I have a few cherished surfing memories that i hold on to, a couple down the coast, a couple overseas. One of my favorites was watching Skip Frye surf his local wave at Tourmaline, from the beach and the line up. He exudes class, ocean knowledge, positioning and an understanding of trim matched by few world wide. His lithe movements belie his age and i can only aspire to surf half as good as i move into my dotage. The pic above is actually Rincon (another place of memory) and comes from Andrew Kidman’s “Lost in Ether” book which is what this preamble is buliding to.

It’s a beautiful film and book project and like all of kidman’s work is something of a gem. It’s probably best described as a love letter to the art of surfboard building, particularly to the backyard tinkerer’s and surfer/shaper/wanderers, often at odds with the machine of the “surf industry” following their own trip and enriching our collective cultural experience as a result.

Thos posted a great review here and so i’m not going to go into huge detail because i think he nailed how i feel too. If i have a criticism, it’s just that, like litmus and glass love, it sometimes feels a little unfocused without a distinct narrative but that doesn’t interfere with my enjoyment.

Something that does come across strongly in all of Kidman’s output, this being no exception, is how much he really means it, from the minute questioning of rail and bottom theory to the handwritten thank you for ordering note in the envelope. Much like the shapers he features, Kidman himself is something of a wanderer, a deep thinker, often railing at the percieved status quo. His work often questions more than it answers and through it all is a feeling that he cares passionately about surfing as an entity, and not in the business or conventional sport sense but as a way of being. He’s someone who has frequently put his own money where his mouth is and as our “sport” becomes more and more integrated into the mainstream, people like Andrew become more and more important to help us hold onto what makes surfing so special for so many people. I’m sure he feels like he has a responsibility to almost “curate” and preserve and celebrate that which the industry machine ignores as not commercial and more power to him for that.

I’m sure he will never read this, but thank you Andrew

Surfing anorak that I am, I’m always looking out for new DVD’s to keep me stoked while the sou’ westerlies blow. This DVD popped into my mailbox a week or two ago, the new film from Mikey DeTemple, the man behind Picaresque which came out a couple of years ago, called Sight | Sound. With great anticipation I popped it into the dvd player tray and it’s been living in there since!

Although he does wield a camera, Mikey mostly takes on an actor/director role and steer his films firmly into the artistic side of the endeavor with little in the way of voice or titles cluttering the piece. The film flows past smoothly and in full colour from one section to the next, with a “modern electric” soundtrack that is a hell of a lot better than that description makes it sound!

Like Picaresque, Mikey made an effort to seek out some of the roads less travelled while gathering footage. This time we are treated to, amongst others, spitting Nicaraguan beach break barrels, sub zero snowbound Canada, dusty Baja zippers and colourful Barbados.

There’s an eclectic mix of surfcraft to fit with an eclectic mix of surfers. Chris del Moro clearly rips on anything, Ryan Burch makes slabs of foam look fun and there’s plenty of high quality logging on offer from DeTemple, Kassia Meador, Scotty Stopnik and Justin Quintal, an East coaster that few will have heard of but many will remember. There’s some good footage of Tyler Warren and DeTemple on mini Simmons style boards too, maybe the first footage on DVD outside Richard Kenvin’s sphere of influence and making them look just as fun as they undoubtedly are. The Canadian footage is high quality too, even if it does look ball-achingly cold! It’s somehow gratifying to watch pros donning full suits boots and gloves to surf in 40 degree water and snowstorms just like we do!

My favorite section features a rifling right hand Mexican point which looks almost cape St Francis perfect. Jared Mell and Kassia Meador feature heavily, their contrasting styles creating a counterpoint like a conversation through the footage. Meador smoothly logging some of the most impressive women’s longboarding I’ve seen while Mell’s highly technical almost jagged and urgent “Knost-esque” style sitting on the other side of the coin. Mell is exceedingly good and has perhaps the longest hang heels I’ve ever seen committed to film.

The overall feel is similar to picaresque although the production crew and many of the cast have changed. There’s a more balanced mix of short and long equipment, warm and cold water. The most obvious difference is a hike in production values from last time. There’s a more lush feel to the shots and some of the footage is shot on 16mm film stock.

It’s altogether less self-congratulatory this time – something that Picaresque was criticized for – I really liked it and it’s stood up to repeated viewings so far.

Perhaps the best way of rating a new surf film is by answering this most simple of questions… did it make me want to go surfing?

In this case, the answer…….”HELL YES!”

(Mercifully the star wipes are not in the actual film!)

More of my rambling here.

Photo by Nick Lavechhia.

