the first water to touch this board
is from the blue spring, the best spring water in the world. Check out the Paulownia seedlings at the beginning of this clip . .planted for future board making. . .
Bennys wooden fish
Nice artwork Dave
Sweet Milch boards
Dicks rocket fish
Giving Thanks
Thanksgiving day swell
We had an amazing, solid thanksgiving day swell here at Ocean beach . My friend Andy was able to get this shot of me testing out the new 9' 6" quad. Very Cat and Mouse out there that day. It was really nice to have the extra paddle to track down the bigger peaks.
We had an amazing, solid thanksgiving day swell here at Ocean beach . My friend Andy was able to get this shot of me testing out the new 9' 6" quad. Very Cat and Mouse out there that day. It was really nice to have the extra paddle to track down the bigger peaks.
Egg White: Gratuitous Shaping Room Shots
I once made the mistake of referring to my shaping shack as a 'studio.' My buddy Kev called me on it. Now, It's just the Shop.Here are a few pics of a 6'10 egg in the Shop. The photo above is looking from tail to nose, the opposite below. Template is definitely hull-like with the abundance of curves, but the rocker and bottom contours are geared more toward beachbreak maneuverability. This one's going to be a 2+1 fin setup, but they're great as 4+1s, too (quad plus center box).
The egg is an essential addition to the ego (evening glass off) series, designed for late-in-the-day goodness. You're surfed out, noodle-armed, but may have one or two left in you. As the sun drops, you paddle once for a glassy peeler. You glide in effortlessly, rise up toward the lip and realize you may have the strength for a few more...
Deep in my subconsciousness lies an old crusty bastard who demands all eggs be ridden as single fins. He shakes his head in disappointment as I mark out the rail fins, then retreats to his corner of the Shop (which, incidentally, is the corner with the sixer of lukewarm Tecate). He wears tight corduroy shorts and gym socks. He has flecks of Tecate foam in his chest hair. He is displeased.Closer to the surface, the younger student of fine-tuned shredability forces a chuckle and marks out a center box, too, just in case. The crusty bastard cracks a fresh one. He nods. He is pleased.
Here's a shot of our T-Giving setup at SanO. Not a lot happening wave-wise, but it proved to be a rich field of stoke and fun times. Snuggled deep in the hammock is my beautiful daughter, nine months old, dreaming good baby dreams. You probably can't tell from this angle, but she has some new teeth coming in on top.
The future primitive surfboard has some finishing touches
Blood and sweat in this video,( no tears yet) The leash plug was installed using wood flour as thickener. The chain that attaches the user friendly vent plug to the board is attached. Roy is already eyeing hios next project. . .
Let's get with the program here, kids.
"The view from space. The harpooning of whales. The Cuyahoga in flames. Smog in Los Angeles. The clubbing of baby seals. Toxic waste dumps. The hunting of wolves near Yellowstone. The Amazon in flames. Polar bears on melting ice." - from Break Through
What's it going to take?
Not being able to surf after a rain? That junk in the water is coming off of your street!
Oil spills shutting down the entire central coast? That stuff goes into the foam that your board is shaped out of! You use it to drive to the beach!
When is going to hit home? When are you going to start paying attention? When exactly are you going to take your first step?Let's get on it!
Installing the fin
Today Roy installed the fin. The actual process took about two and half hours, even though the video is only about 4 minutes long. . . He was running with sweat near the end, he fitted and removed the fin about a dozen times to get the hole just right
We are nearly there! Polishing will be up next.
We are nearly there! Polishing will be up next.
Roy is in the news
Here is the story about Loosefit Surfshop who have been stocking our Organic Surf Wax for 2 years. If you are interested in buying some of this wax try loosefit
if you are in the UK or Europe or if you are in the Southern hemisphere get it here
Organic wax is great. It is stickier than the ordinary stuff, and it protects our planet!
The future Primitive Fin
Well we have had a lot of good feedback for this videoWhich shows Roy laying up a mighty spitfire fin for the Future Primitive.
Shaping the primitive
This process took a whole week of shaping.in the video Roy makes it look easy of course
But he must have walked around that board at least a thousand times!
The birth of a legend
And so we come to the laminating process: here you will see Roy getting hot and dusty!
The board has a total of 7 layers. The deck and bottom are each constructed out of a double layer.
The Pipeline challenge
This board will take on the hollowest wave on the planet. BB at Sways did not want this to be true, because he stands for American domination in the surf industry. Roy has a family with 11 children, lives in New Zealand and his surf promotions are run on a shoestring. However we believe in this design!
So the challenge has started
And here
you will find some of the philosophies behind the board.
