Excuse Our Absence- Here's some surboards....

Dave Parmenter adding finishing touches to a 6'6" channeled single

Utterly cherry (if slightly crooked) Neal Purchase Jnr. Duo

Griffin Stepanek diamond tailed single in a nice clean new shaping bay

 

Kidman/Parmenter Widowmaker sets from Alkali- freshly restocked

It's been a while, but we have excuses. Aside from the everyday banalities of needing to earn a living and so forth, things have been busy. There's a website rapidly approaching completion, there's a trip to the UK/France being organized for the awesome Wheels & Waves event in June and there's so much good new stuff about to land in our laps.

Dave Parmenter has been whittling foam like mad- pictured you see a soon to be available 6'6" Channeled Single but there's also a fresh 6'9" widowmaker and an awesome 6'4" channeled single based on what Rabbit Bartholomew was riding in those weird days right before the thruster took over,  More on that very soon.

Neal Purchase Jnr. is on form, there's a new batch of boards being prepared right now for those who want customs, there's a 5'8" 2+1 and a 5'8" twin + trailer available now for some lucky souls and a special in house Duo in the works but more on that soon.

The first batch of boards from former San Diego scallywag turned up-and-coming shaper Griffin Stepanek are arriving this week, a 3 pack of single, twin and quad designs, beautifully minmal and supremely functional, but more on that soon.

New batch of Alkali fins! We're restocked on 6.5" & 7.25" classic singles, widowmaker sets a fresh 10" flex fin and size L t-shirts! More on those soon.

Curmudgeon renaissance man Andrew Kidman has a brand new set of Wayne Deane crafted shaping racks and the first boards of them are a longfish and a Dreamboard destined for us, but more on that soon.

If you're interested in any of the above, or just have something worth telling us, foamandfunction@gmail.com is the contact. Thanks for your time.

Guild Surfboards

The above boards are the Matchbox model from the new Guild Surfboards label, courtesy of the fine gents at Waterman's Guild. They are our glass shop of choice in Southern California, a family run business who have been putting the outsides on surfboards for over 30 years and are Dave Parmenter's choice for the finishing touches on his boards which is good enough for us. They've made what seems a natural leap into board production as they have access to some excellent young shapers, Griffin Newman who's worked with the likes of Almond in this case, and a great facility. Guild Boards are the more 'classic' line of shapes while eclectic/HPSB designs will come out through Vega Surfboards. The output so far has been seriously impressive, especially this Simmons-esque Matchbox model. They have these two in stock, the Orange/Black is a 5'6" with glassed on keel fins (black glassed on keel fins- told you they were good) and runs $740 while the 5'4" has quad boxes and is $655. They're in the Guild store here and we will definitely be showing you more, including a new project that's just gotten underway.....

5'8" Neal Purchase Jnr 2+1 For Sale

Bit of a stunner this one, already dubbed the Black Widow. 5'8" x 19 3/4" x 2 3/8", matt black tint from the wizards at KMD Surfboards, custom NPJ fins. Indulge your inner Nick Cave. $1175

Ellis Ericson Keels In Action

JASON SALISBURY JOURNAL VOL. 2 from BANKS JOURNAL on Vimeo.

Via Banks, here's Jason Salisbury putitng one of Ellis' twins through it's paces in Bali complete with a set of the Alkali keels. Utterly fantastic bit of finnage these, Ellis used his own experience in what he wants from a twin with what he learned from time spent with the master George Greenough, and the good folk at Alkali provided the hands on building skill. Almost sold out of our stock, but there's a set left. $130, email foamandfunction@gmail.com for details.

New Year: New Boards From Griffin Stepanek

New Year, new start, new horizons. After the horror that was 2016 and after the last few posts of gloriously tinted, juicy eye poppingly fine resin work, it feels right to start with an aesthetic palate cleanser. The above boards were shaped by former Yard Possum alumni Griffin Stepanek. After spending much of his young life in San Diego surrounded by and riding some very classic and very interesting craft, Griffin has put these experiences to pratical youth and is shaping some very, very clean craft. We're excited that we'll have some of his boards available- these young guys are the next wave of where surfboard design will go, and a positive aspect of some very strange times indeed. 

Thanks as always for your attention over the past year, it's always good to know there's others out there that get this. Onwards and upwards....

