freshly mown..

A freshly shaped 10 foot Gulfstream saunton foil model, waiting on the racks while the foam dust settles.

I only make it over there every so often but it's always a pleasure to hang out with Jools at the gulfstream factory for an hour or so. He's always stoked on the latest batch of boards coming through and really cares about offering a proper handmade custom manufacturing service.

strider

Looks like it's back to winter again.......

a hully hull

There's something about the shape and foil of a displacment hull thats so pleasing to my eye. I think it's the way that there are no hard edges just gentle curves, whichever angle you look from, that flow into each other.

It's a deceptive kind of shape, there's a lot more going on than there first appears and they somehow feel more organic than a pointy thruster ever could.

Still doesn't really feel like summer does it, despite a few small semi clean waves this week. I'm struggling to get enthused as a result but hopeful some portugese sun and waves will restock the stoke next week!

beach huts.........

go west?!

could it be magic?

Most people will be familiar with the concept of having a "magic board". It's a much used phrase in connection with the ASP world tour and most surfers will feel like they have owned one at some point over the course of their surfing life.

The board in the picture above is one of mine. I pulled it out of the shed the other day and paddled out on it for the first time in ages. Sure enough, once i'd dodged the crowd enough to slide into a head high reeler, my feet found the sweet spot and i started a session full of smooth carves and cutbacks that only a true twin keel will give. Although the design has moved from being "new" (again) into being almost a standard "summer shape" they really are versatile boards and will handle most things the UK can throw at you.

This one is a 5'8 classic keel shaped by Larry Mabile that i brought back from the US four or five years ago (back in the glory days of $2 to the pound!). It's got a more 70's influenced template and bottom contour than the heavily concave bottomed ones that the likes of gulfstream and christenson make.  Larry is not that well known world wide but incredibly well respected around san diego and is one of the best fish shapers you could go to having learnt his craft under Skip Frye at the G&S label many moons ago. He also makes a lovely version of skip's eagle gliders but i think even virgin would baulk at flying one of those back!

I can honestly say i've never had a bad surf on this board, ever! In fact from where i'm typing it is the first "magic board" i've owned. The Bar of soap could be the second, but i digress....... It got me thinking about how much of the magic is in the shape and how much is in the eyes of the beholder? I mean how much of my love for it is in the fact that it suits me, my surfing and the waves i surf beautifully, how much is in the foam? Would it be magic for anyone, everyone?

Proponents of moulded or computer shaped boards will rave about how the technology allows mass production of a perfect prototype with all the flaws ground out by testing but it isn't entirely true since either process only replicates to a certain level of accuracy and the hand finishing, whether by surfer or chinese labor is still influential. In fact, i've heard quite a few people voice the opinion that it's the imperfections in a hand shape/ finished shape that will make a board magic and another of seemingly identical shape a dog.

For the record my fish was a custom order of a "model" Larmo has made for years, i have no idea if a computer was involved!!

changing man

you know that can't get into your suit quick enough feeling?


I

relations

Two different branches of the simmons design tree with the same basic ideas within them but a different application.

It's interesting how influential Richard Kenvin and his championing of Simmon's ideas has been over the last few years in terms of board design outside the thruster realm. Although you could argue that the recent trend to shorter wider thrusters has some roots here also!

Before Kenvin's original simmons replicas no one was really using the concepts Simmons came up with all those years ago, with the possible exception of the hull crews and whilst related, they are very much a different type of craft. Since then, more and more shapers are offering some kind of take on the concept.

Take these two, both definately directly inspired by Kenvin but neither direct copies of the original "casper"

On the left is a 5'2 Tyler Warren Bar of Soap. The shape originally came from Tyler making a small version of the original "casper" mini-simmons for the daughter of his father's friend. It came out so well, he kept the first and made her another! Hands down the favorite board i've owned to date. It has the chracteristic short wide mini sim style but with the wide point pulled aft of center, snub nosed with a wide tail block. It's stringerless with two very wide based keels which owe more to a conventional keel fish than the half moon simmons style. The bottom contours are the classic simmons bellied entry into flat but through the fins theres vee and deep double concave (spiral vee if i remember correctly!) The rails are soft in the front third but pretty hard through the fins and pretty thinned out.  In the water it's fast and lively, very responsive, probably best described as a fish with afterburners. I've overtaken people who've dropped in on me on this one on more than one occasion. Although it's still a lateral style board it's looser off the top and goes more vertical more easily than the other mini sims i've ridden.

On the right is a 5'6 Jeff McCallum Mford. Named after Jeff's tattooist mate Milford Barnes, he asked Jeff to make a board that felt like floating on a cloud (allegedy - it's unclear how many ales had been consumed at this point!) Jeff is credited with making the second ever mini simmons and is part of the same san diego surf scene that spawned kenvin. This board takes the bottom contour and the rails of the simmons but marries it to a template based on Greenough's velo kneeboards with a widepoint forward and a narrower tail block. The fins are quad half moon keels and the deck is concave. The rails are softer and rounder than the soap but still follow the same high to low shape. Bottom shape is still bellied entry but very quickly goes flat for most of the board with a medium single concave through the fins. In the water it's more idiosyncratic to surf, smoother and more flowing through the water, more lateral, more hull notes in there. It's wider and a bit flatter and goes better (brilliantly) in junk waves.

