Early morning fun with a Softech Surfboard
They look like a toy board that you give your kids to learn on but believe me they are a great fun board for the big kids to ride. I was bought one last Xmas and initially I thought it would be great to just ride prone and let the grandkids get it a bash when the surf was small, but right from its first surf, I was riding it kneeboard and couldn't believe how fast it went , turned on a dime, yet held its rail when needed but still had a bit of slip if needed, with 360 spins a norm! This would be the closest to riding finless again, as its basically a longer version of a body board but without those 60/40 rails, with more rounded rails that you find on a standard fiberglass board. This model, the Rocket Launch Hybrid 54" ( 4'6" in length) has 3 little plastic D type fins and a couple of channels down near the tail.It has FLEX, something that you cannot find in a standard hard board, so this and its combination of speed and slide gives you a whole different ride, so for me its like combining a paipo, kneeboard and body board, such a versatile board , and I have been pushing this little fella in all types of point, reef and beach break type waves and is totally blown away how well they ride. You can purchase these online and for more info
http://www.softechsoftboards.com/
Shared a few waves with Dave this morning whilst riding my little soft top pictured above
Monumental Morning
After a week or so of average small surf the swell finally rose with the prediction , so after checking out a local point break , which was a touch messy and not the correct swell direction for it, I decided to sneak further south and see if one of my favorite Bombora's was breaking as the direction was right, but was it big enough? 20 minutes later after driving down the bush tracks , I arrive to find the carpark empty and not a soul in sight. The tide was huge but I could see the potential and the main thing was, there was no one else. I watched a pod of dolphins swim thru the break and thinking to myself at least I am not on my own out there, but soon another car turned up and I had some human company to share the waves . A offshore wind blew which is unusual for this time of year, so a double bonus, clean offshore and uncrowded waves. I took both my mat and the softech down to the beach thinking I would try the soft board first up and then switch over to the mat, but I was having so much fun of the softie that by the time I came in the NE wind started to blow out the break and funny enough another 6 car loads turned up just as it turn to messy blown out crap. Watch the video below to see what I am writing about!
Early morning surf with Eric 'mat man' Bridges ...
" Mate!! do you wanna have a few 'Early' waves @ Shelly's? asked Adam...Yeah why not. I was good to find the carpark empty & all the waves w wanted to ourselves for over a hour. Then sharing with 4 others for over 2 hours...Happy Dayz are here again! "
Pics below from Eric
Pre- Surf Nude Run
View from the Village and Reef
Eric had a blast on his mat, we took the paipo and hand planes with us as well, but the first 3 hours took to much of a toll on our old bodies.
As we were leaving
I have not been out to Wrecky since before Xmas, so it was a treat to sneak in with nobody around and test the little Softech out. It was low tide and the wind was predicted to swing to the NE by mid morning , so as the morning wore on and tide came in the waves started to grow and get a better shape to them. As I have mentioned before, I am amazed how well my little board went, plenty of speed, rode well in the tube, and if anything it felt more ' light ' in the barrel , and allow me to do 360 spins at ease, It was a shame that both my legs developed major cramps after 3 hours in the water and the dead Sunfish that was on the reef rotting away, was really starting to stink! My heart said stay and wait to have another surf but between the smell and hunger pains in our belly, it was time to leave. , funny thing was there was only 3 guys in the water when we left and bumped another couple on the walk out, but I always tell myself not to be greedy, enjoy those 3 hours and allow the next crew to share the fun, there is always next time because nobody is going to steal the Ocean and Waves......besides, its only 20 minutes drive from my place to here, we are not driving a couple of hours down the coast for it!
Poor old Sunfish below, never have seen one first hand and it was a shame to see it rotting away, but this is all part of the food chain!
Many Thanks to Eric for jumping out of the water mid session and filming some land footage with my canon 70D.
SHELLYS, SUNFISH & SOFTECH'S from adam williams on Vimeo.
A few Frame Grabs below from the mornings surf.
Mat Man Eric Brtdges
I am yelling at Eric, ' he is going , he is going ' which he told me later...I thought you said GO !
High Fives
Such a Fun Morning!
High Voltage Surfing
We were up at the Supermarket having a feed after our long surf, it was then I felt a tremor in the Force, I turned to Eric and said ...'I can feel them ' , finish your egg and bacon roll and lets have a look from the Village....after the short drive down the road I pulled out my camera and shot a couple of pics, turned to Eric and said 'yep, its them' young Snookie Skywalker and his brother Roy with Yoda on the reef taking some pics
Yoda Slater with Roy and his brother Snookie 'Chayne' Simpson
Barrel Fest
Chayne pulling into a clean one, plenty to be had!
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