Kidman and Keels

This photo by me


This Photo Kidman

Andrew has a blog for the Ether book. 2 posts and it's off to a fine start. I stole this shot of Santa Cruz from it and have linked it. Check it out, then go to foam and function and buy the book. The keels are on the newest Mackie which is going to Panama. They're foiled beautifully and really flexy. Tomorrow I'll hopefully try out the blue keels on the post below, even if it's still thigh high. I need a surf.

Mackie Flex Madness

Mick Mackie on the job. 5'10" sidecut flextail. Fully epic with some hand foiled ultra bladed keels I'll show soon. This one sold right out of the box, more will follow. Best of all, this came with a bonus- the 5'9" prototype board, ridden lightly in the gentle surf of central NSW. As soon as there's swell I plan on putting some pressure dents in it. Oh yeah, check those blue keels- the inside is slightly concaved. Go Ulladulla.

knuckleheads night out

The rain put pay to surfing but not to socializing. Some of San Diego's finest arrived in a white Benz and we hit the circuit coffee fueled. First Shelter which was mellow, friendly and had some great art courtesy of the Mattson's and Tyler Warren. (The kid can paint) Then up to 'town' and the Friedman circus at Subliminal Gallery. Chaos, line down the block and we only got in through Jeff Ho throwing his weight around and didn't last long in the crush. Ditched there to Alva's Fairfax store for yet more festivities. TA on the wheels of steel in skate grom heaven. The legend is relevant as hell for a new generation. The night was bursts of standing around outside places not saying much interspersed between lots of driving, and it was really fun. Griffin sent some single fin pictures and they rule- I'll have them up on the site next week I swear.

6' x 20 1/2" x 2 3/4"

Sweet little thruster from Tim Griffin, check that double bump tail. Tim has kindly allowed me sully his reputation and put his boards up on Foam and Function, so hopefully there will be a new page added in the near future. For those of you who were unaware, Tim is the Wayne Lynch approved shaper for the US and is doing a line of Lynchy's modern singles and thrusters all of which look epic. More soon I swear. Some adds over there on your right, This Rich Tapestry is Daniel Crockett's excellent blog and I'm hoping for class and intelligence by association. I've also linked to the MofoSurfer forum because I unashamedly love me a good surf forum. At their peak they can be an online parking lot bull session with a really good board pictures as a bonus. A truly entertaining way to while away time I should be spending working. Finally, if you're in the general LA area this weekend, it's all on for you. Shelter in Long Beach are hosting yet another excellent party, this time with art work from the very talented Tyler Warren, music from the Mattson 2 and some film goodies. Meanwhile up in the hip heart of the beast, Shepherd Fairey's Subliminal Gallery at 1331 Sunset will having the opening night shindig for Glen E. Friedman's retrospective show. Plenty to keep you occupied while the rain washes all those toxins into the surf....

Sailin' On

Richard Kenvin rolled into town with a van full of boards and a mission this past week. He collected myself and a couple more boards and we ducked up to a Cuban coffee joint on Sunset Blvd where we first handed off two very fine surfcraft to some Austrians heading to Indo (I'm a loser for not taking a photo of the red pintail gun, but needless to say it was exceptional). We then hooked up with dedicated Surfer's Journal reader Tony Alva and his friend Tere. It seems the folks at Shelter got TA on a mini Simmons, he loves it, calls were made and Richard set up a board loan for him. Tony and Tere were legendary, totally unequivocally stoked. So fully excited about surfing it was contagious. We drank some coffee, talked board design and checked out Alva's crazy little dogs. After a quick tour of the neighbourhood from Tere, RK and I headed back down to the hood via downtown to check the Bradbury Building and got to see the most Blade Runner-esque deal ever going off at the Staples/Nokia complex- searchlights, giant TV billboards and architectural madness. It was a very good day. Things are moving along, we're psyched and to cap it there will be Mackies arriving on Tuesday with a 5'10 flextail that will be up for grabs.