There are lots more variations on these ideas out there. Mccallum himself makes at least two other shapes based on the simmons idea, Royal makes his Simzers, Baugess makes copies of the original casper and bing, zamora and christenson all have versions. Unfortunately hardly anyone over here has jumped on board although dale walker and Tim Mason have been making some, steve croft at empire has his lumus model (a bonzerised quad version) and Nineplus have one in their new Hasu range thats out soon . It's only a matter of time before more shapers do, they are superbly suited to our regularly average waves and a whole heap of fun!

factory effluent

Just around the corner from the american road (so named as it's a remnant of WW2 military excercises) i sits this sign. It reads "Factory Effluent" and sat in the middle of a lush green vista, it's incongruity with it's surroundings made me pause for thought.

The shot, sadly, is a typical holga near miss, in my minds eye, the sign was a lot more legible! It's certainly not my best photo but if this truly rubbish run of "summer" conditions continues i am actually going to run out of photo's to post!

 It's on the way back from a short mountain bike loop that BGA took me on. I'm sure he took some sort of satisfaction form watching me hyper ventilate up the hills but the rush of bumpy downhill single-track is worth it and a new pleasure i've been introduced to recently.

Meanwhile the ocean went from flat to howling onshore mess and as i type looks like it's heading back to flat again, while i heroically fought some kind of stomach bug from under the duvet. I hate being ill - i'm really bad at sitting still!

 I did watch Steve Cleveland's new movie "Paradigm Shift" which runs along similar lines to his previous films. It's got some great surfing in it and some clever editing. Jai Lee and Dane Peterson probably have the best parts but Knost, Warren and all the other usual suspects are all present and ripping.

It didn't totally blow me away although that might be because i've hardly surfed at all myself recently and my stoke is at a low ebb. I think maybe watching it made me sad i'm not about to hop on a plane to california this year rather than get me excited about going surfing later as it usually would, which isn't Steve Clevelands fault!
 It might also be because the progression in logging seems to have slowed a little - there's no new noseriding trick that i hadn't seen before, nothing really made me stop and rewind. The level of noseriding is now so high it's inevitable it will plateau a bit before the next climb.
I certainly can't put my finger on anything that's wrong with the film, so ignore me and buy it, you'll love it and i'm sure i will once the flat spell is over!

Jack Coleman's "Polyester" is worth a watch too especially if you're an Alex Knost fan. Be warned it is SUPER arty, all scratched painty super 8, weird angles and a velvet underground type soundtrack. It's reminiscent of early Volcom films and definately in the "art piece" category but a good diversion for half an hour and i really like it.

 There's (pleeeeeeese!!!) a small chance of a loggable wave at this end of the week. If there's anything at all in the way of tiny clean waves i'm breaking the sup or a belly board out, i NEED some kind of sideways sliding action and at this stage i'm really not being choosy!

count trimula..

There's something refreshingly simple about the feeling of pure trim you get from a true displacement hull on a clean wave.

I hadn't ridden my hull for a while but just cruising down the line, connecting sections with that hot knife through butter feel was so much fun on this particular day.

 Nothing else gives you quite the same slingshot feeling out of a deep full rail bottom turn either. Good times!

While i'm talking hulls, this one was shaped by Tim Mason a couple of years ago. Tim's fundraising efforts i posted about a few weeks ago are still going strong and the Timmy Mason Trust now has full charitable status which is excellent news and a real testament to the Tim, Kate and all those in the UK surfing community that have donated time or product.

surf museum open now!!!

The Museum of British surfing is now open! Massive congratulations to Pete and the team for making it through the long process with all it's trials and tribulations. It's located at the side of the main car park in Braunton. Please make time to come and visit and support it, it's preserving our nations unique take on surfing and it's really worth your time and support.

the lookout.......

First cross-processed roll through the Lc-a was mostly a success, feel like i'm learning the camera a little. Still feels a little odd and frustrating to be so reliant on batteries, especially in the cold months of our climate.

Next roll loaded is fuji velvia which is my favorite 120 film to cross process. Excited to see how it comes out of the Lc-a!

tugs like gravity

I started typing "i'm going to be landlocked for the next week" but as i'm off to the lake district, i'm not sure how true that statement is! I'm really looking forward to visiting a part of the country i've never been to before and hopefully getting some good photos.

It's Good Friday today and while i'm heading north, no doubt lots of people will be heading south west towards the coast. If you are, please remember to be courteous to other surfers, especially locals. There's no excuse (or need) to drop in on people and ruin their wave and it can be dangerous too. If you're bringing an SUP, do the decent thing and find your own peak.

