Lighting it up like a Christmas Tree

Kye Fitzgerald hurling a top turn, no idea who took this but it's good.

I'm off up to central Cal for some decompression time before Jan on the road. Beer, widowmaker, Horan, thickest rubber, dog and warm clothes are in the truck. Enjoy yourselves.

Ventura

5'4" biofoam Eaton Bonzer kneeboard, shaped by Joe Bauguess

Swiped this picture of the Wetsand website- they have their bricks & mortar shop up and running and Andrew Kidman will be there Jan 11th around 8pm. There seems to be a really awesome array of boards there, the vast majority of them made with the kind to the environment biofoam that Wetsand had a hand in developing. Not many places you can go and find an off the rack super hi-tech Stanley Pleskunas flexfish and a Wegener wooden recreation of an ancient hawaiian board (both reasonably priced I might add). The much ballyhooed death of the shaper through foreign imports seems to have bypassed this place. I like going to Ventura anytime, but this is going to be an extra fun tour stop.

Derek Hynd

Derek Hynd, Skip Frye board, Scotland. photo Kidman

Andrew's interview with Derek in the Surfer's Journal Vol. 11 #1 is probably one of my favourite pieces of surf journalism ever. Here's Derek talking about the young Australian's yearning for speed.
"I was woken at midnight once by a chase going down after the Pub all over the neighbourhood between a Charger cop car and a Mach 3 Kawasaki: what a classic double. They were the only sounds around and it was like an amplified dogfight. It went on and on. You wouldn't read about it- they started getting closer and my heart was thumping like crazy and it felt like a lottery win as they got to my street half a mile away, both red lining.
Had to be. The bike raged down the first hill past the house and over the rise down the next hill. He was a local for sure, heading for the bends to shake him off. The V-8 hit the rise 30 yards outside the house at ridiculous speed. I'll never forget the moments when his car left the road before the crash. Greatest thing to happen on our street- both were heroes, better than the Queen driving by in '66.'

Derek is an absolute original; brilliant, somewhat mad and still a fantastic, relevant surfer. He's been working on the finless project and I've linked the Safe To Sea blog over there, it's a great read and he's involved in making the Musica Surfica film.

Fish, Frisco & Finished Books

5'8" Neal Purchase fish.

I've posted so many pics of hull/stubs lately, it seems time for a nice fish. I know may consider them an overdone fad, but personally I couldn't be happier with them. Stay low, drive with that front foot and keep 'em moving- it's just a lot of fun. I rode my 5'10" this morning in sunny, glassy little waves and had a surprising amount of fun. This is a nice one from Neal Purchase. Neal started out as a sander at the Keyo factuory in Brookvale working with the likes of Nat Young, Ted Spencer and Bob McTavish. In 1966 he shaped a board that both Nat and Ted rode and loved. It was called the Virgin and at 8' with asymettrical V it fits neatly into the birth of the shortboard. I'm dropping science like this because today I received advances of Andrew Kidman's book. It's utterly epic and I'm really pleased. As surfers we have our own shared history and culture which have always tended to be dominated by the big players, and valid as the Quiksilver/Slater/Cal-centric may be to may people, there's other stuff out there as well, and 'Ether' is an beautiful chunk of it all. And there's a swell coming. Really, really stoked. The Frisco portion of our story is the nailing down of a Three Sails date there. It's Jan 12th at Aqua Surf Shop, 1742 Haight St, San Francisco CA94117 (415-876-2782) and we're bringing the full dog and pony show.

3 Sails To The Wind Tour

So we have dates finalized: Jan 5th at Shelter Surf Shop, 2700 Rose Ave, Signal Hill CA 90755 (562-997-0100)
Jan 26th at Patagonia, 2185 San Elijo Ave, Cardiff CA 92007 at 6.30
Andrew's art show at The Surf Gallery will open on Jan 19 and he'll be there signing and generally loitering, 911 S. Coast Hwy, Laguna Bch CA 92651 (949-576-9155) and we'll have San Francisco slotted in around the 12th, New York in early Feb and maybe a few others as we can fit them. Don't forget on the 25th & 26th the bi-annual Swift Movement fandango will be happening, so you should all come to at least one show and that as well.

