John Sutcliffe's board is ready to get wet

John Sutcliffe from New Zealand  has just finished his board and wet it's head. This is the one built in the garage next to the GT Falcon. Roger Hall and Matt Waite from Surfline Surfboards glassed it for him.

" Sunday was the official launch at Mangawhai Heads. The surf wasn't really co operating but I had a ball. Its so cool to actually surf something I made myself. Anyway here are some photos for the blog.

Cheers John"      We hope to see John with his board in August.

Tony Crimmins new project progress report

" Enclosed are a couple of updated shots showing the rails going on my 9’6” longboard.  As discussed 6 x 6mm layers of paulownia with the centre routed out of the initial 3 layers to create a hollow rail.  Photos show the system I came up with to anchor the timber strips – superglued small balsa blocks to the edge of the bottom and deck - and then cut the rail strips oversize by the thickness of the blocks – clamped the rail strip to the blocks for a nice tight join.  Requires a fair degree of patience but looks like it will produce a nice result with rails and bottom/deck all being out of the same material."

Great to see what guys are doing and how they have engineered ways of building boards. There is no one way to do the job and this is a great example of nutting out a way that fits for Tony.

Japanese board builder coming to Wooden Surfboard Day

Japanese board builder Nobuhito Ohkawa - Nobby is building a couple of boards to bring to the Wooden Board Day. This is a 9ft 8" hollow step deck. He finishes his boards unglassed with varnish for more flex, light weight, long life and environmentally friendly. Nobby has never been to Australia and will be here with his wife. Great to have him support the event. Thanks mate. 

Check his site  - www.nobbywoodsurfboards.com

She's finished

Richard has just finished his balsa gun and it is off to Western Australia to some lucky bugger. Pretty nice job.

Steve Friedman's board from his class with Paul Jensen .

Steve, did Paul Jensen's class down in Victoria a couple of weeks ago and has now glassed his board and taken it out for a few waves.This is the 9 footer that Paul offers in the classes.

"Got the board finished and had a ride yesterday in the bay. Didn't sink and goes real fast. Can't wait to get her out in some good surf.

Going to start getting some frame templates organized so I can build myself a gun, fish and a long model about the 10 or 11 foot range.

Mahalo's again for getting my mind moving in different directions."

Latest Surfing World- great issue on shaping and the future

The latest issue of Surfing World is well worth a read. Very insightful look at shaping and the wind of change that is in the air . A great story written by Kelly Slater on his change in thinking on boards and why he is now shaping his own. Neil Purchase , Greg Webber and Jason Stevenson , all local shapers and a whole bunch of talent. Check it out.
Sage Joske, great local shaper , old mal , fish and Alaia rider
Chris Garrett, innovative shaper and lover of wood.

Richard Harvey's Balas gun

Local Gold Coast shaper and artist Richard Harvey has set out on a new project with a 9ft 6" balsa gun. Here are a few shots he sent me and some words from his blog. www.harveysurf.blogspot.com

"Just started a 9'6" cedar and balsa gun. 

The profiles of the centre section have been cut and are ready for glueing (today's project).

The cedar and glass fin has been shaped, the abalone and cedar logo is the next part of the project."

"The centre section has been glued together and will be ready for the outer rail section to be added in the next stage. "

"The last section of the rails have been glued on and the blank is starting to look like a surfboard rather than a table top.

Apart from my trusty Makita planer of 30 years finally deciding it had enough, the rough shaping went as planned. The convex under the nose has been shaped along with a soft vee in the tail creating a nice high-low rail combination.

Some nice subtle grain and character marks are being revealed as the planer gets deeper into the timber. The final shaping will be next week and then a couple of finishing touches will be added. 

The weight is coming down and I will give it a final weigh-in before glassing."

Tom Wegener and his story of the Alaia- Check out the Movie premiere of The Present

"Last October after the Sacred Craft Surfboard Expo, surfboard shaper Tom Wegener gave an evening presentation at Patagonia's Cardiff Surf Shop in California . Tom spoke about shaping surfboards from Paulownia wood, specifically classic single fin longboards, hollow surfboards and the traditional Hawaiian alaia design which Tom and his friends help reintroduce to the surfing world."

