Ask Carroll

[Hatchnam]

I wasn't actually expecting a response but all good and funny either way. And no, not surfed any Tahitian reef passes, but yes, surfed 6-8 ft reefs on pintails. No channel bottoms in the size range though.

[steve shearer]

Just a correction to your Surfline article Nick.

I didn't "politely decline" the offer from the ASP to deliver content. I sent back a neutral email asking them about terms and conditions. They didn't respond.

You could have asked me directly what happened instead of assuming.

[Nick Carroll]

Apologies for the assumption Steve. I'll correct the error.

[Nick Carroll]

Nick, who is your all time fav athlete and why?

Outside surfing?

Hmm don't know if I have one. I'm always amazed by great athletic achievements but since I almost never know the person involved it's a bit hard to have them as a favourite.

I was always impressed by Heather McKay, the great squash player, who not only won numerous global squash tournaments but also seemed to handle herself with grace and integrity around her successes and afterward.

Also some of the distance runners of the 50s and 60s, Herb Elliott springs to mind.

I thought Kieren Perkins's second 1500 gold in Atlanta was the greatest single achievement by an individual athlete in my lifetime but he sorta seems like a bit of a knob, I don't know why and have no real basis for saying it. He's probably a great guy.

[Natho]

Nick,
would it be possible to post up a pic of your latest quiver, say your standard everyday quiver?. A lotus arrangement with a nice pose in the middle could be the trick?. No need to do a Reg and get your wang out. Just keep it nice an clean for all.
thanks
Natho

[Nick Carroll]

Maybe in a month or so, I'm getting some new boards and would hate it to be out of date

[Natho]

Thanks Nick sounds good. Let me know if you wish to part with any of the MC deep concaves. I ride similar dims to you. Mine is going insane so Im hooked. I need more more more

[ctd]

Maybe in a month or so, I'm getting some new boards and would hate it to be out of date

Do you keep a diary/list of all the boards you have ever had (or most of them) or do you just have a good memory?

[Nick Carroll]

A diary? Fcuk no. I've had heaps of boards I can't remember. But most of 'em have some sort of close to indelible surfing memory attached, so there they are, stuck to some wave or surf somewhere.

So many boards, christ. There's a book in that idea somewhere.

[Lucky Al]

what's the first board you remember surfing nick? i mean first real surfboard, not corkie.

[Nick Carroll]

The first board I surfed was the first one I ever had, a 5'8" with a small rounded nose, a squash tail and a lovely green-tinged hand shaped fin. A long time later I found out it was the same board Nat Young surfed in the final of the World Contest at Johanna in 1970. I bought it for $22 from a schoolmate who'd been using it as a kneeboard. I've talked to a lot of surfers about their first wave, and many don't quite recall it, but for me it was like the cliche: I paddled into it, a little right rip bowl, and stood up and felt that hard rail cutting through the water, and I was gone. Stayed in my mind ever since. I'm sure I have changed the memory many times but it's still vivid as hell.

[collnarra]

Maybe in a month or so, I'm getting some new boards and would hate it to be out of date

Do you keep a diary/list of all the boards you have ever had (or most of them) or do you just have a good memory?

one of my dad's mates has every board, every surf diarised since he started back in the 1960s. Books full of the stuff.

[ctd]

Maybe in a month or so, I'm getting some new boards and would hate it to be out of date

Do you keep a diary/list of all the boards you have ever had (or most of them) or do you just have a good memory?

one of my dad's mates has every board, every surf diarised since he started back in the 1960s. Books full of the stuff.

I wasnt implying Nick was OCD or something by suggesting a diary - some people do it, some dont; but now he pulls out that his first board was 5ft8 with details as to nose, fins etc. Impressive!

How did you (Nick) feel when you broke your first board? Or did you have several by then anyway?

When I broke my first proper cricket bat, I was devastated. SS Jumbo. Turned me into a bowler.

[godsavetheking]

nick, I also started on a 5'8 kneeboard. is it possible that we are twins separated at birth?

[Nick Carroll]

nick, I also started on a 5'8 kneeboard. is it possible that we are twins separated at birth?

Godsave I prefer to think of us as kindred spirits.

[Nick Carroll]

How did you (Nick) feel when you broke your first board? Or did you have several by then anyway?

When I broke my first proper cricket bat, I was devastated. SS Jumbo. Turned me into a bowler.

Mate people didn't have quivers until about 1978.

The first board I snapped was a couple down the track from that 5'8". It was the first new board I owned, a 6'10" pintail made by a local Newport backyard shaper called Richard Fethers. It snapped about a foot up from the fin while I was surfing a thick little shorebreak over rocks inside the Peak. I recall being more interested than upset. I decided to fix it myself and took my time, in the meantime surfing a 7'3" cut down fantastic plastic machine that my dad had bought in a fit of mid life enthusiasm then decided against any ongoing involvement with this foolish sport. I had a great time on the 7'3", learning a lot about vee and how to turn off it, and thus took about two weeks to repair the Fethers, carefully tinting it electric blue like the board and sanding off and on for several days trying to get the bottom flush. When it was finished the board was definitely a fair bit more tail-heavy but it still went well for a while, till predictably enough I snapped it again just above the original break. The board then made way for a 6'10" John Brixey narrow round tail with a flat to spiral vee bottom, and my real surfing life began.

[kreepykrawly]

Dear Nick

It seems like heaps of people are pumping up your ego by asking you inane questions.

My question to you is..are you finding that your right hand is moving slowly towards your worm as the questions become more ego centric and self serving ?

....and do you now consider yourself a guru on all things land based ad well as water based ?

Your response is awaited with baited(no pun intended) breath.

[crabmeat thompson]

It's more of a young snake, than a worm, to be fair.