Sunday, January 31, 2010

Wood Goodness - 5'8" Bortoleto Keel Fish- by Felipe Siebert



Brazilian shaper Felipe Siebert has always inspired me. He has style and skill. Check out his blog for (siebertsurfboards.blogspot.com ) more photos of this board and many more. This fish is 1 of a series of 20 that he is making in collaboration with American artists: Jesse Ledoux and Dustin Ortiz. Enjoy.

Photos by Felipe Siebert

Friday, January 29, 2010

REMINDER - Allison Renshaw - Plastic Fantastic- Oceanside Museum of Art - THIS SATURDAY

Click to enlarge

My friend and local artist Allison Renshaw is having an opening for her new art show, Plastic Fantastic at the Oceanside Museum of Art. Reception is 5pm to 7pm Saturday Jan. 30th. See www.oma-online.org for details. Check out her site at www.allisonrenshaw.com . Hope to see everyone there.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Dreamy


A rare day. Off shore, 12' and less then 5 guys out. Here is a local taking advantage of it. 

I called Erik to come down hoping to get some good shots. As the session progressed we moved to get a new angle and David and I also almost took it in the back with a land slide. Quite the adventure. If you ever hear a pop from a 300 foot bluff above, run like hell. In our flight to escape the slide his camera ended up in the sand. We never did get good shots of Erik. I was bummed. But the good news is we made it out alive and Erik got to surf this with one other guy out filmed entirely in memory cam. Play back is instant and on demand for life.

photo: Ed Lewis

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Scripps

Last week David and I ended up at Scripps to do a little shooting. The place was amazing. I've never seen it so good. Here are a few I got. David got one of his in the surfline.com feature and a few on fuel.tv. Go check'm out. Way to go David!


There is just something about the contrast of a perfect right barrel and a pier in the way.



Outside! This was about 15 foot plus. These sets would come out of nowhere. Check out the guy paddling out on the left.


Everywhere you looked there were barrels and fans and fans of barrels.


This is right off La Jolla Cove. I'm a half mile away. It's big.


Finally, one more little duck dive and then I'm out!


11am freight train headed south.




Finally, no one around and I'm set up for my first tube ever. Nothing can stop me now...



Photos: Ed Lewis

Dom's Alaia Test Drive





We featured Dom De Pietro's handy work a few weeks back with some photos of him making his own Alaia. Today I got some shots from his first test drive.

This is the third Alaia he's shaped, but it's the first he's made using the real Paulownia wood from Oz. He is digging this board over his others because the Paulownia is lighter and has more floatation. According to Dom this new board glides much faster and turns easier due to the reduced weight. It also paddles much easier than the Alaias he made out of Douglas fir.

Like any stoked craftsman, as soon as he finished making a wood board, he's already starting to think about the next one he's going to make, and the different design changes he wants to try out.

We'll be keeping tabs on Dom to see what he makes next. Keep up the good work Dom and keep sending us photos!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Ryan Burch on 4'10" Foam Thingy. Really Cool.





I was amazed watching this. Check out  the new short from the guys at Korduroy.tv .

Filmed on one winter day, Ryan Burch lays into his 4′10″ block of styrofoam. He took a saw to a soft top surfboard blank and voila- no fins, no resin or fiberglass, no stringer, no leash… just a square chunk of foam. More shenanigans coming soon via the new surf film “stoked and broke” a surfari epic on zero dollars.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Lucky Shot



Shot from a moving vehicle, at 70 mph, from the passenger seat, through the closed limo tented window, after suddenly looking up and being stunned by the beauty of this image. Sometimes it's just pure luck. Get inspired, pull the trigger and the rest is done for you. I love it. Enjoy.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Mattson 2 playing Jan 23 in Cardiff 7-10pm



Check out the live music and art show tomorrow night. Click on the image for details. Should be fun.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Grey Goodness



Go ahead, click on it. Make it bigger. Then move your fingers around in front of it like your surfing. Keep quiet though, your coworker is right around the corner.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Kipps New Mini Wood Fish



Kipp's been at it again. This time he made a beautiful mini wood and bamboo railed fish. Kipp got the blank from Cowboy Dan's Wood Working Wonderland, complete with built in rocker and precut fish template. The fins are custom birch plywood he made himself.









Sunday, January 17, 2010

Local Leucadian Family Need Our Help




My friend Judy Finkbiner sent this to me about one of our local families in need. If you know the Reynolds read on. They can use our help. 

