And then everyone’s hopes were lifted when one of the beauty queens
stripped down to bikini and t-shirt, grabbed a paddle board, and started
paddling towards
the pontoon. Sadly she didn’t have the skills to get there, but JB was
instantly ready to show her how to do it. (Well done JB )
I saw a few guys drop their rig and grab a red-bull by the horns and take advantage
of the hospitality offered, but next year the PP will definitely be properly
partied upon. Rumour was that when John Smythe was enjoying a Red-Bull and
doing a
little judging from the pontoon a great gust bucked it up and it reared uncontrollably,
but using his well-honed bronk-busting skills, John never spilt a drop of the
bulls blood. So it’s been PROVED reliable, safe, and effective. Get out
there. ( it really rocks and rolls )
Conditions were insane.
You couldn’t have rung God and asked for “room-service” and
been more happily satisfied. The wind blew and the waves waved and everybody
had an absolute ball. The SUP surfers were a great bunch of guys and gals and
they added to the event by entertaining us all with their skills when the wind
lay low. Sunday saw a swell come out of the blue.
It built before our very eyes, and at one stage it blew a sailable breeze and
Spotty and others ripped the Bar while Lee and Beaver and the boys went wild
out front. Disappointingly it backed off just when people had their hopes up,
but SUP surfing just geared up into overdrive. The Western Australian guys
LOVED the Bar. Cool! Thanks God! (actually she showed her approval of the Mambo
event by aligning a “smiley” configuration in the heavens the very
next night and the “wow” factor
was wonder-full )
One-Nut brought Kaz and the girls down, but after bragging
that he was going to “go-off” he went off to bed… early.
Dean Hendrie wrote on the guest book lamenting his absence and that
HE went to bed
too early too. No whingeing you dirty old man, and congratulations old
buddie. Hope it was all good. Knowing Dean, the kid will get a rig for
his first birthday.
One unlucky guy was arrested for letting his trouser-snake “hiss” on
the Merimbula Bridge at two o’clock in the morning. Three cheers for
the moral police (God bless’em). His defence will be that the toilets
were all locked at that time of night. We criticize the Muslim countries
for their heavy-handed moral police force, but it’s good to see we’re
not too far behind them, and catching up fast!
How “un-natural” to act like that mate. ( Have you no SHAME
? )
Lots of new faces turned up to join the Mambo Family. We always lose a few but
we gain newies. Welcome to all these rookies. They may be new to the madness
down here but they certainly put their whole soul into having a great time. Thanks
guys.
The New Zealanders arrived from “Underground”, led by a very hung-over
Adrian Roper. He was so overwhelmed by the fact that he was on his way to Merimbula
that he couldn’t wait to get into the action, and drank a bottle of some
powerful mind-killer in the car on the way down. Next morning he was clutching
his coffee like it was heavenly nectar. You’re too old for that nonsense
brother ! (and thanks for that beautiful board, boys.)
The presentation was, as usual, a prize-fest.
No one went home empty-handed. The sponsors were VERY generous and we thank them
from the bottom of our hearts for helping us make this event so special. Please
reciprocate by buying their wares.
I had earlier asked Craig Thomson to turn up as “the Joker” but he
was running a fund-raiser and couldn’t make it, so we had the gorgeous
Nat Kavanaugh put her considerable make-up skills into action as “the joker”.
The plan was to replicate the poster (of a distraut Batman lamenting his
dropped ice-cream) by serving the winners a Coogee Bay Special Gelato,
and THEN the
plan was that they would rub the brown stuff all over ME. But things went
horribly wrong and Ben Wilson copped a hammering when the boys turned him
into a sticky-gooey “cone-head”
There was more than one “joker” on the scene. And hasn’t
Ben been a cone-head before ?
But all jokes aside, a lot of huge trophies were taken home by a lot of VERY
deserving people,
WE raised money for the surf club (who help us heaps) and the Movember
men’s
health charity, so thanks for your generous contributions.
The Merimbula Sailboard Club members were FANTASTIC. Prowsie was a hero
( he saved ME) Phil was the Barbecue Guru, captaining his fabulous team
of dispensers of steaks, sausages, fish and salads, peppered with good
humour. Excellent effort , lads.
John Smythe proved once again (and this is 28yrs remember) that he is the greatest
contest director on the planet. Thank you so much old mate. You are THE MASTER
!
And I know I haven’t even touched on a quarter of the wild partying and
stuff that went down, but if your attention span is long enough to be still reading
this wordy diatribe, you will be begging me to stop now and thank you all for
coming and making this not only the longest running event in the world… but
also the best.
See ya-all next year dudes. (and “why so serious” I ask myself
)
H.J.
|
