Jon Frank Film

God Music from 'The Reef' starring Ryan Burch from Jon Frank on Vimeo.

Bathymetry from 'The Reef' from Jon Frank on Vimeo.

A couple more clips from Mr. Frank and 'The Reef'. Seriously magnificent stuff.

6 foor 4 inches

So this stringerless EPS 6'4" that I've been frothing over since first seeing it is actually in my hands, albeit briefly as it's heading north to a lucky Canadian. It's as good as I'd imagined it to be under the arm, definitely one of Mackie's gems. The deck layup is tri-axial carbon fibre and the bottom has a carbon band stringer, so I imagine it'll be a lively thing under the feet.

RT

I'm back from the homeland and initially being lazy by stealing a post from Mr. R. Thomas. It was worth stealing though- the fantastically arty shot is his Kidman shaped Dreamboard, and he's been interviewed by Kidman for his Australian Coastalwatch column, which is well worth a read. There will be original content very soon I promise, most notably a fine Mackie board that is arriving from The Great Windy South to be moved on to a lucky gent in The Great White North. More soon when I've slept and adjusted to the heat.

"Too Many Fins"

That post title is a quote from Mr. Mackie, yet he builds a flamboyantly good quad. I rode mine the other day and realized how much I love it. Off to the Antipodes for a couple of weeks, sadly a largely non Surf related trip but I'll try. Posting may be light for a bit but between the above Mackies, the new Hydro boards and that single fin you have plenty to look at.

The Future is Available (via Simmons, Tomo & Hank Warner)

Golden Mean Machine

GMM Turning

CyberSim

Butterknife Quad

Butterknife Asym These are a few new boards you can order from Hydrodynamica. Daniel Thomson is responsible for the top two shapes, built in stringerless XTR/Epoxy construction and available with a nice array of fin setups. Tomo is around and shaping so swiftness would be rewarded I think. The Butterknife series is shaped by Hank Warner, EPS/Epoxy and again has enough fin options that you will be happy. It's a really functional looking board. You can ask questions by emailing rk@hydrodynamica.com or info@foamandfunction.com. This is design progression and I like it.

A Single Finned Surfboard

Dean Dampney felt the need for a bit of an all-rounder in a surfboard, so he had this made by Angourie's Col Liddle. 7'3" x 22" x 3", hullish in the back, bit of V, bit of double concave, big old single in it and there's a seriously functional and aesthetically appealing surfboard. Been the nice bloke that he is, Dean took it to Bali to do a bit of testing and as the documentation shows, it's a screamer. I think I could find a use for one of these.

Blue Yonder

The Aussies are at it again- here's a teaser for a new film from James MacMillan and Mick Waters and it looks fun- anything with Derek Hynd and/or Ozzie Wright in it is absolutely worth the effort I figure. James was featured in a segment of Mick's really great 'Little Black Wheels' (which we will happily sell you for $25, shipping included- just email to info @ foamandfunction.com). He had gone through a major back injury/surgery situation and was told he probably would never surf again, yet he managed to condition himself back into water whic is impressive stuff (and it puts my whining about not surfing because of crappy summer waves into context.)

The Olden Days

Bing & Greg Noll at Malibu with Simmons boards c.1951

The Queen Mum & Duke?!

Ukranian Bathing Beauties

Australian Surfer Girl, they've been lookers for decades.

One For The Ladies (It's not Kidman although easily mistaken for him) Yeah, it's still tiny and I'm going nuts. Many of these fine images were lifted from Joe Tabler's weekly surf email. Joe sells surf related books and mags on Ebay and sends out a regular 'interesting stuff' that's well worth getting in on.

Diamond Tails & Chemises

Is that where Parmenter got his plan shape from? There are some of the 'Simmons' hoodies for sale, grey, blue or brown, L or XL and even a few ladies sizes in grey. $35, shipping included. The Bernoulli equation shirts are in red or grey, $25. Email info @ foamandfunction to order or ask questions. Please send waves.

Tomo at The Open

top to bottom: Stu's quiver, Daniel surfs one of his father's designs, old school logo and Stu Kennedy at home. In case you were unaware, Stu Kennedy has been up here from Australia surfing a quiver of Daniel Thomson's boards in U.S. Open, and doing pretty well with it too. It's sort of fantastic to see the results of Daniel's dedication paying off in the literal belly of the beast- the Huntington Pro.

Fanning, MP & Jones via Kidman

Simon Jones, the man behind the Morning Of The Earth surfboard company, has shaped a couple of very tidy MP influenced boards to put under the somewhat talented feet of Mick Fanning. Both are singles, one a 'modernized' version of the classic old school MP sleds (which you can see Mick putting into some new places in the first photo), the other a classic channeled racer that is making me really wish our surf here would get over 2'. This has been documented as part of the 'Spirit Of Akasha' project Andrew is working on with Alby Falzon, and it's really going to be a corker if these shots are anything to go by. Since I'm being a totally lazy sod and cribbing a post from Kidman, here's one more in the single fin stakes- Heath Joske with the board his brother Sage shaped him that was mentioned a couple of posts back. Hope you're all getting a bit more water time than me.

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.