Nothing to do with cars- but worth a look.

[whatsisname]

As the thread title says, this has nothing to do with cars.

Now as it's looking more & more like I'll be out of the Skyline game for a while I've got myself a new challange. Forget 11-12sec 1/4's. I'm heading down home (Tassie) in Sept to surf this -

http://www.surftasmania.com/mov/SternJan03.mov

This wave is not far from my old's place. It's called Shipsterns Bluff. The best way to get to it is via boat, & lucky for me the old man is a pro fisherman so I've got that covered. Now for the hard part, getting fit enough to handle a beating that 'Shippies' dishes out!

[EnricoPalazzo]

You probably could travel the quarter mile in about 12 secs on one of those waves

[whatsisname]

Pretty solid looking wave isn't it On par with anything Hawaii has to offer. Just a shit load colder!

[Chris32]

Good stuff Matt - thats one heavy wave

reminds me of Shark Island a bit - make sure you have a REALLY strong leash, and hold that breath

[whatsisname]

Chris,

Yeah its a touch like the 'Island. I've ridden the 'Island a few times when it been in the 8' range. The Zone is another reef that has the same kinda' power.

I've not ridden Shipsterns yet. I've seen it. Watched plenty of footage. Listened to the old man tell me some full-on scary hold down stories. But I've yet to ride it. The old man put it to me that we should head out there in the boat, while we were chatting on the phone the other night, & it was a done deal

There's actually quite a few top quality reef/point set-ups in the SE of Tassie (it is an island after all). I've ridden almost all of these other spots many times, some in the 10-12' range, but none of them compares to Shipsterns! It can hold 20+' & often gets over 10-12'. There are huge bolders right in front of the take off & the wave actually builds in size as it goes down the line (ie 6ft becomes 8ft which becomes 15ft!).

More Shippies -

http://www.netbb.com/files/video/shipsterns_jan03.mov

http://www.fluidzone.com/frozenhole/newgal...08/sub809an.gif

http://www.fluidzone.com/frozenhole/newgal...08/sub808an.gif

From above -

This is it on a nice day -

And a not so nice day -

I'll ring you in the coming wks re going for a surf too mate. If you're free & still keen? I've been hitting Waits a bit lately. Had 5-6' Waits point on the long weekend with only 3 of us on it for 2hrs (all boogers). Had a few late arvo ones last Sunday too (had to wait until the stand-up comp finished). Knights has been pretty average Wrong swell direction mostly. The mid has had a few 3ft sessions. Tommorrow/Thurs is looking good on the mid.

I'll probably be heading down to VH again early Sunday (Sat if rain postpones the AIR day).

[Chris32]

Those pics are cool. I'll be keen to come down for a look for sure, let me know next time you are going down and i'll see if I'm busy or not. This weekend is out, with the drag day sat and going to the trucks at mallala on sunday

BTW - thats not me on that wave hey, just a dude with exactly the same name - freaky!

[Cubes]

I remember those early days when I went down to catus beach on a school camp

One of the days was so damn heavy i kept getting slammed and unfortunately had to head back in.. Didn't even get a ride

[whatsisname]

Chris,

I didn't even click about the Chris Edwards thing. Very freaky!

I'll be surfing most weekends, so just let me know when you're keen

Joel,

'head back in'? You sure you don't wear a skirt?

[Cubes]

Matt,

Lol... Yer I did cop a bit of shiet that day.... 'soft' was the word.

[whatsisname]

[Freebaggin]

Well surfing is cheaper than Skylines that's for sure....unless you are gonna start moding your board

[TIMMMAYYY]

I hear u can buy APEXI stickers for your boards too.. Make em go so much harder

[whatsisname]

Lachlan,

Yeah mate, bodyboarding/surfing is much cheaper than modified Skyline ownership!

A top of the range bodyboard (not a kiddies K-mart cheapy) is ~$500-600. When the car goes I'll be getting myself a BZ Hubb signature model ($599). Just bought a new Manta ConceptXP6 that was $470. I usually have 3-4 boards for different conditions.

A top of the range 4/3mm wettie - ~$500-600

Padded travel board cover - ~$150-200

Legropes - $40ea

Bodyboard fins - ~$80-100

As with my boards, I like to have a few of each of the above items. At $4,000 to get completely set-up, it's still much much cheaper than the car! One thing though, it's much easier to learn to drive a car than it is to learn to bodyboard! I mean "really" bodyboard, not flap around in the whitewater.

Timmmayyy,

Naa not Apexi, it'd have to be Trust The bodyboard lads would be thinking Trust was a new player on the BB scene