We gather in the park opposite the beach at Currumbin as before. So get your boards ready and bring the family and a picnic lunch. Look forward to meeting you all next year.

Please remember it is a non competitive and non commercial gathering of board riders and builders of these sweet craft.

It’s about shapers who craft these boards and those of us who enjoy the ride. Each year we see many new ideas on the the original theme and that’s what is great about the evolution of the fish. If you are not a shaper bring your fish and enjoy the stoke and celebrate the fish with everyone else who enjoys the ride.

If you have pics of boards you are building please feel free to email me or check the web site.

Rock up with your old boards and new shapes, swap ideas and boards, and spend the day surfing at the Alley. Each year brings more shapers and enthusiasts from across the globe showcasing their interpretation of this versatile board.

This is great opportunity to meet other people interested in the Fish surfboard and other alternate boards that have spawned from the innovative shapers of our surf community. It is also a chance to hear from some very talented individuals who build them. The Fish shape has led to a wider interest in alternate shapes from the past, such as the Simmons, finless boards and other planing hulls.

Rich Pavel, Jordan Nobel and Ryan Lovelace will give a brief overview of their various backgrounds and experiences with shaping these boards. This will be followed by an open question and answer forum
with the guys. Just a sample of the talented shapers you’re likely to meet at the Fish Fry in the park at Currumbin Alley the next day.

See you in the park on the 6th March.

For more information contact: grantnewby@bigpond.com or visit www.thealleyfishfry.blogspot.com.

All art is to be on a rideable, functional Surfboard and art on the board can be, Posca Art, Digital Art, Airbrush Art, Stencil Art, and any other art that does’nt effect the performance and funcionality of the surfboard.

With a first prize of $1,500.00 worth of graphic art and printing from us, Rhemagraphics; there will also be other prizes up for grabs. It’s a night to promote art in the industry and to promote the surfboard manufacturing industry itself as an art form, so any new shapes, designs, processes, fins, would be welcome. The evening will be a great way to showcase gloss, tints etc. Remember it’s a night about the industry and a celebration of what we do and how we do it.

It will be held at the Surfworld Gold Coast Museum opposite the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary at 6:30 pm Friday 3rd of September, so you have a couple of months to get your art together and send the
surfboard to:

Surfworld Gold Coast Museum,
Level 1 , 35 Tomewin St,
Currumbin Gold Coast
Qld Australia
4224

Entry form and entry fee to be sent to:

Surfworld Gold Coast Museum
PO Box 791
Tugun, Gold Coast
Qld 4224

We must receive all Surfboards on or before the 1st of September and your entry fee before the 1st of August.

There is a growing interest in wooden boards world wide and this will be a simple gathering of like minded people to come and see what others are doing or showcase their latest craft. If you have any interesting boards of any shape, size or age, bring them along to this event. Boards can be hollow, chambered or any other method of construction as long as it is a wooden surf board. The event is a non-competitive , non-commercial day in the park. So bring your boards lunch and check out what’s going down at the Wooden Board Day.

For any more information check out www.woodensurfboards.blogspot.com or email grantnewby@bigpond.com.

After a strong coffee and packing up the vast amount of stuff I seem to have acquired and headed up the coast. I thought the fact that Queensland was an hour behind New South Wales would compensate for my impromptu lie in, thus meaning that parking wouldn’t be an issue.

I was wrong.

It was a Sunday, the surf was firing, and the fish fry was filling up – fast.

After driving around and getting lost a few times fortune smiled on me and I finally landed a prime spot, right opposite the Fry – and free of charge. Things were picking up!

The annual Alley Fish Fry is a friendly gathering of surfers, shapers and experimenters who realise the aesthetic and performance qualities of the humble fish-shaped surfboard. Its run by a dude called Grant Newby – an Aussie shaper with a full-on fish fetish. He’s rounded up some of the most ambitious – possibly slightly crazy – fish shapers on the planet to bring their finest bum cracks to Australia’s Gold Coast, including his own creation – ‘Quadzilla’, a quad-fin, carbon-fibre fish that comes in a snip under 10 feet long!

Surfers from as far as Japan, California and even the UK were there, viewing and exhibiting. I was amazed at the number of people in attendance; the fish community is much bigger than I first imagined. Unfortunately the English climate seemed to have followed me to the Fry… It pelted it down, which meant numbers were a little bit low, it being an outdoor event and everything.

But the hardcores stayed. Perusing the finest shapes and designs the fishy kingdom has to offer. There were deep tails, square tails, add-on tails, pin tails, quads, tri fins, five fins, small fins, overly big fins, resin tints, spray jobs, wood, epoxy, fibre glass… Basically, every conceivable type of surfboard shape, design and construction you could ever wish for.

It was truly epic, and its success, despite the rain, is down to Grant’s limitless enthusiasm and sheer hard work. Can you imagine trying to organise this many surfers? No easy task.

My two favourite fish were the wooden, old-school design of ‘Generation Gap Surfboards’ and the wooden finned beauties of ‘Flying Soul Surfboards’ – GGS had the style of years gone by, shaped with 60 years’ experience! FSS had the progressive performance shape with the clean-cut style the Japanese have perfected in all areas of design.

Here’s to next year’s Fry!

Check out the Alley Fish Fry blog for more photos…

Check the Fish Fry blog for all the latest news. Anyone who can’t make it can check a full run down here on Drift just as soon as we can get it together. Meantime, here’s a selection of phots from last year’s Fry to whet your appetite…

Organiser Grant Newby says: “The Fish Fry is a non-competitive and non-commercial gathering of board riders and builders of these sweet craft. It’s about you shapers who craft these boards, and those of us who enjoy the ride. Each year we see many new ideas on the original theme, and that’s what is so great about the evolution of the fish.
The day is held in the park across the road from the Currumbin Alley, which means there are waves at the point, the river mouth or the beach break depending on the conditions. So bring lunch, the family and your mates with you to celebrate the fish in its many forms.”

Want to know more? Check out our feature on the 2008 Fish Fry here, or visit the official Alley Fish Fry site.