Wes Humpston at SurfIndian

On Saturday night, Surf Indian in Pacific Beach will be the place to be. 7-10 there's a Wes Humpston show and although I have no idea what's in it, I'd bet there will be a few of Wes' mad bellyboards among the other classics. I hope they do a t-shirt for the show.

Kidman This Time

Three of Andrew's Dreamboards, bound for the U.S. on the slow boat. If he keeps shaping them this nicely he'll be able to afford an indoor bath in no time. These Aussies are definitely doing some interesting stuff with surfboards right now, and Mr. Kidman is as always working like the proverbial drover's dog with a couple of nice projects in the works. We'll keep you updated, and as I know where one of those boards is going, I'll have a ride report at least, if not a loan of it.

Mackies: Carbon, EPS & Palmer Keels

The boss is a bit quiet at the moment as he's having some bones sorted out, but he's still delivering the goods. Decent little wave, couple of classic shapes, few experimental tails & keels and a pair of 6'4" sidecuts that involve EPS and carbon fibre panels/band stringers for some major responsiveness. A melding of classic design and hi-tech material that your serious Parisian graphic designer could appreciate as much as your central coast charger.

Owl Chapman, Dock Ellis & Hallucinogens

You have to bear with me a little on this one, it sort of makes sense. Not being from here, there's a lot of American stuff that I just don't get, and baseball is one of things. Despite a near complete lack of knowledge, I did learn of Dock Ellis who notoriously pitched a no hitter (which is good) while frying on LSD. Pretty wild, but I always thought the stories of Owl Chapman dosing up and surfing big Waimea were even crazier. Owl is one of those fantastic larger than life characters; he never seemed to care much about the civilian world and during the era of the transition to shortboards he just surfed and lived the life, which he still does to this day. He's a true underground shaper, making insane big wave boards for the deserving who can flush him out, and he still paddles out in the big stuff and charges. Thanks to Glen Friedman, I was recently turned onto the above clip from a proposed Dock Ellis documentary. Dock was well cool- a cocky, hair curler wearing bad ass deep in a mainstream professional sport. Like Owl, he was a true individual who chose no compromise as a lifestyle and had some serious skills to back his deal up- these are the sort of people who keep it all interesting, and I respect them for it. The Dock doc is currently launching on Kickstarter, you can check it all out here as it's a worthy project. From the top, the photos are: Owl and MP by Peter Crawford. Owl at Pipeline by Art Brewer. Owl at Sunset by Andrew Kidman. Glen 'Jnr. bad ass' Friedman and Dock Ellis.

Monday Movies

First Annual Revolver Vintage Single Fin Shoot Out from John Eldridge on Vimeo.

First up is the recent Revolver Single Fin Shootout footage via John Eldridge's vimeo. Looks like fun in Cornwall with better waves than I've seen lately- I do like that Hot Buttered single that Jimbo is holding early in the clip.

JOHNNY ABEGG RETURNS TO TASMANIA from Little House Productions on Vimeo.

Here's Johnny Abegg in his homeland of Tasmania, filmed by Mick Waters. Both great lads, and both responsible for some fine movies. If you don't have "___" or Little Black Wheels you should email us at info @ foamandfunction.com and get them. This is just how it looks all summer at the local- crap waves but plenty of choreographed dancing and bathing suited lovelies.

Eli's Widowmaker

From the ever classic Ben of Scarborough comes some fantastic shots of his teenaged nephew Eli putting a 6' widowmaker to the purpose it was intended for. Eli's dad Simon took the photos somewhere in the southern reaches of the West Island and after a couple of days spent flailing around in soft windswell I'm unspeakably jealous. Love Eli's pose on lip too, it's good to see there's smart arse 30 year olds flying the flag of unbeatable confidence.

Jon Wegener & the belly slide.

Cornwall & Devon goes to NYC. Wegener epicness. Paipo, bellyboard- whatever. They are fun. Madly fun. My initiation came via the mighty J. Isaacs of Cornwall and Sally of the Original Surfboard Company , both enthusiastic proponents of the bellyslide. What initially seemed like part of the sideshow proved to be much more. Almost any surf becomes rideable with a bellyboard, and a decent day is always enhanced by a few slides on the ply. At the end of this past winter, I swam out on a head high day with a board like the one in the top picture (at the NYC Fish Fry- stolen from Aquatic Apes) and turned a fun session into a magic day. The climbing tide meant the outer sandbar started delivering closeouts, not so fun on a 6' fish but on 4' of ply it was an absolute frolic- face peeling drops, ricochets off whitewater, cackling out loud. It was like being 9 again and having mad skills on the KFC foamy- utter oceanic joy. Jon Wegener's paipos are another strand of the same thread, absolutely lovely little craft. Jon is one of nature's noblemen too (largely due to the civilizing effects of his wife Rosa), and his efforts towards a truly green surfboard are humbling. It's definitely one of those moments when I'm proud to be a surfer.

