A Few From Cardiff

David sent me these shots from Cardiff. They are both great. The guy in the first photo is classic. The second shot is cool because it gives me that late summer feel. Enjoy.

Hidden Leucadia Talent

Have you ever known someone for years and never had a clue how talented they were? It happened to me with my friend and neighbor Genie Huey.  She and her husband Allen Herzog have lived in my neighborhood for almost 10 years now and it wasn't until recently that I discovered Genie's amazing talent.

Above are just a few photos she sent me of artwork she has made. She has never shown her work outside of her home and does it just for her own personal enjoyment.  When I saw her art I was blown away. It is clearly gallery quality.

I am encouraging Genie to show her work to the public. I think the Encinitas Library would be a good venue. If you know her, encourage her to share her work with others. 

More from the Murphy Ranch - Fins

My Favorite fin block of all.  One of Dan's creations.

The tool of choice.  Band saw.  It was sitting there in all it's glory. I couldn't resist.

Alia's favorite place of all was the shaping bay. She was fascinated with two things. First was the foam and the next were the fin blocks. Here she is playing with both.  As her usual artistic  self she quickly assembled the fin blocks to make this heart.

Dan explains to Chris how he makes the fin blocks. Really time consuming and amazing work.

Another fin by Dan.

Our trip to the Murphy Ranch was amazing.  It was also a little overwhelming. There was so much going on. We had the Grain board, Dennis' personal quiver (we'll get to that later) and lots and lots of stories.  One of my favorite things though were the fin blocks that Dan Lewis is making. He has found a true passion for fins and as you can see he is coming up with some amazing designs. Enjoy.

The Leucadia Project Is Getting A Grain

The 5'10 Waka Fish Grain Board is being built on the Murphy Ranch in Julian, CA.  On the property Dennis Murphy has a barn with donkeys, a horse, chickens, a wood shop and shaping room. One of the most amazing shaping situations I have ever seen.  Today was 38 degrees and pouring rain. An amazing place for an all wood board to be built.

Tail view with balsa blocks in place to support a quad fin set up.

A close look at the innerds.

Over head view of the tail.

Chris and Dennis going over the board.

Dennis explains his decision to use balsa wood blocks to support the fins. The blocks look heavy but are extremely light.

Dan Lewis getting warm. Dan is no blood relation to me that I know of but a brother indeed. He has been doing a lot of the work on the board and is a fine craftsman in his own right.  A true cowboy, bull rider and woodworker Dan is Dennis' right hand man and for good reason. He is a kick to be around and is extremely talented. 

Dennis is a man that is for the most part serious about his work.  He tells it like it is and for good reason. He has been hand shaping foam, balsa and redwood boards for over 30 years.  Here is a shot of him that I love. It shows the kick he gets out of this and the passion he has for shaping.

Today was an amazing day. I have been literally waiting for 4 years to finally see the makings of what will be the most amazing board I will most likely ever own. It was a day that I got to hang out and be a part of a master shaper's world and get to see the board of my dreams start to take shape.

This post is the first of many to come about my Grain board. I will be following it as it gets built and shaped at the Murphy Ranch. When the board is finished we will ride it and shoot the sessions we have.

Although this is my first post, this journey has been going on for a long time. It started out back in 2005 after watching the Tom Wagener section in Sprout. From that sequence I knew that I wanted to ride an all wood fish.  It was my destiny. 

About a year or so after setting my goal my friend introduced me to the Grain Surfboards website and my search for an all wood fish began to take shape.  I looked at the site every week for a year. I talked about the boards with friends and kept telling everyone who would listen about them. But I never pulled the trigger to buy one. 

Then in 2007, I received a Waka, 5'10" Grain kit for Christmas!  I was so stoked. I was now so close to having my own wood fish.  All I had to do was build it.  After reading the manual several times I came to terms with the fact that I really didn't want to build the board myself as I didn't want to mess it up.  I'm a big believer in sticking to what I do best and wood working and shaping is not one of them.

Over the course of the next year I searched for someone to help me build the board. I showed the kit to friends and looked for someone to help me.  Then after the the Secured Craft show in 2008 I got a call from Chris Miller telling me that Dennis Murphy, a long time friend of his and all time favorite shaper, was interested in meeting with me to talk about how to help me get the board built. 

Dennis, who had seen the Grain boards at the show, had heard from Chris that I had a kit and was intrigued.  He himself builds wood boards from scratch but liked the idea of the Grain boards and wanted to get a crack at one. Chris set up the meeting.  

After meeting with Dennis and dropping the kit off I was elated.  I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would get the board built by a legend.

Now that the board is in his hands I feel relieved and excited that soon I will be riding my Murphy shaped Grain board.

Click here more photos of the building process.

After The Storm

Today was amazing.  First was the rain. It poured like crazy for most of the day and then it glassed off and the surf picked up. When you are lucky enough to experience these days you really feel grateful for living where we do. Enjoy.

Photos by David Gray

What I'm Watching - Ultimate Sessions

This morning I woke up early, heard the rain and decided that it was a good morning for a surf film. 

The one I picked out this morning was Ultimate Sessions.  I originally got the film as a present for my father in law but borrowed it back to watch one day and it has sat on my shelf ever since. (Sorry Klaus! Anytime you want it please let me know.)

The film is great since it takes all the best sections from classics like September Session, Free Ride, Cosmic Children, Fluid Drive,  Morning Of The Earth, Ocean Fever, Amazing Surf Stories and my favorite section Searching For Curren. That alone was why I wanted to watch it.  I had never seen the whole Searching For Curren film and that section when Tom Curren rides the 5 foot something board in huge surf is a cult classic.  It has been talked about for decades and really was the beginning of what is going on with the fish and micro boards of today. 