A little while ago I rolled into the car park half an hour before dusk, not expecting much, not really expecting a rideable wave if i’m honest. Sea breezes were still blowing and at first sight they were crumbling barely knee high waves. Seconds before I turned tail and headed home, a set came through, hit the best bank on the beach and a familiar silhoueted figure carved it up smoothly with tip time and drop knee.

Decision made, I scrambled into my suit and paddled out anxious to wash off the grime and suncream after a day of shed clearing and visiting the local dump. The sets were infrequent but there were  few to share them with. When they came, the waves were still a mushy waist high at best but with just enough shape to allow some fun logging, the bank marshaling the disorderly bumps into decent shape, the breeze slackening as the sun dipped towards the horizon. The small righthanders were playful and teasing, demanding fleet of foot and light of touch but rewarding with stolen moments of ten over and dropped knee. Kick outs with smile lost in the fading light.

As i sat waiting, alone with my thoughts, it struck me how personal the surfing experience is, how little the experience of each wave is shared no matter how many there are in the line up. How the feel and the feelings engendered are different (yet the same) for each of us, modified by board choice and local conditions. For me it’s the little things i love, the perfect imperfections. I’m drawn to the edges of things. The warmth of the sun on your face, the glow of the sunset sky, water drawn over  soft rails,  making the most of a flawed wave. It’s in the subtle grace of good trim, the weightless feel of a well placed noseride, the sweeping swing of a well timed cutback and the addictive momentum of a well timed fade as you take off. Grace in adversity, good style making economy of movement more powerful than wild action. It didn’t need to be six foot and perfect, i didn’t need to be here yesterday, i just needed to be here now.

The light was gone all too soon and I wandered out in near darkness, spent but smiling, storing my little packets of stokefulness like a squirrel mindful of the uncertainty of my next meal but content with an appetite sated.

So i picked this board up second hand last year from a friend who brought it back from California. Officially its a 9’4 bing NR 2 (9’4 x 18 x 23 x 16) although it’s fairly different from another friends older NR2. Not long after this one was bought, bing changed the NR2 model to the BN lightweight and i think this is more likely an early version of that model.

It’s a parallel templated noserider, big nose concave, flat rocker with a lot of tail lift, soft pinched rails and a refined foil.  Where it differs from a regular log is in weight. It’s purposefully glassed a bit lighter and foiled a little thinner than the traditional nuuhiwa style noserider template, the aim being to create a more manageable, versatile, traditional board. It’s still got a little heft to it, we aren’t talking progressive longboard style weight.

I’ve ridden the board in beachbreak up to shoulder high and I have to say i think it’s great! The relative lightness and the tail kick make it really loose off the tail. Pushing through your back foot yields really abrupt and satisfying pivot cutbacks. On the nose it’s stable and fast, holding a high line well and letting you get ten or heels over with impressive ease. The lighter glassing also makes it feel really manageable in steeper or slightly larger waves than a heavier log might be suited to. I think it would make a good travel log as a result.

If there is a downside it would just be that it can feel a little twitchy as you transition from tail to nose (though once in a forward position it’s stable) and it lacks the weight to cut through chop in quite the same way as it’s stouter brethren… but you can’t have everything and the compromise does make this into a really good easy riding log style board, either to cover a few bases while travelling or for the lighter logger who finds dead weight & the momentum it gives difficult to reign in!

For many of us there’s no escape from the cold and we must greet the winter face on, the gloom, the damp, the light so flat the horizon is lost in the sky. Endlessly watching the forecast hoping for the prevailing southwesterlies to abate for the bittersweet triumph of stolen moments in offshores.  Freezing wind from the east blowing the mess to corduroy and then to ironed cloth.

You could send yourself mad with the longing but it’s better to embrace the dark mornings, the frost on the inside of the windscreen that never clears quick enough, the teeth of the wind biting into exposed flesh as you struggle into the wetsuit that never quite dries, the shock of the first duck dive as you struggle through lines of whitewater, battling current and wind beyond the break.

Because if you look, through the waiting, the discomfort, the grey light, the grimace as your suit fills with 6 degree water for the first time, there’s still that little spark of fun and stoke that keeps you coming back. Still the need to grasp that elusive sliding feeling we are all addicted to. Still the afterglow that warms you and has nothing to do with the van heater on full as you drive home, reliving the waves of the day. It’s still surfing and it still makes me smile……………

Anyone with even half an idea of current trends in surfing outside the all encompassing thruster movement will doubtless be aware of the emergence of the mini simmons as a new branch on the board design tree, yet few people outside of California will have ridden one.

Given my well documented obsession with surfboard design i was really interested to find out more about them.

