PRESIDENT/CAPTAIN'S REPORT

Finally we got 2008 on the way with our first surf of the year. Conditions were actually quite pleasant early with offshore winds, a metre of swell and some blue sky. Numbers were down but the 16 hardy souls that made it appeared to enjoy themselves. A big welcome to 2 new members, Bruce Wilson and Paul Bioletti. Both showed enough flair to suggest they will keep us all honest in the surf over the remaining months.

Conditions did deteriorate as the morning went on but once Chris cranked up the barbie, a hot cuppa and sanga sandwich made us all feel comfortable and eager to re enter the surf.

Hopefully we will not miss anymore comps during the year. See you all at the Westower Tavern on Friday 18th april from 6.30pm.

Wazza

COMPETITION RESULTS - APRIL 2008

SOCIAL CALENDAR

The second Friday night social for 2008 is on Friday 18th April 6:30PM at the Westower Tavern, West Ballina. The Westower Tavern was upgraded last year and is now a very popular venue with great food and even live entertainment. Hope to see you there!

Don't forget the Lennox Longboarders are organising a Barefoot Bowls Day at the Lennox Bowling Club on Sunday 20th April starting at 12:30pm. Lunch is included. Adults $30, kids $20. This is a fund-raiser for a defibrilator and should be a great afternoon. Why not come along and join the fun? Numbers are limited to 72 and entries definitely close 16th April. Please let the club secretary know if you plan to attend.

See the Club Calendar page for full details of all our planned social activities.

UPCOMING COMPETITON EVENTS

Our next club round is on Sunday 4th May. The Regional Long-board Titles are to be held at Evans Head on March 29th and the 28th Annual Byron Bay Malibu Classic is on 1st - 3rd May 2008. See the calendar page for an entry forms.

NEWSLETTER & NEW WEB SITE

Club Secretary, Chris Bull, has taken over publication of the Newsletter. Chris has also established a new web site for the club – www.ballinamalibuclub.org . Mick Wilson of Westlawn Ballina has generously agreed to sponsor the ongoing annual costs for the domain name and web hosting. Many thanks Mick!

The Club Newsletter can now be accessed on the web site and either viewed online or downloaded in a format suitable for printing. Members who have provided their email addresses to Chris will now receive an email each month containing a link to the newsletter. The Committee urges all members to take advantage of the new web site and register their email address with Chris. Members without an email address will still receive a printed copy via surface mail.

Members will find many benefits with the new web site including:

Members interested in submitting interesting stories and pictures of days gone by, for inclusion in our monthly newsletter should Email submissions to Chris at secretary@ballinamalibuclub.org

MEMBER PROFILE

Name: Bruce Wilson

Age: 50

Origins: Galston, Sydney

Family: Two daughters 22 & 25 years

Job: Manager, Alpine Nursery Alstonville

Time on North Coast: 5 years

Style: Goofy

Quiver: 7ft mini-mal, 8' Kryptomic malibu, & 9'2" Kryptomic malibu (brand new, yet to be ridden)

Started surfing: 1969 at Cronulla

Favourite Surf Spot: South Wall, Ballina

Favourite Food: Italian & Pizza.

Favourite Activity (besides surfing): Watching Sunday arvo' footy with a few cold beers.

DID YOU KNOW...

The Malibu surfboard we ride today derived it's name from the popular Californian surfbreak.

Nowhere in surfing's history will you find one break that has had more effect on surfing's popular image than Malibu. Certainly, had there not been such a perfect wave so close to Hollywood, the cameras could have set up in Hermosa or Redondo, but think about it: a flawless right pointbreak that breaks close to the beach and is best in summer is a gold mine for Tinseltown. And, without Malibu, we can be certain that Annette Funicello might've gone on to be...well, just a well-stacked Mouseketeer.

Malibu's original inhabitants were the Chumash Indians, who were eradicated by early Spanish explorers. By the early 1900s, the entire Malibu area was owned by the wealthy Rindge family of New England, who fought fiercely to keep the state, the Southern Pacific Railroad and neighboring homesteaders from encroaching.

By 1929, the state had won. The Roosevelt Highway -- now the Pacific Coast Highway -- finally went through, and the public had coastal access from Santa Monica to Oxnard.

This occurred about the same time that Tom Blake and Sam Reed pulled up with their paddleboards and became the first people to surf the area. During World War II, Malibu was fenced in and kept off-limits by the Coast Guard. Stories abounded, however, of those who saved enough gasoline rations to make the journey up the coast to sample this new gem. Some say they had to sneak through a hole in the fence, only to find it patched up on the return trip.

Others tell of chumming up to the guards, and then leaving their boards leaning against the fence, untouched for weeks until their return. (Then again, we're talking 100-pound boards here.)

In the post-war years, innovators such as Bob Simmons and Joe Quigg began borrowing new materials from the defense industry, and experimented with balsa and foam. It was this new, more user-friendly surfboard construction that set the stage for the surf explosion of the late '50s, and Malibu soon became the sport's epicenter.

In 1956, the Malibu tribe grew to include a spunky young girl named Kathy Kohner. Her father wrote a book about her beach adventures, and later sold the rights to Columbia Pictures. Kohner then became known to the world as Gidget. That movie, and the string of campy beach movies it inspired, has left an indelible image, for better or worse, on surfing worldwide. The now-familiar names of the original Malibu crew have since been recycled into surfwear and barefoot bars: Kahuna, Tubesteak, Moondoggie.

JOKE OF THE MONTH

A guy goes to the supermarket and notices an attractive woman waving at him.

She says hello. He's rather taken aback because he can't place where he knows her from.

So he says, 'Do you know me?'

To which she replies, 'I think you're the father of one of my kids.'

Now his mind travels back to the only time he has ever been unfaithful to his wife and says, 'My God, are you the stripper from my bachelor party that I made love to on the pool table with all my buddies watching while your partner whipped my butt with wet celery???'

She looks into his eyes and says calmly, 'No, I'm your son's teacher.'

MEMBERS CLASSIFIEDS -"NEW"

Items for sale (eg. used surfboards, surfing-related items etc) may be listed free of charge by members. Members are invited to lodge advertisements by Email to the Secretary. Please include a description, asking price, contact details, and preferably a colour photograph of the item(s) for sale.