Thanksgiving

Plenty to be thankful right now as I just heard from the printer that advances are ready of 'Ether' which means I should have the finisehed book around year end and our planned tour can go ahead for January. Andrew has a show booked at the Surf Gallery in Laguna Beach opening Jan 19, and the weekend after that it's Festivus time. I 'll start posting solid dates and times in the next week, and please come on by the shows. Andrew will be doing what will be an undoubtedly entertaining slide show of his work from the last 20 years, and we'll be showing a new trailer for 'Hydrodynamica'. The book is absolutely epic, a total piece of art. It's expensive, but it's the coolest piece of limited surf art you'll see outside of a hand shaped board. I'm stoked. (Click on the image above for an enlarged taste) Went with RK to see an Alex Kopps art show this past weekend too, and in keeping with the hull vibe of the last few posts we got to meet the legendary Steve Krajewski aka Esteban Bojorquez aka one of the most polished hull riders you'll ever see. Truly nice guy and hell of a storyteller. We wangled an invite to check out both Kirk Putnam and Steve's archives, and a good time was had by all. It's undoubtedly over-obsessive of me, but it's cool to see another thread of surfboard design concepts that have evolved out of the same Simmons concpts of the late 1940s that have inspired the short, wide twinnies and stubs I love so well. Sure, there's plenty of other equally important elements to the boards we see today, but the Simmons thing is strong when you look.

More Hull-ish action

These two bad boys are 1lb eps, stringerless and shaped by my internet buddy Greg out in Texas. He has a bunch more photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16998046@N06/
There's some great shots of the full s-deck business he has going on at that site. The 'Leaf' is 6'4 and 21" wide, the stub is 6'0" and 22.5- Michael Peterson would know what to do with this particular board. What I think is great about them is he plans to make them both quads which seems like a fine idea. Here's the point where I make all the hull guys angry- My issue with what is traditionally considered a 'hull' -pinched rails, s-deck, single big flex fin- is simply that they don't seem to turn very well. No disrespect meant to the boards at all, I think they're amazing for what they were designed to do, which is go really fast and give the rider a very distinctive feel for how the board is riding. I love the single mindedness and purity of design that Liddle, Steve K, Hilbers, Putnam et al have put into these things. The boards are designed to fly down the line at the right hand pointbreaks that abound in N. Los Angeles county, and fly they do. I however, like turning, and if a surfer as talented as Jimmy Gamboa can't hack a decent cutback on one of these things then I have no hope. The usual complaints about hulls don't bother me much though- mostly I hear people say they're squirrelly as hell and they don't work so well on the backhand or in a beach break. Fine, it's good that the experience comes only after learning to finesse the board- that's called aquiring skill. As for the backhand problem, then ride the thing on your forehand in pointbreaks. It's awesome that we can have boards as finetuned to certain conditions as that. Still, refinement contnues- the Casper family I've had in the lasty few posts have definite elements of the hull, and here's Greg's smaller, flexy hull style boards which, with the quad set up, may turn like a teenager's shortboard. This is the stuff that keeps me stoked about surfboards.

Simfish

5'10" Swift/Eaton 'Simfish'

This is the end result of one particular train of design thought that runs through some of the most functional if non 'mainstream' surfboards of the last 50 years. Richard Kenvin had made some 6' and smaller versions of the classic 9' Simmons board (go to Hydrodynamica.com if haven't done so already- that's the big Simmons on the homepage and the little Casper appears toward the end of the clip) which despite being really odd looking, surf incredibly well. A stumpy wide s-deck, twin keels way back on a 19" wide tail and you have a high speed small wave killer for the under head high stuff. The thing paddles like a longboard as it's carved from EPS by the mighty Joe Bauguess, yet when you pop up it's like riding a skateboard and it's blazingly fast. The sort of thing that can make your surfing experience entirely new and fun again. Being the mad genius types they are, RK & Joe took it another step and here's this thing. Hull and Fish melded? Sort of, but sort of it's own thing. EPS, hand foiled keels and I'm thinking about 5'6" personally, but as they're all custom I guess you can do whatever you want with it.

Making an Effort

Very odd. I've been fumbling to make this blog thing a bit more of a priority and follow through on the orginal intention (a not too subtle way to peddle our merch and to put the creative output of friends out there), and not one but 2 friends tell me they stumbled on it. Just the push I needed, so here we go. My friend Andy said more board pics is the ticket and I think I agree, so here's another one of Dain's. It's a hull, Aussie style. 5'11" and a big flex fin for the classic down the line runner and the start of a bit of a theme. Please note I finally got it together to put some other blog links over there. Probably you've seen them but if not take a look, they're all favourites of mine. Surf In Oregon is one of the greats I believe, and the one that made me think this was a good idea to try. Sissy and Pushing are classics of the genre, and I think Surferbrat has some of the best photography out there. Swallowtail, Fish Bros and Eli are all just into the same stuff I like and pure eye candy board wise. I even managed to get in the water and on a Saturday no less. Crowded as hell at Porto so being the grumpy old man I am I went a bit north and got bounced around by high tide dumpers all on my lonesome. I've said it before but here it is again- the acceleration that Spitfire fin gives you is really, really fun. I made around a couple of sections I didn't think I'd beat, and my one right was worth the whole foggy morning despite being tossed by the reflecting wave coming back from the shore.

