Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The Laziness of it all....

Thats right folks, Winter time is definately here with the highest temperature recorded in Nelson today a balmy 8 degrees !! The shortest day of the year fell yesterday so I guess that is one positive as the days will now finally start getting longer.
(above) Some Snap...

On the surf front its been a bit hit and mix the last couple of weeks with "Surf City" still staying true to form with the 6th successive swell in as many weeks with one remarkable friday (11th) surprising many with a solid 4-6ft swell with only half a dozen guys or so scoring some incredibly clean and pumping Snappers in the morning then alterior destinations in the afternoon as the southwest wind started to groom the swell some more.
The full functionability (made up word?) of Frosty's SUP was seen on the friday at Snappers as he paddlesticked himself into some bombs and Ive gotta hand it to the man, he was pulling some awesome early lines.. unfortunately for Frosty he later pulled his knee and ankle and had been walking like a visitor to brokeback mountain for the next few days after.
Russ Bruce layed down some solid turns as did Keni and Dylan Goulding and the evergreen Richard Barry took some awesome drops. Conal Parkes was smiling ear to ear as the boys couldnt believe the size , consistency and lack of crowd.
The next day still saw a solid 2-3ft swell running and the weekend warriors were out in force battling the 15 knot west southwest winds while Rachel Hills and Julian Clark scored some cheeky clean empty walls over the hill.

(above) Ben 'shocker' Robertson carving a Snappers left to death!!

Moving through to the weekend just gone and a chunky windswell lit up on saturday morning and Marco Edwards, Joe Leeper, myself and a few crew got to surf the novelty break "Ulu's2" as the tide was too low for the nearby break and later that afternoon Scotty Edwards, Keni, Joe and Andy " am I in your way?" Harrington scored some goodies out at the cut. Sunday morning saw a horrific nor/noreast wind spoiling the plans of many so the good old Glen played shelter and a fun desperado surf was had by many including a freshly shaven Andrew "Skip" Ridderhoff, ditching the George Clooney look for a more youthful appearance!!.,....later that arvo saw a heavy crew at small cut including Marty Clark, fresh from a near catastrophic disaster the day before making headlines in the local paper.... you see Marty and the Waka-Arma crew thought it would be an awesome idea to catch a 6 foot bomb behind the back of Haulashore Island but then they all got chucked out and had to be rescued by coastguard to which Marty added "its pretty cold without a wetsuit".. Rumour also of some great waves going down at Rabbit Island sunday evening,,,
(above) This can be wherever you want it to be!!

The charts are still looking super-active and it wont be long before the next swell is upon us,
Until then, keep warm ........

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Grommet says Thankyou.

-Jim Tyson here,
As you probably know myself Marco, Liam, Jason and Mark went down to kaikoura on queens birthday weekend for the Kaikoura coldwatersurfing competition. With the help from all the members of "boardriders" and John Hogey this was made ALOT easier. I'd like to thank Nelsonboardriders and the members of the crew who helped to pay our entry fee into the competition, Hogey who generously paid for a tank of fuel, Jason Hylklema who took his car and recieved a flat battery, and a speeding fine for his efforts, and lastly Mark, who as "camp/trip leader" organized the trip and allowed us to have and fun, relaxed trip.
(above) Marco Edwards -entering the thunderdome.

We all had a flippin' mint time from what I saw, we surfed the entire time with awesome, clean swell in the freeeeezing water and tried our hardest but seemed to get "schooled" from most of the competition (next time we'll get them though!) I myself definately had an awesome trip, we met some new people (30 american female tourists) and we have all definately improved our surfing skills.
I'd like to thank you on behalf of all of us who went to Kaikoura as out trip was made alot easier with your help, it was a great experience,

(above) -Liams frozen wetsuit.

As i'm unsure how to repay you guys I will let you drop in on me as many times as you'd like (well, in moderation) and will try to limit the number of groms out in the water by spreading stories of sharks and crazy locals at snappers.

Thanks A BUNCH
Jim Tyson

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Too much News!!!

So I dont even know where to begin this week other than with the title above which is exactly whats been going on over the last week or so!!.............
- The Kaikoura Cold Water Classic went down over the long weekend with about half a dozen or so Nelson crew entering making it by far the biggest entrance from Nelson surfers in any SISA comp to date. Grommets entering included Marco Edwards(cadets), Liam Buttner and Jim Tyson(juniors) , older crew included myself, Jason Hylkema Ben "Shocker" Robertson, Jeremy Pooley (opens) and Stefan Menzies (longboard)... Most of us got bundled out early in the fickle 2-3ft Meatworks conditions but Jeremy(flying the flag for kBR) made it through a couple of rounds into the Quarter finals with a particularly hard round 2 heat against an on-fire Hayden Brain (ChCh). Unfortunately bowing out in the Quarters it was still a much deserved accomplishment for the Moose-Man!!

Jim Tyson basically summed up the feeling amongst the rest of us claiming that "A super-natural power took over my body in the water and I surfed like a disabled jellyfish".


(above) Nelson Cheerleaders, Liam B, Gav Stones ,Jimmy Mack,Matt Fastmoney
Rory Dubstep, and Nick Bi-Gateway, lovin life!!!


