Ask Carroll

[steve shearer]

Shea Lopez did one for Surfer magazine last week

If you call a one line assessment photo caption a power rankings then yes.

Hynd wrote a World Rankings for my site last year that included both Touring Pros, big wave surfers and fringe soul pros.

I thought it was brilliant, possibly ahead of it's time.

He's promised to write another one for me soon.

I think people read the Power Rankings both for schadenfraude entertainment and razor sharp analysis. There's no doubt Lewis is top of the pile on both those measures.
It's weird because his other writing is quite benign.

[swvic]

Nick, maybe you haven't given thought to it yet, but I was wondering whether you have any idea what type of changes you'd consider for your boards should your paddle fitness wane? Specifically, I'm interested in the type of changes you might make so they paddle better and still allow you to surf them as close to normally as possible

Same everything excepting a little thickness via a rolled deck?
Longer, wider thicker?
Wider and thinner?
EPS?

I'm at that stage. I can surf the things, but paddling is soon to become a real issue. Thing is, piles of foam doesn't seem too attractive - for surfing or duck diving

[Nick Carroll]

i think thickness is probably the best and easiest way to add paddling assistance to a board. Even minor increases in what you might call the body of thickness in a board can make really noticeable differences. EPS foam definitely floats better but it does perform differently to PU/wood and the design types that seem to use EPS the best might not appeal to ya. Straighter rocker lines really help a bit too, especially the front half - a lowered entry helps tilt the board forward and down a bit which helps every aspect of paddling. I do think down the line about this for myself, Ive been a bit extreme in holding thicknesses down below what even most current pros use, mainly through my semi addiction to deep concaves, so I do have a fair bit of room to play in the years ahead.

[Beanpole]

Nick can you list the characteristics of a board that is too fat, too wide and too short?
Mine would be: okay as a groveller.

[Nick Carroll]

Irritating.

Fails to turn up the face. Paddles slower than it should for the bulk. Goes OK in waves that other boards fly in. Easy to learn on, boring to surf on.

[crabmeat thompson]

Speaking of irritating. What's it like to be back at snapper?

[Nick Carroll]

It's fantastic!

[rmb]

Nick reading a few articles regarding the going on's on the Goldie I have to ask who the fcuk who doesn't live there would want to surf there.I know the waves when on are supposedly world class but Surfing with excessive amount of people at the super bank or DBah doesn't sound like a relaxing or fun surf. Would much prefer to do a trip to a more isolated area in Oz but each to their own.

[godsavetheking]

Nick,

In case you missed mingnut's escalating edit-edit-edit tard-strop in the Tangents thread, it appears that he has flounced out, never to return. And all because of you. On a scale of one to ten, how indifferent does that make you feel?

Rgds,

g-s-t-q

[Beanpole]

Nick reading a few articles regarding the going on's on the Goldie I have to ask who the fcuk who doesn't live there would want to surf there.I know the waves when on are supposedly world class but Surfing with excessive amount of people at the super bank or DBah doesn't sound like a relaxing or fun surf. Would much prefer to do a trip to a more isolated area in Oz but each to their own.

wasn't that crowded in the 70s......or the 80s. Even had a great micro session while we were up there 3 years ago. I think I caught the fastest wave I've ever caught on my fish.

[petulance]

Nick reading a few articles regarding the going on's on the Goldie I have to ask who the fcuk who doesn't live there would want to surf there.I know the waves when on are supposedly world class but Surfing with excessive amount of people at the super bank or DBah doesn't sound like a relaxing or fun surf.

On a related note, this is a vid of Kelly at Snapper ...
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153840729800408

And I thought my regular was crowded ...

[Nick Carroll]

Nick reading a few articles regarding the going on's on the Goldie I have to ask who the fcuk who doesn't live there would want to surf there.I know the waves when on are supposedly world class but Surfing with excessive amount of people at the super bank or DBah doesn't sound like a relaxing or fun surf. Would much prefer to do a trip to a more isolated area in Oz but each to their own.

Yeah I know what you mean, but it feels to me that for a lot of people -- at least a lot of people who are up here right now, kids with their Dads, Europeans in wicked vans trying to live the 1970s hippie life, etc etc -- a big part of surfing is the need to belong. And also for the kids especially, it's a great chance to surf with the stars. So the crowd is just a natural part of all that. I'm enjoying it a lot actually, all the different humans paddling around out there, it's almost like being at a concert or a pub or something. Yesterday arvo I thought, do something different, so I dived in at Rainbow and swam up the Bank to Snapper. People everywhere! Mostly just the betters surfers getting waves but quite a few going to lucky punters too. Out the back it was really good, I think they seriously fcuked up not having some contest yesterday. About 50 people milling next to the rock, lots of top 34ers. A clubby IRB came in from the bay and drove just outside the pack yelling something, then drove over to me. "There's a four metre shark out here!" the crew guy said. "Where?" I said. "Just over there," he said, waving vaguely off to the north. It seemed hilarious in the light of what was going on - what was the shark going to do, come over and try to get a wave? I looked around at everyone scratching their hearts out and thought, well if they don't care, either do I.

I bodysurfed back down the bank and when I came in at Rainbow, Lisa Andersen was on the beach with a bunch of friends and some of the new pro girls. Good god Lisa is still sexy as hell. Next to her, the girls all look like children.

[Nick Carroll]

Nick,

In case you missed mingnut's escalating edit-edit-edit tard-strop in the Tangents thread, it appears that he has flounced out, never to return. And all because of you. On a scale of one to ten, how indifferent does that make you feel?

Rgds,

g-s-t-q

Oh look I think it is a tragedy on the scale of the Malaysian Airlines disaster.

But since he will be back in some other disguise, not to mention posting as fonggs half the time, we haven't really lost him. epic super tards never really leave us. They are always here in spirit.

[swvic]

2 hrs 7 mins is all it took him to post in the same thread. Who knows how many he'd posted elsewhere by then? True tardiness

[Nick Carroll]

I use a notepad and pen, and the Apple Pages software. I used to use QuarkXPress as a writing tool in preference to stupid fcuken Microsoft Word. I like Pages because it's bloody simple and I can read and edit stories across all my, errr "devices". But the pad and pen is still gold.

[purple pyramids]

Matt
have a look at Scrivener. it's made for writing long projects. great for planning, drafting, note taking and organising your research material (pdfs, docs, audio, video) -- then export to word for final draft. it's also cheap.

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[collnarra]

I used to use Word, but I tend to write in Google Docs these days, largely because it's free. My drafts are automatically stored in the cloud, I can do sharing (as long as those people I am sharing with also have Google accounts.)

I've got Pages, but I don't really like it. It's probably just a matter of acclimatisation, but I've never bothered putting in the time.

Some of my private clients prefer things submitted in Word, but I can save a Google Doc in .doc format, so that's OK. It's only tricky when they want to start doing "track changes" which is why I am thinking of subscribing to Microsoft Office 365, which is about $95 per year.

When I am doing face to face interviews I used a pad and pen unless it's something that's technically dense. Then I will record it on my iPhone and transcribe the relevant bits. If I am doing an interview on the phone and I am in front of my computer I'll just type it all straight in to a document. Typing speed isn't a problem.