The Southern C.M-isphere Our riders are spreading their wings, taking flight and, getting all Viking – crossing oceans and conquering foreigners. ___________________ This Issue: Flying Mammals or Burrowing Marsupials? – Inspired by neither, our newest quiver addition combines both in a name that is as perplexing and inexplicable as it is curiously apt. Oucheys & Boo-Boos – Water may be a soft medium, but our sport isn’t without its dangers. Get a rude awakening to some of them and know what to do when they strike. The Winter Of Our Content - He’s making ripples on this side of the Tasman, but on that sheep-plagued isle on the distant shore, Jackson Winter has decimated the local circuit. Taking advantage of the beautiful cyclone swell that graced the Noosa Festival this year – Jacko, slotted. (photo: Andrew Carruthers)	Newsletter :: June ’10 :: ___________________ Cave-Dwellers We’ve voiced before our tireless quest for nouvelle-design and the next step in innovation. Well, PW has done it again. The Zombat is a board unlike anything we’ve created before. Part shortboard, part mal, all fun. A fuller board, it has 21 ½ inches in the guts, but is pulled right in through the arse-end to give it whip off the back foot. Added to that, we’ve really mixed up the fin design to maximise versatility and produce an array of feels all out of the one 5’11” chunk of foam. So read on and get to know the mongrel we call the Zombat.
	The Story: When swamped with orders and the need to maintain the 100-strong stock level of our retail outlet, it can sometimes be hard to find inspiration, or time, to produce new models. The Zombat came about when one of our regular overseas clients requested a board that paddled smooth, trimmed up front but had more zip in the tail than a citrus bee. There are boards that are stumpy and have easy flow, such as our Slab or Fish designs, and there are shortboards that turn on a dime but don’t go much on buoyancy, as in our Catalyst range. But bringing both together in one board, that cruisy paddle-in but with a tight, snappy turn, took a bucket-load of Peter White’s innovative savvy, producing more than a bead or two of sweat to cram both features into such a short board. But cram he did, mutating tail templates, chining rails, sanding a single-to-double concave through the belly of the beast and ending up with a board that inspires comments such as, “she sure ain’t purdy, but dang I want to ride her.” Hmmm, there’s a dubious innuendo in there somewhere…
	Chined rails allow for a far drivier turn than a fuller rail A full nose leading into wide hips give the board float and paddle unlike a more rounded rail template and streamlined profile The triple channel bat tail doesn’t drag through the water and, at only 16.5 inches, can be buried for those tight bottom turns and hard cutbacks	The Elements: To bring the needs of our client into the one craft, we had to look at what was really needed. The first thing we needed to recognise is that a board or sub-six foot would need a flatter rocker and more in the hips. But that had to be coupled with less thickness so it could still be put on rail and duck-dived. The snub nose puts float under the chest much better than a refined point and the reduced rocker angle makes a more consistent buoyancy throughout. The flipped chine-rails combat the boaty, corkiness of a fat board, allowing it to roll easily onto rail, giving those nice, driving buried turns that are just not possible on a fish. These features go some way to fulfilling the design specs, but to leave it at this with, say, a round or squash tail, would be to retain that sluggishness or drawn-out flow of a funboard. Our new, triple channel bat tail allows the water to release significantly faster, and combined with the double concave and a width of around 16 inches, makes the board very loose with the tail-burying drive of a more conventional thruster. So there we were, with a board that would paddle and trim, but would also whip off the back end. Lastly, we needed to look at fins. For a fish or bat-tail board, the most complimentary fin setup is a quad. It enhances the thrust and release given by the tail configuration and develops supreme down the line speed. But there’s a slight contradiction in that: the board was designed to trim also. So we added a centre finbox, giving multiple options, from 1 to 5 fins and everything in between. The rider now has the versatility in one board to ride pretty much any wave, in any style and still have the highest wave count in the lineup. And so we give you: The Zombat
