Eli's Widowmaker

From the ever classic Ben of Scarborough comes some fantastic shots of his teenaged nephew Eli putting a 6' widowmaker to the purpose it was intended for. Eli's dad Simon took the photos somewhere in the southern reaches of the West Island and after a couple of days spent flailing around in soft windswell I'm unspeakably jealous. Love Eli's pose on lip too, it's good to see there's smart arse 30 year olds flying the flag of unbeatable confidence.

Jon Wegener & the belly slide.

Cornwall & Devon goes to NYC. Wegener epicness. Paipo, bellyboard- whatever. They are fun. Madly fun. My initiation came via the mighty J. Isaacs of Cornwall and Sally of the Original Surfboard Company , both enthusiastic proponents of the bellyslide. What initially seemed like part of the sideshow proved to be much more. Almost any surf becomes rideable with a bellyboard, and a decent day is always enhanced by a few slides on the ply. At the end of this past winter, I swam out on a head high day with a board like the one in the top picture (at the NYC Fish Fry- stolen from Aquatic Apes) and turned a fun session into a magic day. The climbing tide meant the outer sandbar started delivering closeouts, not so fun on a 6' fish but on 4' of ply it was an absolute frolic- face peeling drops, ricochets off whitewater, cackling out loud. It was like being 9 again and having mad skills on the KFC foamy- utter oceanic joy. Jon Wegener's paipos are another strand of the same thread, absolutely lovely little craft. Jon is one of nature's noblemen too (largely due to the civilizing effects of his wife Rosa), and his efforts towards a truly green surfboard are humbling. It's definitely one of those moments when I'm proud to be a surfer.

Jim Deneven

The recent Trefz post made me think of Jim Deneven, who's story is one of the standout segments of 'Thread'. Jim of course has gone on to deserved recognition and some serious projects. The obviously icy one is part of a Winter 2010 piece on the surface of Lake Baikal in Siberia- a giant Fibonacci curve on the deepest lake in the world. The fact that someone not only came up with that idea but got to actually do it makes me very happy.

Wibz' Waves

My mate Paul Whibley in South Australia is a total legend. He's as surf stoked as it gets, has boards from Ekstrom and Mackie among many other fine craft, so you know he's copasetic with the interesting stuff, and he puts some effort into getting where the waves are (which is often times his local breaks). Now he's got a blog and there will be another place to gaze at really nice surf photos when it's 2 foot and onshore where you are. Onya Paul. Oops- the blog link didn't work. Sorry- it's here and on the sidebar and worth a regular look.

Some More Stubs

A few more racers from Mackie.

Classic!

TA with Glen's hardware. In the old days they would have sold that before the night was through, but they're mellower gentlemen now. Also via G.E.F. is this skateboarding clip which he rightly describes as 'some next level shit'

A Trefz Deal

Here's a nice little offer for fans of fine surf art & film. We now have available copies of Patrick's debut film 'Thread' for a mere $10 including shipping to where ever in the world you are, and to sweeten the deal you can get Patrick's 'Thread' book (a collection of photography and stills from the making of the film) for $25, shipping included, and we'll throw in a copy of the movie as a bonus. Young Trefz hasn't been resting on his laurels either, after finishing 'Idiosyncrasies' (a very fine film and available for $25) he's been working on a new book titled 'Surfer's Blood' and from what I've seen it's a stunner. Also worth mentioning is that Mick Waters' excellent 'Little Black Wheels' is being screened at the San Diego Surf Film Festival which seems like it'd be worth a visit if you're in the lower part of California. Naturally you can still see Mick's film if you're not- signed copies are available for $25,shipping included of course. To ask questions, make a purchase or just tell us something interesting, email info @ foamandfunction.com. Our thanks for those of you that have purchased these things, you're helping support some interesting, creative and very independent artists.

Skateboarding Hall Of Fame

Major credit to Glen E, Friedman who is being inducted into the Skateboarding Hall Of Fame tonight! A deserved honor I believe, and the same for his fellow inductees who include Peggy Oki, Jay Adams and Frank Nasworthy. Stecyk does the intro tonight, so it should be an entertaining time. Normal transmission is resumed, I'm back after a grueling bout of traveling. Thanks to the dateline I flew over some nice looking Piha surf at 9am on May 8th, then some nice looking Sydney surf at about 11am on May 8th followed by typically weak Los Angeles surf at 1pm on May 8th. There was about 17 hours in a plane and several hours in airports in there as well. A long day by anyone's standards, and to rub salt in the wound I didn't get to go out in any of the aforementioned surf. Still, a little sleep and I'm feeling well enough to drag the mini Sim out today and see if I can still remember how it works. Glen photo by Mathew Chai, Frank photo lifted from Hydrodynamica. Frank is an early proponent of the fish surfboard and rides them still. It's a small world.

