Smoking guns: Who shaped what during WA's hell swell
“I remember turning to Jamie Mitchell and asking, “Where do I even put my feet on this thing?””
It’s Day 1 of last week's super swell and Luke Wyllie is at Cow Bombie, straddling a plain white 10’0’’ Al Bean he’s not only never ridden, but one that is actually not even his.
Nor, technically, does it belong to Paul Paterson, who Wyllie had paired up with for the bumpy jet ski ride out to the deep water break at the crack of dawn.
A set approaches, Wyllie spins, digs the arms in and starts to paddle just as Mitchell leans over and offers the commercial pilot some sagely advice.
“At this point mate, I’d say wherever your feet land.”
It’s fair to say a little has been written of the waves that belted the coast of West Oz last week and the brave guys (and gals) who rode them. But the guys who shaped the boards that brought those brave souls such glory?
“That board was actually one I shaped for Twiggy,” chuckles Bean, of the board Wyllie and Paterson rode last Friday. “He’d ordered it for a swell that was due to hit a year or so ago. The swell never eventuated and let’s just say Antman's been keeping it warm for him.”
The stick checks in 10’' x 21.5" wide x 3.75" thick, with a “lot of area up in the forward part” a fairly flat rocker with a little bit of vee at the front and rear leading to a rounded pin propelled by a Futures three fin set up.
“My thinking, and this is based off feedback from guys like Twig and Antman, is the less you’ve got going on underneath the better,” reasons Bean. “The focus is getting into the waves, hence the volume up front.”
Of note is the glass job. It was originally laminated with a six and four-ounce glass jobs either side but will be beefed up with an additional layer of six-ounce top and bottom.
“We had a sneaking suspicion it was a bit light when we made it,” say Bean. “Cows is a pretty windy wave so while we don’t make to make it too heavy, the extra glass is going to allow Antman, or Twiggy if he ever gets to ride it, to take off a bit closer to the peak. But other than that, I’m pretty happy with it.”
As was Wyllie, who found his groove on the board and jagged a couple of personal bests coupled with one good flogging.
“It was such a sweet board to ride,” reports Wyllie. “And knowing it had input from guys like Twiggy, Antman and was built by Al gave me the confidence you need in those situations.”
Luke Wyllie and Antman with Twiggy's 10'0" Al Bean (Photo Jamie Scott)
Down the coast a couple of clicks, Marty Littlewood found himself peering through binoculars as his two senior test pilots, Courtney Gray and Damon Eastaugh, drove his 10’6’s along the perfectly groomed waves at Boatramps.
And they sure weren’t the only ones. The select breed of surfer who waits for swells like this one dotted the expansive line-up. Rohan Annesley on a board shaped by Matt Manners and others including John Dutton and Mick Short riding Nathan Rose’s, who was also out charging. (Swellnet tried to contact Rose only to find he'd left for Indo to follow the swell for a bit more R&R.)
“I couldn’t stop looking,” reflects Littlewood.
“I’ve been here since the early eighties and I’m struggling to recall a swell like that. I might have seen bigger, but they’ve been one tide wonders. I paddled out on Tuesday and it still had so much push.”
While Littlewood is still waiting for feedback from Gray and Eastaugh, he admits to a sense of pride just witnessing the spectacle go down.
“Just watching guys riding waves like that on your boards…it’s validation of all the work you’ve put in over the years.”
But, the board perhaps given the most exposure during the #swellofthedecade was ridden further down the coast still at The Right.
Like Wyllie, Mick Corbett found himself being towed in on a board that was not only not his, but one that had only been finished the night before (see green board below)
“Yeah, there was a bit of rush to get that one done,” says the boards’ shaper, Chris Chapman.
“I had the blanks sitting around for a while then that swell popped up. The closer it got the more urgent it became to get it done. The boys came through and picked them up on Thursday and off they went!”
Due to the rise and resurgence of paddle surfing, tow in surfing and the board design surrounding it has been relegated to the back seat of late, but the images that came out of the sessions down south revealed work is still being done.
“I’ve been working with the crew down south, Ben Rufus, Chris Shanahan, Chris Ross and Cale Grigson for at least 10 years,” says Chapman.
“It’s not rocket science, it more a case of us just tweaking, refining and fine tuning over the years trying to get the right board to fit. Then we cross our fingers.”
Chapman was slightly hesitant to reveal all the digits of the magic sled, but offered the following.
“They’re all thrusters, average out at between 5’8’-6’0’’, have a pretty subtle single concave, nothing deep or radical, a rounded pin and weigh between 4 and 5kg” he says.
