Ken White is a good shaper but he is not from ST. Augustine. He is from Pensacola where he learned most of what he knows from Steve Stack and Steve Forstall. Both of which are great shapers and craftsmen.
Yes. I received your phone message. Did you get my e-mail? IMPORTANT message therein.
I’m at home so no e-mail…my wife won’t give me the access code! Call me…
Good grief Lee. John you can email me and I’ll print it out and pass it along to Lee when we meet to surf tomorrow morning. PS Got a jet ski?
The surf sucks in sandiego, the period is short, the wind…always on shore, and the water polluted. Pass it on. Plus lets blow up the stairs at North Garbage, and build a big 12’ razorwire fence around the nazerenne campus. Its silly i know, but fun to dream about.
…leave the stairs but break off the cliff at Abs…you want it; you gotta paddle…
Indeed, Spoken like a man who understands my own frustrations with that wonderful stretch of coast. Why does everyone and their brother have to gravitate to ab or the cliffs in general. At least they dont look south too often. You dont ride that single fin hull with the step rail thingy do you? So its agreed the cliff is dust, i for one wont mind the paddle.
the stairs should be out of order starting in March. Be prepared. (Yes, that’s Lee’s board)…
Me, its Green choice fish with white keeled fins, ussually. But right now im in Santa Cruz, you know that whole college. So I’m only down there december and summer anymore. Being a slug is kinda like being a Nazbo in alot of ways. In terms of reception by the locals and community. I just keep my head down here and try to not to show up on any radar. Ill split the cost of the supplies for the cliffs liberation with you guys, it seems only fair.
QUOTE: "Re: ANIMOSITY AGAINST CALI GLASS SHOPS ned – Wednesday, 11 February 2004, at 11:10 p.m. I guess some of us here in California take our surfing bit more serious. it looks like most kids in FL are more concerned about what they should ride according to the super hype magazines. they buy into that hype. fashion over function in FL. " It is the west coast that sets these fashion trends. But if you take the time to dig a little deeper and not make this a west coast/east coast thing youd realize that both coasts have lineups clogged with mediocre surfers riding trends. If you look closer, the better riders and the more soulful riders are riding equipment created for them and the waves they ride by someone who knows both. Go to our more skillful breaks and you’ll see the guys (outside of the odd pro/semi-pro) ripping the places apart on their Bill Johnson Quiet Flights, Rich Price Natural Arts, Tom Neilson’s etc…I’m speaking of the south east, but like the left coast soul does indeed live on. It’s easy to say that the east coast buys into the hype, but I would say that economically the west coast is far more responsible for the hype. Many more consumers out there (surfers and otherwise) who buy into the trends and hype. Now…couldnt we call the recent resurgence of vintage equipment, resin tints, volan and the like a hyped up trend? It’s all cycles…
Same problem ,Different side of the world.I shape out of Adelaide in southern Australia and trying to convince people that dont know any better is tough.Our surf is custom made for fatter and flatter boards but i still make a hell of a lot of toothpicks,because thats what they ride on the east coast of Oz. http://www.nastysurfboards.com
It’s same problem all over, in photography it’s guys who could rattle off every spec of the top of the line cameras but hell if they could take a photo yet guys at the top shoot with cheap solid old school rigs and print on a beat up old enlarger. Surfers concern themselves with the perceived image of the sport, ya know, pants around your ass, hats all sideways and just looking dirtbaggish, yet, most surfers I know throw on jeans, shortie buttdowns and don’t brush their hair, yet they rip. Media is a powerful tool and people are an all to willing subject these days, falling for anything put in front of them. It just seems that there is a sense of heritage in California that allows the true craftsmen to get their names out there. Guys like Tyler, Jim Phillips and others are regular house hold names, where as the people down south who were mentioned are merely known by a select few. Much the same up here in NJ as people think there are no shapers around here, yet throw out a name like Tom Eadon or Carl Danish and the die hards come a running. With California being such a saturated market there is room for everyone, but down in FL and in much of the east coast, it’s about 100% markup on the names and images you find in magazines.
yea glen i will join ya on that on to, im on the west coast of oz ,grommets are suckers for hype …as are about 95% of the surfing population ,you get so frustrated coz everyone wants the latest even tho it will only work for a handfull of people …reverse v then concaves ,more rocker ,less rocker,single to double ,fish ,chunksters,and now retro…one after the other its like the whole surfing population changes there equipment in sync and gets bummed out then onto the next hype… my feelings on retro RETRO LOOKS RETRO STYLE RETRO PERFORMANCE regards BERT
whether you are a banana slug or a Nazbo, what matters is how you act in the lineup, not how many years you’ve been there doing it. Good waves up there, no? I keep a board at my brother’s house & still like to surf there when I’m visiting.
Waves, yes sir, perhaps too good and too consistent. These kind of things bring crowds and worse, lots of pros or the worst, local pros. 1 pro = 5 regulars, kill the wave count. I agree, one must have ediquitee regardless of who you are. 10 threads could be talked about this, but lets not, we all know the lines.
I like to think I kept to my own ideas over the years, and I am the first to admit that those ideas came from everyone else originally, I just tried my version and went from there. I have worked for a few guys, who have been overheard more than once, discussing what design to make because that’s what is selling this year. I have also overheard the same guys telling their gullible clients to buy those designs because that’s what they should be riding. Of course the next year it’s completely different. That doesn’t make sense to me. Retro…I agree with Bert. It’s a cool and trendy word to guys who want cool and trendy boards. I was at the beach and in the waves a lot more often than those guys. Yet when the guy who bought the board paddles up to me and asked my opinion of his cool new board that I had glassed and polished, he found it hard to stomach that I didn’t really like it, and didn’t really agree with the hard sell behind the so-called ‘latest innovation’ or ‘retro’ design. All this reeks of commercialism in an activity that used to be regarded as ‘alternative’ or ‘soulful’ or even ‘individual’. A bit like Kieth says, use, beg or borrow lots of boards till you find one you really like. Then my advice is to take it to your favorite boardmaker and challenge him to make one better, for you. Work at your own cutting edge and you will only get better.
There is no surf in San Diego. It’s all fake pictures. We really don’t even have beaches. It’s all rocks and funny reef with bird crap all over it. Sewage spills and angry people. Much better surfing to the North, way up in Orange county, like salt Creek and what not. -Jay