Ah yes, the board I’ve been lusting over for the past year. The 2009/2010 Burton Malolo snowboard. Back in October I featured the 2008/2009 Burton snowboard lineup, and I was pretty sure I wanted the Malolo. But I didn’t like the board graphic.

The Malolo has everything I want in a board: built for powder, but still good on groomers. A stiff board, but soft in the nose and with the S-Rocker. It’s tapered of course, wider than an average board, set back in the stance, Burton’s ICS system, has been reviewed to have amazing float, and is turned up in the nose… ahhhh *sigh*.

I’ve been eagerly following Hoon’s blog, hoping he’d give me some more information about next year’s Malolo. So what a surprise when early this afternoon I received a lovely package in my inbox with some photos of next year’s 2009/2010 Malolo (pictured above). And the board graphics were the coolest I’ve seen yet. Colourful bases for photos, and a clean top graphic with lots of space for custom diecuts. It comes in sizes 149cm, 154cm, 158cm, 162cm, and 166cm. It’s pretty much a guy’s board but women can ride the smaller sizes.

Later today I receive a call from Allan saying his coworkers told him there was a Burton sample sale on our side of town and he was there… and there were amazing deals on everything. Of course I wanted to go. So after work we headed over there to check it out.

Let me say this in my defense: I DID NOT intend to buy anything. I just wanted to take pictures.

So imagine my surprise when the first thing I set eyes on when I walked in the door was the Malolo.

If there is any snowboard in this world that was made for me… it is the Malolo. “A soul surfer with a heart for freestyle.” Malolo means “flying fish” in Hawaiian, and features a surfy design, with surfer dudes on it, peace signs, and even a surf van on one of the boards. My board features a surfer dude in the middle of a gladed trees up to his waist in powder. YES.

But wait — it gets better. I needed a 149cm board, and the sample sale only had ONE of each board size. The sale– $400 for a retail $800 board. Brand new. Seriously. SERIOUSLY. And the guy went into the back and lo and behold… found me the only 149cm Malolo in the city. NEXT season’s board not even being sold yet.

It was fate.

I couldn’t pass it up. It was handcrafted in Canada. The perfect colour, size, and style for me.

So I brought my beautiful new board home. So much for my budgeting. But hey — I would’ve bought the board anyway in 8 months so why not save 50%?

And even my Quaatchi Twins like them! (Yes, that is our favourite hockey playing Olympic mascot on my slippers… )

Here’s my new quiver. One beat up falling apart board for groomers. And one gorgeous sleek panther of a board for powder.

I’m hoping to catch some pow on the weekend! TGIF!

For anyone who would like to go to the Burton Sample Sale, it’s still on tomorrow, and it’s the last day. The address is 236 West 7th, Suite #207. The sale is on till 8 PM and features only one of each new board for next season, and a number of softgoods too!