Dave Parmenter Channel Bottom

The board in these images is a 6'2" 6 channel single fin shaped by Dave Parmenter and glassed to a degree of extreme amazingness by the good folks at Waterman's Guild. Better yet the Guild has this quite magic board for sale at $885 which is a bargain. As beautiful as this is as a piece of sculpture, it's a truly functional surfboard as well. Dave created the original for Stephanie Gilmore as part of the 'Spirit Of Akasha' film project, using the single fin shortboards of Michael Peterson and crew as jumping off point. It's truly a modern single fin design, it feels as nimble as any multi fin, but has that wonderful buttery glide of a classic single. It's an addictive board to ride, and this rather spectacular example is available- email customerservice@watermansguild.com for all details.

Surf Craft At The Sonoma

Currently open at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art is Richard Kenvin's very wonderful 'Surf Craft' exhibit, probably the most eclectic and interesting array of surfboards displayed in one place, and definitely a superb look at how the more experimental and progressive design elements of surfboards have evolved. The exhibit is a must see, and the Sonoma Museum has upped the col factor with a range of events- surf movies every Friday,  Christian Beamish talking about his travels on his home built boat 'The Cormorant' on Sept 24, RK and Carl Ekstrom discussing design on July 30 and Saturday July 16 there's not only a paipo building workshop with Jon Wegener during the day, but also what looks like being an incredible evening presentation called 'Shape Heroes' with Dave Parmenter, Dannny Hess, Griffin Stepanek, Stretch and Jon Wegener all discussing their craft and Mr. Beamish (an excellent shaper in his own right) will moderate. Just go, it'll be worth every effort.

Single Fins & MP

Dave Parmenter with one of his 6 channel singles

6'3" 6 Channel currently available- $850

L to R: Parmenter single fin, Neal Purchase Jnr single (8.5") NPJ single (7.5") 

Also available

"As a shaper and a surfer you try to synthesize what you see that excites you in the film and how it looks, but as a designer and being pragmatic about what you know works today, the genie is out of the bottle and we know that certain components, certain things work today better than they did back when they were still exploring the early short boards. It's knowing what to take out and what to keep for the sake of what works. It's not to create a retro board for the sake of being retro, to pose on it like an Alaia or something. Knowing what components work, and put them in a board.

What are the active ingredients in that incredible sequence of MP.... the speed, the drive, the forward trim, moving back on the tail to turn, moving up to highline it. And just the hull speed, the board was digging a groove for itself with that rounded hull on the bottom, with that S-rocker....some of the things that made that short of a board be stiff enough to have that kind of projection, you wouldn't want to put in a board today.

It is kind of knowing the best of the romance of that era and being struck by that as a viewer and wanting to go surfing, and as a shaper knowing what you have to keep out, like that S- rocker is pretty limiting on a board. The fin was too far back, it was fun to look at but almost without exception almost all of the single fins of that era through to the Brewer era, the fins were too far back. Maybe with a little bit better fin or moving the fin up, even just a couple of inches, you're going to get better performance. A lot of it is just looking at it as a historian but then  as a designer who wants to improve on it without throwing the baby out with the bathwater."

Dave Parmenter interviewed in the 'Spirit Of Akasha' book discussing the project to build an MP style board that led to the 6 channel single. 

Ellis Ericson Alkali Fin Action

As you may guess, we're pretty excited to be getting these Alkali Fins. They're craftsmen working on a small scale and thats why the fins are so damn good. Handmade with care to detail and often in limited runs, some interesting stuff gets done. Alkali are a great fit for working with shapers who are doing the same thing with boards. Hence the Andrew Kidman?Dave Parmenter Widowmaker set we have coming (and will have images of soon), and there's these Ellis Ericson keels. Here's video of Ellis doing his thing:

https://vimeo.com/162301902

which is being difficult about letting me imbed it, but it's worth following the link- it's great stuff

Alkali Fins!

Ellis Ericson twin

Classic Twin

Classic Single

Flex Single

Apologies for the lag in posts, but we've been working! The planned Kidman/Parmenter design widowmaker fin set is so happening the first batch will be done next week, and Alkali Fins of Australia are the ones doing it. As a bonus, we've got set up to bring in a few other designs from their range and should have them all inside a few weeks. Alkali are a very small operation, laying up and foiling fins by hand in Australia, and they do utterly exceptional work. Very very happy to have this chance, and as soon as we have prices/delivery dates sorted out, they'll be posted.

Skip Frye On The Longfish

"Long fish was just kind of a need that I had, if I was going to do the fish. It started really going off after Derek did his thing, and I started getting orders for the Derek Hynd template. So I took the fish blank and I maxed one out for me that was 6'2", but I never rode it. I was afraid I'd look like a fool, riding it, because I didn't know if I could stand up on that short of a board anymore. People were, like "When are you gonna ride it?" I was, like "When it's perfect waves, warm water and no people." Being stuck here in San Diego it doesn't happen. I finally gave it away.

I'd see Rawson, now and then. He whistles through everywhere- he's like a world shaper, he just goes everywhere and shapes, and he's a blank designer too. So he was talking to me about a bigger fish blank, and I didn't think about it again and then, all of a sudden, he designed one and left me one up a Diamond Glassing. So I went up to get it, but it was gone- Steve Lis and Razz the glasser had confiscated it and made something out of it. But I did see the blank, and I went "Wow! Maybe I could make something big enough where I'd be comfortable on it."

