My My

Tom Cotarino got some filming done of Phil Browne and his 5'8" Pinnyback in New Jersey last week; looks like there was a fair amount of swell all over!  And yep, that's a 5'8" twin fin shortboard...

Phil is 100% man.   

BOOOOOM!

Trevor goes banana on the piggyback...yowza!

and THEN the photos of the sleds from Bali showed up...double yowza.

6'7" sbStub w/glass panel flex tail

 5' snubby Flex Spoon

8'10 v.Bottom

Check them all out on Deus' blog at:

http://id.deuscustoms.com/ryan-lovelace-troy-mothershead/

Deus Clips

The boys at the Deus Temple in Bali put together a little video from my visit; some shaping, some shred, and and sleds...go figure ;)

Board Buliding At The Deus Temple with Ryan Lovelace from Deus ex Machina on Vimeo.

Weekend Warriors

Nuggets!

 Trevor + new Piggyback

ph | Michael Kew

Self + JethroHull

ph | Brandon DiPierri

An Extremely Disjointed Recap

To begin, a few random pictures from along the way...

Byron Bay Surf Festival.

Tom Wegener, Matteo Plummer, Mahself, Grant Newby and my lovely lady Lauren.

....And an in depth pile of surfboards we brought aaaaall the way from home plus a few.

 

A hypersexual picture of me and surfboards, shot by Ryan Heywood at his new studio.  Ryan is an outrageously gifted and accomplished photographer that I've hear about through friends all over for years and it was a pleasure to finally get to spend a little more time with him, however brief it was!

Bali blew my mind.  I ended up hacking out 14 boards, two of which were flex-spoons and one of which I glassed start to finish myself to show the crew at Deus the skinny on what makes a good spoon and how to get it.  Above though, I was glassing a glass-panel flextail 7' sbStub...Mmmmmmm.

I do want to take a moment to thank everyone that made the most ridiculous summer ever, the most ridiculous summer ever.  The guys in Italy, Axel and the Alaia Religion family in Rome, Thomas, Filippo and Paolo in the north...JB, Clovis Donizetti, Cesar and Rudy in France.  Belgium was a trip and I was so exhausted from the previous weeks I'm afraid I appeared to be in a coma but Angelo and the kids over there took incredible care of me and showed me around...I wholly regret not surfing the evening I arrived there and missing the opportunity for waves the rest of my stay; its now on my list of things to do.  

Thomas Cravarezza of Italy, backside attacking in Morocco...

Australia happened twice this summer...if I had ever thought one thing would be impossible it would be that.  A biiiig thanks to everyone over there, far too many to list but I'll put in a few for posterity and name dropping sake; mr.Sickrat, evan daly.  you're the man.  Taylor and the guys at the Shop Next Door, Mateo Plummer up north; Sasha, and everyone in the house at Noosa...I still haven't found a problem you can't solve with a shotgun.  The german himself, Nico for housing me and letting me make his board in the middle of his mosquito nest in the back yard...Evan, Dustin, Joe and the crew all up in it in Byron bay showed me a killer time and kept me well entertained!  And of course my auntie Page in Sydney, for taking care of me while in standby for 5 days on my way home....

6'11 JethroHull - Shaped and glassed in Sydney (Glassing by Rhino...soooo sweet!)

Bali was beyond expectation.  I met up coincidentally with Mike Lim, who ended up being our saving grace there for adventure and problem solving...what a G.  Dustin and the crew at Deus put us up in a place that was so far beyond my wildest dreams, then let me play around with power tools and sharp objects in their shop and drink all their coconut water for two weeks, it was a truly unique experience and I can't wait to get back!

Yeah, Bali...

After a few weeks in Bali I found myself wondering why I live here when the water is so warm and the waves are so consistent in so many other place in the world...then just a few days later Santa Barbara woke up a bit from it's summery slumber and I remembered damn well after 9 hours of surfing I apologized for ever questioning.

So that was the past few, but for the next few months we can all look forward to why I love building boards so much...surfing with friends and playing with new shapes to chase yet another sensation.

Today marks the beginning of what ought to be a really interesting and fun season of shred, waves and foam alike!

The first winter experiments are under way so 'till I've got more news on that...Rock the F on.

  

Choose Your Own Ground

Some pretty sweet Indian Ocean ThrougHull tubes along with much other goodness contained within...

"Triptych" by Michael Kew — Official Trailer from Michael Kew on Vimeo.

RabbitsFoot again

And then there was magenta.

The latest in rabbitsfootery.

An offering for an admired acquaintance.  R&D continues into the fall...

