Share and share alike...

September, 2009, via JKP

I, the beneficiary of the generosity and encouragement of many friends and acquaintances, sometimes feel compelled to give and share simply for giving's sake. (Not always, so don't get greedy.)

Above are photos of a man at work in a manner that essentially every one of his contemporaries has forsaken. Though heady names exist on the labels of boards and clothing, the only label that bears the weight of decades of continuous work building and riding surfboards is the wings. No ghosts, no machines, no bull.

His trip has been on my mind and at my fingertips lately. Appreciation is warranted.
Thanks.

Sometimes things come right...

Half-past noon on a pleasant afternoon. The phone buzzes. "Ugh. Don't they know the baby is napping?" I, leaving my back garden, stomp into the house and grab the phone, hoping to gift my babe just a few minutes more rest.

"Hi Andy, It's me, Skip. You're board is done. Just need to finalize glassing." "Clear. Clear will be great."

It turns out that my phenomenal wife has ten years of anniversary love to share in the form of a gift, a 10' gift- Fish Simmons to slide my way.

It's funny, even though this last year was the busiest of my life it still felt whole, weighty, substantial, satisfying. Thanks to Amy, to Skip, to the Giver of Life and may 2012 roll forward with a groundswell of beauty, peace, and understanding.

Mind and Motion...

"To Dare is to Do"

Stevie Lis called me to ask about the glass job on a new board order, just shaped, to be sent to Diamond for a glass up. "Just surprise me. I like classic, but surprise me." Last time I ended up with a tapered stringer and double pinlines coupled with a nice eyes-of-my-wife blue bottom. Thanks. Yes the board surfs well too.

My last board, 5'7 and keeled for comfort was glassed clear, to match my black wetsuit. It gets tubed at the right reef down yonder- when I'm not blowing late drops and swimming, swimming, swimming.

My tenth anniversary with my wife is approaching. She wants to get me something special. A board perhaps? Nope. What I need is time to do something with the boards I have.

To have is to hold onto the moment and protect it from the creeping change. To have is to worry, to consider, to secure. No, I don't need more. I need to do more.

Brad Barrett (I think) filled some pages in TSJ with recovered moments from decades past. Painted pages with characters, moments, music. Inspiration to do and to do and to do. Then there were pages with tropical purgatory with dichotomous perfection and peril. Inspiration to do and warning to only do it well. Then there is my son, charging to kick and run and catch and play. Inspiration to do and to do my best.

Through these prismatic lenses I recognize that I am most richly blessed with my days of doing. My time is not always my own, but it is invariably bulging with the bounty of a purposeful life. Yes, I want to surf more and travel more and let the outdoors light sit on my still body. But while I am purposed to do, I will do well.

Print is (not) dead...

A piece of writing that orbits close to my heart has found its way to your local newsstand. Pick up a copy of the most recent The Surfers Path. Read my scribbles. Have a cathartic moment or two.


How amazing is that b/w portrait shot by Cher?

Feeling the kneed...

1977, Huffman, Rex. The Banzai Pipeline. Oahu, Hawai'i. Photo: Jeff Divine.

Flat, short, wide, keeled and kneeled.

In the middle of a satisfying session it happens. You've been enjoying some speed runs, turns, and stylish this'n'thats. You're feeling good about your surfing. You're in rhythm, you've got a flow. You even start to feel a couple of sets of eyes watching you. All is right with in the salty sea.

Then it happens. The peak down the beach gets bombed by a beaut. Overhead and hollow. Only that mysto-kneelo is down there, where only he tends to lurk. He's too deep. He'll pass it up. He'll never make the late drop. Oh, well, maybe he's going to try it. Oh, wow, he made the drop. Oh, damn. He's deepish. Oh, yeah. He's going to make it. Perhaps he's on to something.

Knees if you please.

Half-stance for a chance.

Cripple-style for a while.

Half-man is the plan.

Turns high-g for li'l ol' me.

Find each little barrel a true kneelo-style feral.

I'll pass on the fins, though. I like to standup on those kneesleds too.

Inspecting inspiration...

Hynd, Litmus, 5'8" Frye keel fish, Visual interpretation from Litmus screenshot via Jack Brull at Saltstainedeyes.

The Litmus Fish really liked the spear takeoff, no paddle takeoff, fast paddle takeoff...it was all about controlled speed entries. That 5'8" liked the wave the bigger it got. I learnt another side of surfing on that old friend ala glide etc. That's not to say there hadn't been other revelations on other boards. Particularly - the key of Campbell Brothers rail fins in accelerating layback snaps at JBay in the late 80's...not unlike the feeling of Al Merrick's 6'4" bump tail of around 1987. Put the right board in the right wave and any surfer feels touches of magic.

-Derek Hynd, 2/2010

Two nice sessions on a 5'8" Frye Fish brought me a lot of pleasure this weekend. I looked back over some recent correspondence and came across the above quote. I think Derek hit the nail on the head- a traditional fish will teach you about "glide". The single-minded purity of a true keel is so enjoyable. The original recipe: short, flat, wide, double foiled big-base keels. I think I'll take the '76 5'6 Lis Keel out for a bit of crucial keeling.

Mr. Hynd, thanks for your inspiration.

I/We...