Big Daddy

So there I am, thinking Andrew Kidman is doing a fine job of keeping all the various projects going down there in Uki (when he's not washing dishes, scrubbing the roof or chasing the cows out of the laundry) and maybe I should send him a nice Christmas Card for all his hard work, when these pictures turn up. Being busy isn't good enough, he's got to be busy and shaping an epic 7'6" gunfish. I bow to his work ethic and shaping skill, and would like to remind everyone that we hope to soon have some of his boards over at Foam and Function. Only surfed once since Monday, but it was a good session despite the boggy tide. Been plenty busy though, certain boards have been passed to unnamed parties in different cities and there may be photos.

Pokarekare Ana

Back after 2 pretty grueling weeks of being away, no surf for me but for a glimpse on an overnight visit to friends in Piha. Awesome stormy gray beach day, quite a change after leaving LA all in tones of red and orange because of the fires. Thanks for the kind words about the website. It's crude, but it's up and will improve. The idea is a more focused place to obtain the cool stuff that's out there. All boards fully approved off from experience. I'm stoked on the response I'm getting from people on the Casper boards too, thanks largely to the excellent Mini Simmons article RK has in the new Surfer's Journal. He's got it posted over at the Hydrodynamica blog too, but the mag is well worth buying as the rest of it is pretty excellent too.

DONE

www.foamandfunction.com

barrack all you want, I'm on a plane in 3 hours and will be thick skinned by the time I get back. Actually, I'm OK with it although there's a few minor changes I'm ready to make already.

New Day Rising

Sometimes things are so chaotic it seems they couldn't get worse, and then they do. Should be posting the news that a temporary, beta sort of website is going up to do the retailing of some excellent product. This economic collapse seems like the worst time to be trying to sell strange looking but high performance surfboards and exceptionally nice photo books but that's how we operate around here, so the site, or at least a version to give the idea of what we'll be doing, is nearly done. There should also have been some new insanely fine surfboards available, but a last minute emergency has me heading back to the shores of NZ for a couple of weeks, and it all goes on hold. Ah well, I may still have the site up before I go given I can deal with no sleep for a day or two, and the new boards will be delayed a few weeks but it'll all happen eventually. The very useful Andrew Kidman has stepped into the breach to help out and ensure the blog gets not only an update, but a stylish one by sending these excellent images of Dave Rastovich putting one of Mackie's flextails through it's paces recently. There should be an available 5'10" one of these in the next board arrival, and there's all sorts of epic new design work taking place in the Swift thinktank, complete with successful test sessions and stoked riders. This is all getting quite interesting so I'll be back soon.

AN UPDATE: Go look at Safe To sea- he's posted purchasing info for Musica Surfica, the award winning film where Derek hynd tells us to get rid of our fins. Brilliant.

Rain On The Roof

First decent rain of the season here in SoCal, so all the goodies stored up in the drains and on the roads have washed into the ocean leaving it a broth of filth. Luckily I got in a Saturday AM session before it kicked in, and it was plenty fun. Few decent sized closeouts, plenty of peaks and quick rain shower to keep it fun. The size and peakiness vanished as the tide shifted but I'd had my fun. Linked Rob Royal's Alma Pura site over there on your right, he shapes some nice ones and the latest post is an excellent looking fish with a fantastic red and gold resin job. I'm a sucker for those ali'i colours. Keeping in the twinnie vein, above is a selection of keels. A Horan winged single at top, Rasta cutaways (the keels that come with the Mackie fish), single foiled hemp cloth home made beauts courtesy of my friend Ben in West Australia and a set of classic Geppy hand mades that were gifted to me by RK. Not a bad fin in the lot.

Sand In My Joints

From Terra Australis comes the above: new Mackie/Fibre Flex boards. Carbon Fibre rails, EPS foam and heavy duty epoxy glassing. Close to bullet proof and from the look of the shapes really fun. There's a model in between these two as well. Serious bottom concaves, pulled in profiles- these things will fly and I'll share more as I get it- check Mick's site though, he has a section for them with more pictures. Some ways north of these Kidman is hard at work and reports that the Brown Birds From Windy Hill hit the studio this week to record the soundtrack for a new Michael Peterson film that's due very soon, and there's two new cinematic offerings due from Andrew himself in 2009, the first being a collaborative venture that should appear in the early part of the year. Again, I'll keep you updated- all a ploy to make you come back to the blog. Recent Socal swell has been interesting as it's coincided with mega tides (in my window of opportunity anyway), so a bit of finesse has been required. The points were good but according to one of the gladiators out at Malibu this past weekend, a bit hectic. I opted for the beachy as always and managed to time the tide/wave size and sand banks to get some really fun peaky stuff yesterday and a bit more walled and thumping earlier in the swell. Yesterdays session did involve surfing in about 30 foot visibility from the fog though, and it was weirdly fun. Pelicans appearing out of nowhere, dolphins I could hear but not see and a couple of seals hanging around. The problem with the beach break/swell/high tide combo was as always that around those fun peaky little runs it gets pretty dredging, although being used to alter the bottom contours of the Santa Monica Bay a few times was a small price to pay for a couple of hours of solo walls.