Too Much Fun

I've been enjoying my time int he shop lately, between days of pure stress productivity and extreme relief when each peak in my workload is summited.  Above is a 7'6 JethroHull that I'll be taking along when I shape at Deus' Temple in Bali in just a few weeks.

7'6 LadyWriter for my lovely girlfriend Lauren, also for the trip.  She'll be staying to work in Byron Bay for a short while longer once I leave, so I thought she oughtta have a little something to remember me by...heh.

Little bit 'o dis and a little bit 'a daaaaaat....

25+ boards hand shaped and laminated in one room in under 3 weeks will do some interesting stuff to ya...

Chadd's Paddle

Wish I could link this directly but alas, the powers at the helm will not let it be so.

Chadd's got a nice little video about his paddle from Santa Cruz to Santa Barbara up now, there's even a little bit of Piggyback shredding in the end section of it also:

http://www.surfermag.com/videos/sea-pathways/

#1,000

Having a little bit of trouble swallowing the fact that as of last week I've made over 1,000 surfboards by hand.  What a trip.

This one was made for Hiten Iyer's wedding, he was my first customer ever after posting an ad on craigslist for 'Custom Surfboards'.  He got my first custom, then after a year or so and totally by chance he got #100 also...His wedding fell perfectly in time and his wife asked me to build him another board, so I thought he should also own number one thousand...Much love and respect to a man that has taught me more then he can imagine about life and our paths through it.

The Unanswered Questions of the Cosmos

Greg Swanson shot this of mr.Miles Jackler.  It was too cosmic not to share.

Ozagain!

Heading back to Australia in a couple weeks to shape a few customs in Sydney at Evan Daley's shop (Gato Heroi Oz) then up north from there for the Byron Bay Surf Festival.  Once that's said and done its up to Bali to visit the guys at Deus Ex Machina with a few friends in tow (Troy Mothershead, Chadd Konig, Phil Browne from NJ and hopefully one mr.Ari Browne).  Oughtta' be a pretty ridiculous time!

Rabbits Foot Updates

Oh goodness.

Rabbits Foot ridden by one mr.Ari Browne...Holy crap.

That about says what I'm feeling, here after seeing this one.

Some New v.Bowls Thang

Troy Mothershead + Pintail variation on the 8' v.Bowls.

I always love watching how the board reacts to different people's styles and the lines they like to draw with the design.  

Versatility in different conditions as well as a very distinct performance when pushed is what I was after when I designed the style of board and this video does a good job of highlighting that when compared to other v.Bowls videos.  Troy's approach is a bit more aggressive off the bottom and projects higher into the wave, showing how an understanding of the board's volume placement and balance can be used to juuust about anyone's advantage.

To SF we go!

Off to San Francisco to check out my boards in the art show opening at the RVCA gallery on Haight st. tomorrow; the show is a collection of work by Blake Marquis, who came up to the shop a few weeks ago to collaborate on a few boards with me.  Come swing by the show friday night if you're free and easy, I'll be hangin' out eating snacks 'n stuff.

Here are some photos the Blake's friend shot from the afternoon in and around the shop:

http://www.singleape.com/featured/santa-barbara-sundays/ 

ph | Steven Nereo

On it!

not having internet access at home has its ups and downs, 90% ups, but a large part of the 10% down is the lack of blogging ability.  I do have to say it's fantastic to be more removed than ever from cyberspace, though I'm sure I'm missing some funny pictures and whatnot...

But either way, the shop hasn't changed too much aside from the piles of boards going in and out of the doors; orders are sky high in the slowest time of the year for me, so winter is looking promising, what a blessing to pay my bills and spend my days making water toys!

If you've got any interest and wanna come out and see whats going on at the shop these days, my doors are open as ever, come collect some dust to take home, I'm more than happy to share.

Current news is as such:

Trevor is headed to Russia right now with a host of amazing surfers, Chadd is helping build a school and surfing his brains out in central america, v.Bowls are taking over the world according to my order book, and I'm at the shop 6 days a week and I'm looking for a good chiropractor.

Bingo Bango, you're up to date :)

Piiiiiiiiiiiggypiggy

Two of mr.Chadd Konig on one of the Piggyback variations we've been working on for him; this one a 5'8", being ripped to shreds in Panama while he was down there with Chris Del Moro and Pat Millin doing some activism work for Surfers 4 Cetaceans.  A bit more about it and more photos at http://www.surfermag.com/photos/del-caribe/ .

Summatime and Leon Russel

The summertime lows in Santa Barbara are always a difficult endeavor.

