The Byron Bay Surf Festival - The Best 2013

This years festival was just the best show of Australian surf culture art music and anything to do with surfing you could ever gather in one place. The weather was great the vibe was right. All sorts of people and all sorts of things to interest anyone who loves their surfing. Friday nights opening ceremony was on the beach front, open air in the park with a large inflatable screen to show the movie Bella Vita. Fantastic intro to the weekend ahead.

Typical Byron gathering of people from all walks of life.

 Saturday morning was the dawn of a great day , warm sunny and Northerly winds up early to knock the gloss of the waves that were there. But the focus was in the park...

 There was something for everyone

 

 

 Hand plane workshop

 Tom was busy all day helping people build his "Surfies"

Andy had plenty of Gato boards to look at

 A couple of legends at a book signing, Jack and the Mex

Bjorn, came all the way from Finland to share his skills with us. The board next to him is hollow and made from recycled skate decks. Great guy. www.boboholm.com 

Rodrigo, came from Brazil to hold a workshop on handplanes and then off to Japan.

 Thomas Bexton and crew had most options covered

 Californian shaper , Ryan Lovelace with his mix of different boards

 Girls having an ice tea party

 What better place to get a hair cut, A teepee

 It was hot for everybody

 Legend Rusty Miller having a book reading and story telling with the launch of his book.

 Eden Saul, from Dead Kooks

 Andy from Rake on the lookout

 Adrian from Rake surfboards

 

Dan Malloy launching his new book and movie

Mick Mackie, Ryan Lovelace, Ryan Burch and Jessie Watson. Mick was giving a lesson in flextails. 

 Rusty Miller and Bob McTavish

 Nat Young and Bob McTavish had some great yarns to share

Rodrigo Matsuda learned everything about alaias in Japan with his master Yuichi Endo. A profound 11 year experience that has elevated his skills to mastery. www.lascasurfboards.com

 Andy Finlay in his element

 Art in the Park

 Mermaids in the making

 Keith and the Patagonia boys

 Tim Baker at the book launch

 Great food

Mike and the classic surf wagon

Saturday night we went to the release of the Wayne Lynch movie at the community centre. And the final judging of two short surf movie comps. What a great night and Wayne was there to answer questions after his movie.

The Byron Bay Surf Festival this weekend

 

This is a great weekend to celebrate surfing , art , music and all things connected with surfing. It is growing and expanding each year and is the best of it's kind around. Do yourself a favour check it out on line and get on down there.

www.byronbaysurffestival.com 

Surfrider Eco Challenge , Wooden Surfboard Event 2013 - Sunday 10th November

A great day at the beach at Coolum on the Sunshine Coast. There will be markets , kites , bands a skate comp, a wood board get together and public display running from 8:30 till 12. Tom Wegener is doing his bellyboard demo and fundraising"hire" on the beach and Dave fron Surfing Green will be down there with a bunch of handplanes.

For more info check out :    www.surfriderecochallenge.com   it looks like a fun day

100th wooden board built

 This happy looking guy is Dave Bunyan and he made the 100th Wooden Surfboard at the September Workshop. Dave is an Outdoor Education Instructor at the local Shoreham Camp and is the 100th person to make a Wooden Surfboard at a Tree to Sea Australia Workshop.
With participants coming from all around Australia and overseas it won't be long before the 200th Wooden Surfboard is made.

Back to Tree to Sea Day at Pt.Leo Victoria

Rob, Gary and Darren from Tree to Sea Australia are organising a Back to Tree to Sea Day at Pt. Leo Victoria on Saturday December 7th. Starts at 10am.
" So if you have finished your board or not, come on down and show us your Wooden Board. Bring the family and friends.

We will have heaps of boards on display so come on down and catch up with old friends and maybe make some new ones."

A great chance to catch up with the people who you did the course with and see how their boards turned out, how they go and what is next. I am sure they all plan to build another one. If you have a mate or family member who is keen this is the ideal time to check out what sort of board they can build.
The boys do a great job of organising these classes and have a great range of board designs on offer. Check their site for lots of details.

Rob, Gary & Darren
Tree to Sea Australia
Ph.0409 211 751
Ph.0423 804 975
info@treetosea.com.au
www.treetosea.com.au
woodensurfboardworkshops.blogspot.com.au

The wooden spoon

 This is a great looking project by Brian Himlan of Long Ship Design

"LONGSHIPDESIGN is an endeavor to find harmony with wood and the sea. Utilizing a lifetime of wood working skills and strong belief in craftsmanship, I wanted to use old world techniques to make furniture grade surfing tools. The beautiful simplicity of the wood, the raw unpredictability of the ocean, combined with the challenging balance of riding the waves is the spirit driving this project. This site is dedicated to the process and investment in these different elements.
All BELLYBOARDS and HANDPLANES are designed and built individually in my wood and fabrication shop in Santa Cruz, California. Years of material testing and R & D has resulted in solid shapes that will last a life time.  Please enjoy."

A great day at the beach, Prono Paradiso

 Lots of hand planes , mats , belly boards , body boards , sufies and various aquatic creations to try out

 A big thanks to Neil Pye for organising this little get together at Currumbin today. Great weather and some nice waves to test out all the different craft that were on hand

 Neil with a couple of Nobby's friends that live here on the Coast. Nobby from Japan sent out a very traditional Japanese handplane .

 Tom and Fin had a great time trying everything out.

 Mark from New Zealand happy to be in some warm water and loving the day with Geoff from Dovetail surfboards

 Geoff getting ready to road test one of his handplanes

  One of Tom's surfies getting tested,

 As I said what a great day weather , waves and people wise. We need to do this more. Thanks Neil.

 Lots of craft to swap and have a go on.

Prono Paradiso from Rhys Edward Jones on Vimeo.

Year One wooden surfboards

Tyler Frome formally of Santa Cruz has relocated to SoCal and is continuing making wooden boards with his best friend from high school Andrew Luttrell.  They have named the company "Year One" and have been pumping out some really awesome boards.  They are planing a trip to Hawaii this winter for some R&D, and are hoping to make it to Australia for the Wooden Board day in 2014.

" I attached a couple shots of a thruster we just made and donated to the Yosemite Climbing Association.  They auctioned off the board at an event called the "Face-Lift" which is a climber led trash clean up in Yosemite.  Its a very cool event, and we were really stoked that the winner of the board is a surfer who plans to use it! "

 Yosemite Facelift Board – 6’2″ Curly Redwood, Walnut, and Maple Decks.

  Leopard Wood, Walnut, and Maple Fins. Thruster

The boys make some great looking boards, using a nice selection of timbers.

Contact them anytime by phone or mail with any questions.

Phone: (949) 322-6873

Email: yearonesurfco@gmail.com