Yeah yeah, we know… It’s been a little while since the last newsletter and we only wish we could say it’s because we’ve been surfing. With summer truly in full swing, board orders have been going through the roof and the shop is gearing up for the crazy months. ___________________ This Issue: Roving Report – Performance boards can be lightly glassed but you get compressions. Thin out the stringer and you risk snapping. Finally the compromise is here… Accessorise – Bags, leggies and the myriad bits and pieces boggle the mind. We cut to the chase on your surf accessories. Artiste Extraordinaire - Kathryn Hughes is changing the face of surfing one board at a time…and mounting quite a portfolio of comp results as she goes… (photo: © Classic Malibu)	Newsletter :: December ’09 :: ___________________ Routed Stringers have for years been the only source of a board’s lateral strength. Heavier fibreglass has been added, and the epoxy revolution has seen a bunch of stringerless boards hit the market, but the days of Bob McTavish’s fantastic plastic machine proved that, if you wanted a board to cop a beating and stay in one piece, a bit of tree down the middle is essential. The strength-weight ratio in performance boards means that a 12mm stringer isn’t an option, but a thinner stringer, coupled with a lighter glass job, has little lateral strength. Enter the roving band…
	The Plus-9s: In polyurethane boards, there’s no avoiding the need for a stringer once you get over the nine-foot mark. What we have been able to do is vastly trim down the stringer, by over half, whilst maintaining lateral strength. Routing parabolic channels along each rail, top and bottom, we embed fibreglass ‘string’, or rovings, far lighter than timber, though equally strong, if not moreso. Such is the strength of the rovings that we can even throw out the need for heavier glassing, keeping it a similar thickness to that of a shortboard. Close to half the weight of your average performance mal, yet just as resilient.
		Shorties: Lateral strength is far less important when boards get down around the 6-foot mark. Because of that, we have been able to drop stringers altogether, making super-light boards that won’t snap like a twig on a close-out set. Maintaining the same benefits as the longer boards, the shorties also gain a superior flex pattern, able to twist end to end, unlike their stringered counterparts, the same principle, around which the renowned Firewire boards are created. So now you can get a board that’s fatter and thicker but not be worried about manoeuvrability being forfeited. In fuller waves this also increases your wave-count, a lighter board with equivalent buoyancy making paddling easier and the wave’s energy easier to utilise efficiently.
Paraphernalia: Surfing is a simple sport. All it requires, in essence, is a board. But, humans being the complicated creatures we are, we tend to go OTT on the simplest of concepts. Here’s a quick rundown to help clarify the miasma of accessories on the market. - As at least 80% of the dings we see happen out of the water, we recommend every board be stored in a boardbag. There are three main options: - Cloth / stretch covers offer minimal protection and are suitable if your board is stored somewhere relatively safe and is only taken from storage to beach and back. - Ideally, a day use cover is better. Averaging between $100 and $200, depending on size, a day use cover gives 5mm of protection as well as heat and sun resistance. With a little extra padding, a day use will be just about enough for short haul flights. - Travel Covers are twice as thick. A little excessive for average use, they’re the only way to confidently take boards OS. They’re not too bulky for continued use after your trip either, so, if you don’t already have a boardbag, it’s not money wasted. - Legropes now boast NASA-like specs, with polyurethane cords and stainless steel swivels featured in most. You can get basic cords, with less ankle padding and a swivel at only one end of the cord, but these tend to tangle even though, in terms of durability, there’s little difference in models. So fairly quickly, most people tend to curse their tight-fistedness and invest in a double swivel cord. The answer with leggies is spend out. You’ll pay around $40 or $50, but it’s worth it in the long run. - Fixing boards has never been easier. Epoxies can still be a little tricky, but a sun cure resin is available and is of a decent enough quality to even use, with fibreglass, for more severe repairs. FCS have just started producing repair putty, a white compound that you smoosh together, apply to the problem area and mould to suit. It’s an instant fix, immediately water-tight, and within 20 minutes is hard enough