Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Merry Christmas

Seasons Greetings everyone, A big thanks to all club members who have helped out through the year, through rain, hail and shine and helped keep the "surf city" dream alive.
At the end of the day its all about having fun and thats exactly what we do.
Theres no point going through life being all angry and claiming to be the local of everywhere now is there!
Theres always another wave, another day, and thats what keeps us coming back.

Whatever your plans this festive season be it a trip down the coasts or just hanging in Nelson make sure to put a smile on your dial. We look forward to seeing friends from the past appearing back on our shores ( yes Brett that means you ) and we look forward to surfing in less to no rubber. Just to kick things off it looks like Huey is throwing some Cyclonic action straight up into our holidays and the frothing has already begun.

Look forward to the New Year and from myself personally thanks for tuning in.
Loving it or hating it a year average of 70 hits per day aint' bad.
A last thank you to John at Hogeys for his ongoing club support.

Peace Haóles

Thursday, December 8, 2011

"Quotes" of the year.

As we head into the festive season lets look back on some of the lighter sides of
Surf city life with these undeniable quotes of the year.

1: "Isnt it amazing how the older you get, the more attractive older women become"..- by anonymous.

2: "I just like the suggestion that I might be stoned" - anonymous

3: " Fuck Slater, Imagine me out there !!!" - Gary "Kelly" Miller

4: "Oh wow this board is a lot like my Webber" - Richie "Vass" Barry

5: " Is that what everyone is saying?? " - Russ Bruce ,

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Club Comp a wet success...Full Story


Despite the inclement weather a hardy crew pressed on through piss-sisting rain on Sunday and despite a few late withdrawals everyone present managed to enjoy themselves in weather only really enjoyed by Ducks and Surfers in that order.
The call was made on thursday night to run on Sunday rain hail or shine so it was suprising to see the amount of late withdrawals with people texting from the warmth of their beds asking "whats happening"... Anyhow, bitching aside the day went off without a hitch once again and the hardy crew reaped the rewards of a long day at the bank.
Jackson Gregory's mum Jeanne never let the groms down constantly arriving throughout the day with comfort tools including hot water bottles, Hot drinks and Toasties for this effort she even recieved a spot prize! A makeshift Cadet heat was held after 4 guys under 16 turned up from Blenheim and although the boys struggled in the lineup they were all stoked at their first introduction to contest surfing.

The mornings waves were an inconsistent 1-2ft but by the turn of the tide the swell started to jack around midday and the wind dropped leaving the finals to be contested in lumpy but glassy 2-4ft with one Bomb set coming through in the open final destroying all competitors and a few hundred muttonbirds left everyone a little spooked also.

Unfortuneately Olin Pilchers BBQ never got to be lit due to the weather and a makeshift presentation was held in the carpark afterwards. A massive thanks to Hogey from hogeys Surf and Miff and Alina from R&R along with all those who helped on the day.......You Know Who You Are!!!!!


(above): Blenheim Boardrider Levil Maxwell(right) and Nelson's own Geoff Noble making light of the dull condtions in the judging booth on sunday.

Summer Schnapper Classic Results

Longboard: 1st Geoff Noble (Nel)
2nd Levi Maxwell (Blen)
3rd Jackson Gregory (Nel)
4th Wesley Smith (Nel)

Masters35+ : 1st Richard Norton (Blen)
2nd Hamish Simpson (Nel)
3rd Paulo Devia (Nel)
4th Barry Kingston (Nel)

Open: 1st: Mark Nichols (Nel)
2nd: Richard Norton (Blen)
3rd: Mike Lindstrom (Blen)
4th: Levi Maxwell (Blen)

Junior U20: 1st: Mike Lindstrom (Blen)
2nd: Jackson Gregory (Nel)
3rd: Marco Edwards (Nel)
4th: Ash O Donnell (Ble


Friday, November 11, 2011

Counting Down

Thats right, the onset of summer is upon us with soaring daytime temperatures and unfortunately this generally means a drop in consistency surf-wise as the low pressure systems travelling through the Tasman Sea tend to get herded further south by warmer land conditions.
However all is not lost with a good Norwest blast looking to line us up later in the week.

We are still looking at holding another club comp before the year is out and the charts are being hen pecked at everyday waiting for the planets to align with a weekend swell so keep an eye out for a call to be made within a week out, this time will most likely see a bigger event with sponsors willing to jump in at all angles including R&R Sport who have already offered up big money value prizes along with ever faithful Hogeys Surf.
Learning to surf? Want to learn to surf? Also this summer will see a couple of "fun" days held at either Tahunanui and/or Rabbbit Island with myself and Cindy Mosey, much like the Mothers Day event earlier in the year so if you wanna give it a crack or just improve yor confidence in the water then keep an eye out for that too.

