Announcing the return of Rephullmen

Hiya guys and girls!
     There is nothing about a surfboard in this post.
I am simply announcing my return to a form of social media- this form, the archaic Blog.
For close to 5 years now, I've been a conscientious objector to all forms of social media...
why? might you ask!
I always saw any social media as a form of conveying real information. When I saw it become just a forum for blowhards with not a lot to say except how bitchen they were, I decided that this just wasn't my style.
     Have I changed my mind and become another blow-hard?
     No.
I decided to go back to an original, informational format, to give real information about  Fineline and PhD surfboards. I have no desire to give trendy sound bites- if you haven't the attention span to spend 3 or 4 minutes to read what I have to say, then you needn't bother! It is what it is. I've done a helluva lot of new shit in the last 5 years, am doing it right now, and people who actually give a crap have had no way of knowing about it, unless they were on a very tight Old Boy network- people who know me personally, friends of my friends, or people who took the trouble to email me, and usually (not always!) received an answer.
     So don't expect a blog a day about something trendy, super-cool, and that makes me look cutting edge when I haven't actually done anything except shape yet another custom board- a board literally for one rider- the customer who ordered it.
     I'll be doing my first new Real surfboard post within a week, and whenever I have something useful to say, I'll say it.
     By the way, I'm currently handshaping everything- have been since I left the net.
                                    Thanks for reading this,    BJ 

Mondo Cane

The P-38

Baron Samedi knows, all things dead grow.
     Here's a new morph (not so new- it's been ridden, and ridden well) of the P-38.
Working off the Old Guy, as well as the Tombstone and the Archer,
this guy has a lot more of the now-classic mini-Simmons feel off of the tail, with the same full-rail feel on front-foot turns as the original P-38.

True to my "front foot, hull, back foot, fins" turn philosophy, this morph has a fuller, tucked under edge in the back rail, while maintaining a follow-through forward, in both rail and bottom,

into a true hull front end. A big change is the nose template; I switched to the Lurker nose; this provides a more concentrated corner for front-rail turns, as well as losing 1" of front nose for a better turn hinge and better duck-diving.

The template: a double ender: this one is 5'8, Mondo Cane is 5'6. Both are 18 1/2 x 22 x 18 1/2", 3" thick. A Classic 1982 Pool Skateboard template.

The bottom is the sure-fire, front hull to panel vee in between the fins, to a flat exit ( in this case, as usual, immediately behind the fins, to firm the tail and add rooster-tail spray value). The fins differ from your typical Mini-Simmons; in my opinion, the fins are the engines with twin fins, so this is a fin with a lot of drive with a pivot potential. With drive in mind, they are not two sided foils. Actually, Marlin Bacon at 101 Fins talked me into a wonderful fin- a 60% outside/ 40% inside front foil, flowing to a 90% outside/10% inside... Front for steer, rear for drive, not to mention the flex properties of  bamboo fins, when properly foiled.  The template is also a slap in Mini-Simmons' faces- it's a tweak off the classic Steve Brom fish fin; narrower at base, higher in aspect, it pivot-turns with drive when you expect to endure a
momentum-robbing slide.
     These two guys are for sale in Val Surf in NoHo.

Ant times two

Yeah, Tim. Yeah, Aaron (the original- the namesake- Aaron's New Toy- A.N.T.).
     I'm back on an Ant; but this time, times two:
     This ANT is just an as-usual Ant; 9'3, 22 1/4 (wide for me!), a taste under 3" thick. Typical.

The other Ant is, actually, a MicroAnt- the MicroAnt as it should have been, but for which the world was not yet prepared when I shaped the first MicroAnt. Think about a Hot Generation with less nose width, the same tail-friendly hull-to-vee bottom, with more curves and corners to turn off of:

This board is a 7'3 morph of a board I've been playing with for over a year now- Called, initially,
the EV: I'm thinking of it as the MA III, or the MA-EV, or the EV, for short. It carries the mass distribution and bottom contour of the Hot Generation, as well as some of the pertinent template, but, as said before, it has more curves to turn off of.

I'm anticipating duck-dive-ability with the narrower nose:
This board is weighing in at:
7'3; 16 3/4 x 21 5/8 x 16 1/8, 1.5" nose, 3.15", 3" back, 1.9" tail in thickness. The template is prettier with  a wider wide-point, but I'm conscious of my foot size, and I didn't want to push wider, personally, past 21 3/4".
     There isn't a board made under 8' that I can't duck-dive with this nose. I came really close to duck-diving
my 8'0 Hot Generation!
     But, as Darth Vader always says: "We'll see!".
This board has had great reviews in Hot Gen sizes for over a year- i.e., between 8'0 and 8'6. A lot like the PHd Puerto Rico, but it is stronger off the tail in an aggressive turn. Like the HotGen- the harder you push it, the stronger it will reward you. I'm seeing that this template will go to original MicroAnt sizes, 7'0 to 7'6, sizes that the Hot Gen won't easily go. I'm excited.
     The Ant:

9'3. Sooo Tim Elsner, that I blush, but I've been 8 years without an Ant ( I've been riding an Avenger, but the last two seasons of "longboard" go-outs have been on an 8'0 Hot Generation- it doesn't count).
Just an average, dime-store Ant, but it's mine!

3-Dimensional Shaping

Something I Noticed This Week

      A typical Waterman's week, in summer. Making my garage's sides bulge with shaped blanks, while I'm praying The Big One (earthquake) will wait a day. Daylight didn't reveal this other three-dimensional shaper, but happily (or, unhappily, for me- I was still working), I caught this set of 3-D curves right at the doorway last night.
The pic doesn't do it justice. Too much is going on. Neither Leibnitz nor Newton invented calculus (or, as Newton called it, rather poetically, Fluxions). Little Spidey Man knows it in his exoskeleton; has known it for a helluva longer than I have, even if I had to learn it... maybe from him?

New Hully Short Stuff

Here's a couple of new short guys that I've been working on for close to a year.

The Egg On Acid. A hyper short version of the Tri-Egg, it carries the classic soft egg rail on top of the hull,
with a kink in the template and tail rocker, along with a barreled V to give a solid pivot off of the tail.

This one is 5'11, 17" x 21 1/4" x 16 1/2". I've made them anywhere from 5'7 to 6'2, and it probably
can go a little bigger, as well.
       The other board is the VeeBee:

Obviously, a variant of the GeeBee. This one is 5'9, 18 1/8 x 21 x 17. The difference is in the tail: it stays wider in the back third, and corners into a narrower tail block, more like Velo, hence the name. Bottom-wise, it also goes into a firm Vee in the tail, with a rocker kink.

Otherwise, this board has the same rocker, bottom, and committed hull rail as the GeeBee.
On both these boards, I've opened up the fin options. Both can be ridden as single fins (of course),
but by using standard 2-plug FCS for the side boxes, two different fin setups can go down.
One would be the classic GeeBee/MP one-plus two setup:

This setup is the classic for more committed rail turns. A more tail-friendly option is this:

A two-plus one setup. Either way, both of these boards have a different feel. I dig 'em!

9'4'' SOS, PHD

Flo's 9'4'' SOS

Brian set this blank up nice with the stringers coming right out at the corners.

Nice, Watermans Guild volan glass job.

Upon the front 3rd on this and it will take off with out you if your not ready.

This one came out nice .

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