RHAnt

I really like Tim: he knows what he wants, has an idea of what it should look like, but is wise enough to throw a clue as to the board's ultimate purpose.

This could be anywhere in Cali, during any era. It's what I heard Tim saying he wanted.
So I shaped him this:


Just an ANT. Never "just" for anyone who Knows What They Want- but an Ant, nonetheless. But after a few rides, more info bubbles up from Tim, about something we no longer have, both in surf, and in rider- Russell Hughes, dead last May. I begin to understand: He saw this,

And he was thinking this: Russ on the left.


I'm just happy he could ride like this. Sounds like he is, too.

Where Next?

Where next? After Vancouver,maybe right here. The strongest-yet southern hemi popped in right about the same time I got back in town ( I wish it showed up a week early!). While I've had no time to partake (paying off for Travel Fun), I'm sure some local feedback will arrive. I'm planning on sloppy seconds at the end of the week (before Carmageddon).
Whatever, it's L.A.

The Great Green North

TeePee surf camp

Moonshine

Storm Jonny

9'0'' and 8'0''

8'0'' Hot Generation

9'0'' Combo of L-spoon , HG and Fineline Microant, these 2 are Mr. Elsners. Good feedback on both of these.

LEO

Surf Craft. Ho Ho, 'Ho

'Tis the season. Ho, Ho, you 'Ho. Lot's o' sleds.

surf craft

Hull at Chasm

Hull at Beach

Hull at Home

Hull not wanting to be home

Hull in Butt

bottom turns are overrated, nasal passages are forever

Man looked at what he created, and said it was good.

She must be some kind of ghost the way her love'n haunts me so.

Big-Human Pigs

By the way, for those of you who are superstitious (I'm not), this shot just happened to be numbered
60666 on my camera. I didn't take this pic: my camera is always around for anyone to grab and snap. Someone who lurks around here, and gets a board or two shaped, took this pic. But stuff happens...


Seeing this, I knew I had a source of inspiration. The Duke knew all about being a high-gravity guy. So I talked to Him about a high-gravity-dude pig.
The Duke and I both agreed. After all, we're both practical, hands-on guys. We needed a high-gravity dude to help us accomplish the mission...

...one with really high-gravity eyebrows. Truely outsized to all normal Human expectations.

Obviously, high-gravity guys need oversized components on their equipment...

Johnny checking out the almost-final result.
9'10: 18 x 23 x 17. A true pig template, but gone high-gravity. 3 1/4" thick, so all is proportional. We added concave to the nose, 'a la Dave Sweet. D-fin. Duh. No model name, as of yet- but there will be- all model names here show up after all cosmetic/behavioral inputs show up...good, and bad, like life.
If you show up at Mike Black's Pig-fest, you'll see the done deal. BJ

Grey Cutter? Fog Lady?

Sometime, in the age of Roswell UFOs (around 1960), some alien dropped down to Cali on the down-low (instead of New Mexico), and started to surf Rincon. Sometime, in the last couple of years, I snuck into Area 51 and grabbed the vibe of this totally alien pig water-craft. Also on the down-low. It is totally un-authorized, so no-way am I calling it by it's Alien name; I was seeing nothing like it out there, in the 21st century pig-now, and when things I found on the Alien craft solidified the not-quite-solid things that I was trying to put into the Fog Cutter, I started taking notes on the Alien Spacecraft- so I could fill in the blanks- some parts I got right, by myself, some parts went where I didn't dare tread by myself. So far, normal Human folks have liked the results...
... But I'm totally willing to make the original, lower gravity planet-version for any brave gravity-traveler.

