First of all, a Happy New Year to all. One nice thing about France, you have the whole month of January to wish Happy New Year’s! I hope it’s happy and prosperous, with good surf and good friends. You pick the order.
I’m coming out of a several-year break in which I shaped about a board per year and now things are looking up on the shaping end. I defended my Ph.D. dissertation a couple of weeks ago, all the heaviest skin-cancer stuff has been dealt with, my back is ‘back’ in shape, and my 15-year old son just came up to me this morning and asked me if I’d help him to build his first longboard… just when I have the time and motivation to get back into it a bit!
So, a balsa egg glue-up that’s been waiting for a couple of years for the right time is first in line, a blank for him is being ordered, I’m thinking about a 9’10" for myself, and I’m feeling pretty good about now.
Sounds like a lot of obstacles are now out of the way. Enjoy the waves and your new found freedom. Sounds like you have a great outlet to fill up the post thesis vacuum.
My phd is in American Studies, maybe Border Studies the way that certain universities divide things up. I researched hybrid culture in Southern California, mostly in the 19th century as the area went from Spanish to Mexican to American (I know, Mexicans are Americans, too…) in just a generation or so. What I really dig are the grey areas - the Spanglish and the architectural blending, and the Hawaiian influence, of course. Good fun.
We did our first ding repair sessions this weekend. The boy has a nice touch and a good feel for what to do. I guess all that time he spent watching is kicking in. I want to get him really feeling the curves and looking at a board differently before we start moving foam.