October 2007 archive

Welcome to northern sky (mark II) ...after much procrastination, pencil sharpening and excuse making, I've decided to pull the finger out and start a visual orientated diary/blog that I will attempt to update on a regular basis (about once a month or two) ..that will hopefully give me some inspiration and drive towards those things I love.. .as well as give you something interesting to read and look at along the way. I feel like my beautiful life is full of inspiring people, images and stories that deserve to be shared with those who have the time to stop and take a look. If you're interested, here's my 20c worth.

OCTOBER 2007

Lodka Rides Again

Lodka is a 12 ft tinny. Translated, her name means "little boat" in Russian. She was aquired and restored many years ago by my father-in-law in the small south coast village of Currarong. I took these photos at her grand launching which was well attended by many of the towns folk..(any excuse for a party right?)

She moved up to the Central Coast, with some time lodged at 'Fairview' and a mooring at Pretty Beach for a while before she found herself dry docked and eventually on to another owner. By pure chance she found her way back to myself after the sad passing of my father in law, Nikita. Aside from a few outings, she remained for the most part in the back yard. I could regularly hear her yearning for the open waters ..but only managed to keep her spirits up marginally by giving her a paint job, marine carpet deck, boat cover and a trailer for her to sit in the right way up...in fact I was just prepping her for what was about to come next. A month or two ago I realized that Lodka had 'custodians' rather than 'owners' and all she really wanted to do was get out there again. So I offered 'custodianship' to two guys that I knew would fit the bill. Best move I ever made!

Lodka 'reloaded' was a no fuss 'get on with job' voyage carrying four priveleged sea farers (plus surfboards) faithfully across to Lobster Beach..not far from her old haunt. I don't know how many of you have seen four blokes in 12ft tinnny..so I'm posting the pictures.

I'm not sure whether Nik was 'up there' wide eyed with horror or pissing himself laughing! I'm thinking the latter. Since then she's been wetting the heels on a regular basis in and around the Brisbane waters and Broken Bay and just the other day I received a voice mail message which went along the lines of "Hey Aza! She's done it mate, Lodkas made it to buggeries ...see ya" and,with a smile on my face, realized shes never been happier since her South Coast days. So keep an eye out for the guys in 'the little russian'....next stop New Zealand.

Meet Al

I'd seen 'Al' out in the surf or around the beach car park on a regular basis. He's sort of part of the landscape if you're checking the surf first thing in the morning. He's getting his shortboard out of the back of his ute or his sleek looking Celica. The thing is, I originally pinned him for being in his 50's.Then someone told me how old he was. He's actually 71! While most 'older' guys are into the Mal thing.. the fact that this guy was sporting a pretty high performance MR board under his arm (when guys 20 years his junior were lugging 9ft boards down to the water) got me interested..and I started paying a little more attention. The more I watched, the more I realized that Al has a great sense of trim (surfing fundamental No.1 ) as well as fitness, enthusiasm and a pure unadulterated love for just being out there. It then struck me that he is probably the long term surfing goal for most surfers if you ask them where they'd like to be in 30, 40, 50 years.......not only still surfing..but surfing well!.so I decided to strike up a coversation.

Al was born on the 4th August 1936. He was good at sports at school, particulary swimming ,sprinting and gymnastics. Al also recalls having a natural aptitude for climbing trees...He spent 10 years riding and racing push bikes all over England and Europe. After retiring from bike riding at the "ripe old age of 26" he came to Australia as a tourist in August 1961. It was at Bondi, where he was sharing a flat, that he saw the first of the malibu surfboards and thought "that's for me" he went out and bought a balsa board from Mick Simmons in Sydney and took to the water. "I found out it was a bit harder than it looks (eds note: nothings changed in that department Al) ...and "after surviving a few near drownings, put in the time necessary to master this new sport" Al has also dabbled in sailing and orienteering, but always liked to jump in for a surf on the board.