Dear Family and Friends,

Many of you know that on Christmas night 38 year old Sabrina Reynolds, mother of two girls ages 3 and 7, suffered a brain hemorrhage on the left side of her brain. After 10 days in the hospital with multiple tests and medications administered, Sabrina was released believing this was a one time event that would be treated on an out patient basis. Well since last Friday, January 8, 2010, Sabrina has suffered several types of seizures and had another bleed in the front of her brain and is again in ICU for more testing to determine the course of treatment.

Since these two episodes happened in 2009 and now in 2010 Billy and Sabrina Reynolds have incurred two annual deductibles with a myriad of other co-payments. They are facing hospital bills in the 10's of thousands of dollars even with PPO insurance. We have set -up a bank account at California Community Bank (in The Lumberyard) at 851 South Coast Highway 101, Suite 300, Encinitas, CA 92024. This is a new community bank and Ann Lim, New Accounts Representative, has waived the fees for this bank account to accept donations for the family. The bank is open from 9-5 Monday through Thursday and 9-6 on Friday.

Many of you have asked how you can help and this is how....you may make a direct deposit into the account, checks made payable to Billy Reynolds, you do not even need the account number since the staff has been alerted that donations will be forthcoming. You may also mail checks to Billy Reynolds, Care of Judi or John Finkbiner, 140 Range Street, Encinitas, CA 92024 and we will deposit these checks into this account. CHECKS MUST BE PAYABLE TO WILLIAM REYNOLDS AND NOT SABRINA since the bank was unable to identify Sabrina in person.

The bank can also accept ACH or wire deposits please just contact me via e-mail for the wiring and ACH instructions.

Please consider making even the smallest donation since you will be helping a family in your own community. Billy has taught many of the children in this community as a History Teacher at Oak Crest Middle School. Sabrina has also touched many of your children's lives as the Treatment Coordinator at Rawlings & Hydo Orthodontics in Encinitas and Solana Beach.

This has been an unbelievable event that has occurred to this famliy and we appreciate any help you may give. Billy was a bit hesitant of "being
on the dole" so to speak and suggested that you could also help the family by purchasing his educational CD titled "Professor Presley" onwww.cdbaby.com/cd/professorpresley which is a rockin' way to learn historical facts. Also, you may purchase his band’s CD, Lo-Fi Nipple available at www.cdbaby.com/cd/lofinipple 

Thank you for your continued prayers and positive thoughts for Sabrina and please feel free to forward to other angels!

Sincerely

Judi and John Finkbiner

I know that money is tight after Christmas and that you probably already donated your grocery money to the Haiti disaster, but please help the Reynolds if you can. Thanks! 

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Eli Mirandon

The other day when David and I were shooting, we met up with with Eli Mirandon .

Now I had met Eli before but I've never seen him surf in person. I had never seen him in his element. That day I got a lot of respect for the guy. David and I had watched all day as double to triple overhead sets came in with no one on them. All I thought all day was you couldn't pay me to paddle out.

Then comes Eli. He looks at it, suits up, paddles out and catches the most insane offshore, double overhead barrel. It was amazing to watch.



p. E



p. E


p.E



p. D



p. D

 Photos by David Gray and Ed Lewis

Thursday, January 14, 2010

David takes me under his wing. I get my first big swell shots.







David took me under his wing yesterday and brought me shooting with him. I have to admit I felt a bit intimidated. I wasn't sure how anything would turn out. Would the swell turn on? Would the lighting kill the shot? Would I choke? It all crossed my mind as I sat back and followed what David was doing.  He was a good teacher. Guiding me, showing me his tricks, keeping me entertained as the conditions looked iffy at best and then got me stoked as his persistence and knowledge turned us on to the perfect spot at the perfect time.

He knows what he is doing for sure and the two of us balanced each other out. He guided me on some techincal things and I pushed him to find some new angles. It worked out well. We had fun and David even scored a shot on surfline's feature of the swell.

All and all it was fun and I got some shots I liked. A bonus! Thanks David for showing me the ropes. I had a blast.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

JP Marengo at it again.


