What a week. This has to be a quick post because I have to now go to a school camp with my son.
Below is a precis of the shots I took on my snapper.
The waves were, on average, pretty bloody fantastic. The surfing, for the surfers, a mixture of frustration and discovery as finless is a whole new medium with two schools of thought. Trim and Spin. Derek has both mastered as his style revolves around instantly finding trim from a low forward stance, and using electrifying spins to swing into a subtle rail carve that generates speed. He would have to be the best surfer on the planet at this stuff. His first wave of the whole event saw everyone hooting in disbelief. He's also fucking mad... and I mean that in a caring way.
The whole event was fun madhouse, with organisation all over the place, all due to DH, much to the frustration of Michelle from the ACO, who's job it was to try to find order amidst the chaos.
To give you a taste I'll take you through the shots below
Number one is a poster put up by Wire, the key local, to advertise the concert put on for the locals. Balletic.
The shot is of Belinda Baggs at Martha's, a truly remarkable beachbreak. We didn't get it big, but what I saw was wild. Parked in a quiet corner up the bay was Wayne Lynch's trimaran, him having crossed the straight earlier in the week to catch a few quiet ones.
Belinda was great on the finless. The board she favouredwas shaped by her soon to be husband Dane Peterson. It featured a heavily fluted tail area, with a fine long edge on the back third.
The second shot, the best beachies we got, big A frames that really tested the crew.
The third shot, yesterday morning before I left, not all the boards, not everyone, as some were in the water, and DH had disappeared somewhere. The loooong board is Satu's, (our beautiful second violinist) a DH original that she rode while the rest surfed finless.
Then TC and the "Dragon" board.
He started with all the fins, and gradually removed them. To watch such a power style adapt was enlightening. The talent in that little body .... he adapted well, and rode most boards, right up to Tom Wegeners alaia, but I think Tom, when given a choice, would go for something that allowed him to give a bit of grunt to. It's just him.
The final shot is of one of the concerts put on for the locals. The background was painted for some other concert , a bit Tale of Two Cities it seemed, but entirely appropriate.
It was a magical evening, with a repertoire ranging from folk to electric Paganini...Hendrix on steroids as Richard busted out a black and blue carbon fibre space violin and let rip.
More pics later, my apologies as these are all taken on my digital snapper and so no decent surfing shots, but Sean Davey (mad bastard) was banging away and you'll see some rippers from him in due course.
As more come my way I'll post, and try to give some detail..ask me questions.
PS: The Maurice arrived late, I forgot to get a detail snap, but it featured a three fluted rail and twin concaves in the back third...it ended up being one of the favourites, with Richard claiming it as his own and wanting to buy it from Maurice.
A great result.
So many ideas generated by this...
Now I have to cut it.
