logs 11

It's been a month for the big boards and kayaks both here and in France where i scored some fun size wave in boardshorts with the last pulse of swell. If you have never experienced the pleasure of paddling with bare shoulders, i can highly reccomend it!

as far as the eye can see.....

 

It may be cliched but these are genuinely welsh sheep completely unmoved by the empty line up and pumping swell laid out beneath them.

mobile home

 

The van, specifically the VW t4/t5 and to a lesser extent the Merc vito, hold a special place in UK surf culture. I think perhaps in a way that is different to their place in the rest of europe or the in US where the big pick up truck holds more "beach cool"

Maybe it's to do with our more inclement weather and the more fickle nature of our waves. Whatever the reason, it's a mobile home, kitchen , changing room, board shed, bedroom or sanctuary from the world outside, a good van is an essential to a fully realised British surfing life.

Mine is currently parked up overlooking some sweet French beach break while i ponder which of my toys to play with......

shelf life

The gulfstream factory's store of sanding disks and rather randomly, odd wetsuit boots!
 If you've never spent any time in a surfboard factory, it's difficult to explain just how dusty they are. Even ten minutes inside and the fine white powder finds it's way everywhere. There's something magic about the smell of resin and possibilities, the thousands of wave based adventures lying as potential within the stack of blanks, waiting to be unlocked by skilled shapers eye and hands and skilled surfers feet.

heed the call

Van Diemans Waters from Nicholas Damen on Vimeo.

I posted a link to this a while back but it's worth a second viewing to stir the juices on a workday morning. Flawless sliding from the ever stylish Chonno and friends!

With any luck i will be doing a passable impression of this later!

welsh lines

Journeyed from under milk wood to meet lines that travelled from afar.

great expectations...

Surfing is a funny thing sometimes, the most fun sessions can come from the most inauspicious beginnings. Conversely sometimes the expectations of a great session are high and it just doesn't quite deliver.

Last time i rode my Mccallum mford was what i can best describe as a shocker! Lovely 3 foot offshore day but people everywhere, tired arms and i just couldn't get into a rhythm. Everywhere i sat was the wrong spot. I left the water deflated amid others joyous tales of fun waves.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and i sneak off after kids story time to catch the evening high tide glass off. Calling it thigh high would have been charitable and the tide dictated short sections and close outs. I grabbed the Mccallum again on a whim, expecting only the extra excercise of paddling a 5'6 instead of a 9'6 around. How wrong i was, over the course of an hour i hooked into quite a few tiny reelers with sections to race and spray to throw. I rushed home with the fading light feeling more alive and with the fire duly stoked. A timely reminder of the capability of the mini simmons platform to add excitement to junk waves!

Sometimes the most fun comes when you least expect!

hanging in Matts man cave....

Big thanks this week to Matt, the gulfstream glasser for patiently helping me glass my mini simmons. Once again, it's not as easy as it looks, especially when there are multiple tints involved. I don't think i messed it up too badly and it is starting to actually look like a proper board! ( " Literally" eh matt?!)

 Fin wise i think we are going with 7 1/2 inch base glass on keels. More of a keel fish shape than a half moon so similar to those on the bar of soap and the bing mini sim but not as long in the base as the TW soap ones.

Hopefully it's going to be finished for my trip to France in a couple of weeks time!!

Small glassy logging is the order of the day today, the only question is which spot to haul my heavy single fin to!

abridged..

Cotic soul without doubt one of the best hardtails ever designed. Smooth steel, spritely geometry and just as much fun up as it is down.

planing

Jools hard at work in his shaping cave.

It's hard to explain just how difficult it is to cut a decent shape with a planer (for a newbie like me anyway) The foam is so fragile and the planer so aggressive that the tiniest change in angle or speed is reflected by creating a bumo or worse still a gouge....

The best comparison i can make would be trying to carve sonmething out of florists oasis with a dremel tool! Steady hands and a good eye are the bare minimum.

Hope everyone got some fun fathers day waves over the weekend. There certainly were a lot of people in the water. In the end a bit of patience was rewarded with a slightly smaller but quieter session. I rode my pointy squire log which hasn't been in the water for a while. It's pretty different to a proper log and a nice alternative to a three fin longboard in bigger waves. Despite having the wide point back of center, the roll in the bottom and the flexy fin give it an almost hully feel to the bottom turn. Especially if you get low and crank it over. There's a nice pivoty drive to it's cutbacks and the 17 nose really makes you work for your tip time. It's an unusual but satisfying board to surf.

Monday was a beautifully fun logging wave, small glassy and perfect for the if6was9 log i've been favoring recently. Boots off too!

The rain may be back today but it's my birthday and i'm going surfing!!!!

180 degrees

It's always winter somewhere too!

sock it to 'em boy

MITCH ABSHERE PUNKS & POETS from Stance on Vimeo.

I've always liked Mitch Abshere, both his style in and out of the water, and for his honesty.  I've never spoken to him although i know he's friends with people i know.

A long time ago i read a interview with him in the long defuct Longboard Magazine. Mitch was just on the up after a pretty deep dive through partying too hard to a DUI and a stint in jail. While i'm not religious at all, it's clear that discovering a faith really helped Mitch get his life back on track. While i'm sure Mitch has been a jerk to some one cant help but respect someone who has put his life back together like he has.

Since then seems like he's in a good place and his captain fin co stuff is always interesting. Cool shops too, kinda like the original revolver but in California.

It might be a little middle aged to get excited about socks (least it's not slippers) but Stnce make some comfy, hard wearing pairs in a massive selection of quirky styles. Worth treating your feet to!

Mitch Abshere -What We Ride from Moose Huerta on Vimeo.