Fins Free & Flying

Mark Thomson. Photo by Hilton Dawes.

Classic, the best surf photo I've seen in a donkey's age, and the craft is a surfmat. Mark Thomson charging hard, and given the man's commitment to serious down-the-line speed, this is some g-force in action. Tommo knows his way around a surf vehicle too, he builds and rides incredible high tech carbon fibre boards with the same level of intensity he puts into the mat riding, as the photo below shows.


I'm not sure if I'm seeing more surfmat stuff on the internet because more people are riding them, or if more people are riding them because they're on the internet more. Either way it's a grand thing- proning it with handplane, paipo or mat is obviously the way to a more fulfilled and enjoyable surfing life given how fast people who are willing to try such devices become obsessed. You can see the positive effects of mats at 23 Breaths and more of Mark Thomson's magic at Krypt. Slide on.

Go Speedracer!

I know I just posted a bunch of Jeff Beck's boards and raved about them, but then he did this for a guy in Japan. Definitely a picture/1000 words situation but I will tell you it's 5'6", handmilled redwood skin, redwood tail blocks and redwood/balsa fins. Outrageously stunning.

This is the Jeff Ho board.

The shape you can get should you want a pretty awesome all-rounder from a Los Angeles legend. This one belongs to Paul, and he likes it:

"the Jeff Ho Sarlo model is a yes. I've ridden it four days in a row now. I freaked on all that foam, but Jeff compensates for it by using an extended hard edge and particular concaves. It gets in early and holds in big bu bombs. I put Simon Future Fins in it and they seem right. It snaps off the top and throws good spray for a quad. I did outrun a couple BIG waves, falling on my butt. I was surprised, though, by the board's functionality in overhead so cal surf."

Paul has a quiver most people reading this would froth over- Pavel, Seebold, Mackie and so on, so he definitely knows his way around a good board. If you want one of Jeff's board's yourself, just email info @ foamandfunction.com and we'll set you up. Feeling very enthused by surfboards today as I managed a trip to small but very fun waves near to Rincon. Wonderful way to spend a summer's day believe me.

Waves

Some more photos from Mick Mackie- the lucky bastard, it's 2 foot and crumbly here. No wonder he surfs as well as he does and shapes the boards he does. He should be getting some sort of kickback from the Australian Board of Tourism for his work because these shots make me want to buy an airline ticket.

More Surfboards (Mackie this time)

Mackie S-deck stubbie, volan deck patch and 2+1 setup with one of Mick's hand foiled flexfins for the box. Very ,very nice indeed. The fish is the EPS sidecut that's here and for sale at $800. 6', high performance shape with some float. A board than can honestly be described as 'epic'.

An Addenda- If you'd like one of those custom stubs they run $875 with fins etc. Sweet indeed.

Ninelights

Some surfboards built by another Jeff, Mr. Beck of HB this time. I've made quite a few visits to his workspace (Jeff very kindly has assumed the role of ding repair guy for me which is great because he's brilliant at it and probably good for him as it's steady work given how often I knock chunks out of boards) and I'm always blown away by what he's quietly doing there. He builds with compsand construction, the board is shaped from EPS and then a skin of wood is vacuum bagged onto the shape (usually cedar and poplar it seems) and Jeff shapes down the rails and nose & tail blocks. The result is an absolutely beautiful looking board (the work on the tails is pretty stunning), but it's also a really functional ride. I had a loaner twin fin for a while and completely fell in love with the feel. The board had the float and general feel of an EPS board, but the skin obviously makes it a bit heavier which in our often wind hacked waves makes things much nicer. What really hooked me was the feel of the board underfoot- solid like a PU/PE board but with a sort of twangy stiffness it that makes sense- like hard racing shocks on a car, it gave when it needed to give. Totally sold me on the construction, and Jeff's shapes are great. As nice as these stubs are, the modern twin shape is the business. He's here if you want to check his stuff out, and it's well worth doing so. These guys who are actually building interesting boards rather than just finish shaping what a machine pops out are a small gang, but it's them who will drive the progress of surf design forward.

Shirts For Summer

Yeah, it's summer. It's getting hot and the waves are tiny. You can however look mighty suave at any barbeques, beach days or what have you with a new t-shirt. The range above is the Hydrospiral, the Mackie and the Casper (ladies sizes only sorry). There's the full selection here although size and colour options are getting limited. Price is $25, shipping included to make it simple. Email the usual address- info @ foamandfunction.com and we'll set you up.

The Highly Efficient Jeff Ho

The Jeff Ho/Zephyr Designs mission is shaping up to be utterly simple and even quite fun. Jeff is really happy to be doing some boards, and they are getting finished quickly and nicely. For those who missed it, this is the deal- Dogtown Legend Jeff Ho, not a man who is easy to track down and order a board from, is building a run of his current favourite shape for those who want one. It's the design that Jeff has worked on over the last few years with input from Allen Sarlo and a core of the Venice crew. Things being as old school as they are with Jeff, I don't have a photo of the shape. It's not either of the above- there you have Jeff's Beachbreak fish shape (I surfed one of those literally into pieces, totally fun board and I credit it and Derek Hynd in 'Litmus' with triggering my fish obsession which is still going strong today) and some of Jeff's work in the current 'Art In The Streets' show at the Geffen Contemporary in lovely downtown LA. (Photo stolen from surfsister- thanks!)I will have photos of what he's actually building in the next few days however, as Tall Paul's board is done and getting picked up any time now. Best of all, these things are at non-collectors prices- $850 or thereabouts. Yes, I'm frothing over what is to most of you probably just some local underground guy from my adopted surf spot, but seriously- this guy makes boards that are aesthetically, historically and functionally brilliant. I'm honored to be doing the point man work for Jeff. Email info@foamandfunction.com if you're interested.

