Hi Gents,
The SEARBS group will be having a meeting on Sunday the 25th of August at Ray Balmforth's residence, 82 Bellevue Road Figtree, commencing at 9:30am.
Mark Fisher will be guest and he is one of the countries best builders and is happy to share his knowledge. If you haven't seen his work then check out the photo pages.
Most of the SEARBS members are coming, some a long way!! Any builders, especially in the Sydney/Wollongong area are welcome to attend. Please get in touch if you wish to come as Ray is organising catering for lunch and we need definite numbers before then. Skill level is totally irrelevant.
Tom tells me that David Boyle's new group in South East Queensland just had a successful gathering and I'm pleased to see that it went well.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

Can't wait working on some stuff to bring up. Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Hi Col,

Best wishes for a great SEARBS meet. Hope the weather is kind and you get a good turnout.

The recent SEQ RBW was great. Lots of info shared and lots of support from everyone involved, including great giveaways from sponsors such as Tom Kirkman - Rod Maker Magazine, American Tackle, Cork 4U and other local sponsors. Mark Newcombe gave me a cast of one of his MicroWave guide rods. I aimed for the base of the tree in my front yard and the casting plug ended half way up the tree. Hope nobody saw!

The best thing about these gatherings is the information and mateship shared. Good on Ray for hosting this. It is a great feeling spending time with like-minded individuals who share a common interest.

Next time we need to get a State of Origin thing happening. Or maybe we could start a travelling rod. You guys assemble part of it and send it up our way. Then we work on it some more and send it back etc, etc. Instead of a Global or World rod it can be a National rod. Many possibilities!

Cheers
Dave

How much distance is between you guys? I'm glad to see Australia getting in on these events. Dave started doing these WAY back...lol 10 years ago believe it or not!! I think it's easier to reach people now and hopefully you all will be able to have frequent meetings and keep growing. KEep up the good work putting these together.....and all you AU builders TAKE ADVANTAGE of these opportunities and set aside the time to attend one. YOu won't regret it

Billy I live in Cairns in Far North Queensland and it is around 1700 kilometres to Brisbane still in Queensland and another 920 km to Sydney. Huge distances just between capital cities so it makes it very hard for these types of interstate things.
Too far for me to get there!
Good luck at the gathering guys.

Distance is the biggest problem for Aussie groups. In August we have one coming from Maryborough in Queensland which is well over a 1,000 miles. One coming from Mallacoota in Victoria which is well over 500 miles and two coming from Canberra which is about 250 miles and another from Old Bar a similar distance. Another three or four from Sydney which is 50 miles. There is only three of us in Wollongong that are reasonably close. Mark Fisher is from Broken Hill which is well over a 1,000 miles also. He is coming over for his mothers birthday and her residence is another 40 miles away from us. Lot of travelling which is why we find it hard to get a lot unless we have something special like Mark. Still definitely worth the effort to keep having them and will continue to do so.
David, that national rod sounds like a good idea but it's going to do a lot of miles, I might get to grind a couple of guide feet!! or possibly make some foam cored carbon or floor tile grips!!!
Have definitely made some good friends since we started doing them and all the members contribute and what to share what they know. I've been building for a long time but I get a good buzz from helping out those that are new to it.
Thanks for the support shown from everyone.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

That is really a lot of distance to travel. One of the things I have found is that if I keep putting out quality work, keep helping other builders, and keep putting these on - builders start popping up out of nowhere. It's different in NY where there is a huge population...people complain to me that I don't do a gathering in Long Island when it's a 45 minute drive to my shop, lol. IT also took me a long time to build it up to teh point that it's at now. Keep pushing and promoting, get Australian suppliers and tackle shops involved to spread the word and help you try to find more builders.

Have a great time next month, I'm looking forward to seeing the pics and reading the comments from those that attended.

I heard Col that Billy was coming to the following meeting.

DOn't count that out for sometime in the future. I would like to be able to attend gatherings all over the world, and I am working on something that will hopefully make that a possibility. I have no idea if it will an out, but it is somethign which I would really like to do; expanding The NERBs attitude on a global level.

Thanks for the build up Col. Lets just hope I don't get stage fright. I'll have a few nice rods to bring along with me plus, hopefully show a couple of techniques I've been using to make things a bit easier for anyone new to the craft.
Col I also have another person coming along, Tony Davis who is an excellent rod builder from Sydney. Last time I spoke to him he was really keen to come down and show off his style of rods which are totally unique. I'll confirm with Ray in the next week or so about Tony. I know Billy has said it before but the NERBS/SEARBS/SEQ RBW are not really clubs but a state of mind for rod builders to expand their knowledge and share the craft with others. The more we share the more we can push the limits. I'm looking forward to our little meeting and to catching up with a group of friends.

Regards
Mark
Outback Rods

Aussie Builders- Just a thought
I used to ship (1) pound packages a few hundred miles for LOW cost using private pilots. They would wait for me if I was aboard, with no cost for waiting time, only air time. Ask at local airports if anyone would work with you on these flights.
Do you think they would take a rod for payment? __LOL

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." Mark Twain
John in Wethersfield, CT

Hi Mark,
No need for any of that!
You were great last year and everyone that met you was impressed with your ability and willingness to share it.
Nice to see you have another builder who wants to attend. I'm a bit surprised we haven't got more guys from the Sydney area as I know there is quite a few there.
I have no doubt this will be our biggest and best meet yet. Only problem I see is lack of time, one day just isn't enough. I could easily go for a week!!

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

G'day Billy

If you come over we can chuck a few sausages on the barbie for you no worries.Anytime you look like coming over give us a bell and you will be looked after.

Looking forward to all coming it will be a great day.Always good to catch up with like minded people and have a chat and learn something new.There will be a
a few new faces as well so that should be interesting.Anyone who puts in the effort to travel is always welcome at my place.Col puts in a lot of hard work to get
these meetings happening so we should all support him.

I will have my new birch bark grips ready for show and tell so be interested in peoples thoughts and maybe offer some advice.

Anyone who wants to turn up any grips i have a wood lathe ready to go so let me know and we can get you on to have a crack..

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

ray balmforth Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Anyone who wants to turn up any grips i have a wood lathe ready to go so let me know and we can
> get you on to have a crack..

Awesome opportunity!! SAusage and cork dust! lol.

G'day Billy

Nothing like a dusting of dark burl dust with on your kanga banga for lunch.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia