get killed by a mosquito.  Sympathy and best wishes to his family.
Congratulations to Kelly on his 10th world title and for being both the youngest and oldest surfer to win a world title.  We bestow honerary oldfartsurfer status on Kelly for doing to stay stoked and for being the greatest athlete the world has ever seen.

The Old Farts Surf Co. Fabulous Tour of Coolangatta - Day 5

According to legend, Captain Cook named Mt Warning on a surf check in his gin palace yacht cruising the east coast back in 1770.  Cook is credited with the first surf boat trip and the discovery of a load of excellent breaks including Cloudy Bay, Adventure Bay, Botany Bay, Byron Bay and Teahupoʻo in Tahiti.  Cook was the victim of the first surf rage death when he dropped in on a local at Teahupo'o who promptly grabbed his spear and drove it through Cook in the first documented case of extreme surf localism.  It is thought that Australia's first sunrise every morning can be viewed from the summit of Mt Warning and it is therefore attributed with some pretty heavy mystical vibes by mung bean eaters and star treckies.  The fact of the matter is, however, that during the summer months, the first sunrise is seen from Macquarie Island, well south of Tasmania.

(Early morning view of Mt Warning from the bunk house)

Every morning of the Old Fart Surf Co. Fabulous Tour of Coolangatta the Dude woke up to a splendid view of Mt Warning.  The Dude is not prone to mystical mumbo jumbo, however, he felt himself strangely drawn to "The Mountain".  After day four of the Fabulous Tour, he said "enough, I can't bear it any more, I've got to climb that mountain."  "Well OK, said the Mex, "but lets go and have a surf first."  The LOOFS (Ladies of Oldfartsurfers) of course were up for a good hike instead of shopping.

(The Dude & the Goodwoman halfway up Mt Warning)

The boys started with a surf on the south side of the headland at Cabaritta while the LOOFS went for a stroll to the local instant coffee joint.  The NE wind swell combined with a small SE ground swell produced some interesting shifting peaks, and, if you were lucky enough could get a long lefthander down the beach.  After a time, the LOOFS returned from the coffee break and an expedition conceived.  A late lunch was held in a rustic restaurant at the base of the Mountain, so rustic in fact, that the table cloth had ingrained egg yoke along with other foodstuff.  The summit attempt was commenced at around 2 pm and the climbing party was immediately met with warning signs that the drive to the summit should not be commenced after midday or it wold turn dark before you got back.  "Damn Cook and his warning signs" said The Dude, "lets push on regardless".  So, off they went, stoically striving for the summit.  The first casualty was the First Lady of Mexico with a sore toe who turned back at the half way point.  The Dude, The Good Woman and the Mexican pushed on for the summit only to hit a dark wall at the 3/4 point in the impending darkness.  Common oldfartsurfersense got the better of goal achievement and the team turned back prior to the summit and went in search of the a hot bath and a good restaurant meal.  Mt Warning remained unconquered by the oldfartsurfers for another day.

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Old Farts Surf Co Fabulous Tour of Coolangatta Days 3 & 4

Day three of the Old Farts Surf Co Fabulous Tour of Coolangatta saw a run down the coast to Byron Bay so Bob the Bobsled could catch up with his roots.  The surf was a perfect 1' and uncrowded.  "We only heard rumours of the 12' shark that had chased a 15 year out of the water the day before after we got out of the surf" said the Mex.    "Plus I had a surf with Mal from Mal and the Longboarders and we had a pretty good rap".   While  the SOOFS (Ladies of Oldfartsurfers) enjoyed the sunshine and the boys caught up with Rockhead and his entourage.  The Dude then surfed his way north and found a peak of his own.  "The highlight of the day in Byron was the 6' monitor lizard outside the cafe where we had lunch." said the Dude.

(6' monitor lizard)

Day 4 of the Fabulous tour saw the Mex and the Dude head south again, this time they found a few fun waves at Cabaritta.  Unfortunately the boys left their Weber Afterburners at home as their creator, Greg Webber,  was in the surf and they would have loved to show Greg how a pair of olfartsurfers could handle the feisty machines.  