So I went right out to Mitch, and I ordered one and shaped one up. It's funny, because the first place I rode it was high tide Old MAn's at San Onofre and, to me, San Onofre was always a longboard spot. I never thought about shortboarding. I remember I'd just gotten off an 11 foot board and I was having trouble finning it, and I put this 7 3/4" fin into this 11 foot board, and that was just it, man, it was like, the best research and development day I've probably had in a couple of years. I had the fish stuck in the car and it was high tide, and PT came along and said 'I'm going shortboarding out here." And I thought about it: "I wonder if I should break this thing out and try it?" I was kind off apprehensive about it. There were a lot of people about. But I took it out and, oh man, it was so good. I was like a little kid, man- the thing was just: rebound, floater. It was the shortboard thing all over again. I hadn't ridden a board under 8 foot in about five or six years. It was like, a 6'9" and it was really neat, and ever since then I started making them and I've had really good feedback.

A couple of my friends, who I've been building boards for for thirty years- in fact, the second one I made, for a real close friend of mine, Sean Beal- he's kind of a shortboard guy and he's kind of finicky too, he's always a hard guy to please and he called me back and said "This is the best board you've ever made me." I started getting that kind of feedback, for the longer fish. So, for the most part, it's been a real positive addition to the whole fish realm."

Skip Frye talking to Andrew Kidman. Full interview is in the 'Ether' book, available by emailing info @ foamandfunction.com. Board is also by Andrew Kidman, with a shot of his Frye shaped Bombers fish for comparison. The green Bowie series  fish has sold, but there's another in the works....

Neal Purchase Twin plus trailer

Alright, we'll stop with the Purcho's (for a while at least) but seriously, how good does this look? Neal says it's the closest to a HPSB he does, and it looks it. You can order one now too- email info @ foamandfunction.com and we'll give you pricing details etc. There's a batch of boards nearly ready to ship with room for a few more if need be, so if you're quick.....

Few More Purchos

The goods coming out of Kirra are just off the hook good, and KMD's glassing is icing on the cake. Email info @ foamandfunction.com if you're interested in a board, next shipment is being put together and the exchange rate is kind

.

Neal Purchase Jnr. Surfboards

6' Quartet, plum tint

5'10" Channeled Angourie Single

6' Duo, blue tint

All the above boards are customs from the recent batch of NPJ's, which was a pretty spectacular array. If you want one we can do a custom no problem, and there's a 6' x 21" x 2 1/2" Duo available right now- email info @ foamandfunction.com for details.....

Andrew Kidman Dreamboard

5'10" x 21 9/8" x 2 1/2"

Hand foiled Geppy keels, glassing by Surfers Country.

Frye-esque rails, Simmons tail, 8 channels through panel V.

Just utterly seriously beautiful.

$1300, email info @ foamandfunction.com

Morocco and NPJ Duo

The Last Flight To Agadir - Harrison Roach in Morocco from surfstitch on Vimeo.

6'8"

Seriously captivated by this rather wonderful bit of footage,  to the point of breaking out the Moroccan vinyl, making preserved lemons and looking at flights. Soon. We can't promise waves like that or skills like Harrison Roach's, but if you want a Duo from Neal there's a 6' available and there's a new order currently being shaped, just email info @ foamandfunction.com for details. Boards pictured are from the batch that just arrived- beautiful stuff.....

6' Single Bump Single Fin

Currently under construction by Jeff Beck over at Nine Lights, this rather exceptional custom shape is soon to be graced with some custom art in a very stylish collaboration between two talented creators. The board is a beauty, an incredibly functional shooter that felt and looked great even in this raw state. As the very talented shaper Reverb of the Custom Shapes blog points out in a comment a few posts back, there's a tendency for shapers experimenting with fin design to use very traditional 'retro' shapes as a base instead of a more contemporary design. I'd jump in here and say he's right, but not in  this case- the fin will be a hand foiled single, nothing too wild, but the shape here has a lot more subtle modern tweaks than the photos show. Beaked nose yes, forward foil yes (both concepts I like a lot) but mixed in with modern feeling rails,  a leaner foam distribution and a shape that has a definite taste of modern shortboard genetics in it. Personally, as a huge enthusiast for the 'modern singlefin' style board, I'm excited by this and excited to see shapers taking some chances in that direction. Bring it on.....

Two Surfboards Made By Andrew Kidman

Seriously- just amazing. Handshaped in Uki by Andrew Kidman, glassed by Jun at Surfer's Country, fins by Larry Gephart, brought from the land of Kangas and convicts by Dubstar John's Kaos Koala Express. My thanks to all that made this possible. The Longfish has sold but the Dreamboard is available. $1300 plus a bottle of something for John. Email info @ foamandfunction.com

Spirit Of Akasha & Morning Of The Earth Soundtracks

To Be Young - Andrew Kidman & The Windy Hills from Andrew Kidman on Vimeo.

A reminder- we have the US exclusive on these utterly fine soundtrack albums, and in a very zeitgeist Record Store Day manner, there's vinyl as well as CD. 'Spirit Of Akasha' featuring The Windy Hills, Grouplove, Atoms For Peace, Pond, The Dirty Three, Matt Corby, Tom Curren, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and many more. Vinyl is double gatefold and CDs come as a regular double or the deluxe double with a grand little book. 'Morning Of The Earth' should need no introduction, it's a classic surf soundtrack and a wonderful collection of Aussie psych/folk from a very fertile and creative era. Double vinyl is the original masterpiece with Tamam Shud, Brian Cadd, G. Wayne Thomas and more. The CD features not only the original soundtrack but the 'Reimagined' version where the original songs are covered by many of the same artists from the 'Akasha' collection, and the deluxe CD features a fantastic mini book with Albie Falzon's photos.  LPs are $35, deluxe Cds $25 and regular CDs $15. Essential stuff, and yours by emailing info @ foamandfunction.com.