Ether Monthly

Pat Curren


Terry Fitzgerald

Andrew's internet postings have lulled due to having too much to do basically, so I'm picking up the slack. Ether is something I'm incredibly proud off, I can still leaf through that book and be blown away by how fantastic it is and I'm utterly stoked to have had a part in making it, although obviously it's all about how insanely good Andrew's photographic eye is. Case in point, these two shots. I love the 'hands of a craftsman' deal here, and it's righteous to think how good these two boards would have been. Andrew once gave Terry a tour of the US end of the little business empire we have going and all he had to say was "Appearance is everything in business Andrew." Thanks Fitzy, coming from someone who used to shape in his front room that means a lot.

Thread, soon.

2 by P. Trefz, from the very imminent 'Thread' book, soon to be in a venue near you. Patrick has some dates sorted for May- 13th in LA (Alva shop we hope), 14th in San Diego at the Swift HQ, 15th in Laguna Beach at the Surf Gallery and the 16th in Santa Barbara at Tom Curren's shop. (Which is of course the Sacred Craft Show weekend.) Dates for SF and Santa Cruz are being confirmed for the weekend of the 9th/10th. I'll update with solid details as it comes together.

3 from Mick Mackie

A few photos from Mick- I think they're getting some swell in those parts so no doubt there's some R & D going on.

Ladies & Gentlemen, Neal Purchase Jnr.

Purcho by Joe Curren. The boys have been on what sounded like a really fun surf trip to remote parts of Te Waka a Maui. Tough work but someone's got to do it. Joe's book is still happening I swear, just a lot slower than we'd initially planned, but he has just done some photoprint shoes with Simple. Purcho has a signature line of hiking boots planned as well apparently. More photos soon I hope.


I nearly forgot, I got a small restock of the sold out Mens Spiral Test Pilot T's from Swift- L only, heather, silver or black. as before, $25 shipping included, you can order by emailing info@foamandfunction.com and feel free to go to the site and check out the other shirts.

Concrete Carves

Had plenty of small wave fun the last few days, long Simmons sessions at beachbreaks and points keeping life good. Here's some dry land action courtesy of Wentzle Ruml who's been on Maui doing skate clinics for the kids. Old school badness and goodness simultaneously.

Dr. Zaius understands we're doing important work.

Bauguess is back from the Forbidden Zone very soon, but in the meantime Trefz has the Santa Cruz program under total control and the sideshow came north to El Porto for the weekend. The trilobite mini Sim is absolutely epic. This is experimental brain surgery we can wholeheartedly support.

Secret Spot

This shot came from mysto photog Sean Shafer- blue skies, blue water, no crowds- some guys have all the luck. I'm stoked to just surf somewhere different in the South Bay at present. If you're feeling sociable this weekend, Shelter have an art show/party going on Saturday and our friend Peter Halasz has an opening at the Heller Gallery in Bergamot Station down in Santa Monica from 5-7 on Saturday as well. Peter is a fantastic painter, his stuff is well worth checking out.

The Sea Is History

image Trefz

'Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs?
Where is your tribal memory? Sirs,
in that grey vault. The sea. The sea
has locked them up. The sea is History'

Derek Walcott

Cold, bit rainy, no surf fun but Foam & Function has been updated with shirts, boards, etc. If you like the literary concept check out Kurungabaa, there's some good stuff there.

Citrus

So the OG Mackie flextail is now in the care of one Joey Clams of New York, well known to all discerning bloggers as the creator of Grey Ghost surfboards (and the subject of a really cool interview on Phoresia that's worth checking out). Joe was well stoked on the board and immediately made the fins you see above, then took the setup to Puerto Rico for some warm water/head high fun. His take on it all is here
Thanks Joe.

Fins, films and Searching For Michael Peterson

So while I was arriving late at El Porto and missing friends (but getting a decent & cold surf) people had the proverbial noses to the grindstones around the globe. The Aussies are productive as their summer comes to an end, Mick Waters has sent these new deluxe Believe DVDs, signed and numbered run of 500 in a fancy digipak and they'll set you back $25. The Brown Birds From Windy Hill have got the soundtrack to the new 'Searching For Michael Peterson' film done and I should have copies very soon. It the same style as the music they did for the Hot Buttered film, it's more or less improvised to the film. There's a really good site for the film at www.searchingformichaelpeterson.com.au although no word on release/distro up here yet. The ever on it Tim Griffin has made available the Lynch fins I've been loving on the single (oh man, that thing on a decent Porto wall with a bit of juice was utterly awesome by the way), probably out of relief that I haven't ruined his board. Centre fins run $50 and the nice little Lok Box sidebites are $30. When I finally get one of these boards I think the widowmaker set-up is the go.