Thats about it for me.
Pray for waves!!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Around the Grounds!!

Hey all whats been happening? A lot of busy-ness and excitement going on round surf city at the moment with all sorts of mad stuff going on.
Weve had a couple of minor one day swells to keep our lips wet and the water is warming up super fast so we are starting to enjoy our time in the water more now.(above): Original Nelson Boardriders circa '67

Conal and Ana Parkes are soon to return to our shores after a 6 month sojourn through South America with Conal insisting that even when Puerto Econdido was 6-8ft he still craved the smell of the poo ponds, Stevo Devoe's smile and some hearty Snappers action.
Bruce Wilson snuck off to Indo for a fortnight scoring 10ft Balian and the like but hey he missed out on a couple of 3ft windswell's back here so his loss.
Jeremy Pooley is back in the water after a nasty boat accident saw him nearly become craybait, a couple of new sticks under his belt to boot most likely has him rabid with froth.
(above): Bruce dialing up some Balian..
The Cape Classic went down in Westport over the Labour Weekend also with Sam Dunfoy from Kaikoura taking it out, myself the only entrant from Nelson was a bit dissapointing especially seeing as the Blenheim crew sent a 5 strong team, but well I guess pushing your surfing is not everyones piece of cake.
Theres nothing more humbling and than getting your ass kicked!!! and you always come back stronger!!(above): A picture paints a thousand words...
(above): Just up the road from the Westport Comp zone the emptiness was sickening.
Whats that I hear you say?? What Club?? Well next weekend we look set to finally have another get-together and invites to the event location will be emailed early in the week. Thats right a club get-together next weekend...most likely on the Saturday.
Any of you who are interested in joining a "core" club committee other than myself and "The Treasurer" could you please do so via email asap.
(above): More terrible conditions for Bruce whilst in Indo.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Surfs up.....Sometimes.....

(above): Jackson Gregory, now thats how you ride a Longboard.

Here comes the weekend and although no waves forecast for it the water is warming up with the air temp and the forecasts look good again.
A quick reminder that the 21st Cape Classic will be held next weekend with plenty of people heading and even "eloping" to that one. Entry forms available via this link
http://www.surfingnz.co.nz/entry_forms.htmhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
(above): Bruce Wilson enjoying his new Barron...Aboriginal Spray...

.. After the 4 day feast of waves last week we finally have some photos coming in so if you would like a copy of the 3 sessions from monday and tuesday last week... get in touch via contact page.
What else is happening,,,,?? Well ummmm the Nelson City Council has revoked its decision to build a skatepark at Stoke so lets see everyone band together to try get it built down at Tahunanui Beach in place of the old ramp.,...which no longer exists.
(above): Andy Riley wackin it...

Rumour Mill
An email from Spud Brown informs us that he is still alive and well residing in Christchurch and terrorising Sumner,,,Tim Gemmell shaped some great boards in his carpentry course so hopefully we see them in the water before he heads to France...CHristchurch import Tristan Yarrell has also bailed to head overseas to be with his wife in Brazil...Graeme Bird scoffs at shoulder pain to surf epic Snappers ...mysto Surfer Scott Edwards makes his first appearance in the water in 3months and even more mysteriously blows up spraying random punters in the face. .. Not to be outdone D.J comes out of the woodwork for his first surf in 10 years,,,,,, stranger than fiction I know but this is Nelson after all....
...oh and Frosty..... well, where is he?? Last seen pouring buckets of whitebait down his waders somewhere deep west.......
(above): D.J. -First surf in 10 years... not bad young son !!!!!
(above): Neil Tyson, forever young.
Check the photos page for some of the better shots from Bill and Tristan and keep checking it cause I have to decipher them from 5000 photos which is no easy task be assured..
(above):Blenheim Amper Hamish Simpson exposing finnage.
(above): Scott Edwards doing what he does best .......

Remember. for 5000 photos drop me a line and a disc..... thanks again.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Got Rain, Got Swell?


A severe shortage of the above mentioned looks set to end as a couple of systems line themselves up ready to attack the Nelson region over the coming few days.
We should see some rain by afternoon on Saturday and keep your eye on the prize in the wave department too. Local crew have been travelling though with Bruce Wilson scoring Awatere earlier in the week and Keni "Radeke Samo" Duke hitting up Kaikoura whilst Gary Miller has bascially made Kaiks his second home.

