Enjoy Handplanes salvages old foam from broken boards to make new bodysurfing handplanes. Each one is made out of recycled broken board foam or manufacturing waste. They are handmade and custom glassed, providing a second chance to a once loved board or wrecked blank doomed to the land fill.
The Color Your Fin Art Project is the first of a series of art projects aimed at promoting art and fun in the surf community. Whether you are young or old, live in Leucadia or in another country, we encourage you to color away and send it in. We will be posting them as they arrive. Enjoy!
Ok I'm hooked. I can't stop making dirty surf wax art. The feel of wax on my fingers and the smell of feet and coconut. What's not to love? This little wave took about an hour to make. It was out of a ball of wax I had sitting in my garage for about 6 months. I have had so much fun with this and liked the end result so much I have started to keep them on my mantel. People are stoked to see them as they come through the house. In about six months when my wax is ready to be changed I'll make a new one. That is unless people send me some of their own wax!
If you want to do your own and save a ball of wax from the dump, make them up and send me some photos. Ed Lewis
My sister emailed me these drawings by my 5 year old nephew, Ethan. These are great, I love them. We Skype all the time and my daughter and I do art projects with him, his brother and sister who live in Japan. This was the result of one of our drawing sessions. My sister and her family live inland in Japan so they aren't around surfing at all. He gets his surf influence from me and The Leucadia Project. Classic.
David was shooting one day and kept seeing this guy killing it. Wave after wave with big sprays and barrels. After the session he realized that it was local artist and free surfer, Chris Del Moro. Chris, who had met David before was stoked to see the shots, which ended up on Surfline. According to David, Chris is about a nice a guy as you can get. Not only does he rip, he is just really humble -- the kind of guy you want to see succeed at whatever he does.
The Mattson Two/ Ray Barbee benefit concert was a huge success. Everyone who was there was blown away. More then one of my friends who are musicians themselves said it was the best concert they had every seen. Friends and friends of friends showed up to give their support. The concert raised over $11,000 for the cause. The family is going through a lot right now but are extremely grateful and humbled that our community showed up to support their cause. Good job everyone.
David sent me these photos a few days ago. These are shots of his friend Chad, who absolutely kills it. David and Chad went up to DMJ's a while ago and got it good. I've surfed up there a few times and it was amazing. The environment is an interesting contrast.
A while back I posted on an asymmetrical fin experiment I have been trying. (See Fin Swap Anyone) I have been using two very different fins on my fish. One was a LokBox Turbo fin and the other was a standard LokBox 7.25" keel fin. The set up surprisingly worked really well. It had a bit more speed due to the cant (angle) of the turbo fin as it opened up the space between the fins. This experiment has opened my mind to thinking outside the box when it comes to fins. It was amazing that an asymmetrical set up worked so well.
Yesterday though I expanded my fin experiment. This time, however, not by choice. You see on my first wave my turbo fin snapped off. I noticed a few days ago that it had a stress crack but never thought it would snap. On that first wave I was going left and that fin was the fin in the face so I spun out. I was a bit upset at the idea of loosing my favorite fin but I decided to stay out and belly the board around as I had just gotten out.
I bellied on my first wave and then on my second wave, by instinct, I just stood up. Surprisingly I was able to ride it all the way in. That wave was a spark of inspiration and so I took wave after wave riding with one fin. After a few test waves I figured out that going right with a good fin in the face was about 75% capacity of how the board rode normally. Who would have thought? You couldn't do a big carve but you could do little slide out snaps, drive down the line and feel pretty confident. Going left was another story. Although I made my first wave I proceeded to spin out more often then not.
Although I'm bummed that I lost my favorite fin, that session was a gift. It opened my mind to the possibilities in something I had thought to be impossible. A good lesson in general and memorable session.
I am well known for my wax job. I will go six months or more with the same wax build up. Kirk is the same way. Erik goes crazy over this. He rides for Sticky Bumps so he gets tons of wax and is always trying out new wax formulas. One day he was so disgusted that he even offered to rewax my board for me. I politly declined. Besides, it took me six months to get that wax job!
This type of wax job has it's advantages and disadvantages. On the upside it works great. A couple of seasons of wax makes a pretty good blend. You can't buy this stuff. This current wax job was originated sometime in summer so it has a good base of warm wax and is now mixed in with the cold formula. The down side to the caked on wax job is that it looks really bad and it gets really heavy. It must add a pound at least to the board.
Today I finally couldn't take it any more and decided to rewax my board. Since I have six months of wax I tend to have a decent size ball at the end of the stripping. This time was no different.