Stevie Gee

Stevie Gee- He's English, and does art I like. Enjoy it, as I'm doing a last minute mission out of town so posts will be light to non-existent for a couple of weeks

Compsand Surfboards

Errands took me south, and that is always a good excuse to visit Jeff Beck and see what he's got cooking. Foam compsand this time, layers of dense foam core vac bagged around EPS to make an insanely light and apparently very lively feeling blank. Jeff's done a couple of wider single bump shapes and says his pretty happy with them. The bonzer is the more traditional wood skin on EPS and is for sale. It's 6'2" x 19 3/4" x 2 1/8". Jeff said it works great, he's surfed it for a while (it looks brand new though- these boards are seriously bulletproof) and now it's going to fund new experiments. $450 which is a good deal. Inquiries or interest can go to Jeff via his site here or via me at info @ foamandfunction.com.

Stoke (Tomo & Fins & Today)

Mark Thomson, one of the single most surf stoked people I know, charging a couple of nice little peelers with some new camera mount he's apparently got grafted to his fin or embedded in his foot. Brilliant stuff, and I love the trippy fogged out shot. Not only is he up for a surf any time, he's a bit of a wave magnet. On the trip north to the Santa Cruz Sacred Craft we drove unhappily past crappy waist high Rincon and grumbled at each other for the rest of the way, only to see Tomo and Dan the next morning and find out a couple of hours later they'd caught it on a better tide and building swell and had a nice session in chest to head high stuff, Mark catching a screamer in the cove. The fins belong to Chris in Hawaii, who's equally stoked. He's a serious experimenter and has owned an incredible array of sleds- some he keeps, some he moves on to facilitate the next experiment. He's also got this fin quiver to play with and actually manages to rotate through them it seems. I'd be useless with that much choice, but it's great to hear his opinion on what's good- I'm getting enthused on some new fins. Better yet, I managed a surf today after weeks of bad timing, crap waves and ugly winds. It was by no means pretty but I caught a few waves and even managed a turn or two through the bump. It's a weirdly joyous thing, an hour or so sliding around a bit awkwardly in cold water, and I'm a far more contented person. It doesn't take much, one halfway decent bottom turn or a little speed run around a mushy section and you're reminded of why you persist in this folly.

Hokkaido

Cold but empty- looks amazing. Photos are by Fujio and the lucky gent in them is Kenichi Miyashita, all via Mackie. In case you didn't see the previous post's comments, this may be worth a look:

A number of organizations (Rockstar, Global Fund for Women, Sheshday, Real Surf Trips, Win4Causes) are working together to support a new surfing movie being filmed starring world class surfers Sofia Mulanovich, Ornella Pellizzari, Simone Zea, and Paige Hareb. We are doing a charity auction ending this Sunday your blog readers may be interested in. It's an all expense paid trip to Playa Negra, Costa Rica for a week of the best surfing and involvement in the movie and meet the women.

Do let me know if you would be able to help spread the word for this on your blog and if you need any more information.

The auction is here: http://lastclck.com/surf1
It's a sweet deal and currently less than 50 cents.

Flexboard

This is currently sitting in my front room, en route to Hawaii. It's a truly amazing piece of work, total surfboard design madness. About 6'3", stringerless EPS and carbon fibre flextail. Huge thanks to Chris for being stoked enough to order one and to Mick for making it. I'm thoroughly happy to be able to sit and stare at it for another week or so, but I want one already- maybe it's time to sort out some overtime?

Spirit Of Akasha

"The more I thought about it and talked to Alby, the more I realised that the spirit of Morning of the Earth hasn’t really changed — it was about people enjoying an activity that interacts with nature, which as surfers, we still do today. One could look at all the negatives associated with the modern activity, or we go about trying to make something that reflects the positives. I still find myself kicking out of waves stoked — clear of thought, pondering the beauty and freedom our pursuit affords us."

Spirit Of Akasha is the new film project from Albie Falzon and Andrew Kidman, and looks quite spectacular, a deserving descendant of 'Morning Of The Earth'. Check the site, and we'll definitely let you know things like release dates when they are announced. It's a sad bit of synchronicity that MP should pass away while this was being finished, but it can only add to the mans amazing legacy. Photos above are courtesy of (top to bottom) Albie Falzon, Jon Frank, Andrew Kidman and Mikey Smith.