Lisa Fahey, one talented lady. Sapling Designs

Lisa is a stay at home mum who has a passion for building hollow wooden surfboards, boats and a great artist to boot. Checkout what she is willing to tackle and experiment with at home in Wollongong.

 You think you have had some complicated glue ups.

 A whole lot of work.

Check out what projects Lisa is working on :

 www.instagram.com/lisa__sapling_designs

This Sunday 3rd of April Timber Surfboard Show and Share - Thirroul Surf Club

For more info call Dave 04122 70878  or Martin 04004 78417

Thirroul is a Northern Suburb of Wollongong probably about an hour South of Sydney

Hand plane by Bryan Bates Byron Bay

Something different, glassed wooden handplane with solid glass strap from rovings. Very cool.

Nice one

I  build this little 4ft 8" Hydro Simmons for Raz from Firewire Surfboard a couple of years ago and he has had this great art added to it by James Robertson from www.boundbysea.com.a

A great skill , detail and passion

Jason Pirrone from Northern Italy

"I got interested in wooden and hollow boards in the wake of Clark Foam closure, as many others.
Being a joiner and carpenter/craftman it was a short step to try and experience building my own, starting from the informations gathered online and "real life" foam boards for dimensions and shapes.
After a few experiments I started building boards without central stringer using molds built for this purpose.

Every board is a challenge and I like the feeling of playing and sometimes fighting with wood, in the end satisfaction will be your payback and you'll always learn something new.

At the end of the day I feel happy with my boards, of not being mainstream, and to belong to a community of people not too much impressed by pro/X/Y/Z/extreme/20fin/7concave/computergenerated boards, but, put simply, boards made with sweat and love."

If you would like to have a look at my work you can at

https://www.facebook.com/dharmanaut

Thanks Jason for sharing your passion and great workmanship.

Back to our roots

Using what nature has provided as inspiration for a great looking wave tool.

A couple of mates , a couple of boards

Some nice detail and wood working skills shown by the boys

 After coming to last years wooden board day Arron and Rus decided to have a go at building a couple of wooden boards. This is the result of their first efforts. After all the effort that went into building them they weren't quite sure about glassing them themselves first up so I suggested they look at a marine varish finish for less cost and weight. This is the result and they are very happy , "8 coats of poly epoxy from the ship chandler". Nice job boys.

Eco Challenge 2016

Eco Challenge Roots of Surfing Teams Challenge & Expression Session

The third annual Surfrider Foundation Eco Challenge Gold Coast will be hosted this Saturday 19 March at the Tugun Beach as part of this year's Bleach* Festival. It is a family friendly, sustainable event that is going 100% solar powered and plastic-free!

Along with live entertainment, food and market stalls, the core of the event focuses on a wooden surfboard competition using the first and most sustainable surfboard on the market, the Alaia. The use of wooden surfboards almost entirely reduces the carbon footprint of petroleum based surfboards while also decreasing pollutants that come with manufacturing.

The challenge begins at 12:00 noon and will be comprised of 6 teams each consisting of 4 riders per team for a total of 24 surfers. Each surfer will surf an Alaia surfboard supplied by Maywood Surfboards of Burleigh in a tag team format.

The Surfrider Foundation is happy to announce participating teams from Vissla, Gold Coast Surfing Lawyers and Banaam. They are also looking forward to confirmation from Patagonia, Volcom & Maywood.

Every team member must register via the website: www.surfingaustralia.com under the event: The Surfrider Foundation Eco Challenge Gold Coast. Registration is mandatory due to a limited number of beach entries available.

All participating teams are encouraged to arrive between 11-11:30am to confirm registration and to set up a tent. The judging format is under standard surfing competition criteria but the emphasis will be very much on having fun and enjoying yourself while helping promote sustainable surfing.

An Expression Session will held in the 30 min break halfway through the Team Challenge. This is a great way to showcase your talent while showing support for sustainability. Bring your own sustainable surf craft and show everyone what you can do! Each surfer must register via the website mentioned above to be included in the Expression Session.

So it you're an enthusiast, sustainable surfing advocate or complete novice who'd like to watch professionals and have your own chance to try out one of these original surf crafts, come on down to Tugun Beach this Saturday for a fun day!

Please call Greg Howell for more information and photo opportunities at: +61 (0) 414 939 942.

https://www.surfingaustralia.com/states/qld/events/the-surfrider-foundation-eco-challenge-gold-coast

Some great news...

