HARDDARTZ 101 TESTING

I like surfing different craft

It keeps me fresh and interested in my wave riding

Be it a surf mat




or a simple timber paepo



or a Harddartz kneeboard



Its like turning the clock back to when you were a young grubby grommie , just learning to surf, full of innocence and stoke….hooting and yelling with your young mates down at the local beach.





Nowadays the young’ has been replaced by older’ mates, but the fire is still well and truly alive….and I think by mixing my surfing craft is a lot more fun than just riding a standard kneeboard like I have for the past 35 years!



Does not matter how much you change the length or add one or two more fins , you are basically surfing the same board that you started on or those years ago! most kneeboards nowadays are generically the same…you can drop a rocker template on 2 or 3 different manufacturers boards…and there the same…they might tweak the rails and fin placement….but there still the same….and with the popularity of the fin plugs and fins …there all the same as well.



The late great Albert Whiteman was probably the last of the kneeboard makers to think out side the square in my opinion! Before his death , he was experimenting with different hull bottoms on his boards, and I have a few fond memories of him and Mick Mackie calling into my house at Dunmore, and pulling these funny bottom boards out of his ute, with a spark in his eye and a huge grin to go with it  ….
Stoke…pure and simple…..but I would never venture down that path of something different back then….what would people think? you cant ride that surely? are you kidding me?…



Sticks and Stones
I was out just recently surfing my da Fang kneeboard at a popular South Coast reef break, and was greeted by a couple of fellow kneelos…one was most positive to what I was riding as was his stand up friends….the other just looked at it , screwed his face up in disgust and proceeded to tell me he wouldn’t be caught dead riding one of these…then show me his 4 fin fish tail kneeboard that has  2 rope handles….which he swore blind was the only board to ride out there!…After watching  both him and the other guy surf, I think the board with the rope handles would be better mounted on a wall or made into a coffee table…the other guy was riding his Express like he always does, flowing along and not trying to jam it around! …opinions are like arseholes…everybody has one and some are bigger than others!!

canted fins that Baden Smith rides



below is a video I made from the other afternoon. I got there fairly late and rode this into the dark. My opinion of the Harddartz kneeboard?

Love it! ..The board flies and accelerates quickly which allows me to get out onto the open face , does 360’s at the drop of a hat and its all about flowing with the wave and not trying to jam a turn in…which suits this 51 year old !
Of course I could pull a board with 3 fins out of my shed and surf with alot more drive and control, but I have already been down that path for the past 35 years, and with having nothing to prove or lose , I really enjoy what these boards provide ….pure and unadulterated FUN.
Below is a small video my mate Paul Newman made with his new GoPro 3 black camera, of us surfing some small fat waves last weekend, again with e surfing the da Fang Funstar!

Who said you cant ride the front door…what a kook Kelly?



Harddartz in Europe
some pictures below of the latest technology in cad design and shaping from Alberto Frezzato of Black Magic Surfboards

























Harddartz on Holidays in Sumatra

more to come on their website
www.harddartz.com



Russ Newman below












Caleb Kelly














more to come, stay tuned!…….