A Happy Trade

Looking back there have been many boards I have swapped or given away that I have later regretted at one point or another.
In either 2001 or early 2002 my friend Andrew and I went to a recycling centre. It was one of those rare occasions when you find a real gem. We discovered a Shane surfboard that day with lovely colouring and a great shape. I'm not sure how it happened but somehow we didn't need to argue about who was getting the board or even flip a coin (as we had done before - for another Shane actually...). It ended up being me who bought it for $40.
The shape was basically a White Kite style which Ted Spencer designed, although it wasn't marked with the White Kite logo. It was 6'8" and had a greenish blue deck with a brown bottom and orange rails. It had a Waveset finbox with a broken Waveset fin. 

The 6'8 Shane with a 6'3 Egan of similar shape

  Andrew had a board at home that he had shaped and glassed himself based on the transitional period which he had actually glassed a Waveset fin into. I am still amazed to think that we went to his place where he sanded his board back around the fin and then cut it out of the board he had made to try it out. We then fixed the fin into the Shane board. It fitted perfectly. The fin was only on loan though as around this time Andrew had also attained a G&S transitional board, without a fin, from a friend who had found it washed up on the beach or something (i think it was Stratt). How many friends do you have who would cut their board up to get a fin out for you to try?
I surfed the board a few times and struggled due to the super wide tail and the soft edges. I kept sliding out. At the time this was not the right board for me. 
A couple of years later I was planning a trip to California to visit some friends that I had made and was also hoping to visit some more friends on the East Coast of the US (though i never made it that far). I was going for 3 months and had heard that CA had some great waves and so I was trying to find suitable boards with removable fins to ride whilst there. 
Andrew had picked up an old blue Southern Comfort single fin with a finbox that was 6'9" with a rounded pintail and I had ridden it once before in some solid swell at Newcastle Beach and found it went well. I thought this would be perfect for bigger swells in California and also here in Newcastle so I spoke to Andrew to see if he was interested in a swap. He is a great friend of mine and seeing as he didn't really ride the board that much he agreed to swap and left the board with me even though we hadn't decided on a suitable board for him.

The blue board in the centre and the 5'9 Shane on the right

By this time Andrew had moved to the South Coast and I only got to visit him about once a year and he came back up about once every 3 or 4 months. I decided that the Shane board would be a good trade on my part and was pretty convinced Andrew would feel the same way.
My next visit to Andrew was in about August 2003 with another good friend, an American named Russell. We got some fun waves and enjoyed hanging out and Andrew's wife Jen cooked some amazing meals for us. They are such a hospitable family. One night I pulled out the Shane and gave it to Andrew. I believe we had already mentioned this as the trade in electronic conversation (emails) but it was great to see how stoked he was. He even tried it out at Camel Rock the following morning while I rode a 5'9" Shane s-deck (which I bought from Andrew funnily enough).
Anyway, a few months later I flew to California and rode the blue board on some amazing waves at Sunset Cliffs, Blacks Beach and some places that will remain unnamed on the Central Coast north of San Luis Obispo during the North American winter. I was very happy with how that board went in solid waves.
It was great to make a swap that leaves everyone happy and I continue to ride the blue board on bigger days at local breaks.   

the blue board at Treachery