Billy Kean - 5'4 Bomb out at Kirra...

Watch the second session of this vid to see Billy Kean lovin' his 5'4 Pink Bomb out at Snapper...check it out...looks like so much fun...

Snapper from Thom Schneider on Vimeo.

BARGE



SINGLE SKEG PIRATE SHIP FOR CRUISING THE FOGGY BANKS DOWN SOUTH OF THE ST JOHNS TO THE RIVER OF MASSACRES

James' new 7'8" 'Jet' wooden surfboard.



Jet 7'8" by 19"  parallel profile paulownia Roy Stuart wooden surfboard with tunnel fin plus tuberculed in line single fin.



Billy Kean - D'Bah Blitz

Some more footage of team rider Billy Kean last winter blitzing D'Bah.....
This is the same D'Arcy Slingshot model in the later videos...

Billy and Wilson from Thom Schneider on Vimeo.

Billy Kean - Surfing the Slingshot model

Some footage of team rider Billy Kean testing some new materials for the D'Arcy Slingshot model to it's limits...Sawtell, NSW (Billy's home break)

Billy Kean 2010 from Thom Schneider on Vimeo.

Billy Kean - 5'7 to Heaven

Team rider Billy Kean having some fun on his 5'7 D'Arcy Bomb out at The Wreck - Byron Bay last week...

wreck from Thom Schneider on Vimeo.

Mick Mackie and " Lost in the Ether "

Mick Mackie is a very innovative individual and loves to do his own thing. It has been a pleasure to have him at past Fish Fry. And Andrew Kidman has brought us some very special movies in the past. So am looking forward to this one.

Mick at work on a stringerless Simmons in styrene.

Side cut , big butt crack , flex tail , all things Mick likes to explore.

late 60s Westcoast surfboards singlefin

Here's the most recent addition to the board shed, in as found condition. A 1968/9 transitional hully shape made by Westcoast of Woolacombe in Devon, not a make you see everyday and this is the first one I've seen in the flesh. On first meeting I liked the shape with its slim delicate 50/50 rails, hully underside, and it still feels amazingly light for its size - 7'6 x 20 1/2 . Not a heavy glass job. It also still has what looks like hard paraffin wax on the deck and an ancient leash made of string and rubber gone hard and cracked, and a healthy amount of dust. On the down side, someone has sprayed black paint over it, luckily not keyed in, and it looks like the logo must have delamed , cos its been removed and replaced with a layer of car filler.
And so begins some tlc ,a bit of work and it will be sliding again.
I don't know much about Westcoast so I have borrowed this piece from the Surfing museum's facebook, written by ex employee and rider Tony Cope,"Westcoast was run by the late Clinton Fitzgerald, known to everyone as just ` Fitz `. He had around him a few people who did bits & pieces to help, one being Roger Lyndon, from Piha, NZ, who was a beachguard in Woolacombe . Roger came to the `factory` ( old wooden stables in South St.) in the evenings to sand & finish boards. Clive Barber had his own surfboard company in South Africa, but spent the summers in Woolacombe shaping Westcoast boards. Fitz & I were best buddies & shared a house, until we both got engaged & lived with our girls. My job was to show surf movies summer evenings on a circuit of village halls in the weekday evenings. Weekends I went to every surf contest, riding & showing the boards. We were hoping it would take off big time, but it didn`t, & Fitz hated the weather & short season so eventually emigrated to SA to work with Clive.".

Log Rhythm Model

Almond Surfboards: Log Rhythm from Almond Surfboards on Vimeo.

FreakFish EVO6 bonzer goes tropo

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The new 6’5” x 21 1/4” x 2 5/8” EVO6 FreakFish for my trip to the Mentawais…

Can’t wait to get this into some fast hollow lefts on my backhand… should really suit Rags and Telescopes nicely.

Real Big Fish

What does this have to do with surfing, surfboard shaping, or surf culture NotB?
Not a goddamn thing, but I have a few in me and like this picture of my second-born daughter's first excursion to the SF aquarium.
That's Mrs. HHG's nose resting gently on the back of that sturgeon.

Happy Birthday Rat

Aaron is 18 today. I wonder if he'll ever outgrow the nickname King Rat.