BYRON BAY SURF FESTIVAL IS BACK!!

PRESS RELEASE · Byron Bay Surf Festival · ‘surf culture now’ · March 2016

In 2015 the Byron Bay Surf Festival did not run its popular annual event of 4 years due to  unforeseen operating circumstances. Fortunately these have now all been amended!!

The Byron Bay Surf Festival began with its debut event in October of 2011 founded by two local surfers James McMillan and Vanessa Thompson, and then later joined by Michael Jahn. Along with their family members and a dedicated crew of local volunteers, each year the festival quickly grew in popularity and success as the organisers poured more and more in to the event. Last year Michael and Vanessa departed from the festival team to pursue other commitments. They both, along with James, spent much of the past 5 years contributing to the creation, direction and development of the festival and are happy to see its progression into an even more globally recognized surf culture festival.

Given these circumstances, the whole team would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone, including the original landowners of Byron Bay, the Arakwal people, the local Byron Bay community, the many national and international visitors and fans of the festival, and importantly, every single supporter and sponsor, both large and small, for their generous contributions to making the Byron Bay Surf Festival the huge local and global success that it has so far become. Such a unique and diverse celebration of surf culture would not have been possible without the participation and support of all mentioned.

Looking ahead, original founder James McMillan, along with a new and experienced local team, have taken the gap year opportunity and are well into planning the next surf festival with many new innovations and ideas. The festival dates have changed to the end of February to coincide with the start of surf season and to celebrate the last days of each golden summer!! Byron Bay Surf Festival will continue supporting sustainability and the environment with a future goal of zero waste starting now and including operations and partnership alignments that support this continued direction.

Expect more surf, more art, more music and very cool vibes along with all that you have come to love about the festivals awesome atmosphere along the colorful foreshore, at Wategos beach and in the cool little town of Byron Bay!

Stay tuned to your favorite social media for updates!

www.byronbaysurffestival.com.au …Updating soon
byronbaysurffestival@gmail.com …for enquiries

Look forward to seeing you at the next Byron Bay Surf Festival February 24-26 2017

Peace, Aloha and Stoke! 

The Don

" Don Edge is a true local surfing legend, in his 80's he is one of a handful of early Northland surfers who hit the waves in the 1960's on the East Coast of New Zealand (mostly at Waipu Cove), Don has attended all The Cove Fish Fry events sadly this time without his surf mate, surfing legend in his own right and brother Ross who passed away last year, here Don stands with one of his first ever surfboards made from a solid Kauri coffin lid circa 1962, he will be at TCFF 2016 this year and will be bringing this slice of Northland surf history with him, Mike C."

I met Don and his brother Ross at the Fish Fry in New Zealand and they had a collection of boards that they had shaped and glassed themselves. Great to see two brothers of their age so stoked to be apart of our surf culture and still going out for a surf.

Wooden board building class with Paul Jensen in Margaret River.

"Boogaloo Surf and Yoga is excited to be hosting their first surfboard building course in August 2016.
To kick things off, Boogaloo will have legendary shaper Paul Jensen coming to teach.
Paul is regarded as one of the best wooden board builders in the world!
The boards he produces are works of art and surf just as good as they look.
There is no better feeling than catching a wave on a board you have built yourself.
If you are interested in securing your spot let us know ASAP as spaces are limited and filling up fast!"

For more information contact : Paul Jensen    hollowsurfboards@comcast.net
www.hollowsurfboards.com

Clamp envy

It is about now that you need to look into vacuum bagging. Trying to hold lightweight pieces of timber together with more clamps than you can carry is not something to consider.

Flat water SUP

I had the pleasure of a visit from Tarquin who grew up on the Gold Coast but now lives with his family in France. He has been working away on a framed flat water SUP. Great looking board and can't wait to see it finished.

"This is the board I am building at the moment.Paulownia in the bow, bamboo veneered balsa, carbon tape and western red cedar on the sides. I have started the deck now."

Pretty much a work of art.

More progress shots

It's a big job

Lots of sanding ahaed

The men of wood and foam

Grain celebrates 10 years of building wooden boards

 In commemoration of it's tenth year building wood surfboards, Grain Surfboards is creating a limited edition series of "Decennial Surfboards" that reflect the earliest efforts of founder Mike LaVecchia. The first of these is traveling with at least one of the two Grain Surfboards Mobile Workshops as it carries not only the tools, materials and supplies necessary to conduct surfboard-building workshops anywhere, but also a bit of Grain's roots and ethos as well.

