Kneeboard Surfing Victoria

Toney Jewell Shorey tube Gunnamatter Beach

Kneeboard surfing Victoria held there first aggregate contest ever on sat 14th Feb 2009

We all rocked up To St Andrews Beach carpark at 8 am it was great to catch up with old friends and to make some new friends every one was in good spirits.

Gary finger had is gas bbq boiling water and providing coffee and tee for every one to get us all awake and fired up for the day.

Thanks Gary for your generosity.

The conditions were picture perfect, blue sky’s off shore winds and a 26 degree day the only thing missing for the day which is a rear occasion for the Mornington Peninsula was swell. We all got to the beach to be greeted by a 1.5 ft waves .A twice a yr occurrence for this part of Victoria, where generally we have to wait for swell to drop out.

We had surfers turn up from Torque the Melbourne metropolitan areas, Mornington peninsula and Phillip Island. There were 20 competitors as well as friends wives and children. And they were all super keen and pumped to surf no matter what the conditions. Which I think is an AWESOME winner’s attitude to have.

Jim Brown our club Pres and I decided to take the event to Moanna crt 500 mtrs from where we met up, there was a right hander peeling on a shallow bank offering some surfable waves but we had to hurry as we had to take advantage of the low tide which gave us 4 hrs of time to run the event before the tide got to full and turned the ocean in to a lake.

So all the club members got all the gear and we had the contest area set up with our first heat in the water within a half hour. This was great to see all members keen to set up and not bludge, “Thank you all for your help and effort”.

The waves were gutless and soft but the boys were going hard getting some awesome major critical turns in the soft mush especially by Tim Kadwell and Mike Disciassio “its actually amazing what the were doing for the quality of waves”. And I believe surfing gutless waves improves your surfing as you have to lurne to develop your own speed on the waves and no rely on the power of the waves to push you
.

We had the contest finished in 4 hours so Tim & Deb Kadwell opened up there house for our gathering. We all packed up our gear and headed there for our presentation and club committee elections..

A few of the lads came back via the bottle shop bringing back a few alcoholic beverages to share with the rest of us “Thanks Guys”. And Deb Kadwell the hostess with the mostest thankyou for the fruit platter and dips making us feel welcome in your home.

A great time was had by all with an awesome surfing display and a fantastic social gathering.. A special thankyou should go out to Deb Kadwell for sharing your house. Lyn Owen for making the colourd heat flags Jim and Rosey for there hard work and keeping the day running smoothly without any hiccups. To Neil Luke for making us a kneeboard to raffle to raise funds for our club.

The results for the day were

open 1st tim Kadwell 2nd Mike Discassio 3rd Mark Jefferys and 4th Neil Owen

B grade 1st James Anderson 2nd Tony Jewell 3rd Anthoney Taylor and 4thJim Brown
.

Remember Guys get your entries in for the State titles held at Phillip Island on 28/2/09 to 1/3/09.
Well that’s if from Me and I will see you at the state titles in 2 weeks.
Because there is nothing like that kneeling off the ceeling feeling.

Cheers

Stan Kofoed

Surfer Profile Mark Foxman

Mark Foxman In To The Floter

The next kboarder I would like to introduce you to is Mark Foxman.
I've only known Mark for 3 years but in that time Ive gotten to appreciate who he is and build a great friendship with him.

He is a man with a lot of water knowledge fare more Superior than most surfers in the water and its always a buzz to catch up and go surfing with him.

So here is the interview with Mark


1. Nick name
Fox, Foxy, Foxman


2. Occupation
Digital Printer and PrePress

3. Why did you start kneeboarding
Destroyed my knee stand up surfing back in the mid 80’s. Started doing stand, boogie and kneelo since 88 (competed in all)till 2000. Since then I’ve been a full time Kneelo and will never go back.
4. At what age did you start surfing and what yr
Started surfing in 1969 at 10yrs of age on foam coolite’s at North Bondi, First glass board in 1970.

5. Who are your favourite kborders in Vic.
Dean Bould, Tim Cadwell, YOU!!  (Stan), Gary Clarke and Neil Owen, Neil Luke. Pommie (when he’s not holding his bloody rails!) and my elder brother Phillip Foxman. Damn, could go on but in a nutshell, anyone out there having a good time that I can get a push off.

