Asym Minisim by Carl Ekstrom

Seriously, this thing is beyond amazing. The first of the Asyms finally done (look up 'perfectionist' in the dictionary and there should be a picture of Carl there) and so utterly worth the wait. My bumbling Ansel Adams effort doesn't do this board justice, it's freaking beautiful and felt incredible under the arm. 5'11" goofy foot asym, PU/epoxy build, boxes and bamboo 101 Fins, Ekstrom hand shape. Andy Warhol bought boards from this guy and I understand that completely. I believe Eric is going to be very happy.

Trefz- Idiosyncrasies

idiosyncrasies. a new film by patrick trefz. coming summer 2010 from patrick trefz on Vimeo.

The good stuff just keeps comin'. Trefz preview.

Ether Monthly #11- Further Fish Tales

Dicko on a Mackie Fish, screenprint by Andrew Kidman

Dain Thomas on Steve Lis, from the interview in 'Ether', available from info at foamandfunction.com
"We spent five afternoons together: first day we drew the curves on, next day we cut them out, next day we did fins, the next day we cleaned up all the curves and on the final day he drew some curves out for me on a couple of blanks. The we bid our farewells as he was going to New Zealand the next day. The next morning, I got up early and I could hear this rustling in the shaping bay outside my bedroom window. I was baffled as to who would be in the shaping bay at that time of the morning. So I walked out there and there was Steve, tinkering around with the curves he'd drawn on the blanks the afternoon before, and he said he'd been up all night thinking about it and thinking about it and he just had to bring those tails in half an inch. So he came back and brought the tails down, an eighth of an inch at a time. He's so meticulous. He's got such an attention to detail. It was a just a classic to think he drove an hour out of his way, the day he had to get on a plane, just to bring the tails in half an inch on the fish."


6'1" Lis, courtesy of Kidman. Photo courtesy of Shipworm or Gribble. Shit courtesy of a small dog.

No joke, of all the stuff I've done in more years than I'll admit to, 'Ether' rates as one of the things I'm proudest of having a hand in.

Air

A few posts back was the Gonz skate shot, one that blew my mind when I first saw it. This was another. No idea who the skater or photographer is sorry, but it's a gem. Curse these winds, there's a head high swell and I'm looking at skate photos? It's a better option than dealing with what I paddled out into on Saturday.

There Is No Surf In England...

...but there's a really good surf newspaper. Put together by Dan Crockett, 'Kook' is 20 pages of tabloid sized newsprint genius and I wish I'd thought of it. It's surfing, but it's also sheep, plywood sliders, channel bottoms, tea, bird pictures, a recipe, the funnies and some superb lo-fi photo reproduction. Dan, who is what I believe his countrymen refer to as a 'diamond geezer', stopped by the compound, ate some bison and left a stack of Kooks which you can purchase for six american dollars (postage included) and help fund his explorations. You get a highly entertaining read at 30c a page and a very cool artifact of the independent brilliance that surfing can still spawn. He gets a gallon or so of gas or a taco plate while traveling and accumulating material for the next edition. Speaking of things to buy, Crockett nearly walked with this.

It's a 2+1 diamond tail Mackie, 5'10" x 21" x 2.5" (or thereabouts). I've been making no effort at all to sell it because I want to keep it, and I sort of avoided the question when Dan asked about it which is not at all what I'm meant to do with the boards Mick entrusts to me. It has a handfoiled high aspect center fin and sidebites, and it's yours for $725 which is a steal. I'll even throw in a free Kook. Unless of course I cave and surf it in this upcoming south...

This Time Next Week

Friend of the family and all around good bloke Chris Rule (and the lovely Masa) are celebrating the opening of the SurfIndian shop right next to the gallery. The expanded space means more good stuff, mainly in the form of surfboards from a stellar roster of shapers including genuine next gen. Hydrodynamica boards. It'll be a fun night no doubt and it's great to see these new surf shops open. Further worthwhile ephemera will also be ready to go soon too as Dan Crockett is in town. He's been laying down some limey shred at Malibu the last couple of days but I'll have Kooks very soon, so if you've ordered one it'll be on the way and if not fire me an email to info at foamandfunction.com and we'll set you up with the world's finest surf newspaper.

