Wooden Fish up for auction to raise funds for Christchurch Earthquake relief.

Just wanted to let you know the auction has now officially started for the Red Cross Earthquake Board.

The Trademe link is as follows:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Surfing/Surfboards/Shortboards/auction-375246625.htm


The closing time for the auction is Monday 16 May, 8:22 pm (New Zealand Standard Time).

Fingers crossed, we hope there are some generous people out there that want to help our healing City and in return get themselves a one off collector’s item.

Once again, the story of the Earthquake board can be read here:
http://sadhanasurfboards.co.nz/news/

Full photo gallery of the making can be seen here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.153663951360818.31693.100001516413921

Kiwi , John Sutcliffe's chambered log

John has just picked up his chambered Redwood and Pine strip longboard. The Redwood was locally milled and he made the board to donate to raise funds to build a skateboard park in Mangawhai.
" The usual positive input from Roger and an awesome glass job by Matt and Emma from Surfline Surfboards. Carmen and I will be there in August with a twin fin fish made with Kahikatia which I have just started."

Nice fin to compliment the board.

Kiwi fush underway

Johnny Sutcliffe with the framework of his wooden fish project, redwood rails and the stringer is unkown species but he retrieved it from a skip bin.He will keep us posted on the progress and we should see the finished project in August. Nice one John.

The High Tech approach

We all know that the bee and the honey comb are a dam good team when it comes to building ideas. Well meet Mike Grobelny from New Zealand. He has taken that idea and some technology and lifted the bar for us all.

Old ideas new ideas , it is all out there in front of us we just need to know where to look sometimes.

It helps when you are a computer design major and have a work shop like this to use.

Light , strong and only the beginning for Mike.

Check out this clip and if you would like to meet him he will be one of the speakers at the Gold Coast Surf Museum on the first weekend in August for The Wooden Board Day 2011

Roger Hall from New Zealand gets ready for the fry .

When it comes to going the extra mile and effort for the Fish Fry , Roger surely sets the bar pretty high.Here below is the workings of his latest board for this years Fish Fry.

A combination of foam and wood like you have never seen. As if it is not hard enough to work with the differing densities of a variety of timbers and then to add the foam as well.

How the resin brings it all to life...

A sanding nightmare for most of us , but just something to be done for Roger.

Roger builds beautiful detailed custom boards all day and this is him just stepping it up for the Fish Fry in his own way. Mate my hat goes off to you once again and like everyone I can't wait to see it in all it's glory next week.


A lot of planning and time goes into a project like this especially when you are running a small team building great boards all day. Check out what Roger calls his regular boards :
www.surfline.co.nz

A big thanks to Mike for the pics above. He will be coming with Roger once again and just fizzing for the opportunity to surf without a wetsuit after a summer in the land of the long black raincoat.

Bobby Crisp from Wellington has some special boards coming for the Fish Fry ...

A Paipo board getting the finishing touches...
Bobby Crisp , came to last years Wooden Board Day and turned up with some very intricate inlay boards , which is something he seems to specialise in and do very well. He is flat out building and finishing boards to bring to the Fish Fry.

Check out Bobby at : www.deluxeindustries.co.nz

and www.deluxindustries.blogspot.com

Some people are going to a lot of trouble to bring something special to the Fish Fry

A five stringer flextail fish nearing completion.Roger Hall will be taking her out for a few test drives prior to cutting the swallow tail into the rear.
Roger working away in a 5ft 11" x 21 3/4" x 2 7/8" Speed Dialer.The mix of timbers are : Centre Beam - Agarve , Central Lattice Beams - Paulownia/Redwood/Pine , Outer Lattice Beams - Agarve and Cabbage Tree , All other beams are either Redwood, Balsa or Paulowina.
All fully chambered and foiled , now the rails and then hours of hand sanding , very carefully as you have so many different timbers and densities to contend with.
You won't see Roger doing things by halves...
The board in the background is a Speed Dialer - 5'11" x 21" x 2 7/8" with timbers : Centre Beam - Redwood/Paulowina. Outer Lattice Beams - Agarve and Cabbage Tree. Rail Beams - Redwood;/Pine/Purple Heart/Oregon/Mahagany. All other beams are either Paulowina or Redwood or Balsa.

He is also working on a Keel Fin Fish - 5'10" x 22" x 2 7/8" - Central Lattice - is Coconut Balsa with Pine and Redwood Stringers. Rails are Redwood and Coconut.

Be sure to check out the detail and craftsmanship of this guy. They certainly don't come much better than this. To my mind Roger is the best wooden board builder I have seen. Maybe a big call ? Then send me your pics and I will post them as well.

Check out his sites : www.surfline.co.nz
and www.fishnlog.blogspot.com

Kiwi artist, surfer and shaper...

New Zealand has some great waves and some great artists. Daryn Mcbride just happens to be a former pro longboarder that captures the beauty of his homeland and the sea in a magical way.

Check him out at : www.freedomartstudio.blogspot.com

Some nice woodwork by Bobby Crisp from NZ.

Here are some pretty tidy wood detailing by Bobby Crisp for Wellington in New Zealand. He is currently in Hawaii catching a few warm rays and south shore waves before heading over to the Gold Coast for the wooden board day on the 9th of August. Looking forward to catching up with him and checking out his boards up close.

Bobby Crisp's working on a couple of boards for August

Bobby Crisp from Wellington , New Zealand id finishing off a couple of boards to bring over in August to The Wooden Surfboard Day. He does a nice job , with a lot of detail in his inlays and wood work. Looking forward to meeting him and checking out his boards. www.deluxeindustries.co.nz

John Sutcliffe's board is ready to get wet

John Sutcliffe from New Zealand  has just finished his board and wet it's head. This is the one built in the garage next to the GT Falcon. Roger Hall and Matt Waite from Surfline Surfboards glassed it for him.

" Sunday was the official launch at Mangawhai Heads. The surf wasn't really co operating but I had a ball. Its so cool to actually surf something I made myself. Anyway here are some photos for the blog.

Cheers John"      We hope to see John with his board in August.