2008; and On We Go

Well, the new year will be upon us in the next few hours, and while I'm not big on resolutions or turning over new pages in life based on this day in particular, I'm never blind to the changes occurring around me daily.

I want to sincerely thank everybody who has come through my life and my business in the last year as it has been a great one for me; I have met COUNTLESS people that have changed the ways I view board building as well as life in general...Its hard for me to differentiate the two since board building and conversations based around that subject consume about 96% of my average day...

So here it is, a big thank you to all of my customers, friends, inspirations, acquaintances, board builders and the people who keep thinking up more and more 'out there' boards for me to experiment with. Shaping has grown from a hobby on my porch to an obsession that fills my mind every day and I could never have come to whatever point I'm at without everyone who has come with me along the journey.

The past year has been a great one, but the next 365 days is looking to be a major turning point in terms of the PC lifespan...I don't want to spill the beans or count any chickens before they've hatched but there are some incredible things brewing in terms of friendships, local revolution, articles (whoops), new work spaces and new experiments coming down the pike very quickly...

So THANK YOU everybody for making the last year of my life truly incredible, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all and prospering in the new year with you!

Blast Off

Since joining up with Grass is Greener, and after some new friend poking through my um...eclectic...quiver, a few boards were called into question.
In particular, a 5'6 flextail kneeboard that I built for myself two summers ago and rode pretty much exclusively through all of last winter; it was so fun I hadn't realized I had not stood up on a surfboard in almost 4 months.




The board was built in a day, the ultimate in "function over form" thinking; the template was handed down to me from an old local friend who got it from G.G. back in the day.
It went as follows:
Shape the bottom, glass it.
Take a grinder and a 50 grit disc to the deck to remove tons of volume...then remove all but 3/16" to 1/16" of the foam in the back 1/3 of the board to create a big 'ol flex panel...then finish glassing the deck:






This one has gotten a lot of interest from lookers-on in the recent past, and slowly faded into obscurity in my quiver...With a few fond memories of 15+ ft faces and full railed bottom turns left seared into my brain.
Heres a shot from her debut with the ocean, in itty-bitty beachbreak, setting up for one of the beautiful mini cover-ups from that day:





Change the way you see a wave peeling in front of you...a new perspective from down low may sound funny or look goofy; but try it and you'll see why Kyle and Theo both had the silliest grins on their faces today...
Thanks for bringing this one back to life, guys...

Shoppage

Re-Birthed!

I'm pleased to present to you the Evo fish...my new fishy that was hacked out of the first board I ever shaped; It was an extremely cathartic experience re-shaping the exact piece of foam that was the first I had ever set 50-grit and a screen to.

The colors are a mix of new and old...the original board was black and red, so I decided to keep in the spirit but do the nose in solid black to keep up with the resin work that I've been enjoying lately.

It's safe to say that this board has a bit of everything I've learned and applied to board building within it:



Deckside ^



10-ply Baltic Birch double foiled keels...molded lokbox bases for ultra-coolness, I built these the afternoon before I finished the board.
The template was drawn from the leading edge of my favorite singlefin, the rest freeform.



Arse end ^



Nose Job^



8oz volan/6oz deck + White pigment = Opaque

Before the Foam

Oil Rigs


Leaves


SB Harbor (it was firing that day)


The Harbor again, same evening at the photo above

I stopped taking photos around '05 when I got sucked into the world of shaping...Hoping to re-visit that realm here soon.

Stormin'

Today at the pier along Cabrillo.

4x5 Action

Morgan and Kyle came out yesterday (the 21st) to shoot some portrait-y shots with a 4x5 camera...

Kyle's:




Mo's:


All kinds of stoked on the quality of photos these two have been sending to me.
I couldn't be any luckier than to work with these two; hanging out with them and all their cameras is a trip...creativity is not lacking in the new Santa Barbara.

Moving Pictures

Whoa...we DO move!
Video from Kyle, subjects: Morgan and myself...Loving cameras and the possibilities right now...

A Day at the Races

All photos by Kyle...swing by the shop on most any given day and this is what you'll find; 12-20-2008 at the boatyard:



The Barrel Hunter in process.




Herbie is still my Q.C. manager.




Morgan and myself.




Glassing my evolution fish...check the Great Northwest style too...




Tuning a set of bonzer glassons.

The White Buffalo

Here are some clips I took from The White Buffalo's concert last night at Zoey's Cafe in Ventura.
Its was an incredible show...I really can't wait to see him perform again when he is in town next!