Nice (Wall) Rack

So the nice people at Nice Racks sent me a wall rack to try out, which on looking at the stack of boards in the corner of the Child's room and with the summer visit fast approaching, seemed like a good idea. It duly showed up and looked quite clever, a nice modular system where you can keep adding racks if you want. I'll admit to thinking it might be a little lightweight and it definitely seemed just waaay too easy to set up. Luckily, it was indeed lightweight simply because it was plastic, and it was ridiculously quick to install, under 10 minutes even with a lot of double and triple checking placement and straightness. The thing is great, and best of all it's made from 100% recycled plastic and it's made in the USA, a rare claim these days. Excuse my photos (the top two), it's not easy to make a black wallrack look exciting, so I went for a bit of colour with a couple of showboat boards. You'd think that after all this time working with Glen Friedman, Stecyk, Kidman, Jamie Brisick, Joe Curren and so on I'd have picked up some photography skills, but no. Trefz would probably have shot it with a Hasselblad and some grainy b&w film and made it look great, so just try to imagine that. Very nice Rack though.

Los Angeles History

Humble beginnings indeed.

Bonzer!

One of Mackie's boards; 7', lightly used and $700 will have the thing in the U.S. for you. He's on a roll is young Mick, the stuff he's been building of late is stunning. Email info @ foamandfunction.com with inquiries, comments and so on.

Trefz & Mulcoy

Go here and you can check out a very awesome edit of Josh Mulcoy surfing that was made by Patrick Trefz. Apparently it's in some deal put together by Taylor Steele where you, the punter gets to choose what sections go in his next movie. If you vote for Josh it'd be great because he's a lovely bloke, the surfing and clip are wonderful and how great would it be to hear Gil Scott-Heron in a corpo surf movie?

Flex Path pt5- Futro

This is where it's been taking Mackie. EPS/Epoxy with uni directional carbon fibre, concaves, keels. He'll make you one if you want.

The Winner Is....

I've gone on about how good 'Lost In The Ether' is for a while now, and it's not because Andrew's a mate, or he owes me money (actually, I think I owe him money) or some such consideration. It's because it really is an exceptional film. It seems other people think so too, as it just won the Jury Prize for Best Feature at the Surfilm Festibal in San Sebastian. Here's how they described it:

'The latest film by the versatile Australian artist –his fifth, which also comes in the shape of an exquisite book– explores the process of surfboard shaping and how the final outcome is a manifestation of the shapers themselves. Kidman tracks down the single fin board that a young Michael Peterson shaped, the one he rode on that cutback he did on Morning of the Earth.'

Sums it up nicely I'd say, and they don't know the half of versatile- he's officially a family man, a shreddy ripper, a home brew wizard and now an award winning Director- but I bet he still has to do the dishes. Nice work young Kidman, and the film is for sale here.

Jeff Ho Surfboards For Sale

The word has come down from Jeff Ho that he's going to shape a run of his boards- the model that Alan Sarlo has been riding at Malibu. Basically a wider squash tail shape, tri or quad and clear sanded. He's done a few and they've been ridden and liked at Malibu and in the old stomping grounds of Venice. Naturally there's no decent picture of the board, but it is the shape Sarlo is riding in the clip a few posts back, and it definitely seems to be working for him. Best of all, at $850 the price is reasonable, especially for a shaper of Jeff's caliber and history. Email info @ foamandfunction if you're interested. And a disclaimer- Jeff is of a mercurical nature so no guarantee how long this deal may last. We'll do our best though.

Soapy Simmons For Sale

A couple of takes on that old workhorse the mini Simmons. First up is a pretty classic 5'6" Mackie built for Skater Andy down in the southerly latitudes. By all accounts Andy's a skilled rider of the little wheeled boards, so this little finned one is going to be a lot of fun for him I believe. Next is a range of Tyler Warren shaped beauties form the recent Loft 9 shows. Tyler's been involved with the Hydrodynamica project from early on and has ridden all manner of RK's experiments and I have no doubt that these are some fun and functional boards. If you're interested in one (and there's any left) just email rk@hydrodynamica.com. If you want any sort of Mackie, email info@foamandfunction.com. There's a flurry of board production happening for summer it seems, so check back as there will be nice stuff popping up here over the next few weeks.

Point Never #3

A new issue of Point Never from Jim Newitt. Again, it's a totally minimal and lovely little zine. 30 pages or so of simplicity in a world of image overload. Very taken with Marissa Textor's hyper realist pencil drawings. Six bucks gets you a copy, shipping included, simply email info @ foamandfunction.com.