Just arrived huge contrast from 16C in Perth to 30C with a light humid breeze blowing; all good. Swell is tiny but paddling in boardies is joy after the crap winter we had in Perth.

I turned up from the horror 19hr flight (with full on domestics, screaming babies and AA snoring next to me) with just my paddle and boardies, bit of a leap of faith hoping to try some boards. AA promised a line up of PSH, Naish and Tropical blend boards. But I did notice at the last minute he packed a board for himself.[}:)]

After the comic drive - including getting lost due to iphone running out of juice, bush fires, traffic jambs, driving on the wrong side of the road etc - we rolled up at PSH shop.

Austin was all smiles but there was a distinct lack of demo boards lying around only new ones, hmmm this was looking bad. Then he says you guys take these two his personal wood veneer 10' and 9' 2" YAHOOOOO
Thanks Austin


How do they go?? Well AA had the 9 2, and loved it until he stepped on a sea urchin, OUCH. I paddled my dream board the 10 Wide Ripper. As expected they were brilliant - stable and loose a great combo. The narrower nose and pin tail shape of the gun shape really suits my surfing. Now all I have to do is prise it out of Austin's hands. Maybe if I get him really drunk

AA on the 9 2 Waikiki before he stepped on the urchin


Diamond Head


10 before going out love the shape of the tail


AA's foot



Out for the dawn patrol today really clean little waves can't get the smile off my dial, off to Tropical Blend to get some more boards. Will keep you posted on developments.

Hate those sea urchins!!! But the little spines dissolve eventually which is kinda cool - you become part human part marine creature....

Put duct tape on the wana. This will loosen the spines fast and disappear in a matter of days. Have fun with the PSH gang.

Aloha

Byron

loco4olas said...

byronmaui said...

Put duct tape on the wana. This will loosen the spines fast and disappear in a matter of days. Have fun with the PSH gang.

Aloha

Byron

You wanna' elaborate on that one Byron? Never heard that one before.

Sure....I never heard about it before but when my son had about 30 urchin (wana) spines in his knee from spearfishing we first put urine on it then when we went home we put vinegar and duct tape like a big bandaid. My old local grandma plus my wife told us it would work. Low and behold 2 to 3 days later the wana was almost gone. Only thing I know is the duct tape softens the skin and I guess that helps kill/disolve the spines. So far we have done it twice to different people and the spines went away fast.

Byron

Stepped on the dreaded Wana (Pronounced VANA) Grew up learning the best way to deal with it is to have a friend PISS on it. Imagine a persons reaction when the see a guy pissing on anothers foot!!! I was told that you should soak your affected area in vinegar. EIther solution really stinks!!

Yeah guys, I thought my Hawaii trip was over! It was a late evening paddle and even though it was windy we had a ball. I wacked that thing so hard and got barbs in my toes as well.

Get home, my foot is throbbing so bad it feels like it needs to be amputated. Hiily insists I put my foot in water as hot as I could sand. Have to say the 'bush doctor' was right - the heat neutralises the poison! Back on it and surfing aging this arvo!

Sure, you need to soak in Vinegar and I will try the Duct tape but the hot water worked a treat.
The key of course is to stop it getting infected so a bath in vinegar and some antiseptic cream is the go.

Windy again today but tried some new boards from Tropical Blends - a local board.
The 9'2 wide was a whole lotta fun and very stable with my 90kg.

Stoked I am back on a board within 24hrs!

Any site off my new little beast?

LOL, so i will feel right at home. Im hanging.......

Casso said...
I saw AA riding it at Ala Moana via the web cam. He didn't have a leggy and it went up on the breakwall - too funny. You could see him scrambling around on the big rocks trying to get it but the waves kept washing it further along - bang, bang, bang. I guess that's where he got his sea urchin spikes. Don't worry Lummers - it'll be just like ol' sponge bob by the time he brings it back.

No way, that is hilarious! Good to hear the foot is on the mend AA. What was Ala Moana like?? We tried to surf it in the 80s and got told to go somewhere else very quickly

goatman said...

[b]
No way, that is hilarious! Good to hear the foot is on the mend AA. What was Ala Moana like?? We tried to surf it in the 80s and got told to go somewhere else very quickly

Casso, I have never seen you so funny !
The truth is we are trying to work out how to knock off Austin from the PSH so we can sneak his two new babies home.

ALLROUNDER there is a rumor that your board exists! Wether it arrives back in ones piece is another story.....

GOATIE, Ala Moana was allota fun. HEAPS of reefs breaks with lefts and rights - some almost sucking dry at low tide. Vibe was pretty cruisy. Managed to drop in on a few of the locals and say G'day. It was small so there was no bad vibes out there that I could see. Great breaks. Easy access and FREE PARKING - my god the parking here is gnarly!!

As for the 9'2 Wide Ripper? OMG, OMG, OMG...
Nah, just kidding - lets just say it RIPS as all Blane's boards should and floats me just fine at 90kg
and 10-15 knots of wind.

Found an awesome place to stay on the island and one of the best places to eat - pics soon!!

AA

I can see a comedy routine developing here : everyone (apart from the youngsters) has heard of the Two Ronnies, right? Looks like The Two Andy's, broadcasting live from Hawaii

Here's one for LSD - 5kg epoxy custom from Tropical Blends made in a day and $200 to the gentleman floating in through the door.
(In the real world the retailer pays over 1k for it so not cheap to consumer. Nice board though.)


Here's two for DJ - AA with Rick Naish and a stack of bananas and a funny looking white thing.

Jim from Tropical Blends http://www.tropicalblendsurf.com/ was good enough to lend us boards and discuss them at length. He has a range of production and custom boards in stock. Worth going to the website just to see the picture of one of his riders.
AA and Jim with the rack of custom boards including some really light construction and great shapes

We used a couple of his production boards (9 2 and 9 6) pictured here with the PSH custom wood boards. Very different animals very stable for their size. Jim went into all the tech detail but all you need to know is they worked really well. More long board feel you need to move around on the board to get the best out of them.

Wider nose and tail made them stable with the 9 2 floating 105kg in a stiff tradewind and very loose with good tail rocker, 9 2 has quad option. I preferred the 2 X 1 setup which we had in the 9 6.

He does bamboo models as well beautiful to look at but a little heaver. Very strong, literally you can hit them with a hammer and they are unmarked.

The weight issue came up, the feeling over here is that it is an advantage to have a slightly heavier board in windy conditions. Shape and rocker are way more important. I ride the 12er so weight is definitely not an issue for me. Lovely board the photo does not do it justice.

Wide range of shapes we will be busy.


Having fun more soon

DavidJohn said...

Great stuff hilly.. Thanks for the pictures.. Tell Andrew that one sock is not a good look..

Gotta love that Naish shop..

DJ

Still sooking about his Wana spines, does look a little gay I just pretend I do not know him.

Was good to meet and talk to Rick he is a legend and really humble, happy to talk design and showed us his new flat water paddle board no posting photos though.

Great photos, any chance some of those beautiful wood/bamboo boards make their way back in your luggage?

Thanks for the pics Andrew (and hilly)..

Great shot of the other R Naish (oh yeah.. Robbys brother is also another R)..

What is that big yellow Naish board in the pic.. A custom board or a repair?

It's not the 14' x 24" proto is it?

DJ