The film itself is entertaining. It has good music, surf history and documentary style interviews (Which I am a big fan of).  You get a sort of cheat sheet to surf film history and you get a lot of good surf for your money. If you don't have the budget to buy all films you do get the best of each in one package.

The film was produced by Ira Opper, a legend in his own right and the godfather of surf content brought to you on your TV.  

For those of you out there who surfed in the late 80's early 90's you will remember who Ira is from what he provided for you, prime time stoke. Now that we have Fuel TV and 24/7 action spots programming it is hard to imagine that there was a time when you had to scour the TV Guide to find the time spot that Surfer Magazine the TV show was on. In the days of old, you had to be in front of your TV to watch in real time (yes kids there was no DVR in those days) as the magic of watching surfing on your TV for free came to life. Any of you know from that era that to have surfing on network TV was huge. 

In 1986 I used to be a Solana Beach grom.  I'm sure if you surfed Pill Box or hung out at Mitch's Surf Shop you would have seen me and my friends walking around town in our full suits pulled down and our booties still on. (Yes, we were kooks but as stoked as anyone.) The parents of my best friend in Jr. High owned the Hide Away Cafe.  Both of us lived in Mira Mesa and realized quickly that if we got up at 5:30 am and caught a ride with his parents we could surf all day and be back by 3 to nap. Our summers consisted of nonstop days of free breakfast (ahhh Cinnamon Rolls!), surfing (North Reef), free lunch (Chopper Burger!) and surfing (More North Reef). It was quite possibly the best childhood a surf rat could have.

At the ripe old age of 14 my friend and I became friends with Ira.  He was a local at the restaurant and since he was the producer of the Surfer Mag TV show he was our new found idol. He let us hang around and hold up cue cards for Corky Caroll as he did his thing for the show. That was huge at 14. Those memories will always stick with me.

Now 22 years later Ira is still stoking us out. Like he did in the past he has brought us our next surfing fix, the digital surf flix.  Armed with www.thesurfnetwork.com and an expanding library of films he has given us the opportunity to search, preview and download surf films of past and present on a whim. It is the iTunes library of everything surf.  If you haven't checked out the site you should. I think it has been out for a year now and I have been getting all my videos from there. It is priced well and most of all I can download a video in the middle of the night. You gotta love technology.

Back to Basics

Now that we are mid winter I am starting to miss the Leucadia days of summer. The cold water has started to take it's toll.  Here is a shot of Kirk that brought me right back. It gives me that feeling of south summer swell and warm water afternoons.  How nice would it be to be back in trunks.

By Photo by David Gray

Hawaii 5.0

Here is a shot David grabbed while shooting down south. We dubbed it Hawaii 5.0. It was a little macker going off down the beach all by itself.

Black's Soul Surfing

When I got this shot I was blown away. The whole essence of the image drew me in. I love soul surfing anyway, then add a back lit glow, over head barrel, throw in a touch of offshore and you have a winner.

Photo by David Gray

Rocks That Look Like Things - Shark Head

The other day as I came out of the water I came across this little rock at Beacon's. As I picked it up I couldn't help but notice the resemblance to a shark head. I liked it so much I stuffed it in my wetsuit and brought it home to show my daughter, who like me, thought it was cool. 

If anyone has a rock they would like to share send them in.

North Side Iquique, Chile

The Rogers family moved to Leucaida in 1996, the same year I did. Leucadia was still a sleepy town and there where at least 2 empty lots on Jupiter at the time! Even though we lived very close it took about 3 years for me to actually start hanging out with them. Bob Rogers and his two son's Jesse and Randy all surfed, and so, in classic Leucadia style we all met first in the water and then discovered that we had a lot in common on land as well.  

Jesse, who was an avid surfer/traveler started to take notice on surf trips that there were a lot of Americans around the world who taught English for a living, and most importantly,  in countries that had great surf. After returning from a trip a light went off.  Armed with his BA in Communication and fluent in Spanish he decided to research countries with great surf that he could teach English as well.

The top of his list was Chile.  Three years ago Jesse packed his boards and headed for Chile. Alone in a foreign land he quickly made friends and started his 3 year long adventure, which ultimately lead him to his lovely Chilean wife Carolina.

Above are some of the rewards for spreading the English language abroad. While in Chile, Jesse had some amazing days. The experience was great and has since returned with Carolina to seek US employment. If anyone out there knows of a job you can email him here. 

You will be seeing more of Jesse and his travels.  For some reason he is one of those lucky guys who out of the blue makes friends on trips with guys with cameras. 

The photos above are taken by Sergio Peña, the owner of the Vertical Surf Shop. The best shop in the area according to Jesse.  It was complete with a Sushi bar and half pipe!

The walk.

The one thing that David does really well and that I appreciate about his work is his ability to tell the story.  He does it over and over and I think that is what stands him out from the rest. Yes, we all like to see that snap or tube. But for David it isn't just about the action, it is more about showing the emotion and the situation that makes it interesting for him.  He instinctively looks for and tells the bigger story.  To me this shot sums up his ability to do just that. It shows the emotion of what we go through as surfers. The loss of a loved board and the feeling of defeat as we walk back to our cars.

Great Little Sequence

Here is a sequence from David. It looks like such a fun little wave. I dig the color as well. 

Click on the image to see the large view.

More Shots from David

Nice little A-Frame.

Nice off the Top.

I love the combo of La Jolla in the background, a nice fan and some good hand.

Nothing like taking a mid carve look at where you came from.

Nice form, good spray what else could you ask for?

Here are more shots left over from that last swell from David.  All shots where taken at Black's 1/19/2009. If you were out that day, good chance that David has shots of you.