Passengers:
Phil Leadley, Glen Platt, Richard Gadd, Eden Scallan, Rick Scott, Luke Wilson, Ian Wallace, Adam Gibson, Simon Gibson, Peter Campbell.
10 Passengers on the Barrenjoey....could be a bit busy but hey we are all mates aren't we? A couple of weeks on a boat will sure put that to the test!
The charter was the last for the year and the maps were sending us mixed signals....oh well it can't be worse than back at Bondi (north east, flat, full of pommy backpackers and yuppies who think a mal is a fashion accessory).
PC was looking as pasty as I had ever seen him and his back and neck were looking as stiff as a 4x2. Platty had total reconstruction from the waist down. The Gibbo sisters were untested in Indo waters (unusual on this charter as the other pax has a combined total of 87 trips between them) Adam's preference for hanging his tongue out at every opportunity had the boys reaching for the 40+ block out before each surf. Gadster had a fine looking 7'4 Local Motion that hinted that we might be getting some serious overhead stuff! The Weepster...was the man Elvis turned to if fish was on the menu....time and time again he landed a big one when all hope seemed lost! Thanks Champ Rick, Deadley and Scall (The Doctor, Randy Longslong, take your pick!) just kicked back knowing the waves we were about to get! Wall was just looking to smash any lip he saw.....
1st couple of days dawned with great waves in the 4ft ranch to ourselves, 3-4 surfs a day!...surfed out and a couple of Bintangs and I'm hugging the pillow...anyone who's been up here knows the feeling!
The Lizard lounge has heard it all before but some of the stories seemed to grow on a daily basis (and I was telling them!)......shit if you can't sling it to your mates up here....where can you?
The boys fell into a pattern, some over the side before dawn, some needing a bit more grooming and some wheeled out on a stretcher in their favorite slippers to see their mates pulling in!
Second week and still we're in the water every day......not epic by local standards but tell that to the broad smiles that greeted you each evening in the Lizard lounge.
An ugly shirt night was called towards the end of the charter...the boys had kept each of their shirts hidden until the unveiling! It happened the last arvo, The BJ was anchored by a perfect 3ft right-hander. Slowly the boys were magically drawn back to the mother ship for the unusual fashion parade. Deadley paraded around in a shirt that looked like a test pattern on acid, Weepster took it up a level and strolled out with his gimp mask on accompanied by a green G-string a freshly caught mullet completed his ensemble. Rick was next to arrive dressed as Leif Garrett....long white socks and sandals, Tom Carroll tight red shorts a yellow red orange muscle top 4 sizes too small. Wall, he took another tack ...... lets just say he raided a chicks wardrobe and after 2 weeks at sea his pins looked alright! Scall turned up with an asian influenced shirt and had everyone on it from Bruce lee to Fo man chu (his handle bar moo had him looking to star in a bad 70's romantic comedy). An expression session was called in the fading light and the villagers looked on in disbelief as the Gimp-master pulled into a perfect barrel, Leif Garret was not to be out done and donned a pair of aviator sunnies and paddled out on a 70's single fin classic hot buttered. Surprisingly Leif socks sandals sunnies and single fin got slotted 1st wave unfortunately the boys in the lounge were laughing so much no-one had thought to pick up a video....some things are burnt into your memory banks anyway.
The Ugly shirts now have new owners so if you up here and you see a local in a particularly amusing number you know were they came from. We ended up getting waves every day...the same couldn't be said for some of the other boats, as always The Barrenjoey had good karma on her side.
See ya next time.