pick up the planer..

This little run of summer waves and weather has given me the first proper chance to run my newest log through it's paces. It's a 9'4 "mod log" from the last batch of boards Randall shaped before hanging up his planer indefinately last year. I loved the look of it when Neil showed it to me and wished i'd had the cash and the space in the shed to buy it then so when it popped up for sale on magic seaweed i wasn't about to make the same mistake twice!

Template wise it's pretty much what a lot of people have been moving towards recently, less Nuuhiwa noserider and more Hot Generation/ Magic Sam with a greenough fin, thin pinched rails, widepoint pulled back a little, plenty of roll out into the rails and only a shallow nose concave. The nose is fairly narrow at 17 3/4 and the tail is wide at 16 1/4. Despite being 23 wide and 3 in the center there's not a great deal of foam in there. It's similar to the boards Dane Peterson has been riding recently or Chonoski's "involvement" Mctavish's

It's not really a "saunton board" being designed for waves with a little more zip but like most boards with a wide point back of center, as long as there is a steepish pocket to tuck into there's plenty of scope to get piggies dangling. Off the tail it's whippy in a pivoty way and it's got a nice responsive lively feel despite it's volan glass. In fact my only negative so far would be that it paddles really slowly although i'm not entirely sure why as it's fast in trim.

It's a crying shame Randall is no longer making boards, his logs are great and he makes a great mini-simmons too. His templates are spot on and the boards are beautifully finished with some very neat creative touches. Mine has a carbon fibre cloth asymmetric tail patch for example!

I think everyone i've known to ride one of his shapes has rated it and there are more than a few people who would like to get a board off him if he can ever be persuaded to pick up a planer again. In a way it's a little bit pointless posting a detailed review since none of you can currently order a board off him so perhaps this can form another little prick at his concious that his skills are prized over here and an occasional trip to the shaping bay wouldn't be such a bad thing!

post modern punk

I am really beyond stoked to publish a link to my latest article for Drift magazine. It's an interview with Randall, former shaper at classic malibu in noosa and temporarily crafting beautiful handmade boards in the UK again. I feel really lucky to have my words laid over the amazing photos of Dane Peterson. I think it came out great, hope you do too!

clicky here to have a butchers!

note to self

I shamelessly stole this from Dane Peterson's blog for three reasons:

Firstly, it made me smile,.

Secondly, Dane has always been one of my favorite surfers, ever since he appeared as a slightly be-quiffed teenager in The Seedling, I've loved his super smooth, effortless style and his impressive noseriding. In the last few years, he's also become one of my favorite photographers, with an eye for capturing the little moments that make surfing such a special thing to be involved in. A friend recently asked me what i love in surfing and i pretty much directed them to Dane's site and told them " it's what you see here!"

Finally, Dane just sent me a batch of photos for a feature we're working on for Drift. Unsuprisingly, they're really good and i woke up feeling inspired in a journalistic kind of way & excited about how things are coming together(stay tuned for details :-)

I know those of you in Kernow are cursing the Northerly wind of the last few days but up here where there's a little shelter i've had some fun micropeelers and hopefully the forecast will continue to stay as it is into next week. I still don't fully understand why some people don't own a longboard for these sort of occasions!