The Sustainability Dichotomy

di⋅chot⋅o⋅my

–noun, plural -mies.
1. division into two parts, kinds, etc.; subdivision into halves or pairs.
2. division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups: a dichotomy between thought and action.

I have had my Firewire for almost 19 months. Which is a lot for me. The problem is that this board looks brand new! You can't ding it if you try.

How. do. you. justify. a. new. board.

Over the last few sessions I noticed that it seemed heavier. I looked at the tail and there is a small crack in the glass over the balsa. So I emailed the company and inquired if this board might have taken on water...if so what do I do etc.

These bastards got right back to me. Here is an email from the boss, I left his ding repair guys number in it for a shout out to my seven readers......

Hi Aaron,
Sorry to hear about your board. It sounds like your taking in water thru a ding somewhere. Place the board in the direct sun to create pressure in the board. This will force water from any place the board is leaking. Once you identified the dings let the board dry (in the sun) for a couple days. Make sure you place the board using gravity to dry out the dings. Once the boards stops dripping and the weights back to normal you can have it repaired. It will go back to the original weight. I have a great ding guy in Oside who's very reasonable. His name is Mark McGinnis and his cell is 760-420-5982.
Oh yea tell your wife Xmas is coming and you need to expand your quiver. Thanks for surfing our boards!

Michael Milliken
National Sales Manager

Mike, your killing me. It sounds like this thing will be like brand new. Oh well at least I have wetsuits to buy!

Regarding Quivers

I went to my old college roomates house last week. He is a bicycle guy. He competed a the highest level back in the day. We went to his garage and he tentatively showed us all of his bikes. He must of had about 8. He had all kinds of excuses and stories about why he needed each bike. It was funny because Lucas looked at me like 'only 8?'. He sent me this video of the ultra bike geek:


But I had to let him off the hook. I sent him pictures of the surfboards we had less Logan's board (he was surfing) and Lucas' beach back Donald Takayama. It's true we have no less than 16 surfboards. And I still think I need another board for the winter.

No I haven't mastered the 'Big Red' masterpiece from Murphy.

But, I won't apologize. Every board has it's place or sentimental value. I spent good times with these boards and each time I give one up I feel a loss. Silly yes. Will I change and bring the mean number of boards down.......

Never!!!!

New Board alert

I saw Chris Miller yesterday and was complaining that I can't noseride. Or that my kid can noseride now and I can't (or never have). He started in on the board issue. I need a board that will work for those small summer days.

So Chris thought the best RX for me is Dennis Murphy's California Classic.

From the Murphy site:

This is the "Rolls-Royce" of our line. It is wide, heavy, and dying to noseride. Don't let the word noserider fool you. This board can really turn too. For those who aren't sure if they want to make the leap backwards to a single fin, we offer side bites for extreme grip on the mid face.



Specs:
Lengths: 9' 0" - 9' 10"
Nose: 18½"
Mid: 23"
Tail: 14½"
Thickness: 3⅛"


Fins: Single

Nothing like a flat spell to start a stimulus program. Note to Ed - Most importantly I need the Leucadia Project laminate

9'1" McTavish

Is there anything better than waxing a new surfboard?

Life is good

Change We Can Believe In

I recieved several emails over the bailout stories I posted. Evidently some people in the Netherlands are not happy. (They emailed me not happy about the state of our economy????) me?) They must think I am
A)Serious
B)Know what I am talking about
C)Have some link to the powers that be in our country
D)Support Bush (NOOOOOO)
Believe me I am a surfer and have no clue. But here are my rambling thoughts on the economy.

Considering that our new president unwinds by body surfing and our new Secretary of the Treasury spends his free time surfing (in Cape Cod), I am encourged. (Yes Netherland brothers this is how I assess the state of our economy. We have surfers it must be good!)

Then I saw the Frontline peice on the Meltdown. Frankenstien AKAPaulsen is all you think he is and less. Holy dollar bill Batman! This is scary!

Watch the entire Frontline piece here

This morning however I was driving by 'The Longboard Grotto' and it was closed. Now this isn't news . It had been closing for a long time and now sits vacant like a reminder of the ghosts of economy past. In our backyard it made the problems uncomfortably close.
It's not like I was a giant fan of the Grotto. They had the customer service levels of the early 70's when the surf shop workers treated you like crap. I apologetically bought new boards twice. I always felt like I was 12 years old at Tower Records worried if the minimum wage clerk would think my record purchase was cool enough for them.

So what can we do as responsible surfers? A new board of course! My personal input to the economic stimulas package. Surfy Surfy has these Bonzers.
I always wanted or thought I could surf pretty well on one of these boards. This site is like crack to new surfboard dreamers.

From Surfy Surfy