What a week

Bedraggled Swift Booth

Despite some gruelling moments, we survived the Sacred Craft Consumer Expo. It was absolutely packed and for some reason RK decided to unveil all the in-development boards so we spent most of the time answering questions about boards not for sale. He had the full line though, Casper, Casper Jnr (a 5'5" Casper), Sputnik (a Casper with quad keels and a very odd tail notch) and the White Pony (a 4'11" ultra wide Simmons styled fish). All EPS, all pure white, all very non-mainstream. There's a nice photo thread at www.mylocallineup.com/shows and you can find our booth at the front and the back of it. There were lots of other great boards there and lots more really generic ones. I did get to hang with some nice people though. Larry from Pro-Box who has done me right with the Horan fins, Tim Stamps who is now making the Horan boards (and very nicely too) all the Fineline/Hull crew who were well into the Casper family, Paul Jensen who makes beautiful wood boards (he and Danny Hess were the high water mark of the show I thought), Jake Moss who was next to us, Terry Martin, John Cherry- quite a roll call really. I sold some books,the consumers all seemed to be enjoying themselves and somehow we got the rack and 18 boards (including the Simmons repro and a couple of big Mirandon Bros twin pin logs) into the van and home without incident. The Joe Baugness Simfish was the board that RK was selling most of (I'm horrified no-one took advantage of our delerium and grabbed the Seebold quads at knock-down expo prices, to say nothing of the big root beer tint fish). It's a small wave machine, basically Casper with a fish tail. You'll be seeing more of it. Yesterday I went and surfed. It was sucky, dirty small red tide waves but it felt good to get wet. Too much work, not enough water has been the story of the last few weeks. Next week I go north, then back to set up more Kidman dates. It doesn't stop. Time to go rinse the wettie out I guess, the dawn patrols are what will save the shreads of my sanity.

NSW

both these photos swiped from the Six Ounce Boardstore site (www.sixounceboardstore.com.au) Truly a temple of fibreglass.

I've been a bit aussie-centric lately, but if they keep making boards like these why not? The first is a 5'10" Dain Thomas fish. Dain's a young guy in Byron Bay, his label is Sea Surfboards and I'm loving what he does. Very classic, beautifully made and as much a piece of art as anything else. He builds some incredible looking logs and singles too. I'm sort of glad I don't own this board as I'd feel bad getting it all covered in wax and dings. The second board is another from Mick Mackie in Ulladulla on the south coast of NSW. Personally, I think he's one of the most interesting shapers out there. This particular oddity is 6', nearly 23" wide and close to 3" thick. It sports a really long, narrow raked fin and is apparently insanely fun to ride (according to Neal Purchase Jnr. who has a similar one) Mackie builds some really wild boards- very curvy fish with deep swallow tails (some with flex tails), amazing quad stubbies, a few very extreme 3 fin bonzer style boards with side runners and ultra narrow center fins as well as doing a good line of gunny thrusters for the folks who ride the big hollow reefs in his part of the world. I'm like a kid in a candy store with this stuff, but with these cool, sunny fall mornings I'm loving the dawnies and getting excited about a new board for winter. It's all window shopping right now, but soon.....

onwards

Neal Purchase, Parmenter widowmaker
Photo Kidman

Time is flying away from me. Festivus was a good time and only a couple of weeks ago. I hung with some cool Japanese guys, got to say hi to Skip Frye and watched two fantastically good bands, then drove home to LA from San Diego at 2 am with a truck load of boards for the Mollusk shop out here. I was tired. Since then it's been a whirl of book shipping, barely mediocre surf, another trip down to SD, mediocre surf and much stress and work in getting the Kidman book through prepress. Here's some details- 240 pages, hardcover, drawn from Andrew's 20 years worth of work, packaged in a screen printed box with an exclusive 10" record, limited to 1050 copies total, signed and numbered, $175. It's gone from a book to a piece of limited art, and it's really, really amazing. I'll keep posting stuff and will update on Andrew's planned tour when we start planning it.

