RealSurf Surfers' Forum

Re rashie over wettie; OK fair call guys _ i've learned something.
However don't think it applies to this fella at DY I mentioned; his wettie, rashie and board were all brand spanking new!
I'll also add a seemingly obvious one: Board put down deck up on the sand, with wax happily melting, next to the owner as they sunbake.

bombora wrote:Re rashie over wettie; OK fair call guys _ i've learned something.
However don't think it applies to this fella at DY I mentioned; his wettie, rashie and board were all brand spanking new!
I'll also add a seemingly obvious one: Board put down deck up on the sand, with wax happily melting, next to the owner as they sunbake.

Rashie/wettie=embarresment about beer gut ???

The floundering mini mal rider who managed to screw up not one but two waves for Jayke Sharpe in the quarters of the Arnette Pro Junior at Queenie yesterday by a) being in the contest area and b) abandoning ship in the face of a one foot wall of white water.

Post the pic

yeah, i'm with hamish. aquabumps doesn't take itself too seriously, just like the vibe in six ounce. don't think anyone there would try and pretend its about elite performance - its just about fun and trying something different. who cares if it's accessible to the mini mal riding hordes or doesn't have anything for the hard core ripper (how's that for a lame-ism anyway!).

collnarra wrote:(Nick - was there really a surf mag called tracks? Or is that a tip o' the hat to the kookocracy?)

just a little salute in passing....

And Hamish, you entirely misread my comments about Aquabumps, it was not at all an "attack", and I am sure Eugene is a good bloke with a good eye and doesn't claim himself as being a master of surf photography ... but the point is ... other people DO! ... and they're sure they're RIGHT! (I mean who else could there be, hey??) ... and he's only taking photos of BONDI!! He may not be a Kookocrat, yet he has been elected by the Kookocracy.

and as philw says above...hurray!

...just as long as you then look at Ted Grambeau and Aaron Chang and Scott Aichner, and Tim McKenna, and Jeff Hornbaker, and Bill Morris (who also lives at Bondi, but for some strange reason never shoots there), and the 20 or so other surf photographers operating today who truly are The S**t, who'll put it all on the line swimming at Backdoor or travelling to some almost unknown spot with $40,000 worth of gear not knowing if they'll be duckdiving eight foot coral reef pits or climbing palm trees for a sunset angle...and acknowledge that they're the real deal.

You can have both, no doubt. Parmenter's Kookocracy only knows one.

mudguts wrote:at nulla every morning with out fail, usually at the alley, there is the same bunch of old buggars checking out the surf. funny i very rarely see em in the water, esp if there are waves. but when they are out there it annoys the shit out of me. there are a couple of notorious pests ( at least to me) that i really dont enjoy seeing out in the surf. but good on em i spose. there is plenty of beach so i just go somewhere else.

theres heaps of people that dont surf that check it down Mona Vale in mornings, like that guy with the scooter there in the middle of winter at 6.15

I've worn a rashy over a wetsuit before, but when it was like 8 foot and overcast so mate videoing could actually see me(it worked when we saw the footage), but otherwise no, ive seen people wearing them in big surf during summer so they could be seen by lifeguards if they needed to be rescued

+the guys who were two leashes on a lid in case one breaks, kookyness at its best or common sense?

So if I am an an average surfer who gets (short)boards from 6oz, surfs bondi and my photo has appeared on Aquabumps does that make me a member of the kookocracy?

If Eugine snapped a shot of you surfing I doubt it, or you wear the title forever Post ya pic and let the crew decide if you're concerned.

seems like the fat old guys on mals are coppin it a lot, and deservedly so IMO, being a majority of the time mal rider myself it irks me that I'm tarred with the same brush as these stooges... but whaddayagonna do eh?? am immensley enjoying gettin back on short boards after about a five year abscence but thats besides the point >>>>

>>>anyhow... just as kooky as the old/fat/mal riders are the goons who will come rain hail or shine paddle out into anything on a pristine super white stickered potato chip... FFS its 1 foot and high tide on a mushy bank and heres this dude with the Oneill Phsyco 3 steamer ($650), the Al-merrick slater popout ($750) uber fancy tail pad ($100) the completely symmetrical wax job (only where his feet would go if he actually could find em) the QuikRipaBong sticker on the nose, the FCS titanium injected carbon fibre ribbed for your pleasure kelly slater commemorative fins in fuschia, the solarium tan and the X5 in the carpark.... theres a simple saying for em:

all the gear and no idea!

Chong wrote:So if I am an an average surfer who gets (short)boards from 6oz, surfs bondi and my photo has appeared on Aquabumps does that make me a member of the kookocracy?

Only if you thought that as a result, you were an Australian Idol.

i'm calling bullsh*t on this kookokracy thing!

no surprise that it came from dave parmenter (fine writer - but reading him you're made constantly aware of his pedigree, his heritage, his authenticity etc...)

surfing is popular. surf culture is popular. that means lots of people who don't know sh*t are doing it. sticking your nose up at the enthusiasm of people who don't know better is just snobbery!

Dave Parmenter uses the term “kookocracy” in an article written for the volume 15, number 3 edition of The Surfer's Journal. He's writing about the potential effect of the closure of Clark foam on the surfboard manufacturing industry. The article concludes:

“The small custom shaper will find it very difficult to thrive as the global economy envelops our industry. The major labels, of course, will continue on their merry way, shaping without dust, designing without surfing, refining the Thruster into sterility and shilling their logos in four-colour ads. The most frightening thing I have heard over the past few months came from Bill Barnfield who stated that the very worst pop-out or Asian-made boards far exceeds the needs of 90 per cent of surfers today. I believe he is right. To the domestic surfboard builder struggling to survive in this bizarre new 'kookocracy', Gordon Clark offers this advice: 'The Cobra factory in Thailand builds almost all of the world's lightweight sailboard brands and could probably quickly ramp up to supply all of the world's surfboards. They are huge and very checked out. They do not need any help. If you are thinking of applying for a job, remember they pay about $3.00 per day plus a free lunch.'”

How about the increase in "surfers" splashing around in that big bay on the northern side of Long Reef ?

Eddie Punchclock wrote:How about the increase in "surfers" splashing around in that big bay on the northern side of Long Reef ?

norfie??? yep! all kooks.

salty wrote:I think the fact that Ugene has been so successful by shooting only at Bondi is a tribute to his talents.

Well said salty, but I'd like to add that Uge also has a fantastic way with words. He really knows how to convey that wish-I-was-there-this-morning kinda writing style, before you realise he's talking about Bondi! Wordsmiths are hard to come by, and I reckon he's got a great style.

WANDERER wrote:

Eddie Punchclock wrote:How about the increase in "surfers" splashing around in that big bay on the northern side of Long Reef ?

norfie??? yep! all kooks.

Blind aggro and blowing up in the north, latte swilling feel-gooders in the south and board and neck snapping pandemonium in the middle, gotta love the "stretch".

Two Swedish backpacker mates, entering the fray at an already crowded Bondi at about 4'. Both had identical brand new minimals, first time wet, paddling out side by side, close enough to rub shoulders. At each incoming wave they would ditch the boards, dive under the wave, surface, untangle their leashes and boards, climb back on and keep paddling.