A 5'4 Mandala - Possibly the best Birthday Present Ever

Happy Birthday Kirk and congrats on you're new Mandala!  Anne gets the wife of the year award for sure.

Kirk found this little beauty this morning floating in his Jacuzzi. I've surfed with Kirk on his birthday for manny years and usually in June it is 1 foot slop. How stoked is he that a new board comes with some glassy waves! See you in the water my friend.

"Green Spring Flower Thing" On Display at Encinitas Library

My friend and local Eco Artist Rodney McCoubrey spearheaded this years community art project which is now on display at the Encinitas Library for a year. The project was made possible with the help of about 20 local volunteers and tons of kids and parents at this years EEDAY Festival. It was also generously supported by our local city art program coordinator Jim Gilliam who has been a huge support of our local artist throughout the year. Among the crew of volunteers where a few of my friends, Anne and Kirk Fagergren, John Gjata, Corey Messor, Steve Kwik, Mary Fleener, Marc Lathrop, Dave and Holly Lecour, Tak and Jamie Di Dio Aoyama, Jeramy and the high school crew, and Jan Rogers (she was like 6 people in one. you rock Jan!) to name a few. 

If you get a chance go to the library to check it out. It is displayed on the north side.

If you helped in this pat yourself on the back. You did great!!!

Kirk's 6th Grade Surf Art from 1983

For the holidays Kirk a.k.a Rojo Grande and Anne went back to Kirks mom's for a visit. When he arrived he found a stack of old art he did when he was a kid that his mom found. Here are two he made. Kirk has no memory of these and even weirder he didn't even surf back then and lived inland in Nor Cal. The other funny thing about this art is that Kirk is known as Rojo Grande as he likes to put on a Mexican Wrestling mask every now and then. He has even been known to surf in it. Talk about telling the future. Pretty amazing. Makes me want to dig out my old drawings from when I was a kid. Thanks for sharing Kirk!

Sacred Craft Day 2 Highlights

Shawd from Rainbow Fins has been making some amazing one off fins. I went back a few times to the booth to drool over them.

More Grain. Did I tell you that my board is almost done?

Our buddy Mick Waters is now collaborating with Grain. His first assignment was to film a board coming to Rasta for him to test out. The board is a Waka 5'4" for a charity called Stoked Mentoring. They are raffling it off for $10 online. More on that later. 

Bruce Jones was there throwing boards on the ground all day long. It was hard to watch at first. You get so used to your board being so fragile.

Gary Hanel and his team rider Miss Anne. 

Erik spent some time in the Moonlight booth chatting about boards. Petter made a finless Thumb Board that Erik will get to ride.

Love the Sticky Bumps wax art. Erik has been playing with the colored wax for months now. It was really cool to see the  kids get so into it.

Anne bought this beanie. It says Surfing Sucks. Don't try it, you'll hate it.

Jamie, Tak, Anne and Kirk. Prom Photo.

Cyrus Sutton, was in the booth showing off how to make one of his hand plains. I met him the day before. He's a super cool and humble guy.

Karl Eckstrom's model. I got to chat with him for a while. Just a really down to earth guy who is just as stoked now as he was when he was a kid.

MR was such a nice guy. He signed posters and took photos the whole weekend. I had him sign it to the Leucadia Project.

Brewer judging the boards. The judging took a bit and had to be hard. You had 5 of some of the best shapers in the world. They had to measure everything and fight to find flaws.

Dennis watching as the judging was going on.

Dennis had every one sign the template. John Peck took notice and checked it out.

Dennis was funny. Every time I tried to get a photo of him he gave me a new face. This was his serious one.

And the winner is.... Pat Rawson. 

I wondered if Dennis was disappointed. I asked him how he felt and he said he was just really honored to be there. All the boards were amazing, besides, how often do you get to hang out with Dick Brewer!

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

A Successful Weekend In Leucadia

Unknown enjoying the view.

Kirk dropping into a clean green wall.

Erik grabbing rail with composure while the rest of us sit and stare.

Perfect ending to a perfect day.

What started out as a disappointment to many who dusted off their rounded pin tails in anticipation for a huge swell ended up to be a very clean and fun swell with the most beautiful weather. The sunsets over the weekend were second to none and the waves, although they weren't huge like predicted, more than made up for it with clean and glassy conditions.  These shots give you a feeling of what it was like in the evening.  If you were out you know how good it was.

Photos courtesy of David Gray

The Walk

Here are a couple of shots I like.  They give you that feeling of anticipation and focus as you walk to the water.  A side note is the wax job on Kirk's board. He and I are known to have a years worth of wax build up on our boards, complete with tropical wax from a trip he made to Bali. Classic.  Hey, if it works don't fix it, right?

Photos by David Gray