Ocean Magic team board by Mooney McAllum

Sean saw this board in Newquay the other day and sent in some photos -A rare Ocean Magic 'Team' board shaped by Pete Mcallum . This was shaped in the period pre Nigel Semmens ownership . Channeled bottom , swallow tail , 5"7" x 21" x thick . Twin Fin .Un- numbered . Probably dates from 1979 or 80 and is similar to the short, wide swallow tailed boards Nigel was riding at the time. Its rare to see a 'team ' board like this, who it was made for I don't know - Nigel , Steve Daniel, or one of the numerous young Newquay surfers who were sponsered by Ocean Magic in the early 80s. A cool board, thanks Sean.
N S and Steve Daniel in Oz for the Stubbies 1980, photo by Alex
Here's an O M ad from way back , 1973 to be precise , from Surf Insight no 4 .Which is confusing as I've read an interview with Pete McAllum where he says he started OM in '76 .

Longboard 4 you?

Used 9'2 Early Bird for sale. This was a board we did for Worm last year, and Lightner has owned for the last while. $600.

Available at 367 Old Newport

bilbo

A Bilbo in the woods - well actually someone's garden. Lots of old boards are left outside like this one to battle the elements. Owners not interested in using them any more, too heavy to get rid of etc. .This one had last been used as a bathing platform up a river. Luckily it has been bought, saved and restored and is surfing again. Others might not be so lucky. Photo taken in 2007.

The Day Tripper Experiment...

Click to Enlarge...

IT WORKS...!!!!!! Wow, after riding this thing over the last month or so, in waves between 2 ft and 4 ft from D'Bah to Snapper and down the coast, I found this design principal really works. (the principal being, you are a different surfer on your heel side to your toe side) Having a short turning heel side and long turning toe side, made it super easy to surf!!! It felt so good and so fast, usually my deluxe super twin is really smooth off the bottom but slow off the top but with the asymmetrical "Day Tripper" it snaps off the top and cuts back off the heel like my short board and being a quad on my heel side makes the turn effortless.
Kye (my 19 year old son) said the other day after surfing with me, "the transition from rail to rail is so smooth it almost looks mechanical, like a roller coaster without tracks" A carnival of fun...!!!!
This design aspect is truly thought provoking....the true meaning of customised...the variables are endless...from shortboards all the way through to Guns.
If you're confused just ask me any questions and I'll do my best to answer them...Darcy
Stay posted for some surfing footage of this model.

3 for akio!

Flow and Glide

Ben throws a fan and looks down the line during the CSSL middle school contest. We are mid season now and the level of surfing is simply amazing.

Midday Slides | Cy Sutton

Cy's Midday Slides from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.

The Riddler rides again…

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This ones off to Indo with me, so the good news is the original Riddler is up for sale… If interested give me a shout.

This one is exactly the same (which says it all really) except for a slightly thicker rail for the slightly heavier surfer (13 1/2 stone)… ME! It’s still the barrel focussed shortboard it was intended to be, together with a REVO5 bonzer fin set up and a gullwing McCoy rear fin. Pics of it in action at HTs (hopefully) coming from a boat in the Mentawais soon.

Luxury Toys for Men by Rebekka Wangler

“It’s a man’s world,” sang James Brown in 1966. Honoring this maxim, this book was made for men who relish the finer things in life. It spans everything from neat technological gimmicks and exclusive watches to extraordinarily fast cars, focusing on exactly the type of luxury that makes the “stronger sex’s” heart beat faster.



See Roy Stewart surfboards 12 foot olo surfboard collection in 'Luxury Toys for Men' published in English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian.



http://www.teneues.com/shop-int/books/lifestyle-boulevard/luxury-toys-for-men.html





Ratio Fins Are Awesome!!!

Mini Noseriding with my new Ratio center fin.
They use the pop in technology that makes it super easy
to change your fin's position cause there's no screw or plate.
It just pops in and out...





Couch Surfing


its too freaking cold to surf outside now so we are surfing inside!
new 11' x 5" bamboo deck SUP for cruising shem crick!

Buttery Goodness


I took a few shots of Christian on his Butter Zone yesterday...
It's safe to say he loves that board