Wooden Board Day 2012

We had a classic winters day for this years wooden board day. 20c water and sun out all day with clear skies and a falling swell. Here Simon from Hokitika on the wild West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand inspects a board built by Nathanial Grey from Bondi Beach in Sydney. And this was typical of the day , people who build wooden boards from all over checking out each others efforts and sharing in the experience of building wooden boards.

 A couple of locals catching up on a great day in the park.

 Local shaper , Richard Harvey catching up with a long time mate

 Board slayed out by proud owners for all to see and ask questions

 Micky from Riley Balsa boards from Sydney up for the weekend. Here Micky holds a Balas board built out of a Balsa tree that blew down in cyclone Yasi. The owner gave the tree to Mark Riley to build some boards from if Mark built him one. Micky was off to North Queensland to deliver the board in the next few days.

 Boards of all sorts of construction and design

 First time board builder from the Sunshine Coast , built this board from solid Paulownia

 A nice spread of board by Geoff and Jack from Dovetail wooden surfboards here in Burleigh.

 Peter McIntosh from Brisbane with his first wooden board.

 Greg Wheeldon with his latest board prior to glassing

 Stuart Bywater and his mate from Brisbane with some of their first wooden boards

 Jacko with his first wooden board. He had just been out catching a few.

 

 Proud owner with his first wooden board.

 Matt Foy with his Tom Wegener wooden board

 South Australian shaper Ben Wallbridge with a solid Balsa blank and a finished board

 A couple of very tidy boards

 Simon from Hokitika in New Zealand with his Danny Hess inspired board

Zinny flew out from Dunsborough Western Australia for the weekend. He flew in Friday morning and is on a flight back tonight landing at midnight , 2 hour drive south of Perth and off to work Monday morning. Now this is the sort of spirit of camaraderie that exists among people who build wooden boards. A passion for the efforts that have been put into their projects that is appreciated by others and worth sharing. This is what the wooden board day is about. Thanks guys for your support once again and lets do it again next year.

If there are any names or shots of boards I missed please send them to me. I know I didn't get them all. grantnewby@bigpond.com

Last night at the Gold Coast Surf Museum.

Last night at Surf World Gold Coast we had a nice turnout to listen to our guest speakers Peter Walker , Tony Crimmins and Peter Mo. Peter is a very interesting and talent designer and craftsman who gave us an insight into his background and his process. Peter is based in South Australia and exhibits his boards in galleries nationally as well as having one our national parliament.They are truly works of art and he collaborates with various artists to work on his boards.

 Tony Crimmins is a senior policeman from Brisbane and enjoys his escape to the shed where he has honed his skills to build beautiful wooden boards. He explained his progressions in building boards and some of his experiences along the way.

 Peter "Mo" Moschogianis is a glassing craftsman here on the Gold Coast who has over 40 years of experience building boards. He has worked with many great shapers along the way. Starting back with the original Wilderness Surfboards in Santa Barbara with George Greenough and Michael Cundith. Where he first met Bob McTavish and Nat Young on their first trips to the States. He has spent a lifetime laminating , sanding and polishing boards for all sorts of people , but has a genuine love of working on wooden boards. They are a nice departure from the many thousands of foam boards he has worked on , some of which are in the museum. ( He wasn't really this animated )

Left to right Tony Crimmins, Peter Mo and Peter Walker. Thanks guys for your time and sharing your stories with us.

Looks like a great winters day at the Alley tomorrow

This was later this afternoon , slight northerly on it , but has been offshore each morning

Early this morning Saturday 6.30am

Grain in Maine doing it again

Grain Surfboards has locked down the dates for their biggest event  of the year- The 2nd Annual Surf Re-Evoultion.  Stretched into a two-day festival this year, September 8th and 9th, Grain will be opening up their headquarters and local beach to a many new exhibitors and special guests.

"After last year's success, we couldn't have stopped there," states Tyler Briggs, event manager and curator for Grain. "We have added in some new elements, stretched the celebrations and hands-on fun throughout the whole weekend, and stayed true to the center of what this is all about-  the re-evolution of the surfing industry. We are really trying to create a new and creative platform for this"
 
Saturday, September 8th, located at Grain's headquarters in York, Maine will be filled with film, local food, a gallery show in the barn with over 20 artists who each have created an original piece of work on an off-cut from Grain's shop floor, live music, and a very unique panel of guests sharing their thoughts and knowledge on innovation, sustainability and the craft of surfboard design.  Staying true to last year, Grain will close Saturday night with a bonfire in the fields of the farm.

Following Saturday's festivities, on Sunday Sepetmeber 9th, the celebration will move to Long Sands Beach for an all day beach demo allowing everyone to experience the re-evolution first hand-  in the water.   Sunday will be closed out by a concert to say thank you to everyone at the Inn on the Blues.
2012 Confirmed Attendees:
Entropy Bio-Epoxy
Greenlines Recycled Board Shorts
Sustainable Surf
Merchants Row
Jon Wegener
Randy Budd
Jimbos Wax
Crooked Blanks
Ceto Surf

Grain will be realeasing the full line-up as well as tickets in the next week.

Grain is also offering a way to "super-size" attendees re-evolutionary experience by offering a two-day paipo class with Jon Wegener. The class, taught by legendary finless pioneer Jon Wegener and the crew from Grain Surfboards, allows students to build their own paipo using local natural materials. Paipos have been around for thousands of years and provide huge fun in a small package. The two-day class is scheduled for the two days leading up to the event, September 6th and 7th, giving attendees the ability to shape and finish their own paipo and have it to enjoy the weekends' festivities.  For more information and to secure a spot in the class, please visit the class page.

For more information on the event, please visit: www.grainsurfboards.com

Great weekend of Paipo action

Check out the last weekends gathering : www.thepaiposociety.com

Balsa for the weekend

 Australian made Balsa boards from Mark Riley will be on show on the weekend. Mark's glasser Micky will be on hand to tell you all about them.

 This 9’1” Comp long board with the red stained rails weighs 5.5kgs

 Two of the boards are made from Australian grown Balsa , which is pretty rare as far as I know.

 So come along and check them out , along with all the other boards on show on the day.

www.balsasurfboardsriley.com.au

It's coming together

 Tony Crimmins who will be a speaker at the Gold Coast Surf Museum on Saturday night for the Wooden Board night has his latest board coming together under the masterful skills of one of our other speakers Peter "Mo" Moschogianis. Mo is glassing Tony's board for the weekend.

 Tony makes a beautiful boards and Mo is bringing it to life.

There are a few of us out there finishing boards for the weekend.

Keeping it simple

If you have been busting you balls to get a board finished for the wooden board day this weekend like I have then maybe it was just overkill. This guy looks like he is having a ton of fun riding the pantry door.