sunburn

 

Brown legs, sunbleached hair, warm water and clean little waves. Such are the things that a good summer is made from

it lives......

 

The Sea Pea is finally finished and in my grubby mitts! Massive thanks to Jools, Matt, Ellis and Will at Gulfstream for your time and patience! 

I know you are all dying to know how it surfs. 

It's great! Really 'effin great!!

 I can honestly say that if i had bought it off  the rack i would have been really happy so to know that i designed and made it pushes the stoke-o-meter off the scale!

First session was mid to high p-land, 3 footish sets, really just windswell cleaned up by the southerly blowing cross offshore. I've ridden quite a few different iterations of the mini simmons and this one is definately a good one!

 It paddles great, despite being 5'2. There's quite a lot of foam in there and i think we struck a good balance between float and duck divability. There's a hair more rocker than some versions of this shape, something we borrowed from the bing version and that really seems to work when you're up and surfing and yet isn't enough to affect wave catching or "mush busting"

It's fast, really fast and skatey and responsvie, section racing and feeling lively under foot like it will react to every little pressure change from your feet. The bottom has a pretty subtle roll up front and that transitions quickly a single concave that deepens through the fins.

 There's not much of a hull feel here, more jet powered fishy. That translates into whippy cutbacks and a board that is really happy to go backside with no real nursing required, something that can be the downfall of mini-sim style boards.

Personal bias aside, i honestly think we've come up with a great shape. Like i've said before, these style of boards go great in the UK but up til now getting hold of one was difficult. Well now you can get one that you know will work great and you know it will be lovingly shaped and beautifully hand finished by Jools and co at one of the best factories in this country.

 The 5'2 x 21 5/8 x 2.5 Gulfstream sea pea in full flow, available now...... disco fingers not included!

Big thanks to Tom for the company and the picture!!

style is everything

 

 So i've shamelessly stolen both these photos from Devon Howards instagram, mainly cos i really like them and partly because they reinforce how smooth and stylish Devon is. He's riding a 7'2 egg shaped by Tyler with a 2+1 set up which tends to be his choice in larger waves. Of course most will know him for his log stylings in films like single fin yellow and the seedling. 

When i started logging, Devon was one of the big names and someone i always enjoyed watching with his smooth noseriding mixed with powerful rail turns and drop knees. It's a style that is perhaps even more relevant in longboarding today and it's interesting that his signature model with Donald Takayama features many aspects of what people like Matt chojnacki and Alex knost are riding today despite being designed 15 odd years ago. Of course Devon himself would be first to admit that he is in turn heavily influenced by the invlovement style of longboarding circa 66/67 and his preferences for templates reflect this.

 Devon is currently testing shapes for Tyler and enjoying a proper grown up career.


He is genuinely one of the nicest people you could hope to meet. More smooth logging here

drive by....

 

Just what i wanted to see out of the window, small clean and empty! Perfect for my birthday surf a few weeks ago. 

a matter of perspective

a moody view of one of my favorite waves. 

Another example of how a little adventure in a direction different from the usual rails that life runs on cna unlock a fresh perspective on thingsyou see every day.

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!