If you're not keen on driving expanses for each surf, your options are limited and quite often times infuriating if your hopes were high at all.  This normally marks a shift in my business and who I build boards for; summer is a time for people who are traveling through and want to pick up a board from me, or the wave-rich down south or north (or anywhere but here).  Normally summer is slow for that reason, Santa Barbara sleeps...This time though, not so much.  My shop is absolutely slammed with boards right now and its only getting better, there are SO many boards going through my hands at the moment I'm going nuts.  Its beyond comprehension; v.Bowls', v.Bottoms, Rabbits Feet, Piggybacks (below), one-off custom shapes, you name it, its going on right now.  I'll do my best to take photos of the madness as it progresses, but its been so much that my blogging has slowed.  Plus I do not have internet at home (what a blessing, you should try it!) so please excuse the lack of share, I'll work on it...    

A Bit About

‘Twas no classic anti-hipster slap-down. Nary a hull hoax nor alaia redux, and this had nothing to do with designer handplanes. In May 2011, Santa Barbara’s Ryan Lovelace grappled with a real-life coup d’état.

Call it the v.Bowls Victory.

Michael Kew writes on the v.Bowls uprising.

'Nuther For Sale

Whoa.  hows that, two fishes for sale in one week?

5'4 Ice Cream fish (classic twin), owned and ripped by mr.Michael Kew, if you're interested send me a note at ryankentlovelace@gmail.com, asking $250 obo.  Color is spray paint and can be removed; for $50 I'll even do it myself if you want; fins are lokbox:

Roundpins and Groundwins

When I left australia this summer I had to ditch my trustiest surfboard, Siddartha (my original yellow v.Bowls), due to a $350 board bag fee that I juuuust couldn't swallow.  I knew i'd have to replace it as I can't be without a v.Bowls, its just wrong; Yesterday I cashed in my chips and finished up the new 8'er i've been waiting for.  I went for the roundpin this time, though.  After shaping so many of them in NJ and France last month I couldn't resist; it's unquestionably the best tail template for Santa Barbara and the curves just look oh so right meshed with the widepoint-backness of the v.B.

I've been getting pelted with emails with orders for v.Bowls for the past few months and the reviews keep pouring in; I've heard many times now that people struggled the first handful of sessions until they stopped trying to ride it like a hull, and stepped back on the board; THATS the key to most of my shapes. Work them from the wide-point; I foil all of my boards in a very specific balance that puts all of the speed and control around the widepoint. 

So if you've got a v.Bowls and you're figuring it out, take a step back and hang on...

"...Then, about a month ago, while enjoying a family day at the beach, I

took a break from building sand castles and paddled out.  For whatever

reason, I found myself standing a little bit further back than I had

previously, and the thing just took off.  It set itself in effortless

trim and glided through and arround sections just like I'd wanted from

the beginning.  Turns and cutbacks are dreamlike.   I have since

ridden it almost exclusively (except one day when my arms were just

too tired from a previous V.bowls session, and I could only paddle the

11'er).  It works in so many different conditions-- I don't miss my

hull anymore."

-S.W.

Original Fush For Sale

Me and mr.Gordon are selling off his original Fush, the very same board that landed both the cover of Tracks and also more recently, Surf Portugal magazines...radical.

Epic board, 5'6 or so, EPS/Epoxy with some bumps and bruises from travel/shred.  asking $300 obo.  email me at ryankentlovelace@gmail.com....

Story Time

About 650-ish boards ago something happened, I fucked up.


I kicked off a bucket of resin too hot while in a hurry and left the cup on the board.  That board was the first She Hull and would in the next few weeks make a total shift in the rhyme and reason behind my work and it's execution.
The cup delaminated a 4" circle on the bottom of the board, where the resin had heated up and melted the cup to the board.  I panicked and called Kyle Lightner, I was fuming and a bit concerned for the board we were to share.  He told me to let it happen as it was happening and trust myself in the process;
 I removed the delaminated circle of glass leaving a white hole just above and to the side of the fin-box on the deep navy blue blade that was nearly complete.   I signed my name and wrote the date inside the white circle, glassed over it quickly with UV resin and was on my way in a host of different directions, on a singular path.


I don't claim to be any kind of force in the surf industry; hell I don't even want to be a part of it, but I guess a lot of people are paying attention lately.  I didn't invent the circle.  I didn't create abstract theory.  I didn't revolutionize the logo.  But it's hard to not notice the glut of resin circles being used as logos now; to a certain extent I don't mind.  I can't claim the circle as a logo, but I will claim it as my inspiration and my constant reminder of what and why I'm doing what I'm doing; and it's become my brand.  If you can find an example of a resin dot on a board pre-2009, let me know, but I sure as shit haven't ever seen one so when it's blatantly copied I really only ask one thing; Know what you're copying.  If you believe that your boards are momentary and products of a spark of curiosity and drive, then go for it, put what I consider my logo on your board and put your name on top of it.

