Surfing Waves

Unfortunately our property owners painting contractor accidentally really set fire and burnt out house down last week but the upside was that my boards were luckily all bagged up and in a room where they only got covered in smoke.

When we had to clear out the house this weekend I found this old board under the house- I'm guessing it was my old flat mates board when he was a grom 10+ years ago.
Quite cool to look over it. It says it's by Stuart smith gold coast?
6'4 x 19.5 x 2 3/8 with full rails and some strange rail shape. It's also got channels which is interesying to look and feel.

Anyone know about this guy or any history out of curiosity?
I've offered to give it to my CEO's son who just picked up surfing last summer and apparently 'wanted a shortboard'. I figure at least with this one being longish, thickish and full rails it's probably ok-ish for him to try. At least he can ding it without smashing up a perfectly good new shortboard!

No idea, but your house burnt down!!

Yeah- hands down the worst week of my life...! Effective immediately the insurance people called the house uninhabitable and we had no where to live and the owners claimed they didn't have to provide any compensation.

At least all my boards were in the opposite room of the house that went up in flames and we're all bagged so didn't get directly affected aside from
Smoke. As a side note, I need to insure these asap!

I suggest you call a solicitor ( lawyer for the Americans) and ask about that, there should some compensation , from either the painting contractors through their insurance or the owners should have some clause in their policies to cover this for tenants.
Don't just believe them , NZed law has a common base with Australian and British laws so there should be some remedy in law! If you have contents insurance or a household policy them there may be funds for relocation or temporary accommodation.

Also suggest you contact whatever the NZed tenancy board equivalent run by the government!

Having said that , do you have a lease? The information could be in that!

Now that is awful too!

Great about the boards and your lives very much so!
Channels were very popular and were great for down the line hard driving , nightmare to shape well and glass and definitely finish sand. Added bite to the board higher up the wave face for higher speed but extreme ones would track and not let you off the straight line drive easily .

If you google Stuart smith he is still making boards. Have a look on the bottom of the board and find if there is a name and number written along the stronger (usually near the dimensions). Write a polite email to SS with the number and explanation of how you found the board and ask if he has any records of it. He might have his old order book with the year it was made and maybe even who it was made for.

Agree with Jaffa, your lease gives you the right to 'quiet possession' of the house; also the painters should be responsible for any of your costs and other losses. If your losses aren't too bad a lawyer might not be justified but at the very least keep receipts re out of pocket expenses and ask both the landlord and the painter to pay them.

Thanks guys.

yeah I had always wondered what a channel board would be like to ride as you don't see many around and I bet it would be a nightmare to shape (well)!
By chance one of the movers in the weekend saw all my boards and we struck up a convo about surfing.

He hadn't seen this board but told me about this old channel board that his dad had and how fast it was and how hard it drove down the line and off turns.
He reckoned his dad was one of the first surfers around here on a thruster board or something so it was quite an interesting convo.

It definitely had me entrigued by the channel boards and what they're like!