I hate to throw out old wax as it isn't the best thing for the environment. I have a few balls floating around my garage just sitting collecting dust.
Today I dicided to do something different with the wax. I decided to put my years of art school to use and make my sculpture professor proud. After looking at this ball of wax I started seeing a face in it. So with a little work I was able to bring my ball of wax to life.
After seeing the results I was pretty stoked. I even put it up on my mantel. Who knew that your old dirty surf wax would be a pretty good medium to make sculptures out of it? Besides that wax was with me on some amazing waves. It seems fitting that I show it some respect and give it a life after my board.
So the next time you rewax your board, do the environment a favor and make that dirty ball into something cool. When your done, take a snap shot and send it our way and we'll post it.
While David was combing through his archives he came across a set from summer that I have always liked. Here are a few from a small summer Cardiff day. To me these are amazing. I love the color and the playfulness of a small day. They remind me of why I like to surf, the feeling I get from a warm summer sunset and those moments when I think about life as I paddle back out.
After these storms it has been amazing to witness the colors of the sunsets in the lineup. I feel so lucky and thankful when I happen to witness these moments of such pure beauty.
We spend a lot of time in the water searching for waves that we tend to get too busy to stop and look around. I'm just as guilty of that as anyone but when I do stop for a moment, let a wave pass, and watch in awe I feel better for doing so.
Here are a few shots from today. David was down shooting this morning and got some good ones. I was out last night for a walk and it was victory at sea. What a difference a day makes.
If you have never heard these guys you will be blown away. They played for years around town and have now made it big and are traveling the world and playing. This event is a special deal as their parents are both self employed and are both recovering from surgery. The concert will help pay their bills and get them back on their feet. This show will most likely be nothing like you have ever seen. These guys play their hearts out for strangers let alone their own family.
If you can make it you won't be disappointed. If you can't they are graciously accepting donations as well.
Early Valentines Day morning we lost one of Leucadia's strongest and most passionate crusaders - Bob Nanninga. Although a native that never surfed, Bob dedicated his life to the preservation, health and quality of Leucadia, it's beaches, and the ocean. He was our personal Environmental Warrior. An avid believer of the spoken word who also had a remarkable gift of poetry and public speaking - Leucadians were somehow the lucky or "chosen" ones who were the recipients of this gift.
I had seen for years on MTV's Cribs all the pop stars who had movie theaters in their mansions. The first thought that always came to mind was how cool it would be to watch surf films in them. I never thought I'd have the opportunity to have my own personal movie theater until last week when my neighbor went on a trip and his wife was cool enough to loan me their digital video projector.
After looking around my place I realized that if I pulled one of my paintings down I had a wall that was 12' x 12' and perfect for watching surf films. So far this week I have watched at least 6.
After going through my collection I started to branch out to my friends. Erik loaned me One California Day which I hadn't seen in a few years.
The first time I saw One California Day it was at the La Palama on opening night. It was quite the experience. The film was good the first time but like leftover Leucaida Pizza, it got better with age.
That is the one thing that is special about surf films. Ninety-nine percent of the movies I watch in pop culture I can watch once and get bord with them after that. A good surf film is nothing like that. You can watch them over and over and they become like an old friend who you don't see for a while but think about. Once back together, you hit it off like you were never apart.
When given the oppertunity to watch the film again I was immediately transported to the opening night and the scene that inspired me the most. Although they have a ton of great sequences, like Tudor at Big Rock, Joe and Tom Curren in Santa Barbera, Greg Noll in his work shop, and the Malloys in Baja, it was the Alex Knost and Tyler Warren sequences that by far stood out to me in the film. I remember being blown away by Alex and Tyler and walking out of the theater completely inspired. It was the same this time around as well.
If you haven't seen this film yet it is one that you need to own in your collection. The DVD is a great set as you get the extra footage of the Greg Noll segment and a lot more which is really cool. If you can't wait they got it in last week at www.thesurfnetwork.com. Enjoy.
Long time local Eli Mirandon was shot by David at Black's last month on his quad fish shaped by local Manny Caro. Check out Manny's site The Swallowtail Society. Eli is a great surfer and I love these shots. Manny's boards are amazing as well. The second shot is one of the set that made it on Surfline. Enjoy.
Last night I got a great surprise. Jan Rogers, long time friend and neighbor, brought over her fin entry, a stained glass original creation she made just for me! I currently have it displayed in my house and will treasure it forever. Thank you Jan! I Love it!
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.
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.
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 a site dedicated to the place we love and live. It's a tribute to the beauty of it's beaches, it's amazingly fun surf, it's unique funk, and the talented people who call it home either in the water or on land.