Wintersticks and binding free

Mackie with early fish experiments, photo Kidman

Winterstick

And this is actually Dimitrije riding a winterstick, not Mick- sorry!

Wolle, bindingless carve

Snowskate



From the Ether interview with Mick Mackie:

When did you start tinkering around with the idea of combining Milovich's Winterstick snowboard design with the fish and flex?
MM- It was around 1996-7 I think; when Curren rode Skip Frye's Fish at Jeffery's, all those years ago, it all came back. I was kind of bored on my Thrusters and wanted to feel other things. My brother-in-law, Pete, he was pretty into it, and we just played around with it; it was a private thing. Other guys were a little interested in it, but it didn't really take off. We just wanted to see what they would do. It was just from my own wants; from wanting to feel the sensation of what that design would give you. To see if they work I guess.

How do you find the design-can you feel the similarities between your surfboard and the Winterstick?
MM-Yeah, just from sinking the tail and riding off one swallow a t a time-one pin at a time-you get a nice slice off either pin and a whip out of the tail and whip out of your turn; the surfboard is in a soft medium, which is water, so you're sinking and flexing the tail as well. It seems to work.

The Other Fishes you make, with the sidecut tails-where did the idea come from for them?
MM-The sidecut tail came directly from Dimitrije Milovich's Winterstick.

Not that I know much about snow (been in real snow 3 times- I come from the South Pacific for crying out loud) but these links and connections are fascinating, and the binding free concept seems wild. I've linked the snowskate guys, they have some cool stuff on their blog. Patrick Trefz tour is go, more on that soon but the west coast jaunt will include a May 16 stop at Tom Curren's Rip Curl store in Santa Barbara over the Sacred Craft weekend, with Tom's band providing musical entertainment and Primo providing beer. Sweet. We'll be at Sacred Craft with the Mackies, a few Lynch Design boards and some Swift stuff so come on by.

uno, dos, tres...

Still loving that Lynch single, it's become the new daily driver.

Mackie/Mackie/LynchGriffin

5'9" x 21" x 2 5/8" Mackie 2+1, wicked orange tint $700
5'9" x 20 1/2" x 2 7/16" Mackie Sidecut flextail (glassed on keels) $850
6'5" Lynch Design double bump single fin. Kindly loaned to me by T. Griffin, there's one with a juicy yellow tint for sale at the Foam & Function site, $675

I rode that single this AM and LOVE the thing, could well be the next quiver addition if I can convince the missus it's for 'business purposes' and find the coin to get Tim to make me one. It felt quick and lively in mediocre Santa Monica beachbreak so in a decent wave the board will be all-time. It held in through a couple of sketchy backhand drops and on the few waves with a bit of face and push it brought a smile to my face. Better yet it saved me from foolishly waxing and riding that 2+1. Wish I'd saved the orange tint idea for when I can get one for myself. Crap, that's 2 more boards I need in one day. I have a problem.

Foamy goodness just don't quit

Between the hard economic times and the folks having families it seems like there's some quality used boards being shaken loose and put on the open market. Here's a couple of gems I've been made aware of. The first is a 5'4" EPS Bauguess shaped kneeboard, with zinger bottom, pad and sweet avocado tint. Perfect condition as it's barely been ridden due to child care duties and it doesn't get much more cool than an underground SD kneelo. A deal at $600. The twin is another shot of the Hank Warner 5'6" starfish. Seriously cool board and a design that's not easy to find. Keels are shaped by Steve Seebold, board is Hydrodynamica project custom and has a wicked purple tint, pinlines and is $450. Email me at info at foamandfunction.com if you're interested, and prices are firm- I'm just passing the info on for the sellers so I can't negotiate.





The surfboard fun doesn't stop there, in fact I'm nearly in overload. Made a run to San Diego and checked out the new Simster that has appeared on the Hydrodynamica blog. It's a thing of beauty, very odd and sculptural yet it looks like pure performance. I await a ride report with interest. On the way down I stopped in at NineLights and saw Jeff Beck's latest project which, like the Simster seems totally futuristic yet intelligently functional. Jeff made a wood/foam composite for RT of wwaarrbblleess fame that seems from photo evidence to be the proverbial shred biscuit. (Check the Cabinessence blog for proof). A high point of the trip was a meet with Tim Griffin who loaned me a 6'5" double bump Lynch single fin- serious looking board with a Lynch design fin in it that will have at least one post devoted to it when I get the thing in the water. It may prompt a trip to central cal to find a wave worthy of it. Last and certainly not least I'm hoping to collect new Mackies tomorrow night, and there's a couple that will be available for sale, pictures will definitely be following.

