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I went to the surf shop today to buy some wax and while I was there I scanned the board racks and counted the boards. Including the fishes and logs 20% of the boards in the racks were big wave boards. I'm pretty confident in saying that most surfers don't need a 7ft + gun for every fifth surf they have. Thinking about it I realized that even I have 2 contemporary, high performance big wave boards and only only 2 contemporary, high performance short boards.
Why is half my modern quiver made for waves over 6ft (AU), double overhead (US)?
I've come up with a couple of reasons.
1) Big wave boards are built tough.
Therefore they last a long time.
2) They don't get used that much.
I can count the number of times I've ridden my big boards in the last few years on one hand. Thunders -Mentawis, Lurline Bay - Sydney, Ben Buckler - Sydney, Maroubra - Sydney, Outside corner, Uluwatu - Bali.
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3) The are nice things to own.
They are nice to touch and hold under your arm. They are elegant pieces of applied art and engineering with a no bullshit sense of purpose built into them.
Which brings me to today's board in question, my Ken Bradshaw 7'2 single fly, 3 fin pin tail gun that I suspect was one Ken's personal big wave boards, because the depressions in the deck belong to a natural footer, Ken was sponsored by Sundeck from 79 to 86 and it has his name on it.
Its a beautiful thing to touch, holding it feels like revving a well tuned V8 or loading a double barrel shot gun.
Now I'm waiting for La Jolla cove and Swarmi's to do their thing so I can get her wet.
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Ken is an amazing character in his own right, as revealed here in this Vanity Fair article from February 2011 by William Langewiesche and in his biography on Surfline.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhin4YgVtbcpeSfxgzZMRs6OmlvRtW8RWz9MoDx1Ej3vX4dcDxnRn9lvML0AICDFJca39p5caChRUTCkOpGDLfaT6Rd_Ze6QetkOaWFWcxW4HgkRvjrADwXE4XK74elZW0HHZGjhe8Tnas/s400/Quiver+2.jpg)
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I have achieved my aim of acquiring 2 matching Ken guns. One Bolt, one KB.
Now all I need is a beard and an Aloha shirt.
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