Special thanks to Devon Howard for organizing this unique event and show casing the skills and foresight of this talented craftsman.

This is what Devon said about Tom -

"We often hear surfers professing how we've pretty much seen and done it all when it comes to board design. But don't tell that to my friend, ex-pat surfer/shaper Tom Wegener. Over the past four years he's been putting nearly all of his efforts on a now-much-talked about design with roots that span back a thousand years – the alaia.

According to Wegener, this historical Hawaiian surfcraft – which appears to be little more than a flat piece of wood in the shape of an ironing board – may not only be the most enviro friendly surfboard available today, it might be part of one of surfing's next big leaps in modern board design.

Settling down in Noosa Heads, Australia during the late '90s, Tom started a family and his board-building business, Tom Wegener Surfboards. Around that same time, Paul Joske introduced him to a sustainable board building material called Paulownia wood. With a much greater strength-to-weight ratio than balsa, an easy-to-work-with nature, and an imperviousness to saltwater, Tom used this unique wood and his innovative longboard designs to help revolutionize the genre of hollow wood surfboards. His craft and country-living lifestyle were eventually well documented in Thomas Campbell's film Sprout.

In the summer of 2004, Tom discovered a long forgotten ancient Hawaiian surf craft called an alaia. Since that time he’s been tirelessly pouring all his efforts into the development and refinement of this design, finding success in large part from the crucial feedback of pro surfers like Dan Malloy, David “Rasta” Rastovich, Chris Del Moro, Harrison Roach and Jacob Stuth.

Tom's alaia boards immediately caught the eye of renown filmmaker Thomas Campbell, who has since been fervently documenting Tom's alaia board movement in his new surf movie The Present. Campbell has shared with me that he has mind-blowing clips of Wegener’s test pilots taking the alaia waveriding experience to places never imagined. In fact, it may change the way we view what’s possible on a surfboard, namely tuberiding. "

The Present will be touring Australia this month. See www.trimyourlifeaway.com for Tour dates

The following video is a four-part series made from his visit to the Cardiff Patagonia Surf Shop to share with their customers his passion for Paulownia wood surfboards and alaias. If you are inspired by what you see, be sure to come to the Wooden Surfboard Day here on the Gold Coast and check out the movie The Present

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Hollow Wooden SUP by Troy Nixion in Texas

 " Hi Grant, thought you and some of your mates would like to see my new SUP. It's made of Pauwlownia, Redwood and Cedar. All epoxy. 10'6" x 29" x 4".  Took it to a local river the other day,  paddled a couple of miles and it worked great.  Also, check out the paddle. Spanish cedar,  Red Cedar, Mahogany and Redwood.

I've been checking on flights down to Brisbane for your wooden board day, and will keep watching. Haven't ever been to your fine country, so the time might be right...  if I find the right price. "

Troy Nixon

Austin, Tx  USA

Thanks for sharing your board with us all Troy. And mate it would be great to have you come on down for the Wooden Surfboard Day .

Tony Crimmins new project progress report

Tony is building a Paulownia skinned longboard using Paul Jensen's building method. He has angled the nose to allow for a nose block detail. And as you can see from his and other home builders , they become very resourceful  with things like shaping stands and work spaces. You don't need a lot of gear and special tools. Just be challenged by the whole project and quietly chip away at it.

New Project for Peter Davis

"Have just completed my second board and have attached photos.  It's a lot thinner and much better than my first attempt.  The nose and tail blocks are a big improvement and the best part is it's light enough to hang on a wall inside the house.  The photo of me surfing is taken at Snapper Rocks using my first board.  I have yet to surf the second one but I know that it will be easier to carry down to the water - being much lighter.  The round bung is copied off a Joe Larkin surfboard picture I had in the "Surfer's Textbook" by Howard Jennar, who is a school teacher at Kingscliffe. The Okanui sticker was made up by a guy at Carrara markets just as a bit of bling for the board. Hopefully my next board will be a 7ft 6" mini mal for my daughter who is being challenged by a na papa board at present. Will have to source some balsa wood for the rails."
Cheers Peter Davis