A quick heads up for Labour Weekend with the 21st Cape Classic being held in Westport as with most 21st's on the coast Im sure this ones gonna be a cracker! The weekend falls early this year round about the 22nd to 24th which is probably about the same time the Wallabies will be taking the world cup back home on the plane with them.

Have a great weekend.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Blenheim Club Comp Held at Kekarangu!!


A little bit too much south in the swell forced the Blenheim Boardriders club comp (Nelson Boardriders Invitational) to be held a little further south at Kekarangu on Saturday where clean 2-4ft righthand runners were on offer. A perfect location for a fun competition and land base lounging the day was a complete success. Only 3 of us Nelson-ites managed to pull finger and head over but we were all sucessful reaching semi and finals in some divisions.
The talent pool was surprisingly high and there was some amazing surfing going down. Tristan Yarrell formerly of Christchurch and Blenheim's own Rich Norton really pushing the envelope.
(above): Marco Edwards Backhand Hack
(above): Tristan Yarrell laying it on.

As the day wore on a hideous Northerly devil wind rapidly deteriorated conditions but fortunately most of the business had already been done.
A big thankyou to Blenheim Boardriders for the invite and sponsores including Hogeys Surf with 100bucks worth of vouchers as Spot Prizes meaning you didnt have to be Kelly Slater to come away with something as well as the Dive Shop and Dirty Harry's surf shop in Picton.
Surfing is quite often an anti-social event and these loosely called "competitions" are just a great way to get everyone together and hang out at the beach is what we all love to do.
Anyone interested in upcoming events contact Nelson or Blenheim Boardriders and someone will point you in the right direction.
Thanks again,
(above): Bryan Bailey
Results:
Open:
1st Mark Nichols (Nel)
2nd Rich Norton (Blen)
3rd Tristan Yarrell (ChCh/Blen)
4th Adam Nicolle (Blen)

Juniors:
1st Mike "Ratty" Mike Lindstrom (Blen)
2nd Vaughn smith (Blen)
3rd Marco Edwards (Nel)
4th Brayden O'Donnell
(Nel)
(above): Leif Christenson, on his way to making semi's in his first ever event.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Finally Some Waves!!

(above): Dougie Nickolaison Piggin it hard.

After a long wait somwhere around the nine week mark, we were greeted with a solid swell late weekend and into Monday and even some leftovers today being Tuesday.
Sunday mroning had everyone scratching their heads wondering where the heck the waves were with most forecast models calling 3metres in the bay, but up until late morning it was virtually flat. As midday hit so did the swell and it picked up rapidly with Cable Bay being the pick of the spots late sunday evening with favourable winds and solid 6foot sets and a lucky crew of six scoring the goods. Surfers included Bruce Wilson, Glen Richardson, Mike lindstrom and Ash O Donnell. Sunday morning saw a lucky few scoring more Cables whilst the midday sunday sesh saw Snappers surfed by the local Snap crew.
(above):Emptiness is solitude.

The Blenheim/Nelson Boardriders club comp is on standby once again for this weekend although conditions at this stage look marginal but stay tuned for a call probably on thursday.
The Blenheim/Nelson Boardriders club comp is on standby once again for this weekend although conditions at this stage look marginal but stay tuned for a call probably on thursday.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Froth-Dogs Predictions.....


Froth-Dog senses tingling, salivational and rabid frothing expected.
The drought is Broken.... Froth-Dog is free....." Arrrooooooooooooooooww"

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Blenheim Comp Postponed.

Due to lack of swell the Blenheim Comp has been moved to the follwing weekend waves permitting.Sept 16-17th.
Hang in there.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Brokeback Bar.

Check out these shots proving that you can always find a wave in Nelson out on "Broke-back Bar".....here we see Raefe murray, Mike Frost and Wazz Mitchell having a fun SUP session but remember and keep in the back of your mind that sometimes, just sometimes.... It gets mighty lonely out on that bar......


Monday, August 29, 2011

There is No Surf in Nelson.


