My brother, his friend Kevin and I are going from their town, Tochigi, into Tokyo today so they can show me whats up in the city...so far I've learned that Japan kicks ass, and they have BY FAR the sweetest surf vehicles of anywhere. they're everywhere, and I want to take one home!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Big/Small
Yahagi and the guys put up a small album of photos from the Fish Fry the other day, give 'em a look see!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Ah so!
VeloSimmin' all up on the front of Japan's Blue magazine, along with many other fine offerings!
I want a translated version of Blue, the photos and features that they do are great, I wish i could read Japanese because I'm pretty sure it's my favorite magazine in the world!
The fish fry yesterday went great, I met lots and lots of people and hung out with Tyler W. and Christian Wach for a bit, Tyler rode Yahagi's 1939 kookbox (the real kind) for a bit and drew quite a crowd of gawkers when they hit the water!
Photos coming soon, I have to find a new cord for my camera, i forgot mine back home like a dork.........
Friday, May 28, 2010
FishFrying Overseas!
Hanging out in Japan for the week with Yahagi and the crew, fish fry is tomorrow and i'm reeeeeeally excited, the surf is absolutely pumping! nice onshore wind, slight chop on the water and a heavy 1'-2' windswell with rain in the forecast...you're jealous!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Streaming Consciousness
On monday I turn 24, that'll mark another year of my board building life since my first board was built on my 19th birthday...since then I've shaped nearly 400 boards, 39 of which happened in the last 2 weeks, all hand shaped, all glassed by me. every board, every time.
And in comes my first interesting thing: I've been teaching a young (17 year old) friend of mine, Conner Lyon to glass for the past few weeks, he's been running between shops with me learning the ins and outs of a solid color lam job, cloth inlays, half and half colors, and countless resin dots. I'm about ready to set him free on my boards so I can spend my time in the shaping bay as orders from all over the world are stacking up.
...I guess I put myself in an odd corner when I decided to not let anyone glass my boards for the past 5 years...BUT, I wouldn't have done it ANY other way. I can safely say that I know every inch of my shapes intimately and have ridden the sh*t out of them and fine tuned them to no end. and to this date i've never disliked a single board i've made for myself or a friend or a customer, they all have something to offer and teach us about the water's movement and interaction with the planing surface of a board.
Which is my next point. When is it ever enough? For anyone, for an artist, where does the desire and the motivation come from? I've been digging to find it, and in all honesty I don't think there is an end. Every time I nail a shape exactly how I want it...the question is raised, "but what if I did THIS?!?!" It seem to be an endless well of "what if's", which must be why my father paints like he does, each painting has a very similar look and feel but each is a tweak or different composition or different emotion to evoke from the handler, just like a surfboard. It truly is a personal path of exploration...it just happens to end up in the hands of someone else when he or I is ready to hand it over and share the experience gained.
I didn't grow up in a pure surf community, I used to think that was bad for what I was falling in love with in my first year or two of board building. Pretty quickly I found that it is a total blessing. I'm free to explore my own brain and put my thoughts into shape. I've always done things the hard way, and now I know I learned this on my own and I put my sweat and blood into what I sign my name on every day.
I feel like my work is more of a search through curiosity and exploration of the classic battle between form and function and I've found my muse particularly in hulls and the effects that their features can lend to everyday surfers and making it EASIER to surf, as opposed to what normal perception of hulls being hard to surf...
If you are the right type of person, stepping onto one will be second nature, pure flow and power. Connection. With the water, with the deck of the board, through the bottom and the rails, everything is connected and flowing. Speed through MORE interaction with the water's surface than the idea of pumping to get OFF of the water; that doesn't sound like fun to me 90% of the time.
wow...I sat down to write about my birthday and my travels next week and ended up spewing out that...I guess I'll stop there.
Thank you all for everything you do for me, you keep food in my dog's bowl and foam in my shaping room. and more than anything, you provide me with the link to my next step into my own curiosity.
-Ryan
Friday, May 21, 2010
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