Party Time

Richard Kenvin with a Simmons Twinnie, Morro Bay 2005. Photo Kidman

It's Festivus time again. 340 16th St, San Diego. Friday 7th & Saturday 8th Spetember, 12-9pm. Jalopy will play on Sat and there will be Swift Movement surfboards to gaze longingly at as well shirts and books and wetsuits to buy. It'll be fun. The Kidman book is progressing nicely too. 240 pages of photography, film stills, art and interviews from the last 20 years. It will be limited to 1000 singned and numbered copies and will come in a screen printed box with a resin swirl 10" record of music from Andrew and Neal Purchase Jnr. Yeah, it won't be cheap but look at it as a start on your art collection and it won't be ready until early 2008 so there's plenty of time to save.

Deus Ex Machina

Putting out books is an absolute grind and no way to make money, but it has it's advantages, like hooking up with people doing ridiculously cool things, case in point- the Camperdown boys. Oh yeah, the waves are still tiny but you knew that.

www.deus.com.au

Expo

We (the Swift Movement & ConSafos Press) are going to be at the Sacred Craft board expo. There was one booth left so we paniced and took it. Please come visit it, we'll have lots of pretty surfboards and will undoubtedly enjoy the company.
www.surfboardshow.com

Epically Big

The world's tallest man got married a few weeks ago. He once saved a dolphin's life by reaching down its throat and removing plastic from its stomach. Meanwhile waves stay small, the fish gets ridden and I even tried to improve my lot by a short hop into the northern portion of Baja. The waves were a fraction bigger but still nothing to get excited about. It was a fun road trip though, my kid loved it, good food was eaten and we bought some beautiful Huichol bead art. I returned home to unload a truck full of Fugazi books and my life is now devoted to packing and shipping books. Check it out at fugazibook.com.

Pod Room

Ah summer. Warm water, little waves that make the bursts of swell so much fun and the avoidable joys of crowds and stingrays. The days are long, nights balmy and outdoor events so much fun. Thus I begin a blatent plug for the Pod Room. It's possibly the world's smallest surfshop, and definitely the world's best in it's joy per square foot ratio. It's a single room inside a fine old Victorian building at 524 S. Coast Hwy in Oceanside (there's a great organic cafe downstairs) and is run by Chip Bynum who is a fan of the events concept, so he kindly hosts a few. This past Saturday there was art (Harry Daly had me wishing I could break out the credit card), there was music (Jalopy, who have ruled at the past Festivus'-www.jalopymusic.com) and there was even a few chunks of Hydrodynamica courtesy of R. Kenvin. High point (for me anyway) was the Caspar footage. That's the weird 6' Simmons-esque beast mentioned a few posts back. RK has edited down a fantastic little chunk of footage that's popping up here and there- 70percent.org may still have a link to it- and it'll tweak your concept of what a surfboard can be. Very nice, as was the segment of Rasta on his Van Straalen carbon fibre fish. Makes you glad to be a surfer.

Back

Not my photo, but one by the very talented Scotty Sullivan of a place I like to surf

Healed, back in the water and it's trunk weather. Down south again for a day or so, then this AM I got out at the not so lovely SaMo. Little, tiny waves but there were corners and I fished around and had some short ride fun that spat you out in shin deep water. It got crowded and crappier as time went by, and when a 'surf school' decided to paddle a bunch of kids out right in front of me, I decided to go home. I usually avoid the weekends but I've missed getting wet.

New Fin Fun

This is a new 'Spitfire' fin. Essentially a winged keel with no wings. Really thick and foiled like the wing of a Spitfire plane, hence the name. I've had the thing for a while but recent flaness has conspired against me getting a good session on it. Finally rode the thing over the last couple of days on a jaunt down to San Diego. Caught some bumpy but OK chest to head windswell at a couple of spots, and it was plenty to feel this thing work. It holds in incredibly well for a single, doesn't have the insane pivoting from the tail feel of the starfin, but still it never felt like it wouldn't hold, frontside or back, whatever I did. What's really noticible is how drivey it is- I felt like I was getting slingshoted out of the drop- very fun. It's all to do with the increased tip area and I'm really liking it. On top of all this I had a fun trip, picked up a Mabile stinger (unglassed) that my better half is going to paint as an art thng, ate good Mexican food after wandering Balboa Park and fondled some fine, fine examples of alternative surfcraft at the Swift headquarters - a 6' Simmons style board with a 19" tail that is over 23" wide most of the way, has an s-deck and a pair of weird long based keels. Best of all, it's totally light EPS and glaringly whire. Oh so odd.

Coming soon...

What's been keeping me busy and more out-of-the-water than I like is now more or less done. And the next project is well under way. At least the past few days I haven't missed much.