6'2" Parmenter Six Channel Single For Sale

Quite simply the most spectacular glass job on one of the best bits of surfboard design we've come across in a a long while. Mr. Parmenter's remix of the classic channeled single fin (the original was made for Stephanie Gilmore to ride in 'Spirit Of Akasha') takes a classic Michael Peterson concept and mixes modern functional elements gleaned from Dave's decades of hands on surfboard research and development. The boards are a favourite go-to ride here- fast and stylish as a good single should be, but with surprising performance is waves that are somewhat less than perfect. Factor in the seriously lush Waterman's Guild glass work, and this is a gem of a board. 6'2" x 19.5" x 2.65" , $885 without fin (but we can sort you out a perfect option very reasonably)

5'11" Andrew Kidman Dreamboard

The companion piece to the Longfish, and available (unless I keep it). 5'11" x 21" x 2 5/8". Geppy keels, channeled magic.

"The Dreamboard is a combination of a number of designs I like. Back in 2005 I was messing around with my Skip Frye Fish. Whilst in overhead waves the design was fantastic I always struggled to get speed out of it in smaller waves. I concluded that the pins on the tail were creating drag in the smaller surf and slowing the board down. I figured that if I used a fish outline but did not cut the swallows into the tail, leaving it square I could create more surface area for planing and more speed....."

This is what it's all about and why we're here. The people willing to think and experiment and bring design to where the cookie cutter 'one board for everyone and every wave' machine made mentality won't go. More power to the creators.

6'10" Andrew Kidman Longfish

Handshaped of course, with Geppy Keels and a burnt orange tint from the excellent Surfer's Country glassing workshop. Boards from Andrew take a while, he shapes slowly and meticulously, the glassing is done by Jun, an equally focused one man operation and result makes it all completely worthwhile. We may have found a way around our biggest obstacle which has been shipping from Australia to the US, so you'll be seeing these boards more regularly we hope. These are what it's all about.

Peter Schroff

Inspired by the love of twinnies and a friend of ours who's just had Peter shape him a quite fantastic board, here's a quick look at a few more 80's gems from the fevered mind of Mr. Schroff. He was known for his involvement in the whole flouro driven 80's Newport Beach scene. He started shaping in his early teens and influenced by Wayne Lynch and visits to Australia, he refined his twin fin designs to very high degree. Deep V, baby swallowtails and wider shapes, he played with all and built some rockets before choosing the art world as his main occupation. He's recently come back to shaping, and judging by Sean's board, he's not lost any of the fire.

More Surfboards From Neal Purchase Jnr.

5'8" Quartet

6'2" 2+1

6' Duo

6'8" Duo

5'8" 2 +1

Barraging you with NPJ photos, but another box arrived (and there's another one due soon) which is pretty fun for those of us who like a good modern surfboard with some retro elements. These shockingly inept photos don't give you a proper feel for how clean these boards are. Neal's been working with this slightly eggy shape for a while, he surfs it and refines it and has it absolutely down. Rails aren't fat and boggy like a lot of retro influenced shaped, there's a little deck roll on thicker boards to keep the foam where it needs to be, but nor are they bladed to the point where the board becomes a struggle to turn. It's these fins too, the Duo setup is amazing given how much fin there and it's something that Neal has spent the last few years playing with and tweaking and adjusting. Design in action, and it's good. If you're interested in one of these rather fun surfboards, we can get you organized with a custom very quickly and easily., just email foamandfunction@gmail.com for details.

Mick Mackie In The US

The latest Mackie creations, including the new deep sidecut.

Mick, on one.

Kidman photographing Mick's quiver a couple of years back.

Roots. The original deep swallow tail flex experiment before haveing Simmons style keels added. Always experimenting....

We are extremely happy to say that Mick Mackie will be in the US from the end of this month doing some shaping, both here on the West coast and on the East Coast at Glide in NJ. This is not only a chance to get your hands on one of Mick's shapes, it's a chance to try the latest progressions drom one of the most eclectic and creative shapers out there, a guy who has walked his own path amid the chaos of what a modern surfboard should 'be'. We're currently channeling custom orders to Mick for his west coast stint, so if you're interested in one of the sidecut fish or his newer baby swallow tailed single fin gliders or anything else he might come up with, please email foamandfunction@gmail.com and we'' get you set up. Obviously there's a limited number of boards Mick can do and they'll all be hand shaped customs glassed by the guys at Trim in Santa Barbara, or we can arrange to get the blank to your glasser if needs be. Get on this, it'll be worth it.

 From Andrew Kidman's 'Lost In The Ether'

AK: What do you think of where design is at the moment?

MM: It's great. It's opened up and diversified. There are great contemporary shortboard shapers out there, there's great 'retro' shaping for want of a better word. There's a lot going on and it's all exciting. Mark Richards said that he found it invigorating that all this stuff had come back. I like that, As a shaper it's unreal, it's a good journey.

