Glass Love

It's been 10 years, and it's still one of the most essential surf films out there. Proud to be involved in what Andrew's doing and to further this vision of surfing that encompasses more than the 'sport', it touches on the should. Copies of the DVD are still available if you don't have it, email info @ foamandfunction.com. If you do have it, watch it tonight.

Mackie 2

The really excellent photos of Mick shaping from this and the previous post are by Steve Baccon and Mick is in fact soon to be shaping a couple of boards for the U.S.- A 6' and a 6'6", both sidecut fish in EPS, both with the 5 box option. Prices to be confirmed, but $850 each seems likely. Pic of Mick showing what a sidecut can do by Hiroyuki Yamada, and the last shot is the legend Taro Tamai, the man behind Gentemstick preparing for some action with the deep swallow Winterstik design board that has been so inspirational in Mick's surf board design. Epic.

Mackie

He's back in the bay before vanishing into the mountains for the season and big, full speed inspirational Winterstik carves. There will be sidecut fish coming all going well- EPS, 5 boxes and hopefully a longish in there. We'll keep you posted.....

Custom Parmenter Widowmaker

Nice. Jamie in England wanted this- plan shape is from the 6 Channel single only there's no channels and a widow maker fin setup instead of a single, and that all makes such sense. He also wanted the Porsche Gulf Racing orange tint, and the artistes at Waterman's Guild made that happen easy as. Love it when it all comes together this easily....

Surfmobile- Italian Sportscar Edition

Just needs a rack and it's ready for the beach run....

6'7" Parmenter MPEgg For Sale

First up, serious tip of the hat the hat to Waterman's Guild, for the glassing on this. They were sent the picture of Mdou Moctar 's bike featured in the post below and came up with this perfection. Polished so well it was damn near impossible to photograph.  It's 6'7" x 21" x 2.65" and is Dave's take on MP's Kirra disc. Old school in it's way but with the wackier experimental elements left at the wayside to give a super functional board- single fin with the width and thickness up front for paddling and planing power, and a straighter rail line for serious projection, bit of vee through that nice rounded tail and softer rails to smooth it all out. I asked Christopher Kirkley, creator of the Akounak movie and the truly wonderful Sahel Sounds label (www.sahelsounds.com- if you have any interest in  contemporary music this is what's happening in Saharan Africa- Taureg blues, weird synth stylings from Niger, Nigerian auto tune film songs, party Sound systems from Mali- forget those hipster kids with beards who've bought retro electronics--this is the real deal!) what 'purple surfboard' would be in the Tamashek language of the Tauregs. Given they live in a landlocked desert and apparently have no word for purple, not and easy task but Mr. Kirkley very kindly took the time to reply, and this board is officially 'assihiguilli n'amame tedalat taha tazoughai' or 'the board in water that is blue with some red in it'. Best of all, it can be yours for $850. Email info @ foamandfunction.com for details.

Parmenters

Akounak Teggdalit Taha Tazouhai Trailer from sahelsounds on Vimeo.

6'7" Taureg Purple MPegg, for sale- $850

6'6" Porsche Gulf Racing Orange Widowmaker, custom.

Dave Parmenter and Waterman's Guild Glassing deliver in serious form on these two. They'll each get their own post but feast your eyes on those seriously juicy colours and forms for now....

Mini Simmons For Sale

The old school real deal mini Simmons. EPS, 5'3" x 21" x 2.5 or thereabouts. Hank Warner shaped it and it's genetics are pure, straight from the original Casper. This is the board that sparked a mini revolution in surf design, the board that made you realise how akin surfing and skateboarding are, the board that turned marginal sessions into magic and on a good lined up wave becomes an object lesson in how much speed planing surfaces can generate. The board that made people pay attention to Simmons and his genius. The board that spun off into a myriad of modifications and tweaks and conceptual re-imaginings that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't but meant that design ideas were being pushed and that's what it's really all about. This one is for sale, and you can email info @ foamandfunction.com for details. It's the first salvo in a barrage of very cool designs that will be coming from the Hydrodynamica brains trust in the coming weeks, so be prepared.....

