A Tale Of Three Tucks
In 1979 I got my first custom board. Brands like Crozier were in the mix, but there was only one thing I wanted: a Friar Tuck. The Ware brothers were operating their business from Brookvale, and I still remember driving down there with my dad to place my order, nervous about having to explain what I wanted to the guys down there. Even more exciting was the trip a few weeks later to pick up the board: my 5’6” custom single flyer twin fin!
Over the next decade that board was my partner in some amazing experiences, and it was always by my side. Even when I moved to Thredbo the board went with me so I could do the occasional trip down to the south coast to get a few waves (a couple of times I was able to use my day off to head down for an early surf then high tail it back to ski in the afternoon!).
Then a couple of years ago I started to wonder what a quad would be like… and I set up the search reminder on eBay to let me know if anything. The key words? “Friar Tuck”. There was no other choice. And sure enough not long after a beautiful quad fish tail appeared, this time being sold by a bloke who actually worked for a mate of mine.
So now I have my family of three Tucks. My old faithful twinnie is still there, not really ridden by me these days but the kids have had a crack on it. The thruster, my go to board, and the quad. But it does feel like something is missing. Yep, a single fin. I can picture another Tuck slab with a big fin, 12” fin box and maybe even a flex tail. There’s one on the new Friar Tuck website – now run by the legendary David Parkes up in Byron – that looks perfect. Would I ride it very often? I’m not sure, but it does feel like this is the final piece in the kneeboarding evolutionary family.
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Yew
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