6. Which kneeboarder has been a direct influence and inspired your surfing the most..
I Can’t say just one!! Split decision here, Peter Crawford, Mick Novakov and Simon Farrer for direction, inovation and manoeuvres. The most important of all though is my brother Phillip. He was the only kneelo of consequence at Bondi and let me see that you could surf truly on your knees. I suppose he would get the nod.

7. Who are your favourite kborders in the World
Crawford, Nov, Farrer, Ken Horton

8. What other interests do you have
Pixel pushing, reading, staying happy ;-)

9. Do you have any sponsors and if so what companies
No sponsors ATM. (getting too old) Used to ride for Webber, G&S.


10. What have been your best results in competitive surfing
2nd 05 Grand Masters PI classic, 2nd Vic titles 08, 10 Aust Titles Juniors back in the 70’s

11.Do you think competition improves your surfing standards
Absolutely!! It gets you do strive that bit harder, push the limits and not get stagnant.

12. What contribution do you think you have given the sport of kboarding:
Hard one to answer that!!! Maybe give a few guys a bit more stoke after pulling off a rad move. Don’t know how to call that one. Possibly that a competitive stand up surfer can successfully get into competitive Kneeboarding.

13. What things do you think we could do to improve our sport
Down here in Vic would be to get a Victorian Kneeboard club happening. In general find a way to get more young surfers into our lifestyle/sport

14. Favourite manoeuvre
Roundhouse Cutback!!!!!


15. Favourite drink
Coffee ,

16. Food
Beef Stroganoff, Bolognaise, Mum’s Chicken Soup


17. Famous person I would like to have a drink with




18. Best Movie or Video



19. Music:
Jazz/Rock Fusion, Blues, Rock n Roll anything with well played instruments

20. First Car:
VC Valiant



22. First Kneeboard:
Albert Whiteman 5’8” x 24” double flyer round tail thruster.



23. Favourite Kneeboard:
The Flashpoint I’m surfing now 5’8” x 23 ½” flyer chop tail and my old Albert board.


24. Best Surf Break:
Kuta Reef, Kirra and Austinmer Point (Headlands) in Wollongong. Monuments up at Bendalong


25. Best Surf Session:
1982 at Kuta Reef. A Couple of locals grabbed me from the losman early in the arvo saying that it was going to be good. Mate…. It was insane!! It was average Kuta 4 or so feet and pretty crowded then….. It just jacked up something incredible. Within an hour it was a solid 6’ then 8’ with bigger bombs and absolute perfection. The crowd disappeared really quick leaving only the 6 of us and 1 other guy from NSW out there. I’d been there surfing the place for over a month and was pretty in tune with it and that arvo it all came together. Best wave was filthy big backside barrel from way outside, multiple lip smacks and cutbacks and a finish with a backside 360 in the tube at the end bowl section (it was still overhead!!). Never forget that session. We all ended up having to paddle in together just on dark cause the boats had all gone.
Almost on par was in the mid 80’s during one of the Duranbah comps. Nov, young Simon, my brother, Andrew Smith and a couple of others got a magic Kirra session late one arvo. Classic Kirra it was, freight train cylinders from the point to almost the groin at about 4’+ and not too crowded. Simon’s dad took a heap of footage that arvo including a tube I got from the point almost into the groin!!! Be great if Simon could get that footage on DVD. It was an awesome session with the boys going off and ripping the shitters out of the place.


26. Dream Surf Spot:
Mentawii’s, Headlands.


27. Surf Injuries:
Speared with the nose of a board in the back 1” from my spine 8 stitches, Fractured jaw, broken nose and the worst by far was an 85% length tear of my cruciate cartilage that was miss diagnosed and basically killed my stand up days. Mixed blessings 


28. If I ruled the world:
Why??? No need. The world a mess enough without me to do more.




29. Best Advice I have received:

Be happy, don’t try to please everybody. Surfing wise…. If it feels good…… DO IT!!


30. Your partners and kids names if you have any

Celine Ella 12, and Aaron Jake 10