Way Of The Bird

Of all the publishing projects we've been involved in over the years, this is still probably the favourite given the simplicity to joy ratio, let a lone the people it's brought into my world. 'Way Of The Bird' by Andy Davis & Andrew Kidman. Beautiful and easy- Ando's drawings overlaid onto Andrew's photos, a lovely story about a boy discovering surfing and being mentored by an older character (with a serious nod to Skip Frye) and you have a kid's book that's not going to drive parents nuts, or an off beat little art book for those without kids. Everytime I look at it, I'm pleased. Available for $25 from info @ foamandfunction.com.

Andrew Kidman- Plenty Of Fish

Plenty of Fish from The Surfer's Journal on Vimeo.

Completely lovely little ode to the swallow tailed, twin keeled goodness by Andrew Kidman via Surfer's Journal. The always excellent Journal has a piece by Kidman in issue 24.1 on the fish that is worth cover price on it's own. Inspired, and from top to bottom: 'Heroin' fish shaped in NYC by Kidman (5'10" x 21 x 2.5", technically for sale still), 'Sharkbait' fish shaped by Kidman for Wibz, Mackie sidecut I've been frothing over, 'Bombers' fish shaped by Skip Frye for Kidman and a serious influence on the templates and details of the boards Andrew shaped, fish surfers- the little keeled beauts will make you so stylish in the water that on land you just don't care.

Ben Chipper

The above photos are from Ben Chipper's blog. He's Australian, but he's bloody brilliant and a true fin making inspiration. Check him out.....

Ryan Burch

Volcom Stone presents… Ryan Burch… The Rush of the Continuous Rhythm from Volcom on Vimeo.

Yeah, this has been kicking around for a while but damn it's good. Watch, then watch again. And again.

Aleutian Juice Widowmaker Fins!

Very, very happy about this indeed. Ladies & Gentleman, these are the first rudders to come from a foray into the manufacture and sale of excellent hand crafted and surf proven fins. Dave Parmenter is the motivator behind this, and it's mainly his designs and deep template collection we'll be drawing on. The fins are being made by B.C. Rudders in Hawaii, and whole set up will be small scale, hand made and very cool.  These first examples are Dave's own widow maker design, and it doesn't get much more authentic than that. Solid 7.5" center fin, sidebites are single foil and 3" & change. Two colors as you see, $100 for the set. Email info @ foamandfunction.com if you're interested, and stay posted, we'll have more soonish (these things are being made by one guy in Hawaii) and there's going to be full fin run downs from Dave as well as a few collaborations with the usual suspects. Stoked!

Ode To California by Patrick Trefz

'Ode to California' a film by Patrick Trefz from Patrick Trefz on Vimeo.

Awesome, well done Trefz.

Wolfhound Fins

Down to the last pair of Neal Purchase Jnr. Wolfhound fins. One of the only modern shapers making an old school single- plenty of base, nice and thick well drivey. There's 1 of each left, a 7.5" Beer tint and an 8.5" bottle tint. $110, made in Australia by the really excellent Salty Merchant. As always email info @ foamandfunction.com if you're interested.  Here's Purcho doing his thing with a channeled single from start to finish....

A SINGLE MOMENT WITH NEAL PURCHASE JNR from Rhythm Livin on Vimeo.

Nice clip by Nathan Tommassi courtesy of NPJ's long time sponsors Rhythm. Stellar stuff, always such a great surfer to watch in action, and he's really coming into his own as a shaper.....

Yes, that's a double single. Go Neal!