The truth is finally out. After convincing ourselves over the past decade that there was actually rideable waves in Nelson the delusion has worn off. There actually isnt any surf in Nelson and this whole Nelson Boardriders Club and website has all been a hoax which began on an April Fools Day about 6 years ago. Many thanks must go to the photographers or "photo-shoppers" as we should more correctly name them for helping us create this false surfing community. A special thanks would go to Hogey at Hogey's surf for showing us that you really do not need to go surfing to maintain that wholesome healthy Surf Image. It truly is a great feeling parading around with boards on your roof knowing that you dont actully have to dip your toes in that oh so icy cold water.Anyhow it has been an amazing enjoyment running the dream of a utopian surf city and from now on its all paddlestick boards and kite-thingy's.
Dont say you werent warned......

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Blenheim Boardriders Club Comp Invite.


Thats right, the Blenheim Boardriders Club have organized to hold a club comp on September 10th OR 11th (sat/sun)in Blenheim, location depending but it will be in the Blenheim area and all Nelson Boardriders Club Members are invited to compete.Mike "Ratty" lindstrom is just doing the finishing touches on entry forms and they will be made available shortly. This will be a classic inter-club comp with no multi million dollar cash prizes or anything but more a chance for our two clubs to mingle and we hope to return the favour here in Nelson late September/early October with another Nelson Club Comp.
Stay tuned and many thanks to the Blenheim crew for the invite.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

WARNING: Longest Nelson Flat Spell Imminent.

If memory serves me correct we are on the verge of the longest run of flat days in this so called surf city in the past decade. Sure there may have been a half a foot groundy but Ive seen half foot groundys at Lake Rotoiti.
The west coast looks amazing this weekend and some left0vers out east but...oh so cold!! Either way, get outta' town cause they're aint jack happening here!!!!

ENjoy.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

HoGEYS NEW STORE

Hogeys New Store opens this weekend. with a sneak preview friday evening and all Nelson Boardrider members are invited to join in the fun with $1000's of bucks worth of spot prizes free drinks and the like!! See you there!!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

All is Calm.


In Nelson that is...... a painfully drawn out flat spell has once again left everyone wondering if the last 3 months were just a dream and infact Nelson really is a terrible place for a surfer to live. "Theres no surf in Nelson". The phrase thats like a cheese grater to the eardrum. We all know it, sometimes we disclaim it yet quite often it is true.
I have thought of a way to get through this flatness though and that is to write a list of why its good that there hasnt been any surf lately....

1: It gives us time to appreciate when we do have waves.

2: It gives us time to actually do some work so we can afford petrol,surfboards
and wetsuits to actually go surfing.

3: It brings peace in our relationships at home.

4: The water is probably below 10deg now so who wants to go in the water anyway..

5: Having been so long in between waves we can all appreciate the thrill of
learning to surf all over again.........ahem.

Im sure that the above list has most likely failed to lift your miserable surf starved spirits but as we all know in Nelson, supreme surf city...
.......Its looking good later in the week !!!

Stick it out,

Saturday, July 30, 2011

NEXT DECADE

A video summation of the trip to Westport in early July, combining Buller and Nelson Boardriders together.... sit back and enjoy.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Best Winter Ever?

Well its probably about time to raise the above mentioned question and I will back up with a poll acrosss the page but realistically we have been riding on the crest of the most consistent autumn/winter in recent memory...(above): Paddling out to empty mid-morning Snappers, you cant beat that feeling.
. Now unless my memory is relatively short I have never in my 9 years of Nelson residence seen such consistency in surf in Tasman Bay. It all began late April and continued to pump throughout May at least 3-4days a week with La Nina sub-troppo low after low forming in the North Tasman sea, May also going down in the history books as the wettest on record in NZ. Lets face it, we barely managed 2 days in a row without rain and the ground is still ridiculously sodden. That brings me to the next point, about 2 weeks ago I thought our lucky run was at an end but then a "super-system" reared its snow saturated head and bellowed down 7-9metre swells out west with enough raw power to wrap its way into Tasman Bay and like I said, just when you thought it was over ...Tasman Bay went on a 9 day straight swell bender....

(above) more emptiness.
Its been an awesome run and for those of you who have been out of town the whole time YES , you have missed what is turning out to be the best winter ever.
For example the shots in the post were takin on the 7th day of last weeks bender and there were no more than 4 guys in the water all day because lets face it,,, we're all just a little bit sick of this surfing thing anyway!!!
Surf City, Nelson. Its a way of life and really be honest.... you wouldnt wanna be anywhere else.....(above): eternal grommet Bill evans the master at work.


Photos courtesy of Mitsu-San~~

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Wipeout Sequence of the Year???

Just in the process of uploading a heap of photos to the much neglected "photos"page so have a click over there and check out possibly wipeout of the year...

Scholastic Photos.

