2011

My thanks to those of you who have taken the time to look at this stuff over the last year, and especially those who have helped support truly independent artists and craftsmen by purchasing something through us. 2011 is starting the way we mean to go on- with some beautiful handshaped surfboards from Mick Mackie.

Enjoy your Holiday

This seemed seasonal in a Northern Hemi sort of way, and even environmental as we all love polar bears right?

Things we need

The complete Gonad Man book, via Sutho



Boxed notecard set from Joe Curren
I know, it's waaaay too late for christmas shopping and all that, but any deserving surf aficionado in your life (yourself included) would undoubtedly appreciate these items anytime. Sutho has compiled the legendary original Gonad Man art into an opulent book, while on a slightly classier note Joe Curren has made a beautiful notecard set. Hand made box (from Port Orford cedar offcuts no less) with a set of cards using 4 of his images. Very nice indeed. It's still raining here in SoCal. I've forgotten how to surf I think, or at least am very close to it.

Lost In The Ether

Andrew Kidman's new project is about to start shipping any minute now, and as usual, it's a beautiful, personal slice of the culture. The film 'Lost In The Ether' is packaged in a 100 page book featuring photography and interviews from the making of the film and is limited to 1000 copies. It features surfing and meditations on the design of surfboards from Mick Mackie, Wayne Lynch, Dave Parmenter, Garth Dickinson, MP, Sage Joske and more. It's only available here and you also get a $50 discount voucher for the 'Ether' book, again limited to 1000 copies, making it one of the more affordable pieces of art out there really. Hopefully we'll have some screenings of Andrew's film set up for early next year.

Further Asymmetry

Up in Northern California Jamie Murray has tried his hand at an asymmetrical surfboard and it looks quite lovely. Jamie, if you read this, a ride report from yourself or whomever picked this up would be appreciated. The boards do feel different to a 'standard' surfboard, but as far as I'm concerned, it's a good difference. On the backhand especially, the boards feel magic and after a few rides you find a flow to your surfing you didn't know was there. Not a board for everyone admittedly, but for those with the interest in a diverse quiver, highly recommended.

UPDATE:
Thanks Jamie, my take exactly- loose and fast on the fore, grippy and smooth on the back, and bags of fun on the right wave. Here's a another respectful nod to Carl Ekstrom's genius. This one via RT's fine Warbles blog and shaped by Ryan Burch.

Go out, see art, have a good time

And if you're in San Francisco or New York, here's where you can do it. Tomorrow night- RK shows up in with another van load of ephemera, eclectic wonder and historical gold, all of which you can buy. Meanwhile, in NYC on Tuesday, Glen E. Friedman steps out for a good cause. He's doing a little signing/talk arrangement at Revolution Books. He'll sign a book for you (there's a nice gift for your favourite skate/music aficionado) and no doubt tell some good stories. I have to say that I still have moments where I find it hard to believe that somehow I wound up working with C.R Stecyk and Glen- these guys were the cultural shamans of so much stuff that mattered, and still does. Check it out, it'll be good. I think I still have some Dogtown books signed by Glen and CR3 for anyone who's not in New York and wants a piece of the fun too.

New Asymmetricals

The mad precision of Carl's models never fails to amaze me. Nice check on the Parmenter article in the latest Surfer's Journal too.

I'd be the first to admit there's no money in this surfboard lark, at least not when you dabble in helping out a few somewhat eclectic shapers. There is however great joy at times. Today it involved Cedrik from France and some utterly stunning work by Mr. Carl Ekstrom. Two goofy-centric asyms, shaped and glassed by Carl and sporting his new fin designs. Beautiful fade in the spray, eye popping gloss & polish and general awe all around. Cedrik and his friend Frank were very nice guys and these boards will get ridden (as a surfboard should) in some serious waves soon enough. It honestly is a privilege to be around guys like Carl, he's not only an incredible craftsman but he's always got some great new design concept on the boil and he's as stoked on this stuff as any kid you can name. A genuine inspiration, and he's up for shaping a few more boards if anyone is interested.....

J. Abegg Esq.

So we've been telling you about young John Abegg for a bit now, and here's a look at his newest project, 'Two Weeks'. John is definitely a talented and driven young man, this being his 4th film and a fine one at that. He doesn't make the standard surf film, there's already plenty of footage of perfect waves being ridden by 'humble' experts, and it's the personal and unvarnished take on things that guys like Johnny do so well. His first offering was 'On Credit', a film about trying to be pro surfer and how it took 8 credit cards to do it. Not your standard surf flick by any means, and of course he and Matty Yeates were responsible for the mighty "___" (made after 'Bay Of The Dead' a fine surfing zombie flick of course). It's the guys like John that keep all this surfing nonsense truly exciting and creative. And all this gives me an excuse to post this clip again:

Pure, entertaining madness. You can buy "___" direct from us too- email info at foamandfunction.com and we'll set you up.

Tails

Eli Mirandon



Daniel Thomson



Mick Mackie



Carl Ekstrom

Seriously, it's the best imaginable time to be a surfer. The entire panoply of surf design is available if you want it, from balsa hot curl to carbon fibre performance. Above you see a selection of concepts from the cutting edge, tested and approved. All these shapers design and test their own boards, they hand shape these experiments and they are among those driving design into wonderful new places. Feel free to support them. If you have any interest in a board from any of these craftsmen, email us at info@foamandfunction.com and we'll put you in touch with a potential magic board.

Kidman gets closer

Andrew Kidman's new film and book project 'Lost In The Ether' is a big step closer to done. There's physical proofs of the book portion of the package, and from what I've seen it's pretty incredible. The film focuses on some extremely talented surfer/shapers and the limited edition run comes packaged with a book of photos and interviews from the film. Very awesome, and available only here.

In a better world...

Surf guitar would be handled by the Egyptians....

and if there had to be an underpowered European car as the default surf ride, it'd at least be a cool looking one.

Yeah, lack of surf is driving me nuts so I'm taking shots at the sacred cows, but sorry- I don't much like 'surf guitar' or VW's. Omar Khorshid was an Egyptian musician who played with some of the greats and also put out some incredible spacey surf twang/spy theme sounding solo work, all with a definite Egyptian flavour. Air cooled engine and 'cute' vs. hydraulics and suave futurism? Not even close for me. Hopefully there will be waves and some actual surfing posts by the end of the week, apologies for your lost minute or so.

Central California. Autumn. Trefz fotos.

All photos by P. Trefz from the 'Thread' book. A jaunt north could be called for soon I think, this is the season for it.

Get Entertained

There's still a few "___" left here. DVD + 25 pg Zine $30, DVD + 50 pg book $50. Both numbered. Pure surf cinema madness, it amazed and entertained at the NYSFF and that was just the 5 minute short. You can have the whole thing in all it's glory. info at foamandfunction.com is the email address. Buy this stuff, support independent artists and improve your entertainment level at the same time. As always, thanks for your attention.

...And I forgot to add this. Abegg at work, older clip, nice waves.

4,3,2....

Modern Double Wing Flyer by Terry Fitzgerald

Parmenter/Lynch style single by Kidman

Lynch single by Tim Griffin

Horan style single by Rick Carroll


And of course, a couple from Mackie

Sorry, sort of predictable but couldn't resist after the quad, twinnies and tris of recent posts. I do like the singles though, and it's a maligned surfboard. Most people write it off as only good for longboards or the dreaded retro goons, but it has it's advantages- absolutely hauling arse down the line being one of them. That Horan and the Griffin are two of the most fun boards I've surfed over the last few years and I'd be certainly willing to paddle out on any of those others. Of course, for you post modern kids you can't go wrong with this, the least retro boards imaginable from Tomo.

y2 = 4ax

Haven't done a post involving skateboarding or mathematics in a while, so here you go. I'm off to surf the quad in one of those tiny windows of swell and weather we currently have. Check out friend of the family Mike Machemer's new blog, Lenape Joking- it's good.

Surfing Around The World

Somewhere...



...North Island NZ (and I left this place why again?)...

...West Island, NZ...


...some very fine style in the UK (please note excellent lumber array on the Morrie's roof)...

...and the Netherlands!

But there's no surf here so I sit and gaze longingly at my quad and send thanks to the many correspondents who have shared their day at the beach with us.

Twinnies via Wegener and Beck

Jeff Beck goes hi-tech and lofi at the same time.


Jon Wegener's Handiwork

Ah, surfboard pictures- I love 'em. Since we've had 3 fins and 4 fins lately, here's a set of twins both look decidedly rideable. Jon Wegener again shows he knows what to do with fins on a board that seems to involve some very classic design elements used to great advantage, while Jeff at Ninelights goes all out modern construction (compsand 1lb EPS, balsa and cedar skin, cedar fins if I remeber rightly) on a supposedly outmoded setup. I don't deny that the thruster came along at the right time to completely reshape surfing, especially in the high performance arena, but the twins are rightly seeing a resurgence. The progress that was happening then seems to be continuing, and with all the new concepts that have come along since the mid-eighties, it's getting really good. There's some very interesting alternatives for those that are willing to venture along these paths.