Bacon Fat

Bob Mitzven/Swift Movement 6'8" longfish. Custom for Aussie Mike who got it a couple of days after getting back from Indo and was stoked, as he should be. There's a real nice green 7'0" quad one at Shelter, check it out when you're there this Saturday for the 'Innermost Limits' showing. Other surf shop news- Pod Room has moved into a bigger space off the courtyard of the building they were in. More details when I get my arse down to Oceanside and check it out. Swell was fun but I stuck with a mostly closing out beachy after seeing the zoo that was north LA points. I'm too old and grumpy to be mellow about surfing with 50 or 60 others and getting run over by an SUP.

Tangy Zizzle

Hey, this is post 100, and it's one I'm pretty happy about. Ulladulla's favourite son has been working hard and the beauties above will be on their way any day now. The sidecut will be in Shelter and I'll have Mick back in the shaping bay before he knows it. If those Antipodean's could send up some more swell with a slightly better angle as well we'd be in heaven.

Cycledelic

For those in the LA area, the Bicycle Film Fest hits town with Trefz' short 'Jim's Lines' showing. This Friday, 7.30pm at the Vine Theatre on Hollywood Blvd.
http://bicyclefilmfestival.com/2008_site/la/program1.php#a



This is a common Murre, and it's from my current favourite blog San Luis Coastal. It's linked on the right and my thanks to Manny at Swallowtail for the tip off. (He's got some great stuff going on there too, worth a look for the beautiful board art he just posted.) I'm off to grovel in tiny surf then pick up some customs Swift has made- pics will undoubtedly follow.

Avalon

Surf and blog free week due to being on Santa Catalina Island, hanging with the g-f's family. I did get in the water every day, took the fins and mask and did sometimes 2 free dives every day. High point was seeing a pair of Black Sea Bass that were huge, I'd guess about 4-5 feet cruising along the edge of the marine preserve. I got down close to them twice and could check them out- totally prehistoric looking things. As the photo above shows, they got huge and they got fished as a trophy, hence they are very much endangered. Unfortunately this doesn't stop a-holes taking them in Mexico where restrictions are lax, which makes marine preserves like Catalina all the more important. More cheerfully, the SurfIndian party last Saturday was pretty epic- Ando's art was cool, Skip Frye was a total gentleman as always and the gallery/shop looks like it'll be a great venue. Much fun.

Something In The Air

After a few conversations and some delay caused by high quality Central NSW swell, it's all go to make available Mick Mackie Surfboards in the USA. Mick's going to shape a few and send them up, and I'll be able to sort out any custom orders with him. This means we can all get out hands on his flextail fish and the sidecut fish (the board Garth Dickinson rides in 'Glass Love' is one) to say nothing of all the other epic and creative stuff he's playing with. I believe we'll be seeing a 5'7" sidecut fish and a 5'9" flextail to begin with, and that the flextail will be around for people to try. Go check his site at www.mackiesurfboards.com.au- this is going to be really fun.

Sea Of Joy

How epic are these prints from Mick Waters? He emailed to let me know he had Believe t-shirts and prints for sale, and these are them basically. (For those of you who haven't seen Believe, it's now available in the US and it's well worth checking out) I'm loving the prints and would gladly facilitate getting them from Mick if anyone wants one. The deal is they are gallery quality, mounted on foamcore, and signed by Mick and the surfer in the photo. He also has shots of Rasta, Beau Young and Kyuss King that I'll post soon. I'm guessing with shipping and exchange they'll pan out in the $150-175 range which really is a deal. The Aussies are on the ball, I'm hoping to have available some ridiculously amazing items from down there very soon.

A NOTE: Just looked at that post and the colours have come out a bit funny in the pictures- anyone who cares can email me and I'll send you the actual jpeg- they look way better. consafos at earthlink.net is the address.

Summer In The City

Here's hoping no-one has much planned for next weekend. Not only is the Ando/Skip show happening, there's also a deal happening during the day at the Cardiff Patagonia store where you can have a trial ride on a Bark paddleboard- all you need do is show up and register at the store and you're away. If you're in LA and don't fancy the cost of a SD drive, Shelter is showing the Alex Knost 'Black Van' film and the mighty Growlers are playing. Something for everyone it seems. The run of seriously fun swell continues, hit the points north of LA and was thrown into the world of over 50 people scrabbling for a wave. I understand the distaste felt for the stand-up guys better now I've surfed with 5 or 6 of them in the lineup. Wavehog behavior is bad enough, but from guys who can barely control their equipment it's a bit much. Watching them go sideways over the falls and seeing the 10'+ board mow through a pod of beginners was wild. Still, I got a few good ones and I've been enjoying riffing through the quiver as the Casper is on loan. Again, the Horan/Spitfire fin combo is insanely good.