 (A local on a glassy Cabaritta zipper)

 (The Dude slices the top off a fat one at Cabaritta)

 (Mex rides a foam ball out of the tube)

It was a warm day at Cabaritta, so warm it drove the Goodwoman into the surf.  Not for long though as the chilly water proving too much for even the bravest without a wetsuit.

(The Dude and the Goodwoman frolic in the surf)

All in all it was a couple of fun days of surf south of the boarder.  The Mexican was in his element and assimilated pretty well, as did the Dude.  The Dude, however, was becoming restless, enchanted with the distant Mt Warning and was being drawn to the hinterland by its spell.  Would he sercombe to its spell and go bush instead of surfin?

Click here for the previous installment of the Old Farts Surf Co. Fabulous Tour of Coolangatta.

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The Dude & Bob the Bobsled

The Dude (OFS Original No. 12) had resisted riding The Mexican's (OFS Original No. 4) new board, Bob the Bobsled, for some time.  He wanted to wait until it had a ding or two as he didn't want to be accused of putting the first ding in Bob.  As luck of some sort would have it, Bob received his first injury, a nice dent and a gash under the nose.  Last Saturday the Dude finally got his opportunity.  Due to a recent big swell the sand had been moved around at the local beach which was 3'-4' and holding with some nice big fat peaks moving all the way to the shore.  There was an early spring blue sky and the air temperature got to about 20 deg. but the water was still needed boots (and gloves and hood if you like to stay warm).  The Dude caught a couple of nice ones and did his usual Dude style of ripping.  "It goes pretty good" was the Dude's conclusion.  He went on to say "it paddles fast".  Well what more evidence do you need?  Bob the Bobsled goes pretty good and paddles fast. 

The highlight of the session came from Young Dude (OFS Original No. 51) who managed to get out of bed for a barrel.  "I did a cutback then dropped into a barrel on the inside section and managed to get a 20m tube" said the Young Dude.  "Perhaps if I hadn't cut back I might have made it out" he lamented.  "He's got to learn from experience" said the Dude who witnessed the big event.

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Old Farts Surf Co Fabulous Tour of Coolangatta Days 1 & 2

Avid readers may be wondering what on earth has happened to the oldfartsurfers over the past month.  Well, to beat the winter blues, Old Farts Surf Co. Head Honcho, and holder of the Original Series Individually Numbered Tee Shirt No. 4, The Mexican, organised the inaugural Old Farts Surf Co. Fabulous Tour of Coolangatta.  The Mex managed to secure the use of his parent's time share unit as the team bunk house and cashed in his frequent flyer points to get there.  To complete the low budget tour he secured a rent a bomb from Coolangatta Airport (cash only in the car park and no questions asked).  "I was pretty impressed with the bunk house", said The Dude (Oldfartsurfer No. 12) on arrival, "it had running water, a mirror for the ladies, a kettle and a magnificent view of the superbank".  "The boys enjoyed an evening brew or two watching the evening surf from the balcony".

(Day 1, perfect onshore conditions for an uncrowded surf)

The Mex managed to organise a crowd free day for the first day in the surf.  "It was 2' and on shore and the only crew out were in a longboard competition, perfect conditions to get used to the place" said the Mex.  The Dude managed to get tangled up in the competition and copped a little verbal explanation on how to surf in a heat without being entered in the event.  "There were plenty of waves to go round and I wanted to put on a show for the spectators" said the Dude.

(Day 2 Action on the Superbank)

Day 2 of the Tour saw the surf clean up to a perfectly clean 1'.  The Dude and the Mex were now experienced locals and were immediately accepted by the crowd.  "Getting waves out there was easy as eating cherry pie" said the Dude, "all you had to do was catch the wave and ignore anyone who may already be on it."  Team waves seemed to be the way to surf the Superbank. "They are a very sharing community, you should tell all your friends to come and surf it" said the Mex.

(Day 2 action from the bunk house)

Stay tuned for the next installment of the Old Farts Surf Co. Fabulous Tour of Coolangatta where the team goes south and goes feral.
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