to sand back. Perfect for minor repairs on the go – just don’t pack it in your hand luggage – it looks like plastic explosives! - Transporting your board is also a piece of cake. If you have racks already DON’T rely on the old occy straps lying in a tangle in the garage. A set of tie-downs is a great stocking-filler for Chrissy and worth its weight in gold. If you don’t have racks fitted, a set of soft racks is an inexpensive and highly safe and effective solution. Available in single or double, they can take up to two or four longboards or three or six shortboards respectively. Ute owners don’t have to miss our either. A tailgate pad is an ideal way to keep your log secure in your tray. The same principal as regular soft racks, they attach to the gate of your ute and strap your board down safely. - The last little gizmo that we’re frothing over right now is FCS’s new ratchet tool. We’re sick of RSI from screwing fin plugs, so when we got stock of the ratchet tool, we were stoked. It comes with a flat head and cross head screw fitting, four FCS hex fittings and a handy Ezi Out tool, to remove stubborn, worn-out grub screws. Added to that, it’s handy round the house, so again, a worthy addition to any surfer’s letter to Santa. Next Month: Artist’s impression – we’ve looked at resin tints in past newsletters. Now we look to other media to get that look you’re after. Classic Malibu Cnr Gibson & Eumundi Rd Noosaville QLD 4566 Ph: (07) 5474 3122 www.classicmalibu.com.au Email: info@classicmalibu.com	Kathryn Hughes - Paint It Kat - Kathryn Hughes, Kat Dog to her mates, is becoming a well-known face around the comps of Queensland. A junior for now, Kat’s knocking on the doors of the open division and her results are proving that when she’s reached the age of admission, she’s going to be snapping at the heals of her over-18 counterparts. (Photo: © Chelsea Hadley) As with most grommets of today, a certain amount of parental influence swayed Kathryn’s tendencies toward an oceanic existence. Mark, Kat Dog’s father, has been equally as passionate about surfing since long before his daughter twinkled in his eye. The president of Caloundra’s Mal Club, Mark anointed Kathryn into the world of surf as soon as she was walking on her ten nose-hangers. By the age of eight, the little wahine was sitting in the dunes, watching pops styling on the waves of Moffatt’s Beach and other local spots and getting lured into the breakers. Her early steps were on an old clunker, but it gave her a taste of the ocean and she knew it was a love for life. Fairly soon Kat Dog was wanting to be just like dad and her old beater just wasn’t going to cut it. Never much being one for the shortboards, stating ‘I can’t ride a shortboard. It’s got a negative about it to me’, Kat Dog ventured through our doors for a new mal. As her local waves have a little more punch about them, and with Justin Healey and Grant Thomas sharing her lineup, she edged toward the more performance craft, the Performer and 4567 models complimenting her style perfectly. The 4567 Model gave Kat Dog the open versatility she was really looking for, coupling performance out of the tail with a flatter, more nose-rideable front section for those ‘soul’ moments, while the Performer gave her the speed and adrenalin rush in quicker, steeper waves. This is only one aspect of Kat Dog’s luminous personality though. Her land-locked alter-ego is a paint-stained artist, a TAFE course beckoning in the near future for the budding Van Gogh. Kat Dog’s artwork has been adorning the decks of the surfboards of friends and family for some time, her flair for vivid, semi abstract designs reflecting a certain aquatic impression. Floral images blend with kelp-like leaves, swirls of colour uniting more refined aspects of her creations, creating a finished piece that brightens the otherwise monochromatic surface of a surfboard while remaining still distinctly evocative of the spirit of surfing. Kathryn sees the two sides of her personality as inseparable: ‘surfing, art, freedom – it’s all the same thing to me.’ And that same thing is going to continue well into the future. Solid placings at the Noosa Festival and a Junior division first place at the ’09 Malfunction have seen Kathryn making a big name for herself this year, and her plans are to keep the momentum flowing into 2010. Likewise, her art is going to come on in leaps and bounds, with TAFE giving her a more formal ucation and her plans to start a website and establish a gallery being very much at the forefront of her ambitions. Next Month: Wei Good: Liao Chih Wei, our new polisher, started from scratch and is now buffing like the best. We meet and greet the only Good Thai import the Australian surf industry has ever made!!!