I don't know what's more Alien- Johnny (on right), who can throw more hair-dos in one month than I can in a year (total hair-envy on my part), or the modified Grey-thing on the left- at 22'' wide, it is already wider by almost a half-inch from the Original, but the template, rocker, and, most important, the bottom and rail thickness is true to what I saw at Roswell. This board (already sold): 9'5 X 22" wide, 3"-and-a bit thick (like most of this board's contemporaries). But you don't have to deal with an Alien if you live on the Right Coast- Mollusk Brooklyn has a 9'5 coming, without a Hairy Ogre in the Box.... You guys are Stoked, the Chicks are bummed...

I get serious road-rage when I see solid glass D-fins. I've foiled many a fin, and, when it comes to D-fins, the weight difference is ENORMOUS! So, I had to bite the bullet and make my own wood-core fins, just to lose two pounds off the tail. At least they look kinda cool, as well.

Perfect Fineline Style

I have absolutely no clue who She is, nor do I particularly care. I just know that this is an
aesthetically perfect union of board and human. It didn't hurt that I pulled up this picture
while a certain song was playing on my WinAmp- the almost impossible-to-find Black Album live version of "Smash It Up" by the Damned. One of those right-place/right-time kind of situations.
So I give you both, but not quite: This is the link to the '82 gig of the Damned at the Whiskey A Go-Go- they screw up righteously through the whole song, but at least Captain Sensible is naked. He wasn't when the Damned played at Godzilla's in the Valley in 1981.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRRbgI72ahc

A Little Piece Of What We'd All Love To See Again

I finally reconnected with my friends in Portland. This was kind of important to me, as I needed a half-way crash-pad on my coming board-delivery road trip to Tofino, B.C. Now it's not only Kellen, but Schueyler and Aaron as well. Aaron sent me this "ideal Surf Shop" photo from his new digs up in fog-land. The longboards are probably Gene's , but something of mine might be up there. Plus a shortboard or two from the revitalized (right on!) shaping of Bob Hurley.
All I can say, is whoever's boards are in this shop, they deserve to be there.
This quiver is going to be added to: Aaron needs some more foam for the jumble-beef of northern waters, so it means that not all the boards I'm hauling up are going to B.C.- some are short-shipping to Portland.

7'8'' Viento

Artist Pat HIll ordered this 7'8'' Veinto PHD

Deck

Bottom, nice rolled V in front of the fin box.

After putting this one under my arm I did not want to let it go.

S- Deck med thin rail, Brian did a nice job on this one, also there is a sweet 9'6'' PHD Son of Sam spoon down at Mollusk Venice that I did not want to let go either.

A New Twin Fin Hull- the MP-MR

Well, fairly new- a couple have been mumbling around dark alleys for
close to year now, but it's out of the bag now, since Sacred Craft.

Basically, as the name implies: the basic vibe of my MP, but combined to a genuine twin-fin
(as opposed to a fish) fin set-up. It's kind of a natural- the non-kick tail rocker of the MP, that many found stiff, is perfect for a twin setup. In fact, it's the same for both my standard MP, and a 1979
MR twin up in my rafters.


The similarity to a Lost Fish, template-wise, is obvious. It's my standard MP nose, same rate of curve as the MP, into a slightly narrower tail.
This one is 6'1; 17" x 20 1/2" x 14 3/4". The narrower tail allowed me to lose some center width ( I had to, actually, to keep the hull-turn pivot forward where it needs to be), compared to the single fin MP. It's a lot faster rail to rail, but I'm sure that the twin set-up is doing that, and not the 3/8" less width.


I'm having the best luck with these fins from 101 Fin Co., but I need to try some genuine full sized
upright twins- all the current ones on the market are too small- smaller than the original MR twins.

The point, of course, is to get some Hull Humm
off the front end. So far, it seems to Close the Deal.

The Coffin

Dennet of Evil Goods and I cooked this up. It was without doubt the most fondled
board at Sacred Craft in Santa Cruz.
Yes, it's a rider, not just a looker.



Meet the Batwing


This brat is a genuine displacement hull, with the rocker patterned after Jaws, but with more
thickness. 6'0 x 24" x 2 7/8"