NEW BOARD DAY PART 2
7-16-08
By Corky Carroll

Last week I was in the middle of telling you about my little re-unitement with the excitement of getting a new surfboard. It is one of those really cool experiences that I had seemed to have become jaded to after having hundreds of boards over the past fifty plus years that I have been surfing. I had gone a couple of years without getting any new boards. That and the fact that I have decided that I need to enjoy all of the facets of this last phase of my surf safari through life and appreciate every little sweet experience probably stimulated my excitement cells and boosted the elation of the moment when this new little vessel of happiness showed up.

Anyway, to continue with the story. I spent considerable time last night messing around getting the fins in what I thought was the right position. This is my first “quad.” That, for those of you non-surfers, is a board with four fins.
I had gone with what I had thought seemed to be the right configuration. I also had meticulously put a perfect wax job on it. Waxing a new surfboard correctly is an art form and I know exactly how to do it. A good solid first wax job doesn’t need to take forever but it should be done carefully and evenly. Then I unwrapped and stretched out the new leash my pal Bob Horner had brought me. He also did me the favor of bringing me the board. You never want to just stick a new leash on a board without stretching it out first. They come coiled up and not stretching out the kinks is just asking it to wrap itself around your feet. I can attest to a zillion very unflattering and ugly face plants for this very reason.

Finally I was content that the newie was all set up and ready to ride this morning. As I was getting ready to crash for the night I checked my email one last time, as I normally do. I get a lot of mail so I normally check it a few times a day. I was happy to see an email from Lynn Schell, the shaper who made the new board. When I opened it I saw that he had included some photos of the recommended fin set ups for the board. Unfortunately none of these were the way I had done it. In fact, my way was exactly the opposite of the way that it was supposed to work. So much for years of knowledge. An hour later I had it redone like the photos showed and went to sleep with dreams of incredible wave shredding going on featuring myself and this new board.

That brings me to this morning. I got up very early and made some coffee and wrote last week’s column while I was waiting for it to get light enough to paddle out. After finishing that and hitting the send button I was ready for the big moment.

The waves were pretty good today. Overhead and not crowded at all. An excellent day to try a new board. When I was paddling out I was a bit apprehensive, as it didn’t float as well as my little twin fins or paddle as well. But it wasn’t too bad so I clung to a positive attitude. Also it is extremely light. I got into position in the line up just as a good set arrived.

First wave went like this: pulled off a late takeoff into a nice bowl section…careful bottom turn giving me more acceleration than I anticipated putting me at speed and going high off the top in the middle of a long section…decent floater landing just behind the whitewater with enough speed to power around and back up into the pocket for a short cover up…followed by a bit too confident of a roundhouse cutback that landed me on my butt. Interesting.

Three go outs and a lot of surfing hours later my arms are dead and I am done for the day. Stoked to have added a new dimension into my surfboard quiver. I probably will still ride my twinies most of the time but on the right day this newie will be an excellent choice. It’s good to know that given the right circumstances it’s still possible for an old cow to carve a few new moooooves.

THE SURF FAME GAME
The Wave ~ 7-16-08
By Corky Carroll

On Friday, July 25 the SURFERS HALL OF FAME will induct 4 new members into its elite fold. This year the nod goes to big wave riders Mike Parsons and Brad Gerlach, surf forecaster and Huntington Beach local Sean Collins plus the legendary Australian surf rocking Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew. The ceremony will start at 10 A.M. and is held at the Hall of Fame area in front of Huntington Surf ‘n Sport on the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street. Just look for the big statue of Duke Kahanamoku and you are there.

The Surfers’ Hall of Fame inductees are selected by a committee of business owners, surfers and surf industry professionals based on contribution, dedication, integrity and revolution to the sport of surfing. The induction ceremony is open to the public, free-of-charge. This is a very cool event and one that you will not want to miss.

Mike Parsons is a true modern big wave pioneer. He, along with fellow inductee Brad Gerlach were the dudes who did the original quest on Cortes Bank in 1991. That year he won the biggest wave of the year award for a 66-foot wave during that session. Gerlach upped that the next year in Mexico with a 68 footer and then Parsons came back later with a 70 footer. These guys are true modern big waves riders in the fact that they don’t just paddle out there when it look’s big and go for it. The have all the mod stuff like precise forecasting well ahead of time.

That is where Sean Collins comes into the picture and his SURFLINE wavecasting Internet site. Wanna know how its gonna be next Tuesday in Chili? Log onto Surfline.com and you can find out. There probably is a webcam so you can check it out live. These guys don’t just go blind, it’s a well planned out and full teamed affair complete with boats, jet skis, helicopters and film crews.

On the other hand we have Rabbit Bartholomew. This dude DID just paddle out there and do it. Rabbit is one of the real colorful guys in the sport and has been since he burst onto the scene, I believe the term at the time was “busting down the door”, in the mid 1970’s. He, along with fellow Australians Peter Townend and Ian Cairns, made a more than large splash on the surfing scene and in particular the North Shore of Hawaii during that time. Rabbit is a great surfer and takes with him a flamboyant and stoked attitude with him anywhere he goes. This dude is the real deal through and through.

The SURFERS HALL OF FAME is the brainchild of Huntington Surf ‘n Sport owner and longtime Huntington Beach surf local Arron Pai. He patterned the Hall of Fame after that famous theater in Hollywood where they put the hands and feet print of movie starts in the concrete. The list of former inductees is a surfing who’s who of what went down. From Andy Irons to Fredia Zamba, note the A to Z thing there (how do I get so clever? ), they are all there. If you go way in the back and lift up the trash can you can even find my little spot. It’s probably gotten a bit grown over as I have not been doing my normal weekly cleaning lately.

I joke about this stuff a lot but actually I am really proud to be in the Hall of Fame. There is one comment that I sort of want to make and don’t want to make at the same time. I think that this is a real class thing and done amazingly right by the boys at HSS so I do not want to say anything that might lead anybody to think anything else. I do however have an opinion, and I think it is one that is shared by others in the surfing community. It seems like the selection committee is picking some that are a bit too “now” and overlooking some from the past that have deserved this for a long time. One who comes to mind is George Downing and another is Joey Cabel. This is NOT to say that everyone inducted is not deserving. They all have been. But, at least in my stupid little opinion, this honor should be bestowed on those who have completed their careers like in other sport Hall of Fames. This year the picks are all totally deserving and I agree with them completely and also commend Arron Pai and everyone at HSS for doing this and doing it so well over the years.