Wooden board building course in Portugal

Sergi from Flama Surfboards has just sent this to me to share.

"We're planing the workshop as a shaping course, instead of a "boat building" course. Of course, we'll be shaping Flama's hollow wooden blanks, which don't need to be fiberglassed. Over a week period we will be talking and learning about surfboard hydrodynamics from the hand of experienced shapers. Furthermore, the Flama Workshop has been planned in a relaxed way, so participants will be able to go surfing every day and go back to the workshop with renewed energy.

12th to 18th of August 2013 LAGÔA, ERICEIRA, PORTUGAL
All the info here:  flamaworkshop.wordpress.com      flamasurf.com
Sergi Galanó

 

Japanese "Itago" board in Hawaii

Japanese hollow wooden surfboard "Float" in 1962

Good friend and Japanese wooden board builder , Nobby  has been gathering information and rare pictures of early wooden boards and wave riding in Japan.
"Yesterday, I met a guy who live in Zushi, Kanagawa that is nearby Kamakura and got interview with him about “Itago” and “Float” in the 60’s." It appears that some of these boards that they rode were actually also floats or safety flotation devices used by fishermen for safety on their fishing boats.

You can catch up with Nobby's research into early Japanese surfing on his site :

www.nobbywoodsurfboards.com

 He has also been working on a new 6ft single fin.

Wooden board builders in Colorado

"Carve began in the minds and hands of Ryan and Jamison Witbeck in the Spring of 1999. While building their first handmade 50’ wooden catamaran, Allura, they began working out designs for the surfboard line. For the next ten years, the boys pursued their boat building and chartering careers in the US Virgin Islands, building yet another 50’ catamaran, Kekoa. Throughout this time, the brothers continued building and designing what would become the Carve surfboard quiver, keeping the surfboard dream alive. Finally, in 2011, Ryan left the Caribbean and moved back to Colorado to bring the board business to reality."

"Carve found its new home in Lyons CO, where Ryan quickly built the team that would put Carve on the map. Carve, for the last year, has been located at The Farmette in Lyons, in a humble board shop next to the Farmette Creek. With more of the shop located outdoors than indoors, increased demand and harsh winters have driven the boys to seek greener pastures.   Luckily, fate took pity on the cold and damp crew and opened up a rental space in downtown Lyons.  Putting the cart in front of the horse tends to light a fire under one’s rear, so fear of failure be damned!  We’re taking Carve to new heights!"

 The crew outside their old digs

 

All moved in and ready for action

For the lake or river

sliding the glide

"Currently, our boards are constructed chiefly of Beetle Kill Pine (BKP), a surplus pine from Colorado that the state has been forced to clear cut due to the fungus spread by the mountain pine beetle. Mountainsides of dead BKP have become tinder boxes, which along with drought, lead to the massive Colorado fires in the summer of 2012. Carve took advantage of this surplus and began implementing the pine into our boards; it is a conscientious use of a resource that may otherwise go unused."

If you would like to contact the guys , order a board or find out more :

carvesurfboards.com

Carve Industries Nosh from Carve on Vimeo.

Flying spud

 A new Firewire Baked Potatoe in Timber Tech gets a workout in Byron Bay.

Pic from Troy at Soul Arch

The connection

From David Chung...

"My Hollow Wooden Fish has been hanging dutifully on my living room wall  and usually I get a sense of joy walking past her until recently.

 The last couple of months instead of pride I started feeling guilty every time I glanced her way because I realised that it had almost been a year since I last took the old girl out for a dance. I guess I was reluctant to take her off the wall in case I damaged her.

 Also I started doubting whether I had made a piece of art that looked like a surfboard rather than the other way around. What if I didn't get that special feeling that I got when I first rode my little wooden board and I had imagined the stoke that it performed just like a surfboard. Hmmm...maybe better leave it on the wall in case reality disappointed.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that she was whispering "surfboards must be ridden". So finally today I bit the bullet and decided to take her for a dance at a local reef. The tide was shallow and the waves small "let's hope I don't regret this...


I'll let the pictures tell the story because I can't put in words the special feeling that you get from riding something you have made with your own two hands."

David I couldn't agree with you more. And you never want to loose that feeling of connection with the board you built. Keep building and keep surfing.

The Hotkuri

 

This is the 10ft 5"  x 27" wide  x 2" "Hotkiuri" by Kiwi board builder Roy Stuart. It weighs in at 27 pounds.

He uses his own building method that is quite unique and different to most peoples approach to building a wooden board. It also leads to a quite different outcome in terms of the outline and foil of his boards. Also Roy's approach to fins very unique and something of an art form in itself.

This particular board has gold leaf embellishments.

