The Wrap Up

Yes, I know- enough Holiday pics. I'll leave it here except to say it was totally amazing, and uch of that was to do with the good folk of Cornwall. The mighty John Isaacs was invaluable, as was Sally at Original Surfboards. They were a great intoduction to an array of the Cornish surf community. Case in point- inside a few days week I got to surf with Gwynn Haslock, one of the UK's first woman surfers and still utterly stoked. When she entered the 1st Newquay surf contest in 1966 there wasn't even a class for women, and she was still scoring gems in 2013. Gwynn was brilliant, living history with absolutely wonderful stories, but still very self-effacing and low key. Other end of the scale of the amp-meter was the mighty Jimbo Bennet and crew. Completely stoked and frothing and part of a gang of 20-something groms, Jimbo would roll up late with his jar of tea, make a few calls to see what was up and who was up then it was off to the beach and he'd make you think it was the best day of surf ever, no matter the conditions- he even won the Men's Juniors at Champs (that's the under 60's in the Bellyboard world). Legends all of them, and my thanks to them all.

When A Man Is Tired Of London, He Is Tired Of Life

I can definitely see what Samuel Johnson was getting at although it is a bit of a drive to get some surf, not that the old bloke was worrying too much about that in 1777 admittedly.

Scenic Cornwall

It really was stupidly beautiful, even in the slightly grey weather. Best of all, there seemed to be a little wave of some sort just round the corner from nearly everything. The people were fantastic too, very entertaining and hospitable. One of the best was Mat, and he has an excellent blog called An Tor Orth An Mor. Well worth checking out, he's a great photographer and does some interesting stuff.

I Spy Surf Riding

'"Like to go surf-riding?"
If an Englishman asks you this during your stay in Britain, don't take it as an invitation to Australia or one of the Pacific Islands. He is far more likely to be thinking of Bude, Newquay, Padstow or one of the other beach resorts along the North Cornish coast. For there you can enjoy all the exhilaration of skimming shorewards on the crest of an Atlantic breaker as it rolls inward, white with foam, to meet the sandy shore.
As a New Zealander, I discovered this for myself when I went down to Cornwall to see how the surf beaches of Britain compared with those of my own country and of Australia. I had read Press reports in which Australians had compared those Cornish beaches not unfavourably with their own world-famous resorts at Manly and Bondi- and, as one of them pointed out, there are no sharks in Cornwall!
So I hired a surf-board from a tanned old Cornishman with sea-blue eyes and a friendly smile, and enjoyed the familiar thrill of being swept up by the breakers onto the sands. There was a good surf running that day, and I revelled, too, in the grandeur of cliffs and rocks whicj reminded me of the West Coast beaches of my own Auckland."

From the July 1955 edition of 'Coming Events in Britain' and it says it all better than I could. Images from Sally Parkin's amazing surf-riding memorabilia collection, some of which will be making it's way to these shores soon. 

World Bellyboard Champs, 2013

Sorry about the lag in posts, I've been back in rainy old Blighty having the time of my life, largely focused around the Bellyboard champs (Or Surf-Riding as it should be more correctly called.) I slid in wool, hung out with a fantastic Cornish crew and wish I was still there. Posts will be thick and fast for a while, there's plenty of images!

Full Speed Junior

Proof positive that mats are not just for us old geezers- that's 5 yr old Jake Thomson ripping at Lennox. His Grandad is the always frothing Mark Thomson, and that's his new kid's model mat he's selling. Brilliant, and Tomo will be up in CA at the Sacred Craft/Boardroom/whateverthehellit'scallednow selling his goods, so another that's another reason to stop by. Especially for those who always like posting anonymous comments pouring scorn on Mark- stop by and talk to him directly rather than obliquely through a somewhat unimportant and unconcerned blog. I have no problem with Tomo, he's one of the most hardcore and involved surfers I've ever met, he's a damn good shaper in his own right and he's passionate about progression with his designs. Like all serious mat riders, he's absolutely evangelical about the experience and will belly slide as his preferred way of making use of a quality wave. There's definitely something in what these mat guys are so excited about.....

Kidman Shaping In The US

I shape boards that I’m interested in riding. Be it channel bottoms, single fins, traditional fish or prototypes that are combinations of these designs.

I believe in customizing equipment for the individual. I grew up with access to this kind of one-on- one experience, for me it has been one of the most enjoyable parts of the surfing journey. I’d like to continue to make that experience available for other surfers.
 

It seems that if you're US based, there's a window where you can get a board shaped by Andrew Kidman without the hassle of retrieving it or shipping it from Australia. The lad is going to be making a stop in New York during October, and plans on shaping a very limited number of boards while he's there. To get the details, just email nachtville@gmail.com. It's a pretty good excuse to order up a new board......

Kustom Kulture

One for those in So-Cal- this show is up at the Huntington Beach Art Center until the end of the month, the 20th anniversary revisit of the original which was undoubtedly a game-changer for art. This Saturday the 24th at 7pm there's a panel discussion featuring Stecyk, Paul Frank, Robert Williams and D.E. Hardy amongst others which could definitely be worth a look.

Surfboards Pt. 8- Jon Wegener

I've had the joy of doing a few of these 'surfboard shows' in my time, and often in the company of Jon. He's a lovely fellow with the patience of a saint who never once lost his temper after hours of guys in Aloha shirts and corpo boardshorts staring slack-jawed at his alaias and saying 'you can't really stand up on these can you?'. He builds a lovely wood finless slider, he builds a lovely nearly finless slider (the Bluegill in the middle there is still a board I want) and he builds a lovely 'standard' board, usually out of biofoam. The guy is a champion.

Back At It

I've been in Toronto (a very lovely city) the past week doing things that aren't surfboards.

Surfboards Pt. 7- Rob Royal

Rob's based, for a while at least, in Florida. He's been making some really interesting boards lately. Lovely clean shapes with the 'shorter and wider' ethos showing through, bit of asymmetry when he feels so inclined, and a lot of twinzers. He's a vocal proponent of both new materials and the sidecut concept too- the man knows his stuff.

Surfboards Pt. 6- Erle Pedersen

What I love is that you have a lot of the things that interest me in surfboard design going on here- channels, asymmetry, experimental fins- but it's all taken to such mad levels. Good old Erle, we need these guys out there exploring new frontiers. That's his website address watermarked on the photos, check it out. And according to one who knows, the answer is 'fast and tracky'

Surfboards Pt. 5- Mick Mackie

The Ulladulla output is looking good- some very clean & elegant lines happening with these boards.