YEW, sg*
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
images at TUMBLr
i joined >>>> http://slopgroveller.tumblr.com/ last weeks (a bit late) top 5, 1: watching tom's creation plantation, 2: catching up with the S.E.W.N film crew at surfline, 3: the cyrus sutton handplane image in the latest surfer's journal, shame it was not on the cover, 4: watching dear and yonder again, 5: stoking on other stuff even without wave time, sg*
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
my top 5
i have decided to share my top 5 surf experiences from each week, they may be in or out of the water, big or small, but sharing is fun, last weeks top 5 are, 1: getting my hands on 'tom's creation plantation', 2: reading the tyler warren piece in AU surfing world mag, 3: re-watching brian bent surfing in 'you scratched my anchor', 4: finishing my articles for PLB, 5: having dinner with the surfline crew to farewell Lars, no surf for me last week, sg*
Sunday, April 18, 2010
gold coast fish man
the neubernator big fish grant newby, the alley fish fry and wooden boards day events organiser, grant is the most enthusiastic surfing enthusiast i have ever had the pleasure of meeting, sg*
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
PLB
More words for PLB on the Hyundai Longboard Tour 2010
>>>>
Usually when I hear that a surf competition is being held at my local break the first thing that pops into my head is, 'bet it will be pumping and crowded', so where else can I go for a wave.
But this time I packed up the car with the wife, kids, camera gear, buckets and spades - the only thing missing was my longboard, which I promised the wife I would leave at home - and headed off to Sandy Bay for the third and final day of the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour.
Sandy Bay is popular beach break lined with a few holiday homes and Pohutukawa trees on the East Coast of Northland NZ, 30 minutes north east of Whangarei City, Sandy arguably the most frequented surf spot in the area, where many locals have learnt to surf, myself included, usually at the southern end of the beach in the aptly named 'Kiddies Corner'.
On arrival at Sandys, 'The Bay' or 'Scungies' as it is well known for it's annual seaweed infestation, we find the carpark full to overflowing, sponsors flags flapping in the onshore breeze and a shoulder high swell marching onto the shoreline, after securing the all important child friendly carparking space, the next step is finding 'the spot'.
Luckily friends and fellow Bream Bay Sliders members - a family based group of mainly longboarders from the Waipu Cove area, an hour south of Sandy Bay - had that sorted for us, shaded with an elevated view of the action.....perfect.
In this quiver of surf enthusiasts was shaper, surfer and long time friend Roger Hall from Surfline Surfboards, Ruakaka. Roger, who had taken out the over-40s division at Sandy Bay in 2001 and came second overall after competing in only three legs of that tour, was there to support two of his teamriders, Dr. Michael Burling and Brendan Young, both from Hawkes Bay, an all day roadie away.
As you can imagine the five-leg tour which spreads over both, North and South Islands, starting at Tay Street Mt. Maunganui in early January, Sandy Bay, St. Clair Beach Dunedin, Whangamata, then wraps up at the end of March in Port Waikato, has the competitors racking up a lot of miles.
With a nod from the wife I head for the waters edge, camera in hand as Brendan in a rather fetching competition rashie paddles out for the final of the over-40s.
This coincides with an eruption from his pod of supporters, opting for the northern end of the beach amongst the free surfers, a tactical move. Brendan scores peeling left after left to take out the final, he has been competing over a decade and knows when to have his game face on.
The inclusion of Stand Up Paddle boarding in this years tour gave the spectators another excuse to hoot, gasp and cringe.
Between heats the 'rock stars of longboarding' - as described by the over enthusiastic commentator through the megaphonic speakers bellowed - paddled out for a between heat free surf. A figure appears from the white wash, it was friend and fellow member of the Bream Bay Sliders, John Sutcliffe with a timber wave craft in hand, his grin says it all, a self confessed backyard wooden board builder with his hands on Taylor Jensen's personal handmade Alaia, happy as a clam. Taylor was on a road trip around NZ with Al Ashworth from Slide Magazine and shared his equipment as if he was a 'Bay' local, a great thing to witness.