Paulownia , epoxy resin , stainless steel fittings and a touch of gold leaf make for a great looking board. For more info - http://www.roystuart.biz

New Logging guidelines

Logging cool ©MoonwalkerPhoto

NEW LOG DIVISON & JUDGING CRITERIA Monday, 20 May 2013

Great news, after consultation with Surfing Australia, Longboard Club members, and our Longboard delegate Trevor Brady, we will be announcing this week the addition of a Logging division into this year's QLD Longboard Titles.

If you have already entered the event on the Sunshine Coast on June 1 & 2, you can just go online and enter in multiple divisions if you wish to also contest the QLD Log Title for 2013.

As many of you are aware, the Log division has been recently added to the Australian Longboard Titles, and as such, we have developed a pathway for those who would like to compete at the Aussie titles, as well as just add an extra division to add to the fun of the Longboard Festival.

Should be a fantastic weekend of surfing, so please feel free to distribute the attached information on the Logging specifications and details to any and all of your Club members.

To enter the QLD Longboard Titles for 2013, just go to www.surfingqueensland.com.au or contact the office if your members don't have access to the internet. Office Phone (07) 55 201 165

LOG CRITERIA FOR INCLUSION IN THE SURFING AUSTRALIA – AUSTRALASIAN RULE BOOK PREAMBLE The modern Malibu has evolved into a high performance act that now approaches the philosophy and approach used by the short board community. In response to this there has been a considerable return by the longboard community back to the style and methods that were prevalent in the 1960's – a more stylish approach that involves smoothness, continuity and flow. The exponents of this retro movement are called "loggers" and they now have enough critical mass to be identified as a separate longboard discipline and as such be given standalone status in the structure of Australian Surfing. Recent Pro Events held by Curl Curl's "Mal Jam" and Manly's "Snowy McAlister" has proved to be demonstrable success with the competitive longboard fraternity. Both events were oversubscribed and there are now dedicated log competitions along the whole East Coast. This follows a similar expansion
in the United States and South America. Logging is now a force to be reckoned with and deserves to be recognized in its own right.

The specifications and criteria below have been developed and refined with the input and consultation of the leading exponents and organisers of the log discipline this represents a broad consensus of opinion. There will undoubtedly be further discussion and refinement but we believe that this is a strong starting point.

LOG SPECIFICATIONS
This section would have to be added to Section 5 rule 9 of the Rule Book

a. The board length is minimum 9 feet measured from the nose to the tail on the deck of the surfboard. The width dimensions are to be a total minimum 47 inches in aggregate. This is the total of the widest point, plus the width 12 inches up from the tail and 12 inches back from the nose

b. The board will have a single central fin that may be permanently fixed or attached via a fin box. There must be no provision for any other fin configuration

c. The rails of the surfboard will be 50/50 or 60/40 from nose to tail.

d. The board will have no resin edge from rail to tail.

e. The fin will be at least 8 inches from its mounted base to the highest point

f. The board will weigh a minimum of six kilograms.

g. No leg rope but at tournament director's discretion

JUDGING CRITERIA
This section would have to be added to Section 7, rule 1(a) of the Rule Book

a.    Standard logging criteria:
"The surfer must execute traditional manouevre's with continual motion, style and grace in the most critical sections of the wave. The surfer must display uninterrupted flow with control of the surfboard with emphasis on creativity, form with smoothness and the linking of manouevre's over the entire ride. The degree of commitment to the key aspects of these criteria will determine the scoring outcome."

        b.   The following are possible manoeuvers to be considered:

•    Nose rides – touch 5 and 10's and extended 5's and 10's
•    Cheater 5 nose rides
•    Cross Stepping and Reverse Walks
•    Bottom turns
•    Lay back cutbacks
•    Fade take offs
•    Late take offs
•    Roundhouse cutbacks
•    Cutbacks
•    Drop Knee Cutbacks
•    Stall and Trim
•    Barrels
•    Cover Ups
•    Hawaiian Pullout
•    Forward and Reverse Flick outs •    Side slides
•    On Deck 360's, Head Stands, Coffins,  Beach Step Offs, Back Arches

High performance cedar

A new 7 foot board from David Franks. All cear skins over foam and no oils or resin.

Cedar is fine in salt water without treatment. Just keep it out of harsh sun and fresh water.

Freshwater brings mould and the sun is hard on the timber , drying it out. 

You can contact David via facebook

9ft x 23" x 3 1/4" Alley Slider for James

 

 I have designed a new board for James Mason from Adelaide in AKU and sent him screen shots to check out. It will be 9ft x 23" x 3 1/4" .Then I designed a custom blank and get it hot wire cut from block VH EPS.

