leave a board

Bintang Bob · Post by **Bintang Bob** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:03 am

I was lookin' at the album section and saw that a KBer brother had left a board with some kids in the Philippines.... way cool, that....

I left a board with a kid in Bali in 1990, his village was off this dirt track leading down to Bingin (that's most likely miss spelled). We'd come by in the jeep and all these kids would come running out of the village yelling, "carry your board, carry your board!", we'd grab the one one who could run the farthest and hall him on board.... we did that at every village we passed....

He was my board caddy/valet for a month.... great kid....

anyone else have a story....

cs · Post by cs » Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:14 pm

Never gave anybody a board. I've handed out a few leashes to strangers, even a pair of fins once, but never a board. But, I used to go to Baja a bit. At one spot, that was nothing more than a fishing encampment back then, we made friends with the young men manning the place at night. They were about dieciocho, and we were about 18. They gave us a shitload of fresh crab and lobster. We gave them beer and music. We'd bring down a couple of brand new pairs of 501's, or a couple of $19 Casio watches, and they were very, very thankfull. These were good guys. I think about them often, and wonder what's happened in thier lives. I tried to take one out surfing one day, but he didn't know how to swim. That was a scene. Imagine that, a Lobster/Crab fisherman that doesn't know how to swim. Last I heard of Miguel, he'd lost his life in the shorebreak helping get a boat out of the water. I guess he never learned to swim. I've got a few great pictures of Miguel somewhere. His nickname was "El Miarador", well, that's what we called him and it made him laugh every time. Translations vary, or so I hear, but the pictures tell the story. No matter the languge, he and his buddy were top notch guys, and a hell of a lot of fun to raise hell with.

At any rate, we were awoken one night by somebody screaming obscenities in Spanish, and I jumped out of the tent holding a hatchet in my hand like some pathetic, wimp, 18 year old, miniature, Jack Nicholson wannabe from "The Shining"... I found my Mexican friends pointing .22 caliber rifles at some guys we'd never seen. It's nice to have friends. I really didn't have any idea it was illegal to take them bricks of .22 long rifle ammunition. But, from the looks on their faces, I can honestly say, "It's good to have friends", and I'm glad they had bullets. We all hung out together that night, the Mexican dudes who watched the fishing camp, and the American kids who they looked after. But, this was a while ago, and I'm a couple of beers into the night. I wish I still had friends like that.

cs

albert · Post by **albert** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:58 pm

I have given out over a dozen boards in my time... I can honestly say I have no idea where any of them are or if any of them were ultimately used for kneeboarding (if they were even used at all).

KAVA · Post by **KAVA** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 3:14 am

i gave one to a guy last summer that posted on the forum looking for a board and wanting to start kneeboarding up in the redondo beach area. anyone seen him? 6' latino about 200 lbs mid 20's. would be kewl if he kept at it

Beeline2.0 · Post by **Beeline2.0** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 9:41 am

Bintang Bob · Post by **Bintang Bob** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 12:38 pm

I'd say Kava's good hearted gesture goes a long way in promoting the goodness of human nature (and of our sport) and will be remembered years after a lecture on creating stalwart character fades away....

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 4:16 pm

Amen to that, Bob

ocean7847 · Post by **ocean7847** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 5:47 pm

Beeline2.0 wrote: my feeling about this is that someone in their mid 20's should be resourceful and directed enough to buy equiptment for a sport he/she is interested in. With Beater Boards who cares!

I would look to give free equiptment to an age range waaaaay below that
as far as "introducing people to the sport".

The majority of us learned kneeboarding in our early teens and were buying our own equiptment before adulthood.

Cognitive dissonance: if you're not invested(time or money), you don't take it seriously.

really? REALLY? are you kidding me? like you've never been in your 20's without resources or direction? (you've never lived, man)

further, the suggestion that it's not "introducing" because someone (me) isn't in an age bracket? last, because i haven't invested time or money into it, i don't take it seriously?!

i dare say thats the WRONG attitude about doleing out boards or any other type of waveriding equipment, knowledge, or attitude!

Beeline2.0 · Post by **Beeline2.0** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:42 pm

Smokin Rock · Post by **Smokin Rock** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 8:22 pm

i worked for ever (it seemed) painting numbers on curbs and mowing lawns to buy my first kneeboard. a shitty old single fin from the Greek in Huntington which was a thing of absolute beauty to me.
i moved to Oahu when i was 23 with $200 in my pocket and one surfboard under my arm. we scrounged MRE's in the hills behind Kahuku motocross track and speared fish when the waves were down. we did whatever it took to surf because that was what we were....surfers.
it would have never crossed my mind for someone to give me a surfboard or anything else for that matter because if i really wanted something, there was always a way to work for it and get it.
priorities.
i agree with Bee. those who don't work for something are'nt emotionally invested and therefore don't appreciate it quite the same as they would if they had to suffer a bit for it. ask your Dad what he thinks about this.
young and have no direction? my advice is get a job doing manual labor. you'll appreciate everything you get and might find the direction and impetus to better yourself through education.
i'm in no way against giving or charity. there are tons of truly needy people out there who could use your help. you want to give a board away....give it to some poor kid from a third world country. a used board probably represents a years wages to them or more. something they could probably never attain.
a 20-something year old who lives in the US and close enough to the beach to surf and still can't get his sh%t together enough to buy a surfboard can hardly be considered a legitimate candidate for charity.
my 2cents

surfhorn · Post by **surfhorn** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 8:51 pm

when we were surfing Baja in the early 70's, I used to take down old diving wetsuits and any swim fins I could find. I would laos take down cans of fish hooks and other fishing equipment. A couple boxes of 9 mil......

Kauaikneelo · Post by **Kauaikneelo** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:03 pm

Teen and twenties: went to many 3rd world surf places, made a point to come back without anything, they had nothing and I could always find a way to have so much.... called it a J.O.B. Work three to take the trip. Bought the chicklets and then would give them back to the lady as a gift.

Giving a board to a bro is a good heart, I can see both sides, but I lean with Bee and Rock. THIS IS AMERICA, the land of plenty. Just see what the "boat people" did after Nam, they could not even find a bus station, but show hard work will give you the dream.

ALL that being said: passing boards between the bros on this site is what makes us GREAT and tight!!

Flip flop I know.

KAVA · Post by **KAVA** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:25 pm

that said i have another board i could get rid of should you know of some kid with the kneelo stoke

ross · Post by **ross** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:37 pm

me and my mate Ben were travelling with an irishman through South Africa a few years ago(starting to sound like one of those jokes).

Ben was travelling with 6 boards and the Irishman was hassling him to sell one. He offered Ben a ridiculously low sum of money for the board. Which Ben Declined.
The Irishman later told me this was a tactic he was using.he went in low planning to offer slightly more money when he "sensed" Ben was desperate.
What he was not aware of was that Ben has a great deal with his shaper and probably has 30 boards, less than 4 years old sitting in racks at his house. He gets them that cheap he has never felt the need to sell one.

After 2 months of subliminal messages the patient Irishman decided to make his move. He offered Ben $200 for the board figuring Benny was ripe with desparation.

Ben merely smirked at the offer and said"mate its worth more than twice that".
and the Irishman knew it.
Ben looked over at me with a cheeky look and proceeded to hand the board over to this African kid and said" if your gonna buy this board you'll have to pay him and he knows what its worth"

next day we surfed with the kid and his new board and an Irishman who learnt not to deal icecubes with Eskimo's.

K-man · Post by **K-man** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 6:45 am

Good story!He was probably scots-irish,known for their frugality.[cheap!!].........