Cold World

photos by Joe Curren

Just as this current socal heatwave was kicking in, Joe sent a few photos from his Alaska trip. Whole 'nother world as they say. Surfed in North County on the flextail. Still utterly stoked on it.

3 (It's The Magic Number)

Despite being the twin fin obsessive I am, winter is the time a young man's thoughts turn to the mighty three fin cluster and something serious to pit them against. I'm hardly young anymore, but here's the business as sculpted by Tim Griffin- a serious looking widowmaker for his personal use ("..watch out Blacks"), and one for the ladies in the form of a Lynch team board for Serena Brook. She's going to charge some waves many of us would rather not deal with on that thing, and do it with confidence. Fine work indeed. I'm not alone in these thoughts, Joey at Grey Ghost beat me to the thruster punch with a Brewer post and even RK is getting in on it all with the oddest tri you'll see this year over at Hydrodynamica. Bring on them waves.

Garageland

Straight from the shed in Ulladulla comes a new and fine surfboard. What we have here is a 5'10" sidecut fish, little over 2.5" thick and with Futures boxes and a set of Rasta 'Sea Shepherd' cutaway keels. Mick has once again done a very fine job with the details being the gems- beautiful stringer and a nice double concave happening, and of curse the O.G. Southerly Change logo. Someone needs to buy this thing so I'm not tempted to ride it myself. Which reminds me, if you're in the Santa Barbara area this weekend, come on by the 2nd Annual Santa Barbara Surf Swap Meet. There's going to be all sorts of vendors, new and used stuff and I'll be there with books and the Mackies I have in stock at the moment. Apparently last year's was a roaring success and as the surf looks like being crappy you may as well come handle some gear. On the internet the latest addition to the literate fun available is Jamie Brisick's blog, Wrestling Elephants. I've linked him, check it out as he's got some great tales of the surfing life up. I've lagged on posting and can't even use good surf as an excuse, but there's been a few photo gems turning up so I'll be back on it this week I hope.

Rub & Scrub

Bailed on an open day to surf on Weds and instead spent the day cleaning house which turned to be far more rewarding than a day battling little waves and big tides. I not only have a more comfortable residence, but I found my sunglasses which had fallen down behind some books, the Duchess made an excellent and extravagant repast (accompanied by foaming ales) and I finally pulled these shirts remaining from the tour out to photograph. The yellow ones are hand screened by Kidman using the same screens he makes his art with, and were limited to the 20 or so he brought up. What you see here is what's left, and the catch is they are all size medium. (I'd be keeping the Kenvin & Spoons one if it were a large.) The white shirt is the infamous 'Completely Untrustworthy' tour poster that got us reviled by the surf-art community. Original Kidman sketch making fun of us that RK pounced on and put on white cotton T's, much better range of sizes- S, M & L for the ladies, M, L & XL for the gents. Prices are $35 postpaid in the US for the Kidman screens, $25 postpaid in the US for the 'Untrustworthy'. There's also still copies of Ether itself available of course, and it's an ideal christmas gift for the surfer you want to make very happy. Email consafos at earthlink.net for orders or info as always. I did head out on Friday and was utterly happy I dragged my arse out of bed. The SaMo beachie was moderately crap, but there was a bit more size and power than we've seen in a long while, and corners opened up so I could not only give the flextail a few good runs down the line, but actually got to throw a little spray on top turns. I still went down the mines on some closeouts, but it was a far better day than had expected. Of course it didn't hold and Saturday was not much good, more closeout than shoulder and the size bottomed out fast as the tide came up and I obviously should have gone north as planned, but the good Friday and crowd fear threw me. All of which reminds me, Mackie has updated his website and there's some nice new pictures up- take a look via the link over on the right. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it, (and not just because I want you to buy one) but the Mackie boards are the business. Mick is playing with board design elements in a forward thinking way, and he's delivering. Between the Casper and these boards it's like being a grom stoked on surfing all over again.

