REAL HEIGHT OR MY BROTHER TALKING SHITE?
Dear CARVE people with superior knowledge,
My brother is convinced that most pro surfers are no taller than our seven-year-old cousin, Bryan, who’s about 5’5”. Could you please tell me how much of what my brother says is true?
Also, to the surfers in the Eastbourne area: we have to ride some of the shittiest waves in the country—fair play for keeping it going!
Stay stoked!
Butt Munch’s big brother, via e-mail

Current world champ Sunny Garcia is 5’10”, along with Luke Egan, Rob Machado and Taylor Knox. They’re the tall guys on the tour. Kelly is 5’9”, Kalani Robb is 5’8”. Tiny tot Pat O'Connell measures up at 5’5” and Brazilian rubberman Victor Ribas is just 5’3”. Of the women, Lisa Andersen is 5’7”, Layne Beachley is 5’5” and ‘ickle’ Rochelle Ballard comes in at 5’1” and 7-1/2 stone. —SE

RIPPED OFF AND PISSED OFF
I’ve just returned from a ten-day trip to France with a few mates. We had an epic trip...except that one evening in Hossegor, someone decided they would help themselves to my boards. I had saved up for months and stayed at home during winter (soul destroying) to afford those boards. Coming from Ireland, perhaps I was a little naive...but the car they were stolen from was parked only yards from the restaurant where we were eating. I didn’t have any travel insurance (let this be a warning to others!) so I returned boardless and out of pocket. These people are scum, and in my book rank just below rapist and child abusers. To make matters even more frustrating, nobody in Hossegor gave a flying shit, as this kind of thieving seems to be the norm. I asked if there was a stolen board register, but nobody I spoke to knew of one. Why not? Surely the surf community isn’t that big. If there was a European register then all surf shops and potential buyers could check to see if secondhand boards were stolen. If some dodgy guy was offering me cheap boards and I found out on the internet that they were stolen property, I wouldn’t think twice about reporting him to the police. A reward of 50 quid or so could be offered for every time someone spots a board that’s on the register. It might act as a deterrent if people find it hard to flog stolen boards. How many people have ever been charged with nicking surfboards? F--k all, I bet. This scum ripped the heart out of me, I saved and worked hard to buy those boards and I feel something should be done.
Pete Craig, Bundoran, Ireland

PS Just in case anybody spots my babies, both are plain white U-Turn boards, shaped by Matt Haymes, with ‘Pete’ written on the stringer. One is 6’5” x 2-1/2” x 18-1/2”, the other is 6’8” x 2-1/2” x 18-1/2”.

Pete, you have my sympathy, it totally sucks when some bastard nicks your board. Sadly it’s something that happens a lot in Europe — it’s happened to me, it’s happened to half-a-dozen pro’s, and I’m sure it’s happened to a lot of CARVE readers. If it’s any consolation, we also learned our lessons the hard way. Yes, travel insurance is essential, but the best advice is to keep your car in sight whenever you stop on a journey, and never leave boards on the roofrack. I don’t know of any website that operates a stolen board register, although it’s certainly a good idea. We asked the police here in Newquay, and they don’t have a register either; they just send descriptions of stolen boards to local shops. —CP

HELLO,
I was checking your Advice/Getting started page of the Carve website and you have posted a letter titled 'Ripped off and Pissed off'. Im not sure how old this letter is, however I would like to offer some help to the originator of the letter. A stolen surfboard register does exist on the website. Its called 'Surfregister.com'. This is a new website which is still trying to build a database of stolen boards. Please check it out.

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