Dried Salt: Sydney

Manly Beach, not exactly firing. Welcome to a brand new Stab affair. It’s called Dried Salt and we’re asking everyday surfers from all around the world what they’re riding and how it’s working for them. We can all get a little lost in what pros are riding and not all of us can ride tuned-up 5’11” high-performers. First up, we took on one of Australia’s busiest beaches: Manly. We wanted to shoot on a day when the waves weren’t overly special (two foot north swell with a 20-knot southerly blowing) and despite being a few weeks into summer, the water was chilled to 20 degrees. We’re gonna be taking on beaches all round the world so if you’d like us to shoot at your beach, just fire us a hit ([email protected]). All photos by Trevor King, in partnership with SurfStitch **** Patrick Parker, 17, Queenscliff(High school student) Stats: 60kg, 5’11” Riding a Nick Blair (with wax to very tip of the nose) 5’1” x 20 1/4” x 2 1/4” About the board: “It goes fun when the waves are shitty, five fin set up but I only ride it as a quad. You don’t want to surf it past the four foot range, and it doesn’t go backhand that well. It sorta wigs out after that. Pretty hard riding backside. Hard riding up in the lip.” Shop the look, here. **** Pito Giachero, Italy, 29.(Works in surf retail) Stats: 90 kg, 6’5” Riding a Nick Blair 5’4” x 21 1/4” x 2 7/16” About the board: “I’ve been here in Australia three years. There’s more surfing in general here than in Italy. This is a demo board from where I work at Aloha and it’s a super fun board. Nothing special. It’s a bit short for me but with the amount of volume it works alright (we saw Pito bang a little right all the way to the sand and vouch for its performance). It’s good to surf when it’s one foot.” Shop the look, here. **** Alysse Cooper, 15, Queenscliff(High school student) Stats: 5’2” Riding a Nick Miles-shaped Sculpt 5’1″ x 17 1/8″ x 2″ About the board: “It’s really good. There’s a couple of fun ones. It’s school holidays which is always good.” Shop the look, here. **** Michael Paris, Seaforth, 22.(Works as a pilot) Stats: 85 kg, 6’4” Riding a Channel Islands (Neck Beard) 5’9” x 19 7/8” x  2 9/16″ (30.4 litres) About the board: “I love it. I had a JS Revolution before but this Neck Beard is the best board I’ve ever owned. It’s just insane. It’s just ridiculous. This tail just pivots and it’s improved my surfing so much. I like a board that skates a little bit.” Shop the look, here. **** Joel Creswell, Manly, 28.(Works as an electrician) Stats: 68kg, 5’7” Riding a Jai Baker, quad fin 5’9” x 18 3/4” x 2 1/4” About the board: “Super fun, lot flatter through the rocker so it gets speed easily. Last few weeks have been epic out here. The print is a fabric overlay from Spotlight. A mate made this and he laid the fabric and glassed over. The weight isn’t too bad and it’s super tough. The deck hasn’t caved even after six months.” Shop the look, here. **** Tori Levett, Manly, 19.(Surfer, also works at a local bar and surf shop) Riding a 7S (Slipstream) 5’7” x 19 1/4” x 2 1/4” (25.2 litres) About the board: “It’s sick. I love it. It’s definitely my favourite board ever. It has just the right amount of volume for me.” Shop the look, here. **** Will Birt, Northbridge, 21(Commerce student) Stats: 70 kg, 5’11” Riding a Channel Islands (Weirdo Ripper)5’10” x 20 1/8″ x 2 1/2″ About the board: “I got it last year and hadn’t ridden it much but spent a week in Indonesia last week and rode it a lot at Sumba. A place called Nihiwatu (Occy’s left) where it felt great on smaller days. I’m happy with it.” Shop the look, here. **** Lochie Birt, Northbridge, 18(Just finished school) Stats: 67 kg, 5’11” Riding a Channel Islands (The Pod) 5’6” x 19 3/4” x 2 3/8” About the board: “I don’t really like pointy-nosed boards. They stick. I like how forgiving this one is.” Shop the look, here. **** Jarrad Howse, Freshwater, 36(Former world tour surfer, part-time pro surfer, business owner) Stats: 78kg, 5’11” Riding a Lee Stacey, MC model 6’0” x 18 7/8” x 2 3/8” (28 litres) About the board: “It’s the MC model. Mitch Crews. It’s gonna make me twitch. I’ve only surfed on it at the lefts of Raglan. I don’t think I’ve been right on it. It feels sick.” Shop the look, here. **** Shannan Parker, 15(High school student) Stats: 58kg, 5’8” Riding a Channel Islands 5’10” x 18 3/8”  x  2 3/16” About the board: “Yeah, it’s a really good board. I like it a lot. It’s really good in junky waves.” Shop the look, here. **** Shaun Martin, 34, North Steyne(Works as a primary school teacher) Stats: 80 kg, 6’2” Riding a Jono Cole 8’6” x 22 3/4” x 3” About the board: “I was looking for a longboard and I really like it. It’s heaps of fun. I usually ride a shortboard but when it’s a bit smaller it’s good to take out and catch waves more easily. It’s good for cruising and I’m not ripping that hard.” Shop the look, here. **** Matt Wilcox, Manly, 20(Works as a shopfitter) Stats: 60-something kg, 5’11” Riding a self-shaped board 5’10” x 18 7/8” x 2 3/8” About the board: “Yeah, it’s real nice and smooth and pretty drivey. I’ve always wanted to shape my own boards. This is like my 50th board.” Shop the look, here. **** Francois Martin, Brittany, France (living in Australia for five years), 31(Works as a cafe manager in Manly) Stats: 73 kg, 6’0” Riding a DHD (Joyride) 5’8” x 22” x 2 5/8” (34.29 litres) About the board: