CPW Skate Shop & some film

As best I can tell, CPW Skateshop is a hole in the wall deal in Tokyo run by some very entertaining hooligans. Brilliant stuff, and that they are pulling it off in the middle of Tokyo is heartening to me. As is this:

Joske's Bay from Surfing Life on Vimeo.

Heath Joske pulling a sould arch at J-Bay. This is what comes of surfing a sub 6' single fin that your brother shaped you for the weeks leading up to an international surf contest. Lovely work Heath. Meanwhile Jon Frank, Kidman's collaborator on 'Litmus' has been busy lately working with Mick Sowry, creator of the very lovely 'Musica Surfica'on a new project called 'The Reef' Below is a clip from it and it looks incredible.

FYH

It's down to the last few copies of a couple of the books we put out, and I'm throwing them out here before they wind up on EBay or some such place. Both are from Glen Friedman and are the original collections of his skate & music photography. Glen was so on it it's not funny- shooting the original Dogtown crew as a teenager, working with Bad Brains, Black Flag, Minor Threat, Circle Jerks and many more as well as shooting covers for Public Enemy, Run DMC, Beastie Boys and many other hip-hop mainstays. Much of it is in these 2 books, and it's all good. Fuck You Heroes was the original book, and you can have one of the last few copies for only $33. (free shipping inside the US, $10 outside) Fuck You Too followed it, and was more of a scrapbook approach- some crazy stuff in there. It's really done, I have a couple of slightly shopworn copies that are a deal at $20 (free shipping inside the US, $10 overseas) and that's it until we reprint. Email info @ foamandfunction.com if you're interested.

Mackies For Sale

I'm aware I just posted these, but not only are they for sale but Mick's got a bit of a deal going on them and they are just fantastic looking. Sidecut EPS/Carbon fishes, hand foiled wood keels, one has the deck patches, the other is stringerless with the triaxial deck layup and a beam stringer. Both are 6'4" x 20.5" x 2 3/4", and cost including shipment to Los Angeles is $850 (I'll gladly ship them on from here to where ever you are too). That's an insane deal for a hand shaped piece of high tech. There's guys scraping some crust of a machined shape, sending it out for a flashy glass job and asking that much for it. If you're interested, email info @ foamandfunction.com and I'll give you the details.

What's Down There (California Edition)

Yeah, Great Whites are the marquee fish when people talk about what's under them when in the ocean, but there's some less threatening but way weirder stuff down there. From the top down you have a Bubblehead Sheephead (the clear dome is about as weird as life gets I think), a Piglet Squid and a Sarcastic Fringehead. Yes, that is it's real name and it's very territorial. All of these things were found in California waters too.....

Japanese Genius

My mate Chip in W. Australia sends some good stuff this way, most recently the link to this Japanese site. My Japanese being what it is (non-existent), I have no idea who this person is but it seems they're a shaper into some good stuff- channels, weird fin setups, good nights out- so they're worth a look. There's an excellent run of photos from the last Japanese Fish Fry in there too.

Flextail Feedback

So as I've mentioned, the above flexboard was done as a custom for Chris in Hawaii and it appears he's well happy with it. Here's a nice succinct ride report from a couple of weeks back: Sat on the board for a while to wait for some waves to come before taking it out for its maiden voyage. A few weeks ago we had a nice south swell come in at 2-4 Hawaiian. Waxed the long flex tail up and headed out. Notice first off that paddling felt a little down on foam and figured that would be the case due to the big flex tail. Settled in and got my rhythm on. Got out and missed the first two. Then got my first wave on it. Popped up like normally would and bam! Felt that flex tail kick and engage. Went up the face and over the back. Kinda was amazed and wowed. Got my second one and ease that rear foot weight. That tail is magical. It is a scalpel. A laser scalpel. Get that tail engaged and on the hinge then hold on. The speed is addicting and variable in the tail rocker due to the flex is next level for sure. Got a few more and definitely got my groove on. The flex is way different and leaps bounds better than other flex incarnations I have tried. The two ride photos areobviously not Chris in playful Hawaiian conditions but rather Mr. Mackie himself on a past NZ trip.