An unseasonal change has seen the Sunshine Coast being exactly that. Bathed in warm, Spring sunshine, the talk around the points is that we’re in for a long, hot Summer. Boards are selling like pies at a footy match and the team is working all hours to keep the racks stocked. And all the while, we’re working to keep it changing, fresh and new at CM HQ… ___________________ This Issue: The Mix-Up – It’s all too easy to churn out the same boards over and over; expertly shaped but lacking in pizzazz. This month we throw a couple of newies out there to keep you on your toes. A Rose By Any Other Name – When it comes down to it, colour and artwork make about as much difference to a board as the rider’s choice of sunscreen. But when you’re customing your own stick, you want it your way. Here’s how we go about getting hues and tones onto our product. The Jester - There’s nothing more alluring to a surfer than a brand new board with the gleaming sheen of a fresh polish. Jesse Watson is our man in-house who hammers out the ripples, unscuffs the scratches and buffs ‘til his forearms bulge. Jesse’s return to his childhood hermitude, the cave at Padang Padang. (photo: © Jesse Watson)	Newsletter :: September ’09 :: ___________________ Fresh Foam AS a general rule, we like to look at the refinement of the tried and tested. We have our quiver of boards that have been proven time and again by us as well as our customers. And, while refinement and enhancement are a constant driving force behind our daily work, occasionally we like to branch out; with our artwork, our shapes and the elements that define a board. From resin tints to new models, the showroom racks are currently swelling with a host of new delights to keep even our most regular visitors guessing. Here are just a few of the latest inductees into the Classic Malibu range…
	The BB: The heyday of Australian surfing spanned the ‘60s and ‘70s, with names like Russell Hughes, Bob Conneely, Kevin ‘The Head’ Brennan and, of course, Midget Farrelly being the icons of the period, rooted primarily to Sydney’s Northern beaches. The BB comes from that era. A board of finesse, with pinched rails, a softly rolled bottom and hips set back in the aft third of the board. Very much a traditionalist, this is a board that needs nurturing but once you get it wired will come alive like nothing else, allowing a smooth pivot, superior trim and plenty of scope for nasal wanderings.
		The V-Flex: Many years ago, (or not so many, depending on your age!) experimentation was king. Boards, fins, everything went under the microscope to refine shapes and hone performance. During this transition, the ‘v’ stringer made its first, sporadic appearance. We have taken that original design and extrapolated, enhanced and adjusted to create our newest arrival, the V-Flex. But why? Well, the design principals of this model are all geared around noseriding and trim. An average noserider will gain speed but won’t have a huge amount of hold because the lift in the tail reduces the amount of rail in the water. With the V-Flex, once you head to the bow, the nose will flex downward, allowing the tail rail to remain in the face whilst still getting rail hold up front. Pretty nifty little trick we think. Very much a traditional log, the V-Flex is still out on its own: a ride like no other.
All In The Colour: No matter what the laws of hydrodynamics state, colour is important to any and every board. The finest board in the world can be lost in a miasma of lurid designs, brash tones and eye-aching hues, or, worse still, a plain white, matt finish. - Pigments and tints add a whole new dimension to a board, creating a depth and vibrancy not achievable with a standard acrylic spray. - The dyes used are not just any old ink we find lying around. Specifically formulated colours are used that blend smoothly and consistently with the resin without creating dispersal or inconsistencies. - This technical specification in pigment makes it a pretty costly substance, far more than your average paints. - There are two types of resin colouring: pigments, which are opaque, and tints, a translucent alternative. - As well as uniform, solid colour, resin swirls are capable, multiple colours spread through the resin while still wet to create beautiful, sometimes Hendrix-esque style effects. - The two styles of colour can be combined, producing the appearance of a board seemingly dipped in pigment, a ragged line separating the two. - One thing to note with pigments and tints is that, no matter how skilled the glasser, there will always be an element of chance involved in the effects. A uniform colour can be accomplished, but swirls, blends and multiple colours are impossible to get entirely symmetrical or to a design, whereas a spray, though less radiant than a tint, can follow a stencil, create a detailed image or logo. Next Month: Have It Your Way: The 1,2,3 of ordering a new board Classic Malibu Cnr Gibson & Eumundi Rd Noosaville QLD 4566 Ph: (07) 5474 3122 www.classicmalibu.com.au Email: info@classicmalibu.com
