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.

Surfrides

A stylish and functional quiver of rides to the beach. The last one would be expensive to run given gas prices, but you could get to some really good spots with it. I bet there's a slew of nice cold, empty cobble bottom points on Kamchatka.....

Hynd

Nice little aquatic frolic from Dezza and a few mates. The man is as smooth as it gets. I will say I'm a little worried by the history of surfing in 90 minutes and could stand to see a clip of him that doesn't use the Litmus styled talking head shot, but I'm just grumbling and pissy as there's been no surf for waaaaay to long here. Clip poached from Endless Bummer who are as entertaining as any surf related blog can hope to be. Nice work boys.

Widowmaker

This is a 6' 8" Parmenter widowmaker of the old school- paving stone thick, rails as hard as diamonds and just beautifully sleek. It came across the path of Chris in Hawaii who has some very nice boards on the way and didn't need this, but being the fine bloke he is and knowing I had strong affection for this style of board, he put it my way. A flurry of emails, a convenient visit for a Honolulu based friend and it's in my hands. Naturally the swell vanished, but it'll get ridden the second it gets over waist high. Very, very stoked on this thing.

Quad

I'm a convert. Top to bottom: Hanalei fin set, Mackie, Mackie, heel side for Paul's asym. Robin Mair builds those amazing looking Hanalei Fins and has more to marvel at here.

Flex

Young Mackie puts the cruiser flexboard through it's paces in the homeland, and shares a quick look at what is going to turn into a unique stoke machine.

Keels

Next best thing to a new surfboard is some new fins, and via Chris in Hawaii I've scored a pair of keels from Chubbies to try. Interesting keels indeed, obviously quite upright and large- 5" base, 7" height and apparently nearly 1/2" thick! Beautifully foiled with an inside concave and a little like the Spitfire fin I like so well. Less rake should equal some pivoty turns, and I'm interested to see how the thickness affects the feel. The flextail in the picture has been ridden mostly with those modified cutaway keels (a fin template I'd highly recommend to anyone) and they are my baseline so to speak, I had tried it with some standard keels but the Rasta cutaways were noticeably more snappy. The Richard Palmer leaf keels are great, the first pair Mackie sent were too small for my well fed (I prefer 'manly' as an adjective) frame and slid out beautifully, but this pair is the business- definitely loose but never totally letting go (admittedly I never used them in anything over belly to chest high), and with a fantastic springy geel in turns. When keel and tail worked together it was as fun as turning a surfboard gets (and although it may be a sad comment on my life, turning a surfboard is some serious fun to me). Naturally it's gone flat now I have the Chubbies, but a ride report will follow. His site is here and worth checking out- the quad sets look like the business too- maybe a set of Chubbies on the rear, standard quads on the front....

Cornwall Says Hello

Brilliant, especially John Isaacs and his rides. Bellyboards are mad fun, I've had a few good ones on mine of late although perhaps a little less user friendly for the 5 year olds and the ladies in their mid eighties if the waves are chest to head high and closing out. You do however get the shot-out-of-a-cannon feeling pretty nicely in those conditions, and the little narrow bellyboard holds a line very nicely I must say.

Running Low

Some product that's getting close to gone. The lovely lightweight hoodies are $35 each, there's a few each of grey, black and brown with the Simmons ones and only a couple left of the OG Swift Movement tattoo lettering ones, grey only. Sizes are L and XL only at this point, although we have a few Simmons ones in ladies sizes. Film wise you have the Byron collection there- Mick Waters' festival acclaimed 'Little Black Wheels' and his debut 'Believe', both $25 and Johnny Abegg's completely mad and brilliant "___", packaged in a fanzine for $30. Shipping is included in all prices and you can order or inquire but simply emailing us at info @ foamandfunction.com. I've posted these before, but wasting time watching videos is one of the great joys of the internet, so here you go again as a reminder- first Cookie and his cigs from "___":



and here's a far more sensible and well mannered promo from Mick:

Stub

Andy's 6'2" Mackie single to be more exact. He's well pleased, said he went to pick it up and wound up having a surf with Mick then back to the house for a skate on the driveway which has a conveniently located concrete 1/4 pipe. That's how a surfboard transaction should work.