Today is also the official opening day of The Museum Of British Surfing in Braunton. The opening party last night was super fun and featured the music of one of my favorite musicians, the excellent Neil Halstead who very kindly donated his time and talent. The museums's first exhibition is "The Art of Surf" and it's well worth yor time. This is what they say

‘The Art of Surf’’ is an exhibition created from the Museum of British Surfing’s collection of surfboards and artwork dating back more than two centuries.
Many people describe the act of surfing as an art, and creativity has been at the heart of the wave riding experience for hundreds of years.
Early explorers sketched surfers; surfers decorated their boards, took photos and made films; advertisers plundered surfing’s rich imagery – and today in Britain there’s a flourishing art scene inspired by surfing.
Now it’s time to immerse yourself in ‘The Art of Surf’.
The exhibition runs from April 6 to December 24, 2012.


Finisterre are having a sample sale at the museum today and tomorrow as well so if you are in the area, please make the effort to come and lookn around and support/ reward all the hard work Pete and Howie and eveone else have put in over the last few years!

flare/flair

A couple of weeks ago i had the chance to ride a Bing Lovebird model. 9'6 x 18 3/8 x 23 x 14 3/4 x3 and beautifully finished as all Bings are with the distinctive 3/4 deck fabric inlay charcteristic of this model.

It's not an out and out noserider, more of an all around single fin with a medium weight, shallow nose concave, a relaxed rocker, a lot of v in the tail and a tucked under edge to the rail in the back third. It's a board i've always liked the look of and it's quite similar to a gulfstream log i had a couple of years ago.

The day i rode it was a really glassy thigh - waist high with Saunton doing it's best slow pointbreak impression. Good clean logging waves but perhaps lacking the zip that the Lovebird is designed for.

Off the tail the board is lively and the vee is really noticeable having a slightly different feel to more bellied logs but getting the board on a rail and turning with ease. The board trims fast, zipping along as soon as you take your first steps forward. The weight feels good, heavy enough to give momentum but light enough to feel manageable.

On the nose it's solid enough. It has more rocker than my own boards and that felt a little strange. Getting five over is easy enough but it's not as easy to get all ten pinkies over as it is on a loggier board, though i guess thats not really the only point here. It's also true that the shape is designed with faster or slightly bigger waves in mind than i rode it in.

So overall i quite liked it but i wasn't blown away. It's not ideal for small waves and personally i dont ride a log in anything over 2 ft at the moment. Not for me right now then. I do think it would be a good choice as a one board quiver for the travelling traditional minded surfer or a versatile single fin for those who are still on longboards from shoulder to a little overhead waves.

Obviously it's all just my opinion and what do i know really!

winter wonderland

So last week i picked up a new winter wetsuit. It's a hooded 4/3 from the new Hasu range from Nineplus.

It's mostly single lined apart from the bottom of the legs and feels very lightweight. Seams are liquid sealed and the torso and hood is lined with fleecy material. It's a chest zip entry, the neoprene is yamamoto feels lovely and supple.

It's supposed to be plenty warm enough for our winter (water around 8 celcius) but i must admit i wasn't entirely sure as i sauntered down to mid tide 2 ft windswell a few days ago, it felt thin and too easy to get on compared with my old xcel suit to believe id be warm.

How wrong i was. I'm not going to claim it's warmer than a 5/4, it's probably about the same (although having a full time hood reduces flushing and the fleece lining in the hood had my head sweating!) What you gain is in flexibility, it feels as though you have a summer suit on, in fact less restrictive than some 3/2's i've worn. The seams let very little water in and i was perfectly warm, even hot, for an hour on a windy grey day. Admittedly it was a small day and i was on a log so i didn't spend a lot of time under water.

 So far so good and on first impressions i'd heartly reccomend it.

Only time will tell on durability and if the warmth of the suit lasts and i'll keep you posted..........

Rob from the Nineplus shop has a new blog for the shop itself up and running, have a look here

Meanwhile, "surf city" Newquay has a fine looking new shop up and running with a cafe upstairs called Watershed. Their blog is here Looking forward to checking them out next time i'm down the coast.

a tin shed

 Totally papped through the railings at the edge of the whole city block that makes up the patagonia headquarters in ventura. This is the original tin shed where, legend has it, yvon chouinard started making pitons for climbing and started the giant that is patagonia clothing and what became black diamond mountain equipment too. Call me sad but i was excited to spot it!

score draw

Two pictures taken within seconds of each other, one with the lc-a, the other with my pentax digital compact. For once i can't decide if i prefer the analogue or the digital version!

chief hip wiggler

james parry

Setting off for london today on my way to the north of sweden for a little snow fix. I have my thermals packed and fingers crossed the minus temps will bring a little of the fresh white fluffy stuff and i can break out my craig kelly arms / live out my slater fantasies on unsuspecting snow banks!

hidden in plain sight

a diamond in the rough

black rock

Relaxing in North Cornwall on a warm summers day, remember those? Incidentally here's a random question, are we the only country around that has windbreaks? The americans don't. In all probability people in countries with proper warmth dont bother to go to the beach on a day that's windy enough to need one!