Sunday Bloody Sunday- All the Nelson boys in Kaikoura all had an ear to the ground and all of us bailed back to "surf city" saturday arvo to await the forecast swell on sunday.
I turned up at Snappers on dawn Sunday morning and was greeted by glassy conditons and 4-5ft of grunty groundswell. I looked around in disbelief as there was not a soul to be seen and I quickly suited up and sat out the back in disbelief wondering if I was still immersed in some kind of weird surf dream. After 40 minutes or so I was joined by Fitzy , Scotty, Keni, Conal and Justin Fletcher, Jim and Neil tyson quickly followed then Jeremy and Shocker but strangely enough, tht was about it for the crowd. All day sunday the crowd never really grew beyond 7 0r 8 in the water and perhaps this was a combination of long weekend and winter temperatures. Perhaps it may have been because "The Glen", WAS ABSOLUTELY SMOKING.


(above) The Glen- making you whince....

Just add a final insult to injury, Neil and Jim Tyson paddled over and surfed absolutely perfect Rincon at 2-4ft all sunday afternoon.

Just another Manic Monday-
- and it actually was as dawn revealed a messy 4-8ft lumpy morning sick swell, Bruce Wilson turned up fresh from the punk gig the night before ,donning sprayed hair and eyeliner, in a somewhat bewildered state he started speaking in tongues before putting on his wettie and chuckling to himself as he skipped along the boulder bank. Brucey loves the solid days!!
Scotty, keni and a few boys tackled the hard work surf and Bill Evans rocked up with the camera making sure the boys committed themselves into the 6 foot plus sets.


(above) Unknown Soldier on a New Wave absolutely demolishing a Snappers Pad!!!

Elsewhere- Marco , Gavin, Matt and Rory hooked into some Cables along with Josh Hamilton and his sisters and brothers!!! (private joke). Later on Greymouth yokels Jonothan Harris and Haisley Masters joined myself, Jason Hylkema and Marco for a sand slapping session at Tuarawhati.

Thats all I can be bothered writing,,, enjoy your week!!


Surf Etiquette School

This spill below was sent to me by a local surfer who is just one of many guys getting a little bit disturbed buy the lack of respect going on in the water out at Snappers.
I thought rather than name him I would just share his letter and thoughts and by keeping him anonymous keeping everyone on their toes at the same time!!
(above) Marco Edwards and Jim Tyson in Kaikoura
-quote

"We gotta enforce some etiquette in the surf, especially at snappers as it's getting more popular and often there's 30 or more surfers in the water there. The rules of surfing have been around for ages, but there's also etiquette in the surf, which is sometimes missing out there, so here's what I reckon. "

Rights and Etiquette.
1. The surfer inside gets the wave, but this is where etiquette comes in. If he has just paddled out, then the guy thats been waiting should get it, unless the guy paddling out paddles far enough away so that its considered he's not snaking the guy thats been waiting - i.e he's going for the left-handers instead. Even though there's no measuring tape for that distance, you know if your doing it - so don't be a prick. If both guys start paddling for it, the etiquette rules apply, so don't be surprised if you get dropped in on.

2. No blocking. If a surfer is paddling for a wave, the guy inside who is directly in his line should not paddle for the same wave and try and 'block' him out. This is otherwise know as snaking, even if he 'thinks' the guy paddling for it is not going to make it.

3. If a surfer is riding a wave and another is inside the zone and paddling out, sometimes you know if you are potentially in line for a collision. PADDLE INSIDE AND TAKE ONE ON THE HEAD. ALSO MAKE IT OBVIOUS YOU ARE PADDLING INSIDE FOR HIM / HER so they can see you doing it and can continue on their line. Don't try and get around before he gets to you - you won't make it and can potentially make them lose momentum to make a section.


4. For those who prefer to stay and catch waves inside thats fine, as long as you recognise where you are in relation to those waiting out the back for the set waves, so be prepared to move out of the way in time so that it provides a clearway for those guys. It sux when you catch one out the back then lose momentum because you have to straight line it in order to avoid some bastard on the inside thats right on your line. In hawaii you'll just get run over.

5. Unless its clear that someone is not going to make either the drop, or make a section, do not drop in. Sometimes its hard to know, but if in doubt, don't do it. Especially when the guy is clearly already surfing the wave.

Sometimes accidents are unavoidable and you can't do much about that, but If you want to go out and not listen to this advice and are seen to be consistently breaking any of the general rules of etiquette, don't be surprised if you get a punch in the face.
Cheers.from an anonymous but definately someone you dont wanna mess with surfer.....

May Photo Comp Winner!!!


Congratulations to Shaun Winter for this action packed shot of himself pulling a kickflip over a grate!! Shaun is the winner of the Nelsonboardriders/Cheapskates "photo of the month" comp.
Picking up a free ELECTRIC T_SHIRT!

To be in the running for this months free t-shirt just read the "photo comp" link for terms and details and happy snapping!!!!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

ATTENTION: Stolen Surfing Gear

Every Nelson surfer who reads this spread the message and we will get these low-lifes....

-Hi Guys, last night some bastards broke the lock off my van tailgate and stole all my surfing gear: board and bag, wetsuits, fins, helmets - everything. Plus CDs and other precious things that I had left in there. Right outside the house. So I guess Robbie and I wont be doing any surfing for a while now. Unbelievable. Can you please publish this on the site Mark and both of you pass it around everyone? That would be great. My board is Mike Psillakis (Manly, Sydney) 6'4" thruster with a green deck and green tailpatch. It has the maker`s name on it and also 'For Mike' written down the stringer. There wont be another one like it. Black boardbag. E Bomb Ripcurl winter wetsuit, 2mm summersuit, Two pairs of black and yellow (med) and black and orange (small) Viper fins, two pairs of orange Da Fins, a 3mm summersuit, a 3mm shorty, two Gath helmets, black and grey.
Many Thanks,
- Mike Baker

Just When you thought it was over someone grabs you by the cucumber 🥒

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