With the open final well under way the pressure was on, for me that is, to get some nice images of the action before the kids - who were getting very restless in the afternoon heat - impaled themselves on the remains of Kina shells that were in close proximately to our now well secured spot. As for the competitors, Josh Constable from Noosa, Californian Taylor Jensen, Dr. Michael Burling and Dylan Barnfield, they went about their business with a mixture of power and precision for a solid 20 minutes. In the dying moments of the heat, smiles and banter was exchanged between kiwi lads Burling and Barnfield while Constable floated gracefully across white caps and on to open wave faces flashing his fins at the onlookers, amongst them was renowned Sandy Bay surfer John Ayrton, Constable's fin maker from Glide Fins, who is now based in Victoria.
Jensen mixed cutting small waves into smaller pieces with 5 toed tip time, scoring 19.35 out of a possible 20 for the win. Constable clutched the next highest total followed by Burling and then Barnfield.
With the successful completion of this year's tour consisting of open, women's, under-18s men, over-40s, over-50s and SUP divisions, it was overall point scorer Dylan Barnfield who took the trophy home to Ohope.
With my usual family commitments, travelling to Port Waikato for the tour's final leg was unfortunately out of the question but at dawn the day after the Sandy Bay leg of the tour, I was back - this time equipped with my log - to enjoy smaller yet cleaner waves in 'Kiddies Corner' with a few friends, out of towners and some competition left overs. I shot a few rolls of film which gave me time to reflect on what had been another memorable day at my local, family, injury free kids, friends and shared equipment, classic. But as the truck loaded up with port-a-loos made it's way up the hill behind me, I felt like my local had some sense of order restored, at least until next time.
By MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM
>>>>
Usually when I hear that a surf competition is being held at my local break the first thing that pops into my head is, 'bet it will be pumping and crowded', so where else can I go for a wave.
But this time I packed up the car with the wife, kids, camera gear, buckets and spades - the only thing missing was my longboard, which I promised the wife I would leave at home - and headed off to Sandy Bay for the third and final day of the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour.
Sandy Bay is popular beach break lined with a few holiday homes and Pohutukawa trees on the East Coast of Northland NZ, 30 minutes north east of Whangarei City, Sandy arguably the most frequented surf spot in the area, where many locals have learnt to surf, myself included, usually at the southern end of the beach in the aptly named 'Kiddies Corner'.
On arrival at Sandys, 'The Bay' or 'Scungies' as it is well known for it's annual seaweed infestation, we find the carpark full to overflowing, sponsors flags flapping in the onshore breeze and a shoulder high swell marching onto the shoreline, after securing the all important child friendly carparking space, the next step is finding 'the spot'.
Luckily friends and fellow Bream Bay Sliders members - a family based group of mainly longboarders from the Waipu Cove area, an hour south of Sandy Bay - had that sorted for us, shaded with an elevated view of the action.....perfect.
In this quiver of surf enthusiasts was shaper, surfer and long time friend Roger Hall from Surfline Surfboards, Ruakaka. Roger, who had taken out the over-40s division at Sandy Bay in 2001 and came second overall after competing in only three legs of that tour, was there to support two of his teamriders, Dr. Michael Burling and Brendan Young, both from Hawkes Bay, an all day roadie away.
As you can imagine the five-leg tour which spreads over both, North and South Islands, starting at Tay Street Mt. Maunganui in early January, Sandy Bay, St. Clair Beach Dunedin, Whangamata, then wraps up at the end of March in Port Waikato, has the competitors racking up a lot of miles.
With a nod from the wife I head for the waters edge, camera in hand as Brendan in a rather fetching competition rashie paddles out for the final of the over-40s.
This coincides with an eruption from his pod of supporters, opting for the northern end of the beach amongst the free surfers, a tactical move. Brendan scores peeling left after left to take out the final, he has been competing over a decade and knows when to have his game face on.
The inclusion of Stand Up Paddle boarding in this years tour gave the spectators another excuse to hoot, gasp and cringe.