 It comes in 2 pieces ready for me to glue in a 5mm Paulownia stringer. The blank is cut to allow for the 5mm thickness of the stringer and the thickness of the rails bands that will be laminated onto the perimeter. The thickness of the blank is over size depth wise so that the guys can position the board file within it easily to cut the final board from.

 After the stringer is in I glue up the first Paulownia rail band right around the blank. So that the blank is stiff and ready to go to the AKU machine to be cut.

 This way when the board is cut minus the thickness of the deck and bottom skins which in this case will be 6mm deck and 4mm bottom , the machine cuts the stringer and foils the wooden rail band at the same time.

This is the cut board ready to be shipped to James who will vacuum bag the 6mm deck and 4mm bottom skins on before laminating the 20mm of rails in Paulownia as well. Shape the rails and route in the fin box and he is there. He just needs to choose what he wants to finish it with. Lanolin and unglassed , a hot coat or two of epoxy and a light sand or if he wanted a little more weight in the board he could get it glassed with 2 or 4oz cloth and glass. Each will do the job of sealing the board. Each will cost and weigh a little more, Either way you will end up with a great board. For more info on this contact me or visit my blog - surfboardsbygrantnewby.blogspot.com

The very talented David Franks

 David Franks lives here on the Gold Coast and has been building beautiful wooden boards for many years. He has also been involved in the film industry.

 He has built all sorts of shapes and sizes

 This is his "box" for vacuum bagging over EPS cores

 Finish coat and fine wood detail

 He has worked with Chris Garret in the past and build boards with him. This is Rasta on one of those boards.

He has a number of boards in stock and if you would like to discuss this with him you can contact him at -  davyjfranks@gmail.com   or on facebook

The Kiwi wooden board

 This board was built by Justin Tilly in the north of the North Island New Zealand. A farmer with a passion for surfing and building things in wood.

 This is a great looking board he has just finished for a friend. Hollow framed and skinned in Paulownia and Cedar

 Some nice local sea shell detail in Abalone or Paua depending where you grew up

Not easy wooden glass on twinzer fins with all that close quarters sanding and finishing. Nice job.

Spanish wood

Wooden Surfboards reinvented

Shaping surfboards is an art and there’s certainly some romanticism connected to it. You know: Creating something out of nothing, living close to the sea, hanging out with the surfers and being one, providing the base for awesome surf: Great surfboards in a variety of shapes, each made for a certain type of wave.. But the other side of it are usually toxic materials, toxic liquids, bad air in the workshop, white powder that comes from sanding the boards into the final shape all over your skin, slowly diffusing those chemicals into your organism.
Stefan from Kun_tiqi Surfboards is a shaper, he is a surfer and though born thousands of miles from the sea, he now lives close to some of the most beautiful beaches in Cantabria, Spain. Entering his workshop feels different. It mostly smells like wood – even though he admits: “I repair lots of conventional surf boards so I have the usual repertoire of chemicals. My workshop does stink sometimes too, but I hope it gets less as more and more people surf wood instead.”

His own label – Kun_tiqi Surfboards – wants to provoke a different thinking. In the old days of surfing surf boards were made of wood. They were heavy, huge and could never provide the performance of modern surfboards. Then came a revolutionary time for surfboard shaping and connected to it a different style of surfing: The aera of  boards made of polyurethane or polystyrene foam covered with layers of fiberglass, cloth and polyester orepoxy resin, made for more radical turns, shorter and lighter boards arrived on the stage.
Stefan wants to prove that a step back can mean a step forward too – just in a different direction. His boards are made of wood, balsa wood in that case, but constructed in a hollow structure which provides more stability than foam boards while maintaining the same  performance, weight and feel in the water. The only difference: “Surfers who started riding my boards were surprised by how much they float in comparison to regular boards. In terms of maneuverability and speed they are the same though.”
“We now offer different shapes – ranging from a 9” performance longboard, over noseriders, evolution boards, retro single fins, fish boards down to shortboards everything – each made for performance while lasting longer than conventional boards. Not a single customer managed to snap a balsa board yet – they are built to last and perform…”
 If he’s not in the workshop caring glassing his balsa boards he’s surfing the area around Santander – often using his bike to get there. “Cantabria is a beautiful area. It’s still relatively free from crowds, people are relaxed here. And slowly people start to be more conscious about their environment too – they start to realize that if it stays that way we have a little paradise here at the north coast of Spain.”

This is taken from : www.oldyoungsea.com  a great site about an upcoming film of traveling and surfing from the South of France through Spain and down into Portugal. This is just one of the many stories told along the way. Check it out, Stefan and his Kun tigi Surfboards have been on this blog many times in the past.