Thread Monthly #7- Idiosyncrasies

Harbour Bill by Trefz

Patrick Trefz seems to have the keenly awaited follow up to 'Thread' near ready to go. He has an exhibition coming up at the NoColor Gallery in Zurriola for our European friends, and is a part of the really quite fantastic Surfilm Festibal, who in turn have a place where you can check out the short film contest entries.
http://www.dailymotion.com/group/surfshortfilmcontest
This is some cool stuff.

South Bay/P.O.P.

Spent the last few days rejiggering the Foam & Function site and surfing wind thrashed closeouts as a change from the regular closeouts. It does sometimes get good here but not as good as this fine archival shot. Bet that guy would have made it if he'd been riding a flextail like mine though.

Mick Mackie Fish, Larry Gephardt Keels

Some posts back I had a shot of some keels I'd picked up from Geppy to send to Mick Mackie in Australia. They made it there and he made this,photos lifted straight from his website. Very nice indeed and one of the juiciest tints I've seen in a long while. His emails usually have a good lineup shot in them,guaranteed to make me, suffering through SoCal waves, a little jealous. Here's the most recent one. With this stuff around I'm amazed he finds time to shape at all.

Gonz

I've had this picture sitting around for a bit and had wanted to use it, then today I saw a '60 Fury which seemed good enough for me. Mark Gonzales redefining how it's done, in the rain. An epic moment. Surfboard pictures tomorrow I promise.

The Good Old Days of Antipodean Vehicles

Images swiped from the surfbooks.com e-newsletter, always a source of some fascinating stuff. The one with the spray and fantastic halter top wearer is a Holden, the other two Fords. I had the Ute version of the Falcon on bottom left, full on safety orange colour. My Mum hated it, told me it made me look like a hoon, but it was the first reliable car I'd owned and she was happy I was done with motorbikes and old Chevs. I loved it's outre-ness, girls were less impressed by it than I'd hoped (but the ones that were impressed were exciting) and I became everybody's friend when they needed to move. Still, I made some trips around the northern coast without worrying I'd never make it home and you could fit some boards, fishing gear and crude camping supplies in that thing with no worries. Sold it to a really cute blonde when I moved up here, and I'd take it back in an instant.

Stecyk and Lance Mountain

Personally I think Nike is pretty much the embodiment of corporate evil but they gave money to Lance Mountain and Craig Stecyk who made this so I'm helping disseminate it. I feel so unclean, which incidentally is how I feel after time at Salton Sea. It's good stuff though.

Thread Monthly #6

Point Conception Lighthouse by Patrick Trefz

A bit less than monthly, but that'll happen. After the last few weeks of work, missed surf opportunities and LA traffic looking at this photo feels real good. From Thread of course, signed copies available for $30. Trefz has a new film getting close to done which is good news.

Surf Haberdashery & A Reno Sandwich

New shirts all round- colours as seen although the silver we only have in XL. The new 'Galaxy' clour is an organic tee, the new Hydrodynamica Hiline shirt is by the multi talented Tyler Warren. $25 each, shipping included. email me here: info at foamandfunction.com.

A last loving look at the Sacred Craft- Wegener, Abellira, Kenvin. They look this good AND surf better than you too.

The Show (in brief)

Demo lineup

The Wegener Bluegill was the hit of the demo boards, seriously stoked a few unsuspecting surfers out

New Shirts, more of them soon.

Tomo started the weekend with 4 boards and a didgereedoo in his booth, and managed to upgrade to a car seat and another board before long. Doing it fully independent style.

There was new Yard Possum footage so good it could only be shown for the last few hours of the weekend.

I lagged on taking pictures because we were actually pretty full on busy. Thoroughly enjoyable show though, hung with lots of good people including assorted bloggers and internet friends which is always really fun- putting faces to the pixels as it were. Grand show too; Hess, Matt Moore, Stretch, Tomo, stunning Yater boards via Ancell, Stecyk and Ho putting in an appearance, Reno in full effect, everything from handplanes to logs and all the stuff I'm probably forgetting. Had a genuinely fine time.

Best In Show!

Bahne and Bahne Jnr. with the Ekstroms.

Well pleased- Carl Ekstrom was awarded the 'Best In Show' honor at the Ventura Sacred Craft. Pedigree beasts these asymettricals, no doubt about it. Brilliant show, lots of cool people but I'm thrashed and need sleep.

Sacred Craft, Ventura, Sat and Sun.