"I, together with Rickey DeRouter from Bondi, now of Scotts head, spent 1966/67 at Durban in South Africa" Al said he has always gone with the design trends and ridden the latest thing in boards.."if other people can ride a certain type of surfboard, then why can't I?"..Al ,although never winning a world title, describes his surfing ability as "sort of not bad to goodish at times". "How I got onto Mark Richards boards, was that I had a local (short board) board that was too small to paddle and I was missing too many waves in the Umina slop. As I was looking after a job in Newcastle about twelve years ago i lobbed in to Mark Richards shop. Th great man himself was there and promised to make me a board that would paddle easier. And so in the last twelve years I have asked Mark to make me a board each winter to the latest going shape. The last three have been the concave bottom ones that I still have. On my 70th birthday board Mark signed it. A 6'8" thing. I am now the first of the concave bottom boards , a 6'5" job. I also have a 6'7"....Alan"

Thanks for the info and more importantly the inspiration Al !!!

The Sharkhunter gets her heels wet

Another case of a dry docked vessel, this time a 14 foot Hobie cataraman that really should have been wetted long before this...but you know what they say ..better late than never...luckily had someone with a little sailing knowlegde with me or I could still be out there. Looking forward to more Hobie adventures this summer, with whoever wants a crack on this contraption..funnily enough invented by a surfer!

How to build a skatey ramp 101

Do you ever feel ripped off when it comes to the rapid advancement of technology?.and what you 'missed out on' as a kid. I'm talking about stuff like car DVD players. I remember trips up the North Coast that went for hours on end with nothing more than a book, crossword or cassette walkman (if you were really really lucky!) to keep you occupied.Imagine if some timewarp genie had appeared and handed you an in car DVD player with an assortment of modern superhero movies? Then again even with all Spiderman/Batman modern movies..Fin and Willow really like watching the original series of Batman..you know, the ones where they wear the underwear on the outside. The boys find this particullarly amusing. I guess its just what is the 'norm' at any point in time I'm sure my parents had the same view of the toys we were playing with..thinking "all we had was a wooden racing car, a tambourine and a set of dominoes..how awsome have they got it?"

Which brings me to this point..if you couldn't enjoy it then..enjoy it now. I started skateboarding when I was 13. My skating terrain consisted of chunky bitumen hills, footpaths and the 'goldmine' discovery of a few concrete drains, which required much travel and effort to access. Now, councils build skate parks readily and willingly. So after a 10 year break from it..I decided to 'relive the dream' and not only get back into skateboarding but build this in the back yard..something I would have given anything for when I was 14 but better 20 years later than never right.

Construction began with the purchase of a $200 ramp on ebay...duplicated it in it's entirety to create a 2400mm width instead of 1200mm...capet underlayed it..resurfaced it with 7mm ply and put in coping. Voila !! FUN FUN FUN for little boys and big boys.

should be mentioned that if I ever win lotto the first thing I'm gonna do is build one like this!!!

great work Hornsby Shire Council !

I'm a lucky man

October also saw the 1st anniversary of our wedding. We'd been together for 10 years before that, but still ranks up there as one of the best occasions of my life, the day was simply perfect. A few close friends and family, a very special spot, celebrations for the next two days with all the people we didn't tell we were getting married and 1 year on i'm still convinced I'm with the most beautiful lady in the world. A loving, postive and creative partner and mother to two (soon to be three) brilliant little children.

I'm also impressed with the stuff she's been designing and creating of late..like these little girls'reversible' dresses

I'm thinking she should rock up a few black ones with skulls or stencil art on them..................no maybe not. Wouldn't really suit the Hazy Jane style.

To celebrate we had dinner at the Cats Pyjamas at Ettalong where we were made to feel even better by their delightful host, Lindy.

A random selection of photos...

My 2007 Gosford Art Prize entry

Yos surfboard fish artwork ......

early morning north coast

early surf with Will

Kath at Beach Break

yo and the rainbow

what a way to start the day hey?