Kneel To The Boss

Here's a nice oddity- my friends Andy & Kristina had this beauty made by Bauguess and picked it up while I was away. (Technically, it's Kristina's board but knowing Andy it'll have his knee prints firmly imbedded in the deck.) Took the codger a while to finish and there's some tweaking needed with the deck pad, but early reports are that it's a mighty fun chunk of styro. Not too many seriously channeled kneeboards being made nowadays, so it was a cool thing to shepherd into being and I'm claiming a session once they've had a good run at it. 3 days back from Aotearoa and it's all on, there's an epic Derek Hynd piece completed for the intro to Joe's book and Joe himself is off in Alaska with camera and surfboard. The new batch of Mackies are at the glasser this week and Mick says he has a bunch of new ideas going, so hopefully we'll see some mindtwisting prototypes very soon. 2 weeks surfless so I'm looking forward to a go-out no matter what the conditions, and although the flextail is still with Ryan (who is well pleased with it) I have my Casper back so will continue ruining myself for normal surfboards.

Future Deadlock

Ekstrom, Kenvin, Asymmetrical.

This is the past and the future at the same time, the sort of thing Einstein was blowing people's minds with when he was proving the 'time is not relative' stuff. He had a lovely little thought experiment involving two lightning strikes, two observers and a train, and I bet he would have dug this. There's the story behind this over on the Hydrodynamica blog which RK has been updating like a champ of late. Please visit. Also visit the warbles blog as RT came by, dropped some serious science on me, collected the Mackie flextail and went home. He'll have it for the next couple of weeks while I'm in the homeland and hopefully will be posting a few ride reports. I rode it this AM and was utterly stoked- the waves were LA- mostly closeouts and a few little short peaks, but there was some push and the board felt GREAT. Couple of screamers in chest to head closeout lefts, one with a railgrab and down-the-line run after whipping through a bottom turn I didn't think I could do any more. It axed me, but I got further than I thought I would. Quoth the older gent paddling out: 'Shit, that little thing flies doesn't it?' Yes sir, it does. Still buzzing on what should have been a marginal session and best of all Mick is back in the shaping bay. There'll be new boards soon, and a 5'10" sidecut fish and a 5'9" flextail fish will be up for grabs I hope. If you're interested email me at consafos at earthlink.net. The other Mick in Australia is on it too- Mick Waters has a new short promo for the upcoming 'Little Black Wheels' film at http://www.littlehouseproductions.com.au/little-black-wheels.html
It's going to be a good one. Sometimes I look at all the awesome stuff going on around me and I can't believe my luck. I'll be surf free in Aotearoa so go catch a few for me.

Rub-A-Dub Evening

We may not know much, but we know how to party. More pictures on the Swift blog.

Sunglasses After Dark

Come one come all, the usual shenanigans will be happening and some new ones too no doubt. I'll be there with the Mackies, we'll have Caspers, it'll be fun.

Smile Around The Face

Mackies are here. They look fantastic- handfoiled by Mick keels, textured deck. I'm pretty stoked although I have way too many surfboards in my house. 5'8" sidecut will be at Shelter and the 5'7" sidecut is up for grabs. More photos and a flextail ride report soon.

AN UPDATE OF SORTS

I'm too thrashed to do another post, but here's some fun.
Friday- Thalia St Surfshop are having a demo day. You can go down and put some dents in my 5'5" miniSimmons as it's a demo board for the day. Extra points if you crease it by running over Richard Kenvin. Fun starts at 4, there's a barbeque and some film action. All going well the Mackie flextail will be there to try, but no promises.

Saturday- Shelter party, 'Under The Sun' showing. That one I'm going to make I swear.