5'10" Andrew Kidman Fish For Sale

But not willingly really. The story is this: Late 2013/early 2014 Mr. Kidman was in the US briefly and decided to shape a very limited run of 10 boards. Most went as customs, a few to the very excellent Pilgrim Surf Supply in Brooklyn and a brace wound up in my hands as the West Coast stock. They arrived in June, literally hours before I left to Europe and so were not immediately documented, and then on returning and settling in again, I started obsessing on just how good this board is. 5'10" x 21" x 2 1/2" Off white/greyish tint. Andrew has immersed himself in the work of the   San Diego masters, Frye & Lis, and has hands on experience with their boards which is so utterly apparent in this craft. Single foil keels, glassed at Faktion in New York. Sum of it's parts most definitely.  The real kicker with this one is that the late great Lou Reed had passed right before Andrew left on his travels, and so each of the New York boards is a tribute to the man with 'RIP Lou' and the title of one of his songs on the stringer. This one? 'Heroin". Yes, I want to keep it really but justifying that is hard, so here it is- up for sale at the price Andrew charges- $1100- with no shipping from Australia issues and one time only. The money will simply go back to Andrew for the next board and the cycle of independent craftsmanship continues. This is good. To enquire or comment, email info @ foamandfunction.com.

Oh- if you click on and enlarge that last pic, it's the dims/stringer info- the details matter....

2015

photo by Tom Keck, and it's one of the best.

The beginning of each year brings with it a sad reminder- January 2nd being the date Rell Sunn passed away in 1998 depriving the world of an incredibly talented, graceful and generous individual. Rell seemed to have nothing but positivity in her attitude to life, so it's seems fitting to start the year with a tribute to her and all she stands for. Thanks for taking the time to look at this weird corner of the digital world, and even more thanks to those of you who have supported us by purchasing what trinkets and artifacts we offer. You are supporting the truly independent outliers of the surf/skate culture, and we be live those are the truly important ones- the people who keep it creative and interesting and fun. 2015 will bring some good stuff- a new website, new board collaborations with Dave Parmenter, Mick Mackie, Andrew Kidman and others, a new book we hope, and much more- stayed tuned.....

Skateboard Related Video

Keep On Pushin' from Ricki Bedenbaugh on Vimeo.

Tour of Skateistan Mazar-e-Sharif Skate School (Afghanistan) from Skateistan on Vimeo.

As the year stumbles to an end, here's a couple of videos featuring skateboarders of all ages and both genders. First is the promo for what seems like being an awesome film (or at least collection of short films) and which features so many of the guys that made skateboarding so exciting, and who are still doing it, and how's good is that beginning- Barbee, Kaupas, Hensley, Duffy, Dressen, Marcovich, Agah? Heroes. Next is a fine clip from Skateistan, an organization I support 100%. They  build skateparks and educational facilities for kids in parts of the world where there is almost zero opportunity for kids, both educationally and recreationally.  They began in Afghanistan and have since spread their programs to Kampuchea and now South Africa. If the kids want to skate, they need to go to school as well, and what's truly awesome about this how it's been a huge success for young girls, so often marginalized even in affluent Western society. There's a certain feeling of joy and positivity in both videos, and that's worth holding onto as we head into 2015. Best of luck everyone....

Jeff Ho

The very elusive Jeff Ho has a selection of boards on display at C. Nichols Project , and they are that good that they deserve the gallery setting. Incredible work, the photos barely do it justice. If you're in the LA area go and see them in person- 12613 1/2 Venice Blvd, Mar Vista 90066. Monday to Saturday, noon til 6. Epic.

Sideburn & Mr. Porky

I often mention the genius that is Sideburn, an utterly superb self produced magazine and web presence that pivots around flat track racing and glory of a good motorcycle. The Sideburn lads are the epitome of independent publishing and culture, not just doing a brilliant magazine around day jobs and family, but also setting up some fantastic events. It doesn't get any better than Dirt Quake, a chance for the common folk to race like the pros, and on whatever that have to ride as there are classes for Inappropriate Road Bikes and Choppers. Genius, as is this short film produced by one of their sponsors, Mr. Porky's Pork Scratchings. This event is very very high on my to-do list....