Running Repairs: Good surfer, bad surfer – even the best of us can get slammed. Burst eardrums, lacerations, and gammy-peepers are all in a day’s ailments for the average surfer. Prevention’s the key, but when you can’t stop it happening, get in the know to get you back out ASAP… - What?...WHAT?!: Surfer’s Ear is a painful, frustrating issue. Infections caused by trapped water and chill winds can be prevented with a set of lug-plugs. Doc’s Pro Plugs are the business, allowing pressure to equalise and sound to get through. They’re around the $25-$30 mark. For a cheaper option, silicone putty goes ok. But be warned all you skinflints: BluTac can worsen the problem, so don’t risk it… - …When It Strikes: If you do cop a bout of surfer’s ear, the only thing for it is a trip to the quack. Your local doctor can prescribe a dose of drops but heed his advice – this little nasty can do damage for life, only curable by an operation that involves drills and months landlocked. - Reefs: Friend and foe, reefs can give you perfect waves or a one-way ticket to hospital. Take them seriously; the polyps of coral can cause low level infections and even the potentially fatal staph. Even rocks can hold all sorts of nasties that can have a limb turning green faster than the bottom light at Bathurst. Lemon juice, or better, though agonising peroxide, will heal coral afflictions. Rock cuts need a decent antiseptic and a look-see from a doctor. And keep it dry! - Pterygia: A pterygium is a growth common to surfers and those exposed to excess UV. It’s a fibrous build-up from the nose-side of your eye, making the eye dry and itchy and, according to Wikipedia, gives you a ‘foreign body sensation.’ Sounds alright – nothing like feeling a foreign body… Caught early enough, eye drops can solve the problem. But a recurring case will need operating, similar to a cataract op. Limiting your surfs to times of less direct sunlight (before 10am and after 2pm) can be a step towards prevention. - Chop, Chop: Fin chops can happen all manner of ways. Sometimes self-inflicted, other times they’re kindly donated by clumsy surfers out of control. And though we don’t like to admit it, occasionally we place ourselves in the path of danger and have no one to blame but ourselves. If the chop is severe enough, you may need sutures, so a visit to accident and emergency may be the go. If not, it’s worthwhile having a while out of the water or using an oily barrier cream if you just can’t stay out. Prevention is hard – accidents happen – but sometimes, a but of common sense is all you need: Paddle out wide, not through the lineup, and don’t drop in. A cursory glance toward the white water can often spare you a hole in the head. Some people sand down or blunt the edges of their fins. This makes chops less likely, but can also deteriorate the fin’s performance. - As we said last month, if it smells bad… Pollution is one of the worst problems affecting surfers and our ocean today. Surfing near outfalls or on beaches that are closed can lead to all sorts of ear, eye or gastric problems. So if you see schools of round, brown fish or if the water has a nasty green hue, go safe, stay clear. Vomiting, eye irritations, ear and gland pains and diarrhoea can all be signs of ingesting sewerage. Heed the signs, stay clear and if you hear rumours of other surfers getting sick in the area, find out exactly where they were surfing and avoid it like the plague – it probably is the plague! Next Month: Paperwork: we’ve all got to do it. Our jet setting team brings you a few ins and outs of getting your papers in order for your winter break. Classic Malibu Cnr Gibson & Eumundi Rd Noosaville QLD 4566 Ph: (07) 5474 3122 www.classicmalibu.com.au Email: info@classicmalibu.com	Jackson Winter - Season Favourite - Jackson Winter has been walking on water almost as long as he has on land. His father, Paul, drew Jackson to the water’s edge from infancy, breeding in the young surfer an infatuation that would be realized throughout his daily life. “I’ve always been blessed to live near the beach – we’ve lived in the Noosa Shire my whole life. Dad took me down; he’d go surfing and I’d play around in the shorey. I started to stand up on my bodyboard and just sort of progressed from there. So I started surfing before I could even remember.” His board of choice may be an off-the-lip, down-the-line rocket ship, but young Jacko can still trim it, old-school style… (photo: Surfit.com) In 2004 he