Coming out of the work of Simmons in the late 50′s and his adherence to the principles of even earlier boat hull theory, the concepts were rediscovered by Richard Kenvin as part of his Hydrodynamica project. Working with Joe Baugess from much longer simmons originals  and referencing apocryphal stories of simmons riding a styrofoam 6 footer til the windansea shorebreak destroyed it, they first made a 9 foot replica in balsa. Kenvin and co. successfully rode this in large waves in both California and the Galapagos, then they went shorter.

The result was an epoxy 6 footer quite unlike anything else out there, a seemingly simple shape with decpetive subtleties. This first board was named “casper” after the friendly ghost and started to pop up in photos and videos around the net a couple of years ago. Having been ridden by a number of high profile surfers, all well documented with glowing ride reports the idea caught on and quickly many different shapers began to take the idea and put their own spin on it.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that few people in the UK have actually seen one of Baugess original shapes though there are a few UK shapers who are making a version. For the past 6 weeks or so i’ve been riding the little 5’8 in the pictures and it’s very quickly become my favorite board. This one is a Point Concept Velo sim, designed by Ryan Lovelace in Santa Barbara but loving shaped over here by Tim Mason off Ryan’s templates.

Tim actually does a very fine copy of the Baugess which is shorter and thicker than this with a more pronounced s deck and has a slightly more complicated bottom shape. My board is bellied to flat to concave through the fins, 5’8 x 22 x 3 but foiled out through the rails. The fins are wood keels but more semi-circular in shape than those for a classic fish.

So after digesting all the hype i was keen to get a feel for the shape people are raving about, and let me tell you it’s a hell of a lot of fun!! It’s definatley a board that draws lateral lines rather than truly vertical ones on the wave. The feel is probably best described as being like riding a bar of soap. It rolls from rail to rail smoothly and cuts through the water much like the feel of a hull. It’s a board you need to get low on as you bottom turn and it feels great in a high line trim. Where it differs from the hull is in turning.The fins are set well back, only a few centimetres from the tail and the board will pivot off the bottom or the top much like a normal twin keel fish. Once you outrun a section it cuts back like a skatey loose fish so you can set up for the next speed run, then repeat til your grinning like a loon and hooting yourself!

It’s much friendlier on your backhand than a hull too. Like a hull, the roll in the bottom gives it a slightly “unsafe” feel as you put it into a bottom turn. It requires a bit of practice to get the right amount of weight on the rail as you start the turn, you almost need to gently but progressively weight the rail but once you have that figured it performs backside too.

Like any board, it loves a clean down the line wave, i’ve had it out in headhigh and under surf so far and the speed it generates is awesome. Where it really excels, however,  is in junk surf. I can honestly say that a couple of weeks ago i had the best surf ever in 1-2ft sloppy windswell. The combination of effortless speed generation and quick direction change facilitated by the bottom contour and short length respectively give you the ability to chase the open face through, over and around whitewater and maximise the fun in poor conditions. It could be the ultimate junk wave design, as long as you’re not a died in the wool shortboarder desperate to live out your slater fantasy for every surf.

While Tim obviously isn’t the only shaper who will make you one of these, i honestly think few shapers in the UK understand boards derived from hull principles as well as he does and for something like this you want someone with that knowledge. Ryan, whose original design this is, has a proven track record in these types of shapes with a group of like minded test pilots and Rincon to work out the flaws. Once again not it’s not going to be everyones cup of tea but it is a MUCH more functional daily driver than a hull while still retaining the smooth feel and different enough from a Lis style fish to warrant having both in your quiver.

These shapes are a different branch of the tree than conventional concave bottom shortboards and if you believe Kenvin, are the true ancestors of the modern high perfomance board as well as both skateboarding and snowboarding. Big claims but the proof as they say, is in the eating!

]]> http://www.driftsurfing.eu/index.php/archives/6407/feed 4 http://www.driftsurfing.eu/index.php/archives/6303 http://www.driftsurfing.eu/index.php/archives/6303#comments Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:09:11 +0000 Chris P http://www.driftsurfing.eu/?p=6303 Testing the latest generation of Nineplus suits.

The last couple of months I’ve been testing this Nineplus stylist wetsuit and so far I’m very impressed. The latest generation of suits seem a real step up in quality from the last Nineplus suit I had a couple of years ago. It’s mostly single lined 3mm Yamamoto neoprene, it’s soft, fits like a glove and is supple and flexible too. Seams are glued blindstitched and spot taped on stress points. The “shorts” area in particular feels very flexible, you aren’t aware of the seams in this area at all. It’s definately a suit you almost forget you’re wearing.

Closure is with a back zip and a generously sized “batwing” collar underneath to keep it watertight. Entry and exit are therefore very easy and there’s minimal water flushthrough

It’s a warm suit and i’m looking forward to getting my full leg version soon which i’m sure will be even warmer!

