Finless surfing

After our last visit to the beach we decided to get an 'Albacore' finless surfboard - kind of a hybrid between a bodyboard and a surfboard

It was only in the 30's that fins were attached to surfboards. The original Hawaiian surfboards (called Alaias) were shaped from wood into this 'ironing board' shape with a channelled hull and no fins. There's been a bit of a resurgence in Alaia surfing in the last few years and that's trickled down to commercially available boards like the Albacore, which offer the finless experience to people who aren't prepared to shape their own board or who don't have the skill or strength to paddle in to waves on a traditional wooden version.

We took it to the beach yesterday, and although conditions were terrible we had a great time playing around in the surf. There was 25mph+ winds gusting up across 20 miles or so of beach

 

which meant that you were constantly being abraded by sand and made it impossible to get any shelter from the sun      

It also messed up the waves and turned the surf into a choppy unpredictable mess with a huge side rip and no real shape - apart from a few kitesurfers there was nobody out

Both of us have only had limited surfing experience - we have both been able to occasionally get to our feet on green (unbroken) waves but that was many years ago. So I think the Albacore is going to be a challenge to get the hang of - it's pretty buoyant for its size but you still need to time your paddling correctly, and once it catches a wave it's hard to keep it pointing in a straight line. But it's fun. In cleaner surf I think we'd both be able to get up, although turning it will be another matter. Because the board is short (5'6) it fits into both cars, and because it is soft skinned and finless we can muck around in any conditions without fear of being concussed by the board or cut up by the fins after a wipeout - something we've both experienced in the past. So although it may be harder to learn on and it certainly lacks the coolness factor of a custom board, or even a longboard, I think we'll be using it more frequently and that has to be a good thing. If I find myself getting the surfing bug again then I can look at more traditional boards but for now this is a great alternative.  

Most importantly - Happy New Year! Hope you have a great night, and have fun in 2013!
 

For anyone that over-ate at Xmas

This is Die Antwoord. Needless to say there's swearing, shouting, rudeness, obscenity and just plain wierdness, so don't watch if any of that puts you off. Or if you like Lady Gaga - she asked them to open for her, and this was their response...

Just in case you're thinking 'what the hell did I just watch?', Die Antwoord put together a conveniant guide to answer any questions....

That clears it all up nicely.

Let me know what you think of my beer!

There are a few grab-bags of beer going out soon, and I'm always interested to hear what people think. Both good and bad! I've had a few verbal updates, some emails and the odd picture of somebody enjoying a beer (well, I hope that's what they were implying!) but it would be handy for me to keep everything in one spot. So what I'll do is every time I distribute a new batch I'll add it as a comment to this post. If you have any opinions on it then please reply to that comment, which should hopefully keep everything reasonaby ordered.

And don't be afraid to say negative things! Some of my recent brews are a little out there, and with the varied tastebuds around I'd be suprised if everyone likes everything that I make. I won't be offended, even if you try to sneakily pour a sage ale away behind a tree and get busted because of the smell! :)

A Bangin' Boxing Day Beetroot Brew

We were in two minds whether to stay at home or head down to the coast on Boxing Day, but the weather intervened and heavy rain in the morning kept us inside the house. Not so much because we were afraid of getting wet, more that once it had cleared the humidity was finally broken  and the flat was at a cool and comfortable 25 degrees or so. I even got the odd shiver laying on the couch as the wind below through - it was wonderful. And there was plenty to keep me entertained as Boxing Day in Australia is traditionally about two sporting events - the Boxing Day Test and the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. I'm not a cricket tragic but I take an interest, so I like watching both whilst I'm doing something else as well. It all added up to the perfect time to get another brew on.

The beetroot beer has just been bottled and it tastes surprisingly good. Very hoppy though - more of a beetroot IPA - so I decided I'd give it another go on a larger scale, back off the hops and use saison yeast to try to pull the fruity flavours out a bit more. Plus I had a saison already in the fermentor, so I could rack that off and pitch directly onto the old yeast cake. Less cleaning - hurrah!

This is the earlier beer

 This time around I'm brewing a 25l batch so my recipe was -

• 5 beetroots (I got 8 for $3!)
• 1kg pale malt extract
• 1kg raw sugar
• 1lg brown sugar
• 50g Amarillo hops (60 mins)
• 20g Cascade hops (30 mins)
• 20g Amarillo hops (5 mins)
• Saison yeast

Boil the sugars and bittering hops up first , and then add the chopped beetroot halfway through (ie with the Cascade hops).

I added a fair bit of filtered water to the fermentor before adding in the strained & cooled wort, then topped up to 25 l. Not sure if you can see it but the fermentor has a funky purple tone to it.

This next day the garage smelled strangely vegetable-y and the airlock was bubbling like crazy, so the yeast has taken well. This is last year's saison yeast which I used a few times and then kept in the fridge over winter, although I think after this brew I'm going to need to splash out on a new pack...

Happy Xmas from down under

Christmas Eve, and in a nod to myself fourteen years ago I bought some beautiful fresh caught Australian tiger prawns. Who knows, an old crew mate could have been involved in bringing these in.

 They were shelled, de-veined and marinaded in a coriander & chilli marinade for an hour or so

For any readers in the cold, damp & gently flooding UK - I'm putting another shrimp on the barbie for you

 A touch overdone (I'm still struggling with the barbie & seafood), but tasty

 How else would you want to spend Xmas Eve?

Happy Christmas everyone, hope you have a great festive period!

Riding the cyclone

Cyclone Evan has recently been wreaking havoc on Fiji & Samoa and the resulting swell has now reached Queensland. So we thought it was time to get back to the beach and catch some waves...

A combination of onshore winds and heavy waves quickly persuaded my from trying to get out back - when you have head high cascades of white water that knock you off your feet, you don't want to tangle with a closeout on a green wave. But even the whitewater had enough push to give me a decent ride. I may be on a bodyboard, it's not 6' & glassy out there and I'm only catching whitewater but I'm still having an awesome time.

 



Look away now all my old surfer mates

It's still hard work though, and after a few hours of being beaten up by the ocean some fresh mango goes down a treat

Along with a leisurely coffee in the carpark. A little different to shiveringly gulping down a hot drink in the carpark at Woolacombe in a desperate attempt to avoid hypothermia

although the sunshine does take a toll - I was a bit careless with the suncream, and as Liz puts it "I've been Rhonda'd"

When can we go again? :)





Christmas Tune

Bit of a warning - you may not have noticed but Christmas is getting close.

It's always a bit of a wierd time of the year for me over here as the sweltering humid days, tropical storms and whooping storm birds still don't mean Christmas to me. I'm too used to long dark nights, sleet and a miserable chilliness. So although I'm going through the motions - buying presents, sending cards, stocking up on booze and food - there's part of me that's wondering why. There's always a tinge of sadness too as I'm buying gifts for people who I haven't seen for almost eight years, and I won't be around for the opening.

Anyway, Christmas tunes are generally pretty woeful (with the exception of The Pogue's "Fairytale of New York" and Half-Man-Half-Biscuit's "It's cliched to be cynical at Christmas" - any other decent ones that I've missed?). But this year the Dropkick Murphys have stepped up with this - good song, funny video.

Speaking of good video clips, has anyone else seen the Aldi advert with the surfing Santas?

How good is that? Although I'd be careful waving a ham around in the water, it's been a sharky year so far.....