	Jesse Watson - Buff - We don’t quite know how Jesse Watson came to be in our employ; one moment we were questioning who would fill the place of our previous sander and polisher, the next we heard the whirring of machinery and boards buffed to a high sheen were appearing from the grim quagmire that is our polishing bay. But here’s the most likely theory: Jesse, the most spritely octogenarian you’re ever likely to meet, was born in Nepal, his parents, Raoul and Destiny, trekking the icy Himalayan peaks on a quest for the lost city of Shangri-La. Emerging during a snowstorm and wrapped in yak’s fleece, the young sprog came to this world with an ethereal glow about him and not a peep. In fact, it is said that Jesse has never cried. Even during his ritual circumcision, the infant was heard to emit a gentle, whispered, “Omm” as the Rabbi descended with bloodlust in his eye and a glistening blade in hand. (Photo: © Justin Healey) Raoul and Destiny were airhead flakes – there’s just no candy coating it. Determined that their child shouldn’t be another repressed child of the ‘70s, they set the two-month-old Jesse free into the world, his only companion a dwarf alpaca by the name of Cyril. Fortunately for the tot, Cyril had a gammy front right hoof, a repetitive strain injury from his favourite childhood game of ‘Stomp The Monk’s Toes’. This lead Cyril’s lateral tracks in a distinctly southerly direction, ending on Balinese shores. The journey, having taken 16 years, taught Jesse the importance of meditation and honed his abilities in astral travel. Meeting yogis aplenty along is path, Jesse became highly adept at cutting his own hair with his overgrown toenails as well as being able to retreat into his own navel in a manner akin to a pocket mac. Descending the steps into a cave at the renowned surf break of Padang Padang, Jesse found not only his new home but also his calling. Rapidly trimming his toenails with an oyster shell, Jesse paddled out into 12-foot Padang on a board washed across the reef. Having detached the reef-shredded corpse dragging from the legrope, the teen made his way into the lineup and, when a triple-overheader came his way and the pack scrabbled for the horizon, Jesse stroked hard and instantly became a legend. The Ghostman Of Padang, or Ghost as the locals called him, spent many a happy year in the cave, the ever-faithful Cyril guarding him, collecting food from the reef and surrounding hinterland and tending to Jesse’s tax returns. But the sad time for goodbyes was not far away. Cyril contracted a nasty case of gingivitis, a fatal affliction for all camelids, and passed away just shy of Jesse’s 64^th birthday. The grieving fellow meditated for a decade in mourning, emerging finally, the locals thinking he must have died and stunned to discover that the man in front of them who didn’t look a day over 26 was in fact the same Ghostman Of Padang that legend told of. Re-integrating into society was a little tricky at first, not least because Jesse had developed the disconcerting habits of walking on his palms, ankles wrapped behind neck, and bathing himself in a feline-like fashion. One day, as Jesse was redecorating his home with guano and kelp, he heard a faint whisper from afar, the dulcet tones of Peter White travelling to him upon the astral waves, pondering what could be done about their recent loss of a surfboard sander. Perplexed by the random uttering, Jesse sank once again into deep meditation, cradling his head in his feet as only the most proficient yogis can do. At once he found himself in front of a dusty, scratched, though brand new surfboard, and instantly realised that it should forever more be his duty to sand and polish every board that came to him to the highest level humanly imaginable. Some say that Jesse’s boards are so fanatically polished, so meticulously refined that one cannot actually touch the board. Instead, one hovers gently above the gleaming plank at a height of seven millimetres, cushioned by a haze of sheen. Whatever the truth in that, there is no denying that Classic Malibu surfboards would be significantly duller without the burnishing prowess of Mr. Jesse Watson. Next Month: Happy Reunions: Team rider Hanalei Reponty has recently been enlisted as Rip Curl’s International face of girls’ surfing…and she rides our boards. We catch up with the Reunion Islander before fame takes over…