Watching TV

1982. that's when I first watched TV. I didn't know it back then. I was a total grom' just discovering the joys of surfing. On a 7'6'' Safari single fin shaped by Spider himself (I scheme, it had his signature on it, not like these days), leg rope was a piece of washing line and a sock.

Paddling out at Supers was like, no way man, this wave is too hectic, I will surf Point. Largely due to my going over the falls on every wave whenever I paddled out, not hard at Supers if you are an absolute beginner. These days crowds are the problem. And crowds of folks like me back these days PLUS waaay fit younger ou's who rip too. Let's face it. if you can stand up on a board, you can surf Supers, eventually. If you can catch a wave nowadays.

I had great stoke increasers in the Mee brothers. A couple of stand up Christian (in the real sense) guys who were and still are utterly fearless in big waves. Ex PE lads, now both ensconced in All Black country and still surfing. The bastards had me paddling out at 6 foot plus Supers when I could barely stand up. I mean, how Christian is that? I didn't know better. They were tuning me, 'This is small, wait till it gets to eight foot, if you get hammered, just hold your breath, you can swim, right?' It stood me well. They were tuning me it is only 4 foot, not big at all... However, I digress.

I saw TV take off on a wave one day, at Supers, solid 8 foot (Mee brothers 5 foot, Hawaiian 6foot, PE pipe rats 15 foot) on the take off and just get mangameil slotted or in the pocket the whole way with a style that, to this day, I will never forget. I was too shit scared to take off,( it was at least triple overhead) and sat on the shoulder for about an hour until David (Mee) came up to me and tuned me to go for it, it is my wave.

At the time I schemed, great, Dave reckons it is cool and he knows, so, unwittingly I went for it and the inevitable happened. I stood up (at that time not so inevitable) and went straight down and then bottom turned. Anyone who has surfed 8 foot/6 foot/15 foot/Mee brothers 5 foot Supers will know that this is not a very good game plan.I distinctly remember the lip arching over and hammering me on my head, and the hold down, and the thought, 'Why did Dave tell me to go?'

'Sideways'. He tuned me after I paddled back out. I paddled back out because I was too shit scared to paddle back in. I then gathered my courage and had another go. I'd love to say I got it right on the next wave, but I didn't. I sat on the shoulder after the next hammering and watched far more experienced watermen rip the place to pieces. Obviously I got back in eventually. I will not go into the details here. I did make the drop though...

One of the watermen was TV. aka Tony van der Heuvel. The best board I have ever had was one he sold me when he was down and out back in the 80's. By that time I was competent. A 7'8'' single fin, made for the express purpose of riding Supers. That board was the best board I have ever had and I still wish I had kept it after it delaminated and the fin fell out. It surfed everything well. He did too. A consummate waterman and hippie. He died a whiles back. TB.

Dave Mee used to charge Supers. Long before Occhy, Dave had the layback barrel down. I will never forget watching Dave layback into a humungous 8 foot/6 foot/ Mee brother 5 foot/PE 15 foot barrel just before Impossibles and get slotted for a solid 4 seconds. He nearly made it out too. That lip was throwing up and out, the barrel was below sea level. I know. I caught the wave before him and survived. The idea of doing a layback, on the flat water, certainly didn't cross MY mind, I tune you. As I entered the maw of below sea level barrel and certain hammering I was more intent on getting out of it with my teeth intact. In those days there were WAY more mussels on the rocks.

Now you understand why I love surfing.

AGM up soon! Will we make a difference in the global economy...