A Few New Ones From Neal Purchase Jnr

Our Antipodean cuzzy Neal Purchase Jnr has been working like a beast since his return form shaping, surfing and supping in La Belle France. Here's a few from the first batch received with more on the way very soon. From the top: a stunner of an area pintailed Duo that's bound for Chile, a nice little bumtail Duo that our San Diego readers may see blasting along local waves, and an all business Quartet that's joining another Purcho gem in Florida. Neal has these boards so dialed in it's amazing, the in house Duo has rapidly become the go-to board as the swell fills in, and the 2+1 is a complete all rounder. If you're interested in some of Neal's shapes, email foamandfunction@gmail.com and we'll give you details. The next shipment due to leave very soon is full, and there's another one that should arrive before the New Year that's filling fast.....

Stepanek

Very early days on this, but we are extremely happy and proud to be able to say that we'll be carrying boards from Griffin Stepanek. This feels like the most exciting time in surfboard design for decades, there's so much experimentation going on, old designs that got passed over in the waves of progression that happened around times like the shortboard boom and the creation of the thruster set up are being revisited and reevaluated. Young shapers are looking at the roots of their performance shortboards and playing with the concepts. It's fun stuff going on out there, and the likes of Griffin Stepanek are making it happen. Griffin's a young guy and was part of the Yard Possum crew that terrorized the surfing establishment of La Jolla a few years back. They tore Windansea up on the weird little Simmons creations of Hydrodynamica, they surfed blocks of foam and back yard monsters and have gone on to be a seriously solid and talented bunch of guys. Griffin has been quietly shaping and honing his skills in Northern California and as you can see, he's done a good job of it. Boards are in the works and we'll keep you updated.....

Alkali Fin Shirts & Rainbows

 

 

The Now: Alkali Fins from SURFER Magazine on Vimeo.

One of the recent things we're very proud of has been becoming a distributor for Alkali Fins. Handcrafted and foiled in Byron Bay with an incredible  amount of care and detail, they've more than lived up their promise. Given they do everything by hand in small batches, it's easy for them to get creative and do things like the Kidman/Parmenter widowmaker set that is what connected us in the first place, or the soon to be in stock (hopefully) rainbow panel fins. Incredible work, and they even have cool t-shirts to go with it, of which we have a very limited stock. Reflection on the left, Rainbow on the right. $30 + $5 shipping inside the US, M/L/XL available. Just email foamandfunction@gmail.com to order or tell us something good about fins.

An Available 6'2" Duo from Neal Purchase Jnr

Every once in a while, there's a stock board in the boxes sent up by Neal and this was indeed one of those times. There is a 6'2" x 21" x 2.5" Duo that needs a home- clear wet sanded and with a double stringer and a set of Neal's custom fins in a nice blue. These boards are a bit magic- fast and smooth like a single fin but with a really wonderful pivoty hold in the turns. Hand shaped with solid glassing from the lads at KMD Surfboards in Australia, these are just a seriously good surfboard. $1175, just email foamandfunction@gmail.com for details.

The 20th Anniversary Litmus Fish

It's sort of stunning to think it's been 20 years since the release of 'Litmus', especially given the weight the film still has. Personally it was a game changer- the film that made me excited about surfing again, the film that lead me down the path of the fish and the single fin and widowmaker and all the permutations that you see on this silly little blog. And the high point within the high point for so many of us was seeing Derek Hynd and his quiver at J-Bay- effortless, playful and utterly precise surfing, a few magical moments. Now, 20 years on the film is slowly getting it's dues and Deek is still surfing at an insane level only now he can't be bothered with fins. Andrew by way of some sort of celebration has has shaped two boards, both fish heavily influenced by his beloved Frye fish, and each hand painted with the classic Hynd high line. They are available, and are definitely an edition of 2. We also have copies of the original film as well as Andrew's books 'Ether' and the 

Way Of The Bird' collaboration with Andy Davis. Get in touch at foamandfunction@gmail.com for details.

6' Channeled Parmenter MPegg

It is, of course, all about keeping things fresh and playing with ideas. Not something you can do so easily with a machine shaped/mass produced board, but quite wonderful when you're working with one the greatest shapers out there. Dave Parmenter has an incredibly functional approach to design, boards are built from a very deep pool of design knowledge, especially when it comes to the single fin and how it can still be modern. The original MPegg was of course a single fin, and we've had a few beauties through in the past. Inspired by the MP singles of the 70s with all the somewhat extreme design experiments tamed, it's a great board that rides so well it feels like cheating. But still, it's fun to play so why not throw in the channels that feel so good on the V6? And maybe some widowmaker-esque sidebite plugs to hot rod it a little? With these mods and at 6' it's a little rocket of board, and naturally the Waterman's Guild crew kept it looking superlative- summer sky blue tint with yellow pinline and a finbox drill through leash loop. All a bit bloody marvelous and it's available. $850- just email foamandfunction@gmail.com if you're interested or have questions.