The big problem with the Nineplus suits I’ve owned in the past has been durability but so far it doesn’t look like an issue thats going to affect this suit. All in all, stylish, warm, flexible and good value for money.

Testing on dawnpatrol, La Torche, Finisterre:

menswaves.over-blog.com

More of my ramblings: adventuresintrim.blogspot.com

Chris Preston caught up with Andy Haworth, the man behind a new British longboard film, for a sneak preview and to find out more about the man behind the lens…

They say procrastination is the thief of time (i’ve always loved that phrase) and they are probably right. Most of us always look at the surf when we get to the beach (despite often having spent a fair amount of time checking a variety of webcams beforehand) but i think sometimes you can look too long.

Especially  if it is small or cold or massive or onshore, too much time looking can just allow that element of doubt to creep in, is it rideable? is it too big a paddle? am i feeling a bit tired? Usually you are actually better off just changing and going in anyway, if you’re like me you will rarely regret it. Take this pair for example, watching a succession of (admittedly occasional) very loggable sets come through before going home again.

The next few days were flat. Moral of the story, make the most of what you’ve got and never drive away from clean waves without getting wet first!

The wishthound gave me a new skateboard a month or so ago, much to my wife’s disgust I might add.

Since then i’ve spent an enjoyable number of hours (in upstanding member of the community fashion not like a ne’er do well abusing council property or anything ) rolling around Barnstaple’s new-ish skatepark. I have discovered a few things:

Firstly I’d forgotten how much fun skating is, not having ridden anything other than a big long skateboard for 5 years. I can actually remember how to do some tricks though i’ve forgotten more. Each time I leave for home, I remember something else that I should have tried, a trick that used to languish in the bottom of the trick bag. all those years ago. There is still that same satisfaction from landing something (however simple now) and rolling away clean that never changes.

Secondly, I don’t bounce like I did 10 years ago. I have a fraction of the bottle I used to have – gone are the days of throwing myself down sets of stairs with abandon. The threat of broken limbs & their consequences loom ever larger and well, concrete is hard and it hurts, for a lot longer as well at my advanced age. In the wishthound’s words, the ability curve for surfing is gradual but with an overall upward trend for most of your life, with skating it peaks early and it’s pretty much all downhill from there, but if you’re having fun, who cares right?

Thirdly, like surfing, it never truly leaves. Skateboarding was a big part of my growing up, becoming a man, it shaped my future path in life in a way that I only recently understand. It changes how you look at the physical world we interact with on a daily basis and I don’t think you ever fully forget that or ever lose the desire to skate, it’s just your body that lets you down. Even though there are a couple of long periods when I haven’t rolled around, it’s always in there bubbling away under the surface.

Finally kids today have it easy! The park in the pictures is one of at least five small skate facilities (off the top of my head) within a 30-minute drive, in a relatively rural area, all well built and good to skate. Back in the early nineties, my friend’s mum fought for years for our midland council to build some ramps and when they did it was virtually unusable. Skateboarding is acceptable now in a way that it never was when I started (though there is still a punk ethos like there used to be once you dig beneath the shiny veneer of Tony Hawk & the x games)

Kids today learn tricks in their first year that were beyond the imagination of the pros of the eighties and it’s easy to learn them because the boards are light and you can see things to inspire you in magazines, dvd’s, on youtube and in your local town. Things never used to be like that (please excuse the monty python style “it were hard in my day” monologue but..)

Take learning to ollie for example, essential basic skating building block. That took us ages to learn, we had heard reference to it and seen stills of people in the air but never actually seen a video or much less anyone do it in real life. Our town had no older skaters to copy and it wasn’t until a friend of a friend managed to get a photocopy of a “how to” from an old mag that we managed to see how it was done, before that it might as well have been magic. In fact I can still remember the afternoon my friend and I first managed to properly leave the ground.

Steve Pezman has a great quote in Andrew Kidman’s ‘Glass Love’ where he talks about surfing as you get older being just as challenging and rewarding even though your actual ability level might be decreasing as your body ages. His point is that as even the simpler things become harder, the satisfaction in still achieving them increases and the sum total of joy (or stoke if you like) in that is the same as it ever was. I think he’s right and the same applies to skating, surfing, pretty much any physical activity

So here’s to my fellow old skaters with a peter pan complex! It’s a shame I have a princess-obsessed daughter, because a son might have given me the perfect, spouse-approved, excuse to keep going!

Incidentally I just saw the latest Flip Skateboards movie (Extremely Sorry) The level of skating is fully RIDICULOUS!  I always have a soft spot for Flip, being the phoenix from the ashes of Classic Brit brand Deathbox & sponsors of two of my favorite ever skaters Tom Penny & Geoff Rowley. Their new dvd is well worth a watch if you get the chance, just not with any young impressionable children in attendance!

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