Single Fins

Obviously neither of these are mine, but as much as I love the twinnies it has been a single under my feet as the sessions start happening again. Had some fun on the Horan yesterday, the swell isn't epic but it's at least surfable and there's a chance of a loaner Griffin/Lynch single next week, so I'm stoked. I started surfing as a tiny lightweight fellow in the days of the twin fin ascendancy so when I was ready to move on from the cast-off kneeboard I'd been able to standup surf, I swept the floors at a local surfboard factory for what seemed like years and for my troubles was given a single fin they couldn't move off the racks. No doubt the thing was a dog but it wasn't like I knew what I was doing nor had anything close to a decent wave to ride it on, so there I was. All these years on and it's roughly the same situation except I know the boards I have are great so I can't blame them. I'm hoping to be able to update with some incoming Mackies by the end of next week so stay tuned.

Sim Fins, Mirandon Tails and Sacred Crafting

A window between storms got me in the surf which feels great- it was better than I'd hoped and naturally I entirely forgot how to surf, dug a few rails and generally was a complete barney. It was excellent fun, I forgot to buy more coffee and feel much better- I'm going to declare the winter drought over finally. The Trefz tour is shaping up, we're trying to set up something in Santa Barbara at Tom Curren's Rip Curl store for the weekend of the 16th/17th May as we'll also be doing the Sacred Craft show- hopefully I'll have a few new Mackies, Simsters and Lynchs for the booth. It seems Primo will be giving us beer for the tour events which I find amazing, obviously they've never attended one of our tours. Hoping to have a show in San Diego at the Swift HQ with dates in SF, Santa Cruz and LA area being sorted right now. GEF is blogging now too- he's linked on the right, and also in New York is a Mackie flextail now owned by the talented Mr. J. Clams of Grey Ghost/MolluskNY lineage. Looking forward to some pics/ride reports from that one as it's heading to PR soon.

Moving Pictures

Two weeks, no surf and now it's raining. This can't last forever. Meanwhile it's the video that keeps me stoked. Good old Mick Waters sent this one, a short promo for his new piece 'Little Black Wheels'. There's a very strong chance he'll be up here at the end of 2009 to do a little tour and show 'Wheels' and maybe 'Believe' as well. That'll be fun I assure you.

Glen E.

Weird times, we have swell sort of but it's chased in by rain and the good old adverse winds. When I was a frothing youth this was times we'd be out with the skateboards, hitting the local bowl on spells between the rain (there was a lot more rain where I'm from) and hanging at someones house listening to shitty tapes or LPs when the rain came back. Friends older brothers were a huge influence, we learnt about things like Lee Perry, Hawkwind and punk rock. Now all these years on Alva is stoked on the Swift boards and still skates like a madman (check the Hydrodynamica blog for fine video documentation) and the mighty Lux Interior has passed on. Amid all this Glen E. Friedman has been documenting it all. He's still as stoked and crazy as Alva or Lux.

I'm glad these guys do what they do, it makes it all more fun. Here's the last shirt.

More shirts and a surfboard for sale

The goodness keeps coming, here's the rest of the shirts and some hoodies, same deal as in the post below, get on while we have them. Also in the retail arena is the above used Hank Warner starfish- 5'6", probably 2.5" thick, a custom for a colleague who's selling and I'm merely the agent of relocation. Really juicy purple tint and pinlines, Geppy keels and a classic Hank shape in really good condition (except for that wax). $450 and it's a steal. There's new cinematic glory coming from Mick Waters I'll have up soon so stay tuned.

A POSTSCRIPT: Man, I've officially arrived as a blogger- there's a photo of mine (only a photo of dinner, but my photo none the less) up on Shipworm & Gribble, one of the high water marks of of the wavesliding end of the internet. Stoked. One more shirt to come too.

Patrick Trefz

This year really is kicking off in high gear (well, except for the actual surf) with much goodness looming in the near future. Case in point, P. Trefz has his 'Thread' book done and ready to go. It'll be out in April, is a 10" x 10", 128 page softcover selection of images from around the Thread project and is looking really nice. We'll have copies at foamandfunction and a tour of sorts is in the planning stage. I'm hoping that we can get Patrok to put together a reel of recent footage to show, and I'll get dates up here as it all comes together. Joe Curren and Mick Waters are on track with a book in summer and a film and tour in winter respectively, Hydro is taking great steps forward of late, Mackies are at the laminator and the Kidman Secret Laboratory is in high gear. More shirts and Festivus pics soon too.