more visiting the shaper

More of visiting Steve O'Donnell from Bennett surfboards

The downside of travelling into and around Sydney is the traffic and all the crowds of people

But sometimes there's interesting sights (people).

Best of all is arriving at Bennetts and checking out the boards.

Crescent Head

The Crescent Head Classic was back in May. It was great fun but there was a major storm one the first night. The wind blew heaps and during the early hours of the morning the tent was blown over a couple of times. We had

great meals at the country club - hugest lamb shanks! Jodie Barsby MC'd the preso - very cool.

(surf photos by Hope from http://www.crescentheadsurfshots.com/)

Critical Cyclonic Conditions

Noosa this year was great - keen to ride the new Steve O’Donnell shaped Bennett high performance longboard at 2011 Noosa Festival

(photos thanks to Tess at Surf Industries)

Dunked

So not to long ago I got baptised in the Haven as well as my mate Charlie. Although I almost drowned I made it through.

photo by Kelly

central coast open

The central coast open ran over a weekend one day at Avoca and one at Copa. It was fun to be surfing against mostly locals and it was finally an event on my home ground. I ended up coming second with my friend Kai Ellice-Flint coming first. Winner of the opens was Hayden Emery from Umina. I was in the open 8's as well and just missed out on the finals. It was also the first time I had ridden my new Bennett boards in a comp and they worked very well.

Christian Surfers at Treachery

I went up to Treachery with Christian surfers for a teams event against other regions. It was heaps of fun and I'm very keen for next years event.

photo by Kelly

Testing the new Eight Footer

The new 8ft rides really well with it's quad fin set up. Its really noticable the difference a hand shaped board makes.

old mags

I've been chilling and reading surfing magazines at the moment. In particular two magazines from the 60's. Pretty fun read. Thanks Greg at Bennett Surfboards for the mags.

Eight Foot

Received an Eight foot Steve O'Donnell hand crafted Bennett board for Birthday! Thanks Mum, Dad, Greg, Andrew and Steve!

Seal Rocks

These last holidays I went with my family up the coast to seal rocks.


The surf was small and mostly offshore so I got a good chance to use a Bennett log.

Took the Alaia for some shore break, bit of old skool fun

The Present

The surfing film The Present is a movie that, after two prequel movies Seedling and Sprout has a lot of eager expectations to uphold. Does it uphold these firm expectations? I and almost all other viewers agree that while being very enjoyable, it is also one of the best surfing movies available.
Why is it so entertaining, you may be asking yourself. This film is so good for a number of reasons. Firstly the laid back style instantly makes it appealing to all different ages and types of people. Some parts of The Present are just for pure fun. One of these parts is called The Monkey Novelty event. This part is a dress up muck around comp with characters like; Flower power, Count Dracula, Fecal man, Tweakal, Nordic Jack and a golfer.
Another great thing about The Present is that there is a style in there for every type of surfing. From Alaia riding at Waimea bay to Dane Reynolds shredding the Californian Coast line, Belinda Baggs logging New Zealand and even Dave Rastovich surfing in wild Africa. This is a movie for any surfer riding any equipment. This movie is unique because there are so many different boards ridden with so many different people places and styles.This movie is rare and I strongly recommend all surfers watching it at least once. If you are a fun loving surfer looking at the different styles of surfing, there are no other movies to look at.

Late last year, I went to the premier of the Present and met Rasta.

Board Froth

As a team rider for Bennett I've just recieved a newly shaped, newly sprayed performance longboard. Hand shaped and custom made by Steve O'donnell it rides really good.
Thank's Greg, Andrew and Steve from Bennett surfboards

freshwater

Last weekend I went down to Manly and saw crowds of people hanging around so i went to see what was going on and it was the Manly Freshwater area being announced as a surfing reserve. Amongst is was 1963 world title winner Midget Farrely, womens 1964 world title winner Phyllis O'donnell and my shaper Steve O'donnell.
Photo from surf city

Yellow Eight Footer

Had a go of Steve O'Donnell's Yellow Eight Footer.




Great speed and turning ability!

Can't wait for my new one..

day tripping to visit the shaper

It’s always cool going for a trip to visit Bennett Surfboards. Part of it is the journey and the stuff you see on the way - here’s a new way travelling oldies to describe their lifestyles: “recycled teenages”. But all roads eventually lead to Brookvale and Bennett Surfboards

Talking with Steve O’Donnell you get the chance to see and think about your surfing and the boards you ride in a different way. He knows his boards and can make subtle suggestions that just tweek ideas and shapes so that they might suit the performance to the individual rider and their different styles. He rides in comps and knows all about the range of conditions you face and what can make the perfect board.

I’m currently trying out a log shaped by Steve – really smooth, very stable

Steve O'Donnell shaped Bennett Board

I've been trying out a Bennett performance longboard (thanks again Tom!) shaped by Steve O'Donnell. Not much in the way of waves on this day but i'm noticing more and more the precision that a custom shaped board makes.

State Longboard 2010

This year Mia and I had the opportunity to go up to Coffs Harbour to participate in the state titles. The surf proved to work for the whole week with only one day at Mcaulies instead of the favoured spot at Diggers Beach. It was pretty strange for the
older divisions as they had surfed
their heats and semi's in the first few
days and for the rest of the week leading into the finals they settled into a pattern of getting up, surfing, having lunch then surfing again. John Fraser said it "It felt like ground hog day". How good was Terry Byrne! making it to the finals against some of the world's best such as Harley Ingelby and Dane Pioli. Especially after snapping his board and Greg snapping one of the potential back-up boards. The finals were dominated with Central Coasters with David Witt, John Fraser, Ray Blackman, Danny Bond, Kai Ellice-Flint, Hugh and Mia Daugaard and Terry Byrne all making it. Magoo although surfed great didn't make it as no waves came through when he surfed his last round. John Fraser won the last night board raffle at the Hoey Moey. There’s a huge Hoey Moey sticker all over it! The vibe through the entire competition was fun and very supportive. The last night was also great fun with the presso and dinner held at, by now very familiar, Hoey Moey with a great game of snooker with Kai. Hugh
(photos from the NSW longboarding association’s press release)

Steve O'Donnell shaped Bennett Board

Not much in the way of waves or banks on the central coast lately
but have been trying out a sick board hand shaped by Steve O’Donnell at Bennett surfboards (thanx for the loan Tom).
So much fun riding a finely tunned and crafted surfboard. The way the board reacts and surfs is just amazing.

Noosa Festival

This year I went to the Noosa festival to compete in the u/15's. The week before the festival the swell had crept up to a solid 4-5ft. This larger than normal swell size was due to two cyclones off the coast Queensland. When it was my turn to surf my heat I was just stoked to be out there catching almost perfect 4 foot peelers all the way through main beach with only five other people out.

In my semi-finals it was low tide and barreling really heavily. It was also fairly windy and i could not hear what scores were being called out. This meant that I decided to sit out wide in the last five minutes and go for a bigger set. I caught the bomb of the set and then realised that it was about to close out, so I jumped of the back but my board didn't make it and came down in the close out and snapped. Luckily Jamie from Global Surf Industries got me a deal on a new board for the finals.


Although I snapped my board, I still made it to the finals and got the hardware. Keen for next festival