Club: North Curl Curl Longboarders.

Place: 3 ft North Curl Curl, NSW Australia.

Date: Sunday 10th February 2008

Old men and old boards, a mark had been put in the sand and you had to cross it, regardless of the conditions. It was pretty bleak.

The location was perfect, a natural amphitheatre that faces SE over looking the waves and a surf club to stage the event in, beer, BBQ and more beer, what more could you want? Well we didn't want the only wind that can spoil a east coast surfers day (other than a chilli fart) the dreaded SE'er. I know a friend in Byron loves a SE'er and no doubt a few people in Noosa like em' to but in Sydney it's time to mow the lawn.

An otherwise good 3ft swell for the old mals had been ripped to bits. The guys and girls soldiered on though and got pitched and rolled with the best of them.

Even I, a humble geek photog decided to have a go (such was the happy vibe on the day). I rode Paul O'Grady's old mal and was sure it knew how to get me to the beach better than most, after all I'd seen it do all manner of things when Paul rode it. The heat started well (I made it out the back) and after a few false starts, I took the plunge and never stopped. Instead of going off, I was just got launched off. Obviously the board was a fickle lover and I decided to stick to taking surf photo's.

There were lots of smiles though and plenty of heats to surf but the temptation for a beer rather than a semi-final berth was pretty strong. 

After lunch the big boys came out to play and with a beer in hand the Toothpick (13 foot replicas of the 1950’s surfcraft) surfers ventured forth to contest the World Title Final, brave men indeed.  This made your normal old mal surfer look like a wimp and it's a very nice tribute to our fore fathers who fought with these beasts all the time. Luckily one of the surfers is a chiropractor. Big Flemo (Matt Flemming) took this out with a couple of skilled lefts through some pretty scared surfers. These boards are amazingly fast and it's a case of point and shoot, if you are still on it when it hits the beach, you're a winner indeed.

The Old Mal Final saw Paul O'Grady, who had been the surfer of choice through out the day get pipped at the post by Club President Sean Dry and young Tom Leach (16 yrs) showed good form to make it to the final with the old blokes. 

Great Day and remember, no guts no glory.