Jim Deneven

The recent Trefz post made me think of Jim Deneven, who's story is one of the standout segments of 'Thread'. Jim of course has gone on to deserved recognition and some serious projects. The obviously icy one is part of a Winter 2010 piece on the surface of Lake Baikal in Siberia- a giant Fibonacci curve on the deepest lake in the world. The fact that someone not only came up with that idea but got to actually do it makes me very happy.

Wibz' Waves

My mate Paul Whibley in South Australia is a total legend. He's as surf stoked as it gets, has boards from Ekstrom and Mackie among many other fine craft, so you know he's copasetic with the interesting stuff, and he puts some effort into getting where the waves are (which is often times his local breaks). Now he's got a blog and there will be another place to gaze at really nice surf photos when it's 2 foot and onshore where you are. Onya Paul. Oops- the blog link didn't work. Sorry- it's here and on the sidebar and worth a regular look.

Some More Stubs

A few more racers from Mackie.

Classic!

TA with Glen's hardware. In the old days they would have sold that before the night was through, but they're mellower gentlemen now. Also via G.E.F. is this skateboarding clip which he rightly describes as 'some next level shit'

A Trefz Deal

Here's a nice little offer for fans of fine surf art & film. We now have available copies of Patrick's debut film 'Thread' for a mere $10 including shipping to where ever in the world you are, and to sweeten the deal you can get Patrick's 'Thread' book (a collection of photography and stills from the making of the film) for $25, shipping included, and we'll throw in a copy of the movie as a bonus. Young Trefz hasn't been resting on his laurels either, after finishing 'Idiosyncrasies' (a very fine film and available for $25) he's been working on a new book titled 'Surfer's Blood' and from what I've seen it's a stunner. Also worth mentioning is that Mick Waters' excellent 'Little Black Wheels' is being screened at the San Diego Surf Film Festival which seems like it'd be worth a visit if you're in the lower part of California. Naturally you can still see Mick's film if you're not- signed copies are available for $25,shipping included of course. To ask questions, make a purchase or just tell us something interesting, email info @ foamandfunction.com. Our thanks for those of you that have purchased these things, you're helping support some interesting, creative and very independent artists.

Skateboarding Hall Of Fame

Major credit to Glen E, Friedman who is being inducted into the Skateboarding Hall Of Fame tonight! A deserved honor I believe, and the same for his fellow inductees who include Peggy Oki, Jay Adams and Frank Nasworthy. Stecyk does the intro tonight, so it should be an entertaining time. Normal transmission is resumed, I'm back after a grueling bout of traveling. Thanks to the dateline I flew over some nice looking Piha surf at 9am on May 8th, then some nice looking Sydney surf at about 11am on May 8th followed by typically weak Los Angeles surf at 1pm on May 8th. There was about 17 hours in a plane and several hours in airports in there as well. A long day by anyone's standards, and to rub salt in the wound I didn't get to go out in any of the aforementioned surf. Still, a little sleep and I'm feeling well enough to drag the mini Sim out today and see if I can still remember how it works. Glen photo by Mathew Chai, Frank photo lifted from Hydrodynamica. Frank is an early proponent of the fish surfboard and rides them still. It's a small world.

Stevie Gee

Stevie Gee- He's English, and does art I like. Enjoy it, as I'm doing a last minute mission out of town so posts will be light to non-existent for a couple of weeks

Compsand Surfboards

Errands took me south, and that is always a good excuse to visit Jeff Beck and see what he's got cooking. Foam compsand this time, layers of dense foam core vac bagged around EPS to make an insanely light and apparently very lively feeling blank. Jeff's done a couple of wider single bump shapes and says his pretty happy with them. The bonzer is the more traditional wood skin on EPS and is for sale. It's 6'2" x 19 3/4" x 2 1/8". Jeff said it works great, he's surfed it for a while (it looks brand new though- these boards are seriously bulletproof) and now it's going to fund new experiments. $450 which is a good deal. Inquiries or interest can go to Jeff via his site here or via me at info @ foamandfunction.com.