(above): Joe Leeper hiding from the glare of the camera lens.
Just a selection of photos from the boys scholastic trip to Westport a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to Andy Lukey for these shots.
(above): Marco Edwards in his heat with a quick 1-2 combo!


(above): Joe Leeper flying high.

Monday, July 11, 2011

R.I.P Andy Harrington 24/6/1980 - 10/7/2011


It is with great respect and sadness I would like to announce the passing of one of our own Nelson surfers and fellow club members.
Andy Harrington, a much respected surfer both skillful on the board and behind the camera lens will be sorely missed by all of us. Living the dream Andy got his pilot ticket last year and had been living and working in Indonesia, complications from a viral infection over the last week led to his sudden passing yesterday.
His funeral will be held next week and our thoughts and best wishes go out to his family and good mates at this time.
Rest in Peace mate.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Bruce and Keni's excellent Adventure.


Last week Bruce Wilson and Keni-Duke decided to chase a largeclean swell "somewhere" between Greymouth and Westport, here is photographic evidence of 127mile going all the way to the beach yo!!!

Monday, July 4, 2011

STOP PRESS: Nelson Boys impress at West Coast Scholastic Trials!!

Over the weekend a team of Nelson surfers attended the West Coast Scholastic surfing trials in Westport. All 3 Nelson boys college entrants made the team with Marco Edwards finishing 2nd overall, Jackson Gregory 3rd and Rory Dubenic equal 5th...
The boys are now placed to attend the National Scholastic Surfing Championships in AHipira, Northland in October.
A few other Nelson crew tagged along to Support the boys and it was evident that the Buller and Kahuna clubs certainly felt the heat, with a free-surfing situation on the saturday evening going down at the tip-head with Joe Leeper blowing up on his first 2 waves laying the gauntlet down to the Coast crew...... Full story and movie to come.
Stay tuned....

Monday, June 20, 2011

Boardriders Club Comp - The Full Story!!

(above): THE WINNER!! -Scott Edwards
Apologies for the delay in getting this story through as we had a few technical difficulties along the way!!!!

-Nelson's first known Surfing competition-
-Sunday July 5th 2011...

It had always been spoken about yet often figured incredibly hard to plan.
The inconsistency of surf in Nelson and not wanting to interfere with anyones much sought after water time always posed a problem but with the last couple of months incredible consistency and dissapointment of not being able to attend the kaikoura coldwater classic this year, what started as a joke, a seed from the plant "what if?"- gradually turned itself into an amazingly successful event far exceeding anyones expectations. In reality the whole thing was only put together between a few people on a friday night and by the sunday we saw up to 70 spectators and 30 entrants in the inaugral Schnappers Classic 2011 !!!! There was a $500 prize pool up for grabs and spot prizes in each division making sure everyone was in with a chance!!
(above): Vaclav(Vinnie)Nic, scores an early wave in the first open heat.
(above): Sol Hayes-Martin going all skate in the juniors finishing 4th.
Three divisions....... Juniors, Longboard and Opens with the opens being taken out by Scotty Edwards who scored a "buzzer-beater" and snatched victory from Mark Nichols with third being so close a countback conceeded the 3rd position to Marco Edwards (Scottys father ;-) .....with Keni Duke-Hetet just missing out finishing 4th,
Marco also took out the Junior Division which was a massive 8 man heat/final with ROry Dubenic coming in second and Ash O;donnel from Blenheim close behind in 3rd.
Longboards were dominated by Kitescool owner/operator Warren Mitchell on a borrowed "tunnel fin" .....

(above): Juniors winner Marco Edwards high speed shralp
Olin Pilcher BYOB ( bring your own bbq).... cooked up fresh Snapper fillets at Snapper along with Oyster fritters and a few crew enjoyed a relaxing bevvie or two.
VAclav Nic endured wipeout of the day made famous later in the week scoring the backpage of the Nelson Mail and the terrestrial wipeout of the day went to Carlton Cj Barton who's exploding plastic chair routine was much more than hilarious.
(above): Olin "Big O" Pilcher with his own version of fried Snapper.
The whole contest scene will never takeover Nelson no matter how hard you inhale but it was absolutely amazing to see how much everyone enjoyed the day and helped out with everything.
Id like to especially thank Aaron Lyttle and Sophie, Barry Kingston , Briggsy and Johnny Hoges for their support ...
its a boardriders club... Its for fun,
Thats what we did.
(above) Blenheimist Hamish Simpson brings it round.

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

What’s really going on .....