At 10am yesterday morning, Ol Beach rocked up to Sunset Surf with his faithful Caravan in tow – comic moment and surely the start of an epic day! Yellow Wire mustered with fellow SUP Riders to become Freddie For A Day and I write to report a incredible day of laughs, camaraderie and BBQ!

 

We hooked up with Ant Baker, Pro rider and owner of Baker Academy who fully kitted us up with the latest line of ‘Fanatic’ boards and ‘Ion’ surf gear. Looking like pro surfers and feeling supremely confident of our pending marathon, Ant Lucas then whipped out the box of fancy dress and pinned the most outrageous moustache to his face. He was Freddie and we all followed.

 

As soon as the costumes were donned, the fun began. As the guys performed all sorts of poses to impersonate the great legend a small crowd of curious, humoured pedestrians had accumulated and were duly informed of the day’s ambitions and charitable pledge.

 

It wasn’t long however before our expert waterman, Rob Small hit us with the bad news that we could not perform the marathon today. Despite the glassy surface conditions, there was a hurricane supplying the bay with waves that were over-head, as well as brisk easterly winds and a serious under current that would have made the trip not only impossible but too dangerous.

 

Not to be dispirited, the team took the water for a full day surfing as Freddie Mercury. The ocean was filled with surfers, all of them totally bemused as a crew of paddleboarder’s glide by in fancy dress. Most surfers were so preoccupied by our larking around that we had the waves mostly to our selves... They kept missing them! We were joined by about 10 other paddleboarders throughout the day’s session and collectively, I think the Paddler’s had the most fun on the day.

So the day was dubbed a total success despite not actually doing the marathon. Yellow Wire was put on the Paddleboard map. We had great fun and a load of epic waves. We finished the day off on the beach with a great BBQ cooked by master chef and yours truly, Ol Beach, a few beers and some good old banter.

Yellow Wire was Freddie For a Day – on a paddleboard!

 

Lots of people to thank for making this day such a great success, you all know what part you played so thanks to Ant Baker, Rob & Julie Small, Ant Lucas, Rob Lucas, Sunset Surf Café and everyone else who has contributed along the way.