Solitude sent me searching at my out of the way spots. High tide and decent swell mixed with a rambling shuffle of the feet. Two days, many waves, tired, satiated but not satisfied. The only surfer I surfed with was an invitee. Crowds are a manifestation of expectations too high or explorations too limited.

Above, Larmo etches petroglyphic echoes. Since the inception he'e nalu has been filtered by a collective and singular duality of thought. I am me on a wave at this moment. I am a member of us who are on waves at many moments. Sometimes I need to get lost in the former in order to put the latter in perspective.

Suggested reading as an alternative to surf media described in video above : Footsteps as Flotsam; Granuped, Janus

Ofishially...

A little clarification was shared via Sin Diego surf matriarch and artist divine, Cher Pendarvis. Educate the educator...

Hey Andrew, hope that you are enjoying a nice weekend! I enjoyed your post about the Larmo stories and the fish on Born to Lose.

Actually RK first rode Mikko's fish in 2003, and got stoked and inspired by the fun little board! The fish resurgence started earlier (as confirmed by Hanky Warner) when his friend Derek Hynd came to San Diego (1995-1996) and visited with Skip and Hanky when they had Harry's Surf Shop in PB. As Hanky remembers, Derek was looking through Skip's quiver and discovered a small old keel fin fish that Skip had in a bag, and asked what it was. Derek was stoked to have a fish, so Skip shaped him one. The next year, Derek came back and asked for Skip to shape him another one, with a slightly narrower tail. Derek ended up taking it to J-Bay and rode it there. Tom Curren rode Derek's fishes as well, at J-Bay, and inspired folks with his amazing surfing. Some of their rides were filmed by Andrew Kidman and can be seen in his movie, Litmus.

Aside from this story, some of us never stopped riding fish, and have kept them in our quiver since the early fish days. FYI: the fish is my favorite design of all time! I'm stoked that Hanky helped clarify some of the dates as to when Derek first saw Skip's fish. We look forward to talking with you, soon!

Aloha, Cher
Is there a more consequential modern surf film than Litmus? Not to me.

Cycles...

I'm not a collector, I'm a surfer.

In the last week I've sold a lot of boards. I reached a point where my boards were ruling me rather than serving me. When you start dreaming about boards rather than waves you have an illness. Sold a 6'9 frye, 6' frye, 10'2 frye, 6'8 lis, 6'4 tony staples.

I'm trying to refine my quiver. Above is a keeper. 5'8".

Still available: 1976 Lis fish in amazing condition. Roper said it was 9 out of 10 in terms of historic value. Pricey (3k).

Refer to original...

Photo pilfered from G&S

I spent part of this morning speaking with Larmo. He was kind enough to shed some light on a few topics in San Diego surfing and board design history. He's fifty now and grew up surfing the same zone I did. He reflected on his early shaping and glassing jobs, his continued excitement about surfing and design, and some seminal moments in San Diego surfing history. Some gems:

-Skip, literally without a home, shaping behind Select Surf in P.B., surfing continuously while his contemporaries had long since quit shaping and surfing.

-Larry, driving Skip and Donna north to a legends contest at Surfrider Beach where Skip displays his never-fading prowess and reasserts himself as a premier shaper and surfer in Southern California, emerging from his "dark days".

-RK, surfing a local pseudo-point on a Slater-Slipper type shortboard during decent swell (late nineties?), breaks a fin and trades with MFleming, who is riding a 5'5 fishy. RK rips and rediscovers the classic design. At home after the surf, RK records his thoughts on paper, soon thereafter KG fishies are shredded up and down baja and, for better or worse, the fish resurgence moves past the ranks of the truly tuned-in and Litmus-inspired and is brought to the attention of the greater surfing populace.

-Clark foam plugs designed by Rawson, now reside above a shaping room in coastal San Diego.

-There will now be 12' blanks available designed by Larmo and Skip. Glide.

I recommend you read this article on Drift.

Fragile moments...

At one North County break a surfer called Skip a kook and told him, "When I tell you to kick out, you kick out!". The worst part, nobody clued the offending surfer in. (photo BA)

The final fling before I'm back to the 7-3:30. Three morning sessions in a row lead me to North County locations that I seldom frequent. These are waves that people talk about with a smile but never in serious tones. Inconsequential waves of summer south swell fun. The fishies and mat had a minor feast.

But really, every time I visit North County San Diego I am profoundly aware that the quality of the waves are not matched by the general quality of the surfers. Two of the sessions I surfed this week ranked in my list of top three kookiest lineups ever (you mean you don't keep a list?). I've encountered more SUP misbehavior, more lineup lunacy, and more bizarre surfing in North County than I imagined possible. North County surfers of quality, will you please do more to keep your lineups and surfers accountable. Thanks.

You have to understand, I surf a Drive Through break about fifty percent of my sessions. I deal with kooky lineups all the time. But North County, you've got to get your act together. I'll be checking in on your progress during the school year. Thanks.


Nice waves, handle with care.

I've been stung four times by bees as I've walked the beach this summer. Karma?
I broke the box and fin out of my favorite JHall fishy for the second time this year while pulling into little beachy barrels this morning. Karma?
Shuffle your feet, ASmith. Shuffle your feet.

Yes, I'll name the spots. Poops, Crowdiff, and Qualcomm Reef/Beachy.