“We’ve been messing around with thicker stringers a bit, but that’s just a personal preference. Crossy and Rufus didn’t snap a board for 10 years yet Mick and Jarryd have been smashing them. Overall though, we just want them as close to a normal board as possible.”
Though unable to witness the spectacle first hand, Chapman says the stoke of seeing his boards carrying his riders out of ungodly bodies of water was as good a consolation prize as any.
“My god, when the first few pictures started come through...” recalls Chapman.
“That’s where I get my buzz…and knowing no one got hurt. Though I’m still struggling to comprehend how that didn’t happen.” //ANTHONY PANCIA
Photo of Antman Paterson at Cow Bommie by Jamie Scott
Antman and Luke Wyllie by Jamie Scott
Mick Corbett at The Right by Tim Bonython
Jarryd Foster's, Mick Corbett's, and Chris Ross' boards by Chapstar Surfboards
Comments
Seeing no comments have been made yet about this interesting news , here's a few questions ; who's riding quads other than jamie Mitchell , zac Haynes & james hick ( who incidently ,rode the biggest paddle waves at cows ) ? Were quads getting used in the tow waves , Or the paddle guns at Margarets outer reefs ?
G'day Camel,
Unfortunately, didn't have enough time to get around to everyone, maybe they can comment here, would be great to see what else was being ridden. I actually didn't any quads, which is not to say there weren't any, but none that I saw. Crazy swell though.
Nathan Rose got back to me yesterday, below is what he said;
I rode my 10'4. It's a tri fin and is 21 wide and 3 1/2 thick. Round pin tail. Subtle vee double concave bottom. It's the same model Dutts rides and it has enough rocker to work even on the steep inside waves and enough foam to catch them off the back. It's very solid off the bottom and surprisingly manoeuvrable for a board that size
Hey caml.you were riding marty's boards for a while?...as marty's a business man im sure there weren't many freebies? Still the original old school boards of that area..
Marty was great to me always good prices & service .
Crossy is a fucken legend...in wa bigger than the caml?sorry cam but your done mate..no longer there anyway.get a job caml the days of milking the surf industry that you hate so much arebin your sights....sight you ...
For sure crossys a better man than i . We are both pioneers in our own fields tho . Actually i have come to like the surf scene these days . Anthony; mostly im interested in the W.A feeling about quads & Nathan was one of my first guides to riding quads & he loves them so pretty strange hes on a tri fin . As an experiment that swell I Changed from quad to tri fin for one session of the couple days run . Back a few years ago the twig fins would have worked perfectly but now after a year n half of quads the tri just didn't project off the bottom turns how I wanted . So im really happy with my qad setups & wonder how they would go at the right & cows for the tow crew . Obviously Mitchell , zac & hicksy are using them paddling but it seems the local crew aren't . Marty L ,rosey ,matt manners , beany what about them ? And chris Chapman and the tow in scene ? What fins are they using
Cam your a legend mate...in margs you will be our generation of the great t.h. fo hard caml I love your workm
TH has always been a hero for me even tho he doesn't ride a quad & has always used a large Centre fin ! You're right im almost finished & can hardly surf now days I really admire old ppl that surf
Camel,
Chappy was understandably reluctant to give out too many little secrets.
And from what I can gather quads just haven't seemed to have taken off over here. Still the odd PE 5 fin "Claw" getting around though.
G'day Cam, How are ya mate? Was wondering what you were doing last week. I'v been riding quads here in little surf for a while and loving them. Taking one to G'land this year for the first time.
Gday Ben haha brewock ! yeah mate , sick quad will tub ride awesome at G . If I were u put in assymmetric setup with smaller fins on the off side seeing you will rarely engage them at g.land .
Yeah mate will give it ago. There was a young seppo there last year Ryan Burch with a hole load of asymmetric boards and was ripping on them! He's got some rad Ideas would be great to hear you two together.
True ben . Burch & I would nail it with the best ever assymmetric board ever . I fairly well know what needs to be shape & he would know the other half . I hope they told Burch about the camel ideas from way back . Good luck this stint mas .
Yep the claw , got a good one here with me . Chappy actually says enough info to get the idea & Brutus says quads dont work on tow boards . I have a tri fin tow board but wish it was quad just so I could see for myself . So which one of those pictured tow boards is crossys ? Hopefully I can ask Nathan about the quads myself . And they're correct about the weight of the beany gun they should have done what twiggy said from the start he would never have approved a lightweight glass .
Not sure why you'd be done with surfing camel I didn't think you were that old.
