Ben flew into Bali on Wednesday night, then up to the factory on Thursday with the aim of getting a fresh board quiver for his assault on the 2010 World Tour. All was progressing well, but on Thursday arvo I got the news that my wife had contracted Dengue fever, a virus common in the tropics which is transmitted by mosquitos. The hospitals are full of Dengue patients here in Indo and SBY, the President of Indonesia, has declared a pandemic. So I rushed back down to Bali that night which meant I was unable to finish Ben's boards. Ben totally understood the situation, having been struck down with a severe case of Dengue back in 2008, but he needed at least a couple of boards to carry him through a trip to a secret reef break in West Java.
Thankfully I have one heck of a right-hand man in Dan Sivess, who's a world-class shaper in his own right. For those of you who watch American Chopper, Dan is Vinny to my Paul Jnr, so once again Dan stepped up and finished off 2 of the 8 boards I had cut out for Ben. Its a strange feeling letting someone else shape boards for your riders, its kind of like letting someone else care for your children. But you get over yourself and realise that sometimes its unavoidable. Ben dropped by my place in Bali on Saturday and I checked the boards out before he went for a little test at Canggu. I must say the looked sick! Dan is the man!
