Monday, December 9, 2013

1970's Part II

As i said it was a great time to grow up in Nelson & to be part of the changes surfing went thru then
and changes in society (one of the posters painted on the wall of the club had 'the seedbed of psychic
revolution" as its main message & for many of us it was a time of great change, i guess some of us were
sort of hippie surfers, think "morning of the earth" types

we were great travellers coming down to kaikoura & over to the west coast at every opportunity, 5 or 6 of us
stayed in a barn at the meatworks for 4 weeks one summer, i think it was the year of school cert results & we
went down to chch to celebrate passing but unfortunately Jeff Andrews & myself went thru a give way sign a
wee bit worse for wear & crashed the van. the van was full of alcohol for the boys & it was running out a hole in the side, we
had covered it with a blanket but the traffic cop lifted the blanket & saw it all & i got a ticket & even tho we could barely
stand he let us tie the door back on the van & drive away - different times
The van was so knackered that we had to reverse up the last few miles of the whangamoa as it wouldnt go up in first gear.
The van got a new engine & made it thru a few more months before finally dying

I saw a few boards get smashed up at the cut pre leg ropes, Hamish MacGibbon took a brand new quane board out there
& lost the fin & got it bashed up on the big blocks there, we mostly surfed there at low tide & it was basically drop in, tuck up,
get tubed & out the other end if you were lucky

i feel blessed to have grown up there at that time with a great group of friends - some im still in regular contact with & some
i havent seen for 40yrs & still think about & miss - Brett & Don Longley, Kevin Burgess, Warwick Freeman & many others

i regret losing most of my fotos as i had a lot but lent them to someone for a magazine article 40yrs ago & they were never returned

I still have a longboard but it hasnt got wet for a while now as i have a few health & fitness issues but i go out to maungamaunu
& kahautara at every chance & watch & am a surf movie fan

I was stoked to find your site & to know you guys are still surfing there & loving snappers (we tried to stop the sewerage outflow)

perhaps we will meet up some time & i can tell you some more old stories ( Max the Fly & the Epitaph Riders & the barn fire at meat works  &
many more),,
we were a wild lot & had a lot of fun except for getting chased at night by the V8 guys, got the bash a few times just for being a surfer,
but for the most part we just had fun

cheers Mark, i hope you get lots of great waves at snappers, the website is fantastic, it had quite an effect on me seeing it
kia ora to the brothers & sisters,

No comments:

Post a Comment

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

What’s really going on .....