You are destroying the media perception of yourself by actually commenting on an Internet forum though...not quite soul surfing sage like
What the media or myth make believe is not always true . Living in remote area gives me time to keep in touch via swell net forum . U won't find FB or insty tho
Bloody Schmucka's at it again!!! Fuck'n face bookin' and instarin' too!!!... ???
https://www.facebook.com/WebsterSurf/photos/a.361514933862590.104643.352...
https://www.facebook.com/WebsterSurf/photos/a.361514933862590.104643.352...
https://instagram.com/p/3Qg8RvmWQk/?taken-by=webstersurfboards
https://instagram.com/p/3k3NWwmWeL/?taken-by=webstersurfboards
https://instagram.com/p/4ybdtgmWSD/?taken-by=webstersurfboards
https://instagram.com/p/21lnRkmWS3/?taken-by=webstersurfboards
https://instagram.com/p/0eKzrXmWY9/?taken-by=webstersurfboards
https://www.facebook.com/WebsterSurf/photos/a.361514933862590.104643.352...
https://www.facebook.com/WebsterSurf/photos/a.361514933862590.104643.352...
https://www.facebook.com/WebsterSurf/photos/a.361514933862590.104643.352...
The same thing just repeated 5 times there . seen first couple u seen em all
Not mine tho is it
Wow there's lots of stuff on camel . Nice work upbeat thanks for proving I dont have my own instagram or facebook . Bit off topic tho
I knew you were innocent!!!
Good on you legend . I don't try to portray myself as a soul surfing sage , there was a time I was an underground charger but eventually have worked out how to raise my profile & benefit from sponsors , contests , social media , exposure . I dont dislike smucker or criticize what hes doing publicly either . There's onshore winds setting in for ages here so my comment count is going to be high . Hopefully uplift will allow caml to comment freely . Now back to the original topic ...
Hank Jongen will be proud of you Caml.
:-)))) priceless :-)))
Can someone trek out into the desert and check on caml, he's starting to refer to himself in the third person, left unattended the results can be disastrous.
Excellent morrishaun
Please check on me . I will be sleeping during the onshores morrishaun
Its ok, its no different to borrowing wax, borrowing accounts. Its good, I always said you should be sponno'd. And Pete. And Jeff.
Be a CC rider, those winds are perfect there. And pretty close by. It likes as big as it can get. Shark hole though. Soufl'es probably already there but...
Na, desert stormin', smokin' guns, same thing.
Cc = comment count ?
CC Rider- It's an Elvis song.
By the way Camel, I just got my first custom in years.
I fucking LOVE it!!
Its a wave too... Jeff will help him find it...
Who's jeff ? Me ?
Nah, he's one of the locals.
Yep he rips . He actually could do with a 12"0 deset storm .
Cryptic words . I have no idea . Cc or hank who ?
'Cc'
Bust down the myth.
Again, perfect winds, loves that swell. Sharks though.
Gotta go to work, you're on your own.
Hank J - ya boss for a few yrs.
Got my own wax & however many times a picture or story of camel has been published I have never done it myself or benefitted financially . That maybe why I have decided to try to benefit from the notoriety by getting some equipment at discount price . Still Im a slow learner & have passed my prime .the only writing contributed by me is on swellnet & I dont have alias names or hide who I am . Although it could be fun . My phone device is basic so am limited to short / size comments .
Chin up cam dont have a mid life crises..I just got a touch phone too.nothing to be ashamed of,can look at porn too....fuck the waves.
Hey Norchook your phone must get slippery always covered in vas eh....knew you were a wanker.
Old mate really slipped up on that one;)
Parp.
Really my boss ? Ok best I know about this
Ok hank yep gotcha . Only 5 yrs tho . Cc ? Capel cut I guess yeah she's ok in onshores
I like the desert safety nose, got that one too.
always shit scared riding my brewer cause the nose is such a weapon.
George greenough approved ! Why would u take a sharp weapon into the surf if u don't have to .
Don't get me wrong caml I think u r a legend. My comment was more to do with how the surf media is full of @&$$&. U have done what most of us wish we had- just surfed and no other bullshizz. That wave you got through centres to tombies was awesome. Hope you r getting getting waves at present !!
Thanks sam
Centres thru tombies really was nuthing mate . I didn't even know it was a section
Ant pancia if it wasn't for me this story wouldn't have had any comments eh eh
I know it's a different topic but has enyone ridden a stretch buzzgun and if so what's your thoughts ?
Is that a character out of toy story?
Genuine question for you Caml. You have basically dedicated your life to surfing and gone without normal life things like wife and kids, house etc. Do you live in eternal stoke from surfing all the time or are there times where you wished you had those things. (am asking coz I wonder what life would have been like if I chose that path)