I've seen piles of copies, from people near and removed from my work.  I've even seen EXACT copies, signed in there and everything, the same placement, the same size.  I've seen them all over the industry and locally now, too.  Its getting under my skin a bit now so I wanted to put it out there, the full story of the resin dot and why it's there on every board that I build.  If you feel so compelled, the story is here to read in rather excruciating detail...Take it in and then apply it if you're going to continue using something so close to my heart.  Put that circle on the bottom of your board, just above the fin, and remember every time you look at it why its there and how it happened.  Its a good feeling, just make it for the right reason, its more than a compositional dot to the people involved in it's origins.

The Resin Dot.

The original She Hull and the dot that changed my life. 

  

d.Malloy Rabbit's-Footery

Dan riding the first version of the Rabbit's Foot, via Alex Kopps.
Yew to say the least!

Govinda

Writing is good, thinking is better. Being smart is good, being patient is better.

8'10" x 23 3/4" x 3"

Foiled to the moon, flat deck with a heavy rolled vee bottom;  She's inspired 100% by a particular McTavish Keyo that Matty Chojnacki had in our apartment in Noosa a few months ago.  The board had all of the curves that I've been obsessed with for the past few years, but exploded and exaggerated; a truly refined vee bottom longboard that was one of the last of its kind, before the shortboard revolution took hold likely a few months after it was shaped.  

I've been shaping a handful of these through my travels this summer in australia and europe, and when I got home a few days ago I decided it was high time people hack here in Santa Barbara see what's been getting me so fired up lately.  

This one in particular is glassed with a double 6oz bottom and double 6oz deck, plus a 10oz volan patch.  I used Reichold ISO Marine resin for the lamination, I haven't felt a more balanced board in  along time; the 10.5" flex fin is a complete deal-sealer for me; riding it feels connected and smooth...The relationship between the bottom curves and the fin feel seamless to me and I can't wait to get it back in the water after our first go-out yesterday!

Sketchbook Updates

Got some new sketchbook pages up on the website, check 'em out!

www.RLovelace.com/Sketchbook

That'll do, Europe!

Welp, here I am, back in Santa Barbara county!  Floating in a haze of June (july?) gloom, jetlag, phone calls and emails, Herbie hugs and once more, foam dust...life doesn't get much more satisfying!
I wanted to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone who keeps making this dream of mine a reality.

I must be the luckiest guy I know, because I really can't imagine how it could get much better.  The past month took me through Italy, France and Belgium in a rather foam-covered fashion, I was well cared for by all and I'm floored with the response that my work is getting around the world, what a blessing.

I ended up with a total count of 29 surfboards shaped, and one Flex Spoon built start to finish; JB, Clovis and the crew in/around Wallako Surf Shop in Bidart and Biarritz did a ridiculous job of putting me up and making sure I had enough chocolate croissants and espresso in me at all times to power through all those boards in the two weeks I had there to work.  Axel and the Alaia Religion gang in Rome showed me a great time and set me up with some good energy to start off my trip.  Mr.Thomas Cravarezza and Filippo Orso got me into some mediterranean waves and gave me some good down-time to kick off the heavy Flu that I was battling for the previous two weeks.
And lastly but most definitely not least, the talented Angelo de Meulenaere in Belgium, who offered me an amazing setting to relax and soak in a new country after my marathon shaping session in France...the guys there are unreal, I always love meeting surf-starved surfers because they froth SO much harder on what many of us take for granted (though I did see a few photos of some outrageously good waves along their coastline...just saying...).
Angelo is doing some killer work up there all by himself...a pure product of the wonderful things sharing your work and passions on the internet and through travels can provide, Flow & Soul Surfboards is off to a great start, here are the boards he was working on while I passed through for my last week:

 

and what better way to end a trip through europe than the man, himself...a true vision to behold while waiting for a plane in Brussels...yep, this is reality:

I am lucky.  I am very grateful, and I will do my best to continue to share my passions with everyone and anyone interested in asking me or offering me an opportunity to express them.  An overwhelmingly deep thank you to everyone who helped me along my way through Europe over the past month.  I can't wait to see what comes in the near future; And until then, and in the meantime, I'll work on some more surfboards to freak you out with next year...