the swede

One of the nicest people you could hope to meet and always a pleasure to share a session with

lines

not just for easter...........

eggs that is.......

stolen from Devon Howard's instagram. 7' Howard special mini in full flow

emptyness...

pretty much nothing......

DP

Dane Peterson. from Nick Jones on Vimeo.

One of my favorite surfers, so smooth with just the right amount of body english and "flair"

a place to play

One from California, one is visiting in a couple of months....................

Tumbling.....

Tickets for the second ever Somersault festival at Castle Hill in North Devon are well and truly out. It's a cracking line up this year and should be a whole heap of fun if last year is anything to go by. It really feels like they have built on last years success and this year they have, amongst others, Laura Marling, Passenger, Bombay Bicycle lub and Crystal Fighters as well as legends Jimmy Cliff and Norman Jay.

It should be good!

In the meantime, feast your eyars on Laura Marling's first album. It's a really beautiful record. Top pop fact is that her band at this time contained some of Mumford and Sons before they "made it"

essentials

Longing for summer when all you need is a thin wetsuit and a board and a little bit of time....

evening

So lucky to come home to a view like this on a sunny evening

winter is receding

Spring is most definately in the air, the clocks are changing, the sun is gaining in strength. My thoughts are turning to summer already. Flights are booked for thre weeks in California. I literally cannot wait!!

#midlengthcrisis

 

The more social media aware of you will have noted that i finally took delivery of my 40th birthday present a few weeks ago. Ordered in June through Nineplus in Braunton it was mos definately worth the wait. It's a 6'10 Howard Special mini egg from Hawaiian Pro Designs (i.e Takayama) I think it is one of the most visually stunning boards i've owned with a stunning glass job and a beautifully refined shape. This is no magic carpet or beginers mini-mal, its a proper californian egg from the lineage of Skip Frye and friends. #midlengthcrisis indeed

It's taken a few weeks to get it in the water in some semi decent waves so i've held off posting until i had some decent initial thoughts to post. 

In one word........smooth

First impressions are that it is just unbelievably smooth. The bottom shape is roll into panel V so it's not a board for speed generation in junk. It's a board for swooping around and drawing smooth carves. It paddles in early and has a beautiful, slightly hull-like projecting bottom turn. It trims fast in a high line and comes off the top far spritelier than it's size suggests - theres not huge amounts of foam hidden in there so the swing weight is not that great.

I havent ridden a board with 3 fins for a long time, all my logs being single fin and shortboards are all twinnies or quads. It's also probably got the narrowest tail of any of my boards too. It turns beautifully, far more controlled and carvey than the wider tailed twins, far less pivoty than a single fin. It also carries speed through the apex of a cutback far better than a single fin egg would - i often find they have a tendancy to lose speed throughout the turn, especially without a nice flexy fin.

All in all, i'm super stoked with another keeper!