received national recognition, winning the Billabong Occy’s Grom Comp in the Under 12 division against an East Coast contingent. The shortboard contest is a proven stepping-stone to greater things, with several past winners advancing to do well on the World Qualifying Series. But a career on six-foot thrusters wasn’t Jackson’s idea of a pleasurable career path. “I was in the mal club probably from when I was about six. When I was about 10 or 12 I started doing shortboard comps but I realized I wanted to predominantly do longboard comps from when I was about 14. “I got really over [shortboard contests] because it became really cutthroat and hassling. I really preferred the atmosphere of longboard comps.” An unprejudiced mindset is important in today’s disparate society, and never more so than in the environmentally varied world of surfing. But for Jackson his lack of bias has been even more advantageous than simply widening his surfing opportunities. “Because I started off competing on shortboards, I used a few of those techniques in longboarding comps and I think that worked to my advantage.” It is with this advantage, and following a swathe of impressive contest results and experience, that Jackson ventured across the Tasman to undertake the 2010 Hyundai Longboard Tour in New Zealand. Jackson’s humility belies his inordinate success in the 2010 season. In the five events scheduled for the tour, Jackson was victorious at three stages of the Under 18 division, convincingly claiming the year’s crown, and winding up the season in seventh position in the Opens. Though admirable, this result belies the truth. For his part in the Under 18s, Jackson only competed at three of the scheduled five stops on the tour. The first event, due to be held at Mount Maunganui, was cancelled, leaving all competitors with just four stages in which to make their mark. But Jackson’s path was made harder still. Sitting atop the U18 ladder and placing third in the Open, Jackson was forging a triumphant path. But he was denied the penultimate event, only New Zealand passport holders being applicable for entry. Despite being an event short in the already précised tour, Jackson’s results have still boosted his profile to the upper echelons, not just in New Zealand, but back home in Australia. Noosa’s Classic Malibu have been sponsoring the young gun for the last year after Jackson tested out the high performance quad-fin longboard of friend and Classic Malibu stable mate, Mitch Surman. “I tried one of Mitch Surman’s quads at the Crescent Head contest in 2008. I loved the boards and went to [Classic Malibu’s head shaper, Peter White] and he asked me if I wanted to ride for him, so it worked out perfectly. “The boards are incredible. I think that’s probably half the reason I did so well in New Zealand – the boards he’s making are going so well for me.” Peter White has been known for many years as an expert shaper of longboards, but he has been pushing the envelope with his new designs, embedding fibreglass strands, or roving bands, into the rails of the boards. This allows the board to be made lighter, while retaining strength, and to flex rotationally as well as laterally. “They put in that little bit of strength,” explains Jackson, “but also give [the board] flex, which is good on a longboard I think. It’s such a big, long piece of foam that you need it to warp a little to the waves, otherwise it won’t turn off the lip or off the bottom as well as you want it to. So I think those rovings are really good.” So for such an accomplished surfer, it would only seem right that he is planning to pursue a career of competitions and travel. But this is not the case. “In the long term, I’m still not sure. I want to travel and learn a bit more and see a few more things before I decide what I really want to do. I’m going to do as many competitions as I can this year and see how it goes. If surfing’s going to take me somewhere I’ll go with it, but if it doesn’t offer anything I’ll be happy – it doesn’t matter if I’m competing or not, I’ll still be happy.” So with a future as yet unset, he may well one day make his mark at the professional level of longboarding. But one thing is for certain: we are only just coming into the Winter season… Next Month: Davey’s Locker: She’s fast becoming the face of our team, certainly on the retail side and plaguing the Noosa points dawn til dusk…Kym Davey is a West Coast transplant with an insatiable passion and relentless smile – and she’s not a bad little ripper either.