Pittwater Life December 2018 Issue

Surfing Life
Surfing Life
Gift ideas from surf
culture’s wild fringes
Christmas is nearly here – this may help if you’re stuck for stuff to get...
For the stupidly rich...
A DAY AT THE
WSL SURF RANCH
You’ve read about it, you’ve
seen the video clips, you’ve
heard the rumours and
possibly thought a few
up yourself. But the really
astounding thing about the
WSL Surf Ranch, the wave
machine driven and partly
designed by Kelly Slater
and a team of ex-Universal
Studios theme park experts,
is that it actually exists,
and can be ridden… by you!
Yep, the Ranch, about three
hours’ drive north of LA, has
regular “revenue days” when
the pool and its services
are hired out to individuals
or groups – lifeguards,
hospitality, on-the-spot
40-board quiver and all. Stay
overnight at the nearby Tachi
Hotel and Casino, then spend
the day at the pool, being
fed and watered, shown the
ropes of the place, and riding
the 400-metre-long machinegenerated
wave, just like the
big-time pros! Now it costs,
oh yeah it does, eye-watering
sums by most human
calculations, and from what
we hear, all the 80-plus
“revenue days” for 2019 are
booked. But who are we to
say? Maybe you could just
offer an extra 10 grand or
such, and bump someone!
COST: US$55,000, via WSL,
Santa Monica, CA USA
For someone who needs
a new board...
AL MERRICK FLYER
Can I tell you a story? A bit
over 20 years ago I stole one
of Kelly Slater’s boards. Well, I
borrowed it, but I did not want
to give it back. It was a board
that became famous later for
its airspray art, featuring a frog
halfway down the throat of a
stork. The frog’s forearms were
still visible and its hands were
wrapped around the stork’s
throat, preventing the stork
from swallowing the frog. Off
to the side, Kelly had written,
‘Never Give Up!’ But that had
nothing to do with why I wanted
to keep the board. I wanted it
because it was magic. Incredibly
simple, quite short, with a
slightly widened tail block and
a clean flat single concave
running back between the fins.
It had no particular high point,
yet it did anything you could
think of – and back then, in his
footloose early 20s, Kelly could
think of a LOT.
Anyway, he somehow
extracted it from my grasp,
took it home to his designer
Al Merrick, and today, if you
go down to the peerless
with Nick Carroll
For ’80s retro lovers...
TOWN&COUNTRY
In the late 1970s and early
’80s, nowhere in the surfing
world was hotter than Oahu’s
South Shore. This was Hawaii
in summertime, the antithesis
of its scary winter months. A
scene exploding with sunlight,
tradewinds, beautiful little
reef breaks, bright colours,
incredible ripping, plate lunches,
and a logo straight out of
Eastern Mysticism 101. Yin and
Yang, Town&Country. So clever.
They had all the best young
surfers, like Dane Kealoha and
the incredible Martin Potter with
his slashed neon board sprays,
and they set up networks
worldwide, and sold their gear
and their boards, all with that
logo. Then over time, the South
Shore went out of style, the big
Aussie surf companies took the
reins, and T&C retreated into
their roots. Well, they’re back
now, so are the bright colours
and most of all, so is that epic
logo. Not very much of anything
is cooler right now. The full Yin/
Yang boardshorts are way ahead
of the curve.
COST: T&C T-shirts $49,95,
boardshorts $79.95, at Glass
Avenue, Barrenjoey Road,
Newport Beach.
Onboard surfboard store in
Darley Street, Mona Vale, you
can see a rack full of its direct
descendants. This is the Al
Merrick Flyer rack, it’s tucked
away in the second window
bay sorta half behind a pillar,
and if you had to have one
board in Sydney for the rest
of your natural days, a Flyer
might just top the list. Kelly
and Al worked it pretty much
straight off that frog board
nearly 20 years ago and it
boasts the same simple lines,
the same slightly wider than
usual back end, and the same
lovely balance. Thanks
to its width,
For parents or
the Flyer will
sub-teens...
let you get
LEUS BEACH
away with a
TOWELS
tiny bit less
In the past five years,
Californian surf
volume, and
fashion has targeted
its lack of
the margins with huge
complication
success. Stance socks
makes it
are one example,
extremely easy
another might be
to get to know.
Leus. These postironic
beach towel
There’s more
dazzling boards
designers have hit
in the shop,
a nerve in anyone
but there isn’t
who needs a towel
anything more
and a minor statement all in
functional.
one. Beach towels might be the
COST: $885 at Onboard Store, classic Christmas gift; Leus lets
16 Darley St Mona Vale
44 DECEMBER 2018
The Local Voice Since 1991