With the Decennial Surfboard "on the bus", the Grain Surfboards Mobile Workshops will have with them a modernized example of the first attempts made in Mike's basement to craft a surfboard built as boats are.  Just as the first board had, the Decennial Surfboard has black deck seams, screw-fastening details, and a darkly grained deck of salvaged red cedar.  But unlike that first board, this one has built into it all the advancements that the team at Grain Surfboards has evolved over the last ten years; it's light, strong, and has lifetime construction that Mike never imagined possible in those early days.

Though Grain's steady decade of growth has inspired scattered attempts at duplication of their unique business model and construction techniques, much of what the small, dedicated team brings to the experience of "building your own" is not easily replicated. It's partly vibe, and partly their unusual dedication to putting thought into action that has contributed to the types of innovations in wood surfboard technology that are embodied in the Decennial Surfboard.

This year, Grain celebrates not only their own birthday, but also the growing community of surfers from all over the world who have found in Grain Surfboards an unusual commitment to the way surfers get to experience surfing. "It's only fitting that the Decennial Surfboard is traveling to the Great Lakes workshops," said co-owner Brad Anderson. "Over ten years, we've advanced the way we think about surfboard design, and now we're evolving where and how surfers get their boards. When was the last time surfers got to build their own boards in that part of the country?"

About Grain Surfboards
Grain Surfboards is committed to promoting the benefits of building and surfing wooden surfboards and believes that wooden surfboards can have more impact on the surfing experience and less impact on the environment. All of the wood products used in Grain surfboards and kits are sourced from local mills and forestlands in Maine that practice sustainable harvesting. All wood waste from the production of Grain's boards and kits is actively reduced and creatively recycled.  Grain ships surfboards and complete surfboard kits worldwide and hosts week-long classes in which anyone can learn to hand-craft their own wood surfboard. Grain is co-owned and managed by Mike LaVecchia and Brad Anderson.  For more information, please visit http://www.grainsurfboards.com.

Riley Classic Balsa Boards launch new website

Riley Classic Balsa Boards invites you to explore its new website and Social media platforms. The new website has been designed to provide the ultimate user-friendly experience with improved navigation and functionality throughout, allowing customers to access and buy and videos with the option to share information across all major social networking sites.
 - See more at: http://www.balsawoodsurfboardsriley.com/

"I really love building the most Eco friendly boards available in Australia by hand. My passion for shaping balsa surfboards and sparks a broader interest in this great surfboard material" says Mark Riley, owner of Riley Balsa Surfboards." For good reason, Laird Hamilton states that his most favourite boards are the one's made of balsa. " (see surfermag.com's exclusive interview about Laird). But you don't have to be a big wave lunatic to enjoy the benefits of a balsa surfboard. Lasting longer than a polyurethane surfboard while weighing the same  and being more environmentally friendly, a Riley balsa surfboard is great for all surfers in all surf conditions.

Riley Australia was one of the first surfboard builders in the world to have their own domain name and web site in 25th January 1999. From that day they have been building balsa wood surfboards and sending them all around the world. As you can see in the archived site - https://web.archive.org/web/19990125102801/http://www.riley.com.au/ Riley has expanded from balsa boards and clocks and added to the mix DIY kits, wood coloured boxes, fin, raw balsa, surfing accessories and shaping accessories, everything you need to build a beautiful balsa board.

About Riley Balsawood Surfboards
Riley Balsawood Surfboards was founded in 1996 by Mark Riley who had just returned to Australia from an extensive surf trip through Central and South America - in tow a container of Ecuadorian balsa wood. Mark now secures his “perfect quality balsa” from Papua New Guinea and Northern Australia. Since shaping his first balsa surfboard, Mark Riley has built a reputation as master craftsman and is still involved in the whole operation of selecting from stock of 1000 pieces of balsa wood, grading, cutting, laminating, shaping and finishing all orders.

The website was created with the user experience firmly in mind, the website has been designed using the latest technology so the site is compatible with today's browsers and mobile devices.

For more info check out - https://twitter.com/balsasurfboards
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1186130004
http://rileybalsa.tumblr.com/
https://www.instagram.com/rileybalsasurfboards/
https://www.youtube.com/user/Rilaustralia/featured
Riley Classic Balsawood Surfboards
http://www.balsawoodsurfboardsriley.com/
156 President Ave.,
Miranda 2228 NSW
Australia
Phone - 0412 376 464
Email - mark@riley.com.au