Brazil- here's the link for the Santos Surf Art show Jair curates. Pretty epic lineup and who wouldn't want to check an art show in Brazil?
http://santossurfart.blogspot.com/

Mango Pickle Down River

Another of the stock board gems. This one is a 5'5" Larmo Magic Carpet with the juciest mango tint- my photo really doesn't do this thing justice, it's beautiful. Naturally the keels are hand foiled Geppys (extra nice too, they were claimed by a colleague but No-Nonsense Phil decided this board needed 'em, so bad luck.) and there's a resin leash loop. Not that it matters to you, but personally I really love the Magic Carpets, one of the most functional and fun fish styles out there I'd say. Little bit more pulled in than a trad Lis style and a little more user friendly rail design and foam distribution. Larry is a craftsman who knows what he's doing. $750 and it's yours. Once again September is on us and again it's party time. Swift Festivus, 9/5 at the HQ, 340 16th St SD. Details to follow as the boys figure them out. Lastly, I'm making a quick run back to the homeland mid September so any Kiwis out there who may want a copy of Ether or some such item and would be happy to save the shipping fee, I'd gladly bring it down to Auckland with me. Every little bit helps.

Flat Foot Hustling

A day of driving surfboards around and being thwarted. Off to the airport bright and early I went, the Mackie's are sitting waiting to be collected and I'm stoked. An hour or so later, Customs tell me the boards are being held for inspection, I'll have them next week. I cursed, went to the beach where the waves were atrocious and the day maintained that obnoxious trend. On the bright side however, I have a few stock Swift boards littering up the house, so maybe it'll be your lucky day and my kid will have a bit more space in her room. Here's a personal favourite, a 6'0" Steve Seebold double bump pin quad. Full shred stick action here, and how core is a Seebold board? Finished in mysto SD clear, and I've so far managed not to lose the fins. Epic.

Future legend

More Mackie. These shots were meant to be saved for the website I'm going to try and organize, but this one is just too good. EPS flextail with carbon fiber rails, prototype #1, Mick's personal board. You have no idea how much insane stuff is getting played with down there in the wilds of central NSW.

30 More Miles To San Diego

Just back from San Diego and all is good. Checked out a 4'8" casper shaped by a 12 year old kid, then met the newly grounded kid at Windansea. The board is a trip, RK has amazing footage of the groms riding it and it's shorter than the 4'11" White Pony Simfish that you here see Ryan Thomas cutting back with panache. Also got word from Mackie, boards are on the plane early next week- 2 sidecuts and a flextail with more to follow. Screen grab is Mick's site with the flextail showing what kind of cuttie you can haul it through. Please note that neither of the waves being surfed are exceptionally fantastic, and figure what kind of speed these boards are generating. Had a quick bodysurf in the whomp and then we ate tacos. The good life.

Gouge Away

A couple more from Mick Waters. He's selling these nice quality prints,. signed by the surfer and Mick, and the price is pretty reasonable. If you're interested let me know and I'll put you in touch with him.

And again, the colours are all out of whack- I'll gladly the original image to anyone who's interested- these are really cool prints.

The Red And The Black

...and some blue too. Old school goes future modern Horan style courtesy of Revolution Surfboards. Swiped these pics off Swaylocks and the boards are apparently in Icons Of Surf, or contact Noel through www.solosurfer.com and he can set you up with a custom. The red/black is a demo board apparently. Nice deal. Also for surf fun, Shelter's blog has some nice shots of RT laying the White Pony into a turn. Trefz scored in Mex, pics soon we hope.

Working Hard For The Rent Man

Joe Curren photo

Much afoot the last few days. Joe C was around for about 12 hours, but in that time we looked over some book stuff and it's coming along nicely. He then spent much of the evening organizing an expensive last minute dash to where there might be some southern hemi waves and at 6am I left him at LAX. Don't feel too sorry for him though, he drank all my beer and will be probably scoring barrels right now. When he gets there, it'll be Patrick Trefz standing on the beach with his megaphone making sure Joe and the boys get the shots. Patrick has been on it too, he has a Thread related book in the works and is working hard on a new film project. The flurry of productivity is all over, as word has been filtering out of the border towns that the master of the Arcane, Richard Kenvin, has been sighted delivering finished projects. He's a man with an epic 'To Do' list, but I believe it's getting worked on. The boys down under aren't getting left out either. Mackie says the sidecuts are done, flextail's at the glasser and we should see them within a few weeks- stoked! Meanwhile up in Byron Bay Devo have scored the support gig of the year, playing with the Brown Birds From Windy Hill. Let's hope Purcho gets one of those flowerpot hats.

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.