The future primitive surfboard
This design was first conceived in 1997. It was a 12 footer designed by drawing the planshape on a dusty wooden floor in a workshop which we were renting in Gisborne NZ. The tail was what we termed an 'extreme pintail' as it was drawn right from the wide point.
The original board was built in balsa.
The resulting board was incredible: It completely blew all the other designs out of the water, and Roy surfed it in all conditions including big days when only a handful of shortboarders and mat riders would venture out in front of a packed carpark:
So now we come to 2007 and the future primitive pipeline challenge.This started with a gauntlet thrown by Bill Barnfield at Swaylocks.
Toro! Toro!
The El Toro! is strong like bull. It's frickin' heavy like bull, too--this one has a lot of volan on the top, and a lot of volan on the bottom.
Stripes are foam stain, blank is Walker, and fin is from Rainbow Fin Co. The catalog calls the fin, in an industry-rare moment of understatement, "Skeg."
The blank has a unique history: ordered in a post-Clark frenzy, arrived in NorCal almost a year later, traveled down to Santa Cruz to await machine-shaping, rescued, shaped in Sonoma County, brought back up to Mendocino County last month for glassing (where it's going to stay). Hopefully, it will see more time in the water than it did on the road.
This shot makes its butt look big, despite the slimming presence of stripes.
Supertanker skeg.
We're headed to San Onofre for Thanksgiving, so give a shout if you see a bunch of bearded NorCal dirtbags (and a baby!) drinking lukewarm Tecate and cooking a turkey on the beach.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Stripes are foam stain, blank is Walker, and fin is from Rainbow Fin Co. The catalog calls the fin, in an industry-rare moment of understatement, "Skeg."
The blank has a unique history: ordered in a post-Clark frenzy, arrived in NorCal almost a year later, traveled down to Santa Cruz to await machine-shaping, rescued, shaped in Sonoma County, brought back up to Mendocino County last month for glassing (where it's going to stay). Hopefully, it will see more time in the water than it did on the road.
This shot makes its butt look big, despite the slimming presence of stripes.
Supertanker skeg.We're headed to San Onofre for Thanksgiving, so give a shout if you see a bunch of bearded NorCal dirtbags (and a baby!) drinking lukewarm Tecate and cooking a turkey on the beach.
Happy Thanksgiving!
A Coke-Bottle and a Smile
Happens every year: winter dips its icy toe into our north Pacific waters, stirs it around a bit, and nods its head--it's time.
Then, much like our beleaguered president, summer speaks up and claims itself "still relevant." We get a fun blast of late-season south swell, play like dolphins for days, then put away our summer boards, still wet, with smiles on our faces.
Some among us, however, refuse to believe that it's over. These nonbelievers carefully rinse out their 4/3 (or even 3/2!) wetsuits and hang them up to dry in the waning, anemic sunlight. They pretend it's not frost they're scraping off their windshields in the morning, just excrement from some summery bug inhabiting the tree above their parking space. That it's not woodsmoke pouring forth from their neighbors' chimneys at night, just an unfortunate draft from their backyard BBQ.
And they order fishes in November.
Nathan is one of these people. Delusional. He's been known to paddle his quad fish into some serious winter surf, and then carve some serious lines. So serious, in fact, that those watching will unconsciously wish they chose their sandals instead of their Uggs. They'll check their watches and believe, just for a moment, that it's not going to get dark until 9pm, and they still have plenty of time to stop by the store to pick up some shrimp for the grill...
Surfers Path
Take a look at the Current issue of the Surfers Path. Mark Grey Wrote a very insightful and thorough look at the current state of the surfboard building industry that had a bit about Hess Surfboards. This Beautiful Shot by Todd Glasser of Dan Malloy riding his Lola quad in the cove at Rincon runs in the Article.
Very honored as well to be Nominee for this years Green Wave awards
Winter Quiver
This years lineup of boards
Missing a couple but here is my current quiver
From right to left. 5'10" Pacheco Quad, 6' Singer, 6'1" Lola quad, 7'4" Quad Semi Gun, 8' Bonzer Semi Gun, 9'6" Quad Full Gun, 10' Quad Full Gun, 8'3" Alaya . Missing my 6'1" and 6'3" Quintara's. Enjoy
Missing a couple but here is my current quiver
From right to left. 5'10" Pacheco Quad, 6' Singer, 6'1" Lola quad, 7'4" Quad Semi Gun, 8' Bonzer Semi Gun, 9'6" Quad Full Gun, 10' Quad Full Gun, 8'3" Alaya . Missing my 6'1" and 6'3" Quintara's. Enjoy
The original Lola Quad
Lola is Our furry little Child and the inspiration for the Lola Quad.
She's super fast and incredibly maneuverable. Check it out
She's super fast and incredibly maneuverable. Check it out
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