Thursday, July 5, 2012

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...






    

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