The FreeRideVoice

[swvic]

Thanks Vic, I think I fcuked up the embed code from Vimeo.

Give me five and try again.

Did the other vids on the site work for you?

Does it work now?

Working now, steve. Thanks. No time to watch though - I'm off to sample septic tanks. The effluent's ok, but the influent is making wish I could delegate

[purple pyramids]

good to see my petulant whinge has flushed out your plans. look forward to it.

I've actually got a pretty big piece on kneelos planned. Womb's gave me a good contact.

[steve shearer]

It'll be on the other side of Bells.
few handy kneelos in this area.

[Cpt.Caveman]

It'll be on the other side of Bells.
few handy kneelos in this area.

I've always found kneelos interesting. Every single one I've met has had a real renegade fun loving streak, and always very little care about what other people think. Interesting characters to chat with. May more out-there than most surfers I meet these days.

[swvic]

Couple of kneeboarders up your way, steve. Neil (vege) Luke who went up there join forces in board making with Dave( ?) Parkes. Bit of a legend on Phillip Island. I was good mates with his deceased younger brother, Mal. Tragically, the youngest of the 3 boys (Kenny) is also dead. True to CC's renegade, fun-loving description is Vege. At least he was. Hopefully, having lost 2 brothers hasn't fcuked him up too badly. Real charger at Express Point

[steve shearer]

yeah, that whole scene was way ahead of the curve in so many respects.

Greenough's just up the road too.

He came around the other day.....I was weeding in the vegie garden with the radio on full bore listening to Amanda Vanstone on counterpoint and he crept up on me. Scared the shitt out of me. He thought that was pretty funny.

[purple pyramids]

great! that sounds like something different to the usual kneelo characters and stories.

It'll be on the other side of Bells.
few handy kneelos in this area.

[bombora]

First 20 years of 38 years surfing was on my knees.
Same attraction; back then crips were a cult within a cult and few cared what others thought. Started cause dad would swim DY rock pool when I was a tacker and while I waited and watched the point Crawford seemed to be having the most fun, at least to a stick thin pre teen who liked emerging elctronica rather than pub rock. First ever glass board was from Friar Tuck! A crawford slab with deep sickle fin.
By the by, now that so many small and not so small wave boards are short and wide and look very like modern kneeboards, has anayone ever done a convertable knee/surfboard? Gave my last Flashpoint to a boogie board kid ages ago but seem to remember rocker/rails etc same as standup board. Thinking a convertable set of five fin plugs (back centre fin plug or box would have to be extra long) would be all that's needed, as kneelo fins way forward compared to standup.

[godsavetheking]

I learned to surf on a 5'8 kneeboard. It was so wide I couldn't get my arm round it, so my old man made a really massive trailer for me out of old bike wheels and lengths of 3 by 2. With my second hand hotline wetsuit and trainers on my feet I must have looked quite the picture of cool

[purple pyramids]

stand-ups ride back foot, while kneelos are, umm, front-foot surfers.
in the old slab days, you sat forward on the board, but leaned back on the tail. while, as i understand it, stand-ups at the time were front-foot surfing. when stand-ups moved to backfoot, kneelos moved to sitting further back and leaning forward.

maybe having multiple fin set up isn't really what's needed to make a hybrid. it's more about how you surf the board. quite a few kneelos ride standing up, when the mood takes them, without any need for changing the fins and pulling them further back on the board.
how was your flashpoint? best board i have ever ridden, by a long stretch.

[otway1949]

John Lennon sang it
One thing you can't hide is when a cripples inside!

And there is always the new generation of surf mats, Krypts and others.
Still as fast as you can go and every surf is overhead!!!!!!!

[Yuke Hunt]

I'll let Steve write the story ... but either way history will attest that the often maligned noble art has been for the want of a better turn of words ... on the front foot when it comes to surfing ... both by design and inspiration ... but most importantly for the reason behind the act ... and that's the facts ... there is no bullshit where kneeboarding is involved ... no pretensions ... no bluster ... no gesticulating or posing ... just the pure unadulterated joy of wave riding ... and if you don't get it ... if you don't understand that ... well there's little point in trying to explain ... your loss ... someone else's gain.

[Nick Carroll]

whereas every other type of surfing is pretty much full of bullshit

[bombora]

stand-ups ride back foot, while kneelos are, umm, front-foot surfers.
in the old slab days, you sat forward on the board, but leaned back on the tail. while, as i understand it, stand-ups at the time were front-foot surfing. when stand-ups moved to backfoot, kneelos moved to sitting further back and leaning forward.

maybe having multiple fin set up isn't really what's needed to make a hybrid. it's more about how you surf the board. quite a few kneelos ride standing up, when the mood takes them, without any need for changing the fins and pulling them further back on the board.
how was your flashpoint? best board i have ever ridden, by a long stretch.

Had several Flashpoints. All were awesome. Yeah used to ride em standup too but seem to remember some limitations for really hard turns and personally thought maybe fins a tad too far forward for having back foot standing on the tail. Probably just my very average abilities!

[steve shearer]

whereas every other type of surfing is pretty much full of bullshit

Tell you what though....there's a fcuking civil war happening up here with mat riding enthusiasts.

Death threats, stalkings, people spitting on each other in the street, can't be seen talking to this faction or other.

It's worse than the sunni's and shi'ites.

[Clif]

Bodysurfing on the whole tends to involve less bullshit, also.

[Clif]

For what reasons are the mat riders getting in each others' faces? Seems odd.

[steve shearer]

For what reasons are the mat riders getting in each others' faces? Seems odd.

Same reasons the Christians hated the jews and the muslims hated the christians, same reasons the Dadaists hated the cubists who hated the surrealists. Same reason the communists hate the capitalists etc etc.

Human scrapping over territory, status, ideas etc etc. Differing judgments, value systems etc etc. The necessity for one ideation to conquer another.

These are very passionate men. They take what they do very seriously. This is their life.

They aren't some white collar recreational work-a-daddies who dabble on the weekends.

They take their insults and their slights, perceived or otherwise and turn them into magnificent edifices.

Christ, anyone who thinks Byron Bay mat riding is some kind of Kumbaya example of the simple spiritual love-exercise of surfing is totally deluded.

There are names you can't even mention in the company of these men without pistols being drawn.

I try to stay neutral but if I was seen talking to the wrong person, I would be excommunicated for life.

And I don't even ride a mat.