I don't know about you, but as far as the ritual for going to have a surf is concerned doing things a bit differently can really stuff you up eh?

Take this weekend, I'm glad there's no decent surf because my routine is rooted.

You see, my boss comes from Brizzy and goes back every 2 weeks or so to have a weekend with the family. The rest of the time he stays in a small flat he owns close to Sydney.

His missus is a mad keen Newcastle supporter so her and the daughter came down so they could go up to Newy on Friday arvo to watch the game.

In Sydney, he drives a 2 seater Audi TT convertible, not the hot ticket to take 3 people 100 miles and back, therefore, we swapped cars and he took my old Rav4 for the weekend.

No problem I thought, I'll just use some soft racks on my old girls Corolla and I'm good to go. She can drive the ******y little TT (BTW, did you know that back in 2004, they won the Gay car of the year award? For the sake of being PC, Audi had to pretend they were really honoured to win the award when in actual fact, it's almost a death sentence for a car model if it wants to be seen as a performance car).

Well, things don't always turn out as planned, you see I've got that old Rav really sorted as a convenient surf buggy. I've built racks that allow me to remove boards separately; I've got all my fins, fin tools and fin accessories stored under the floor. The door opens sideways so the boards on the roof don't restrict the opening, there's plenty of storage space for wet crap.

By comparison, the Corolla is crapolla, too small for a start and the back door opens upwards but I found out the worse aspects after I took off early this morning in the pouring rain with just one board on the roof, the 10.6. The soft racks allow the water to trickle along the straps and only my shoulder or the seats.

And in the Corolla there's no head room so the front strap of the softrack is permanently across my forehead, I look like a reject from the summer of love. I reckon in an accident I would end up looking like I was the victim of a botched up beheading using a bead and butter knife.

And the hits just kept on coming, I had no separate door key to hang around my neck like I do in the Rav. I stopped at my usually Coffee joint and grabbed a brew to sip while I watched the break and the car had zero cup holder, god knows how they could ever sell them to sepos. Over there it's a must have accessory with every brochure listing up to 14 cup holder in any single car.

I want my buggy back, I'm too set in my ways to change

Next time I'll give him the Corolla and I'll keep my surf buggy.

Always wondered about the Audi TT

Surfing the Pool tomorrow OB?

Interesting topic obct. I started this sport early this year and live more than 100k from my favorite surf spot. I have a 2 seater ute with drop side body and a mazda 3 in the house. Given we have two 8' boards I though initially that the ute was the vehicle of choice for the early morning runs. Turns out though that the mazda 3 easily fits two 8' boards leaving the drivers seat and one back seat free. Add roof racks and all 5 seats are available with 2 boards on top. Pop the boards inside if you want to wander up the street to the bakery without getting boards flogged too.

In comparison, the ute has the pipe rack on the back so it looks like you could string 2 boards up on top, but the rack is too far back from the headboard. So you could say tie them down in the tray, but there is nothing low in the tray to actually tie the boards to. Add to this the ute has no ABS or airbags, so the Mazda 3 is getting a lot of miles this year. Brilliant little car really. Heaps of pockets and drink holders, add a bucket for wet gear, I'm happy.

cRAZY Canuk said...

Always wondered about the Audi TT

Surfing the Pool tomorrow OB?

I'll be there at sparrows flatulence, along with all the other old kooks, rain hail or shine.

The decision regarding if I go in there or somewhere else rest solely in the hands of Huie.

I may try to curry favour with him and sacrifice a virgin tonight

Perhaps not, Im too young to die.

obct said...

cRAZY Canuk said...

Always wondered about the Audi TT

Surfing the Pool tomorrow OB?

I'll be there at sparrows flatulence, along with all the other old kooks, rain hail or shine.

The decision regarding if I go in there or somewhere else rest solely in the hands of Huie.

I may try to curry favour with him and sacrifice a virgin tonight

Perhaps not, Im too young to die.

Been told to stay out of the water till the leg heals, boooo. There should be an ok wave in the corner I'd think tomorrow.