Correct, this picture has nothing to do with anything but that's because I hope to come back from Sacred Craft with such an array of surfboard related photo goodness that you'll be overwhelmed, like the kids who ate all the Easter goodies in one sitting. There will be the usual Wegener/Hydrodynamica combo booth, I'll be there repping a few Mackies, the Ekstroms should be there in person, both boards and designer, there's a stellar new shirt design from Tyler Warren to debut and hopefully some fun opportunites for surfboard fanciers will get of the ground over the next few weeks. Come on by and say hello, handle a few boards and enjoy the sheer extravagance of it all- I've heard there may even be some unannounced movie bonus on Saturday afternoon for those of you with an eye for kneeboarding and the like, so it's a definitely a something for everyone situation. You may even get to see Scott Bass himself.
OK, just one surfboard and one you'll not see in Ventura that's for sure- a Squire fish for the discerning English gent. Found this after the fish post and it's too damn pretty not to use.

Kook

No, not you, but this fine concept by Dan Crockett. It's genius, a surf newspaper with contributions from an impressive array of creative types, many of whom you'll know of, some who will be a pleasant discovery. It's printed beautifully on sustainable paper and is all round quite brilliant. Dan is going to cross the pond for a little surf holiday and he's bringing copies, so I'm providing an outlet for him. $5 per copy, add a dollar for post and it's yours. Just email info at foamandfunction.com. Hopefully some will find their way into interested surf shops too. Meanwhile, those of you in Socal should come on by the Sacred Craft show in Ventura this coming weekend. We'll be there with a slew of books, films, mini Sims, Ekstroms, a Mackie or two and of course the Jon Wegener wooden sliders. The show brings out such a good mix of exhibitors and their best work that there's always something for every surf perspective at these events, so it's a grand way to spend some weekend time, especially if you're in the market for a new craft.

Gonadman

Who doesn't love surf art? Now the genius that is Mark Sutherland is available on a convenient T-shirt via gonadman.com. You can also sign up for the monthly strip to be sent to you. Stoked. The photo is from another Australian, Paul the Simfreak. I could stand a setup like this.

Ether Monthly #10- Stanley Pleskunas

Stanley Pleskunas, Central Cal 2005.
Photo Kidman from 'Ether', available by emailing info at foamandfunction.com

Pleskunas is another of those low key San Diego garage geniuses. He's affected your surfing whether you know it or not. He's designed simple shaping tools that are still the best for the job, he's worked on outrageously complex shaping machine designs. He builds 'Wibbulators', wild, thin and flexy boards that evolved from the cutting edge kiteboards he makes. He was also there at the birth of the fish. From the interview in 'Ether' conducted by Kidman and Kenvin.

AK: Can you tell us the whole story about the board in the cave?
SP: My memories of it are: it was a cold day and the surf was big. It was probably Christmas, and we'd just gotten short johns, the first wetsuits. Stevie (Lis) and I went out at Osprey. It was big; I was haired out, but I had to go. There was a guy out surfing, the tide was coming in, he lost his board and it went in the cave. It was too gnarly to go in there nd get it, especially without a pair of fins on. The guy swam in and he got out of the water, and we knew he left the board in the cave. So the next day the surf dropped, and we went down there , and we pulled the longboard out of the cave . We got a hammer under the glass and we peeled the glass off-worst itch I've ever had in my life! Then we sawed it in half, and then Stevie shaped a board and I shaped a board. He got the nose; he had the better rocker (laughs). Mine was terrible. That was the piece of foam that Stevie built the first fish from, that I remember. It was a bright red Fish. This first one had, kind of, spiky pins on it and it was really thin, double lap; black fins. Sort of peaky fins: a fin with a little tip on it, about the same base as it was high. I remember him surfing that, on the lefts at South Beach, and just ... ripping. That board was probably 4',4'2". Stevies a small guy, y'know?

RK: How about your first exposure to Greenough?
SP: The thing that nailed me was the article with Nat Young, Bob McTavish and George at Honolua. They had pictures of George riding. I was kneeboarding, and I'd heard rumors of him, right, and when I saw those pictures then I immediately tried to emulate, and shape, and build boards, and look for information. I mined information from everybody I knew, to try and figure out what those boards were and why they worked. I started building a few. I think, at the same time, that thing really kicked off the board building craze here y'know? The back yard thingin our area. I think, more than anybody in our area, I was kinda more on George's thing than some of the other people. Stevie was building the Fishes, and people understood what was going on by then, with Steve. But I was more on George's thing.