Seeing Spots

I got to get creative today with two boards that were my choice for color work...I've been wanting to keep it simple lately so I tried some spots...



A 5'9" x 21" x 2 1/2" TT



And Bryan's Barrel Hunter got some style too...6'5" w/Paulownia and cork rails; headed all over the world very very soon!

Enjoying This

Rey Fresco - Fairlie (Live) from LUSTER on Vimeo.

Rey Fresco - Fairlie

The Evolution Continues

Got to glassing my re-#1 today, Kyle from Grass is Greener came out today to shoot some photos of me glassing the deck of my new board (shaped out of my first board ever, check a few posts below)...the bottom side is a little different, she's comin' out really nice-like!

Flyin' High

My cell phone rang as I was glassing a set of fins on yesterday morning...on the other end, the crackly and wind blown voice of Kabir (of 6'3 coke bottle stubby fame) says, "look up!"
...now THAT was something you don't get every day!

Winter

Its 7:30 am; and 38 degrees outside...Do you know where your shaper is?

Paulownia Rails

Bryan's Barrel Hunter is alive and unveiled!
Stringerless w/Paulownia and cork rails, tapering to the tail...the most important and by far most interesting part about this board cannot be pictured; the flex is incredible.
Tap on the nose and the tail goes bonkers, and it sounds like a tuned instrument. This board has untold amounts of energy stored within already...I am TRULY stoked today because of this board and the potential it is showing me right now.

Grass Is Greener Project

I'm stoked to be joining a grass roots surf art and culture project called Grass is Greener; it's a worldwide group of like-minded artists, musicians, shapers, sculptors and the likes.
Here is a little blurb on the project:

Grass is Greener was birthed with only one goal in mind- gettin' back to basics. through time, & the influence of modern technology, we've lost so many tools & techniques that have helped craft what so many of us as surfers, artists, & musicians, love & thrive off of to this day; blurry washed-out photographs, non-saturated & faded art, less friendly wave-riding equipment & raw music recordings from our recent golden eras; it all leads us back to the past..

They've written a small intro for me on their site: GrassisGreener

...much much more to come in the near future!

Foily Fins

Custom baltic plywood fins for Ralph's 6'6 thumbtail egg...Should be seeing more fins from me soon as these have re-lit the foiling flame for me...

The Possibilities

The possibilities are endless with this place we walked by today...a block off main st in ventura, small showroom in front, art studio on top...very very cool little spot!

Bogus Set

Morgan has a bunch of shaping shots from a few sessions in the bay up in his Flickr page...give them a look see!

http://flickr.com/photos/morgan1/sets/72157605293833964/

The Second Time Around

I shaped my first board on May 24th, 2005 (my 19th birthday)...

I stripped the glass and fins, and shaped a new board for myself on December 13th 2008...

Reduce, reuse, recycle....resurf :)

One Off

Custom rocker glue up for a 5'4 project...I'll let you guess until it gets further under way!

Recent Activities

Now THAT is a frickin' quesadilla...



Kristian's 5'10 TT



Always loved the single wing fishy tails...theres something oh so right about them...



Blue tint + fish = hard to beat.

Sliver Me Timbers

H. came out yesterday while I shaped his new 5'7 stubby...these aren't your normal stub dimensions, but it looks oh so right! 5'7" x 20" x 2 1/4"

The stringer is double tapered from the center to the nose and tail; from 3/16" to 0", the total length of the wood is 3'.
The idea here is to see if we can get the whole board to load up and release down the line instead of just the tail doing the work...Figure there is almost 6' of board under you, if you can get all of that working with you and loading line a bow (bow and arrow style), it could get interesting.

The same result is what I am going for in my Paulownia railed boards depending on the shape; if it's a hull or more flow-oriented board the rails will be tapered from the center, nose to tail depending on the widepoint of the board and where it is going to be ridden from...we're looking for a very very lively and intuitive flex.

Spankin' New

Heres a sneak preview (screenshot) of the new PC website I've been constructing for the past few weeks; The site is coming out super sweet and I cant wait to upload it for you guys to see!

Sutho + Daily Bread

Got some photos via email today from buddy and PC follower Le Vyusher (link) of Warmjet surfing Sutho down at Trestles; photos by the world famous Kaser, whos got the Daily Bread blog ( link )...hows that for a bunch of online-name-dropping?

ANYWAYS, I'm really really stoked to get some cool hull action shots...and stoked that there are some talented feet on boards!