Photo by Mike Delanzo



Photo by John Slavin

Murphy team rider JP Marengo, has been out doing his thing. Here are a few to get you pumped up for more swell tomorrow.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Monday, January 11, 2010

Movie of the Week - Water Man - Only $6.99





I own this video and like it enough to have watched it a few times.  It's with Laird, Dave Kalama, the Malloy's, Machado and Jerry Lopez on a boat trip all trying different equipment. I like documentary style films so it was entertaining to watch and the crew is top notch.  Can't beat it at $6.99 if your looking for some new films to add to your library. www.thesurfnetwork.com

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Stained Glass







I love digging through old photos. I found this one again and still like it. I took this shot in France a few years back in a church. The image is of a stained glass window. I started playing with long exposures on that trip and came away with some really cool shots. When you zoom in the light looks like hairs. Enjoy.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Cheryl Sorg's Art for a Cause






My friend and local artist Cheryl Sorg has been working on a project to help bring awareness to  Human Trafficking. After reading a book on the subject Cheryl was inspired to do what she can to help support organizations that stop and prevent these crimes. In an effort to raise awareness she is donating proceeds from the sale of her thumbprint works as well as organizing an auction that she will be selling thumbprints of celebrities that believe in the cause.

I encourage you to take a look at her site and learn more about her cause and the creative ways she is going about making a difference.

www.cherylsorg.com

Erik Pulls 501 sessions for last year (The neck tan proves it)





My good friend Erik Baldwin started a goal on the first of last year to clock 500 sessions by the time 2010 came around. I, like many of his friends, have been paying close attention over the year to his progress.

The road to glory is not always paved with glassy waves and shakas. Over the course of the year I watched (and was dragged out to many of them) as Erik paddled out into every condition imaginable. While the rest of us were home sleeping on that cold blown out morning, Erik was paddling out. After it dumped and the water was all brown, Erik was out.  While it was dumping Erik was out. When the rest of us where curled up in the fetal possition from that cold that was going around, Erik was out sneezing in the lineup. 



To reach this kind of goal you have to take the good with the bad, the crowded with the empty and double over head with the knee high slop.  You have to preservere.

When Erik gave me the final count I wasn’t really surprised he made it because I saw how hard he was working at it. But I was surely taken aback by the feat itself. 



To give you an idea, the average surfer maybe surfs twice a week or 104 times a year with 261 days off to do other things like work, be with the family, or go to sporting events.


I tend to surf a lot and if I'm lucky if I get to surf about 4 to 5 times a week. I maybe clock  200 session a year leaving me with 150 days or so that I don't surf.  Frankly, I can get surfed out at 4 to 5 session a week. 


Erik on the other hand only missed 7 days last year! That means 358 days last year Erik was in the water and just under half of those days he had either double or triple sessions. That is staggering. I would say that there are few other surfers in the world who have clocked that kind of water time. 


Erik, my friend, well done. You have lived the dream we all wish we could. Now, I beg you, take some time off and work on smoothing out that wetsuit tan. 

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Road Trip - Three Rivers


At the end of the year I took a road trip, 5 hours north, to a little town called Three Rivers. It is just outside of Sequoia National Park at about 1500 feet elevation. The town is small. You can pass right through if you aren't paying attention. The town itself is quiet and comfortable, but the main attraction is the river and surrounding mountains.

I'm usually a beach vacation sort of guy. I tend to pick my destinations by the quality of waves. In this case a friend of mine will be moving soon and she will no longer own her home on the river. Before she leaves I wanted to see her place. Am I glad I did.




Three Rivers is a truly beautiful place. The views are fantastic and the energy is calm and relaxing. From my friends home you can see mountains, the river and wildlife.




Right out her back yard is the river. She told us stories about when the river gets big after a storm. This is about as low as it gets. The highest rocks are ten feet high and they get covered when the water is flowing. At night when the water is surging rocks collide and spark underwater. I'm told it looks like lightening in the river.



Kissing rocks.



4 foot Boulders scattered like pebbles. Evidence of the power of the river.



My friend's home is beautiful. Built into the side of the hill it looks out with one whole wall of windows to the beauty of the mountains and the river below.



One of the most stunning features of the river that I found was the moss. Its vibrant color contrasted the gray of the rocks.





Nature is amazing. Out of simple cracks spawn trees.



The area is abundant with water. On the side of a road you will find small untouched waterfall habitats.



A small walk brings unexpected things.

Like this Buddha statue complete with bark alter.



Leaves of green framed by stone walls of yesteryear.



Yellow colored moss covered fences.



The textures of the surroundings caught my eye more than once. Everywhere I looked I was inspired to take just one more photo.



Being a water person I couldn't help but long to play in the river. Although it was cold I found myself daydreaming and feeling myself gravitate to the motion and power of the river.

Going there I thought I was a beach person through and through, but I have to admit,  I did find myself wanting to stay longer and curious about the possibility of living in such a place. Even though my allegiance is to the ocean I do think that any place with nature and vast emptiness is a draw. At least until the North West Swells come.
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