Kidman, Sutho and the channels.

Lifted straight from Kidman's site. He's been busy shaping it seems and Mark Sutherland has had his hand in there too. Fine looking stuff, especially that 6'5" widowmaker.

Twentyfirst Century Asyms

Carl taking it to a new tech level. Prototype Hydroflex asymmetricals. The boards are built with a vac bag setup that sort of bonds the skins to foam fibres in the blank making it ultra strong, and the boards are literally inflated to the optimum pressure. I'm not sure how someone like me who barely changes his wax ever would do with having to check board pressure every session, but it's interesting stuff and hopefully Carl will be at the Santa Cruz Sacred Craft- a few of his boards will definitely make it. On the compsand thread, the Jeff Beck twin is getting surfed every session and it's a gem, light as can be but it feels solid and springy under foot. The swell here in Socal has been very nice indeed so that even those of us stuck surfing barely adequate beach breaks have had some good moments. Hope you're all getting a taste too.

Ether Wheneverly- Occy!

Kidman's photo of Occy at Bell's Beach 1997 from 'Ether'. Sooooo good.

Some Moving Pictures For Your Pleasure

Jon Frank, who collaborated with Kidman on 'Litmus' has currently been working with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the result is this which I think is absolutely stunning. No idea what the completed project will be, but I look forward to it.



The kids are doing it too, scoff at their hipsterdom if you will, but they went to Maine and built some very tidy wooden boards with the good folks at Grain, and then surfed them well. Good stuff indeed.

On the subject of wood, the Jeff Beck modern twin in the post below is absolute magic, and I'm saying that after 2 sessions in closeout beachbreak. On a wave that stays up longer than 5 seconds it will be mindblower. One pocket of face allowed for a full on 'I Don't Have To Ride This Out So What The Hell' hack, pure fat Occy on the comeback action and the board was like butter- I swear I could have ridden that out. There's swell coming, I'll report back....

NInelights Field Trip

The only good thing about breaking a board is that I get to go down to Huntington and see Jeff Beck of Nine Lights. When he's not fixing boards I've ruined (he'll get at least one of those kids of his through college thanks to me, although maybe only a crappy local one as his prices are good) he builds some fantastic surf craft. Much of what he does is compsand construction which interests me greatly, and geeky as it is I love the education I get on each visit. He's doing some wildly hitech yet old school finless vehicles as well, and has a new website with some nice video here. Best of all, the modern twin I posted a little way back is currently in my house. Frothing like mad over it, and if it rides half as good as it feels under the arm I may negotiate an adoption plan.

Thank You Mr. Kidman

'Lost In The Ether' came yesterday. It is really, really good. Fucking amazing actually. A total salute to surfboard design and surfer/shapers that make it happen. There's a lot to process, the first 5 minutes or so involve a very clear and concise analysis of MP's 'Morning Of The Earth' board, and that's just the jumping off point, it gets really interesting from there. Mackie shredding the local Bommie is worth price of purchase alone. Fitzy and Simon Anderson are heroes. I could happily go on and on, but I'll simply say if you have any interest in why surfboards are so wonderful, you owe it to yourself to get this. The limited edition packaged in a quite stunning book is worth every penny, and I am beyond stoked.

Twentyfirst Century Mini Simmons For Sale.

Starting the year off with a few deals is a fine idea, so here we go. San Diego has stirred, and there's 3 very nice surfboards ready for homes. Two 3 fin Simsters- 6' and 5'10" and a quad 'Fourke' - 5'8". All are the real deal Hydrodynamica boards, built by Hank Warner (who's been doing some outrageously lovely work lately, his Caster family channel bottoms are the business, but more on that later) from EPS and with Gephardt keels. Purebred bloodline, straight from the original Bauguess/Elwell/Kenvin collaboration, none of that copied from an internet picture stuff here. Straight up $900 each, can be shipped anywhere you'll pay for them to be shipped to. If had some folding money to hand that quad would be mine. Something for the skaters too- a few slightly shopworn 'Dogtown- Legend Of The Z-Boys' have turned up post Xmas, so out the door they go at half price- $17.50 plus $5 shipping inside the US (overseas you pay actual shipping cost). Email info@foamandfunction.com and get the goods.

Ether Wheneverly- Joe & Pat Curren

A few posts back you saw Joe Curren's quite lovely handcrafted card set, which prompted this post. Joe's skills as a craftsmen have been hard earned, but there's a bit of a genetic imperative too given his dad is living legend Pat Curren. A few years back Pat decided to not only shape his first 'modern' surfboard but to make it for his son. The process is beautifully documented moving picture style in Kidman's 'Glass Love' as well as in 'Ether'. There's something fantastic about a father building his son something on any level, but when it's Pat Curren building a board that Joe & Tom ride there's an extra level of fantastic. You can buy your own copy of Ether by emailing info@foamandfunction.com and feel free to do so, you'll be helping fund a book of Joe's photography.