Between heats the 'rock stars of longboarding' - as described by the over enthusiastic commentator through the megaphonic speakers bellowed - paddled out for a between heat free surf. A figure appears from the white wash, it was friend and fellow member of the Bream Bay Sliders, John Sutcliffe with a timber wave craft in hand, his grin says it all, a self confessed backyard wooden board builder with his hands on Taylor Jensen's personal handmade Alaia, happy as a clam. Taylor was on a road trip around NZ with Al Ashworth from Slide Magazine and shared his equipment as if he was a 'Bay' local, a great thing to witness.
With the open final well under way the pressure was on, for me that is, to get some nice images of the action before the kids - who were getting very restless in the afternoon heat - impaled themselves on the remains of Kina shells that were in close proximately to our now well secured spot. As for the competitors, Josh Constable from Noosa, Californian Taylor Jensen, Dr. Michael Burling and Dylan Barnfield, they went about their business with a mixture of power and precision for a solid 20 minutes. In the dying moments of the heat, smiles and banter was exchanged between kiwi lads Burling and Barnfield while Constable floated gracefully across white caps and on to open wave faces flashing his fins at the onlookers, amongst them was renowned Sandy Bay surfer John Ayrton, Constable's fin maker from Glide Fins, who is now based in Victoria.
Jensen mixed cutting small waves into smaller pieces with 5 toed tip time, scoring 19.35 out of a possible 20 for the win. Constable clutched the next highest total followed by Burling and then Barnfield.
With the successful completion of this year's tour consisting of open, women's, under-18s men, over-40s, over-50s and SUP divisions, it was overall point scorer Dylan Barnfield who took the trophy home to Ohope.
With my usual family commitments, travelling to Port Waikato for the tour's final leg was unfortunately out of the question but at dawn the day after the Sandy Bay leg of the tour, I was back - this time equipped with my log - to enjoy smaller yet cleaner waves in 'Kiddies Corner' with a few friends, out of towners and some competition left overs. I shot a few rolls of film which gave me time to reflect on what had been another memorable day at my local, family, injury free kids, friends and shared equipment, classic. But as the truck loaded up with port-a-loos made it's way up the hill behind me, I felt like my local had some sense of order restored, at least until next time.
By MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM
Saturday, April 10, 2010
light winds
it will be poo, but you have to go don't ya, dawnie tomorrow with niggel, lozza and stiffy, go right !, sg*
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
eggs and beer
right place, the bay over easter was a bit average but managed to be on the spot, wave after wave, had a blast on the mat, swell still around, spot x was like an oil slick today, sg*
Monday, April 5, 2010
the words for PLB
just for you jamie
>>>>>
Through a small window overlooking the sea, swell lines rolling in at The Alley, Currumbin and an empty park come into focus - the perfect venue for the fourth Annual Alley Fish Fry.
Travelling to the Gold Coast to look at surfboards and go surfing with friend and shaper Roger Hall from Ruakaka, New Zealand, has always been a fun-filled experience and this trip would be no exception.
Once again our host, swallowtail enthusiast and event organiser Grant 'Big Fish' Newby has managed to bring together a wide range of fish surfers, shapers and vast variations of the board together in one place at the same time, by phone, email and word of mouth - no mean feat.
It was a cosy affair this year with shapers, backyard builders and surfers alike huddled together sheltering from the odd heavy shower, but this did not dampen the spirit of the event.
If anything it made introductions happen a lot faster, so everyone could get down to the nitty gritty of discussing the fish.
The first shaper to lay out his creations at the park was Bush Rat's Jed Dones from Merimbula with an assortment of fish, flex and finless.
Jed who shapes for Derek Hynd became a focal point of the event attracting much attention, also followed closely was Roger Hall of Surfline Surfboards with his quiver of chambered wooden quad fishes, a chambered twin keel made from his collection of balsa and coconut, the coconut was found washed up at his local break and with Roger's flextail twin keel fish on display meant Roger and Jed had much to discuss about the fish and flex combination, Mick Mackie's arrival from Ulladulla with his flexible fishes added to the debate as you can well imagine.
Sage Joske of Valla Surfboards from Nambucca Heads with friend and team rider Brett Caller called in on their way north to the Noosa Festival of Surfing with a mobile showroom, which was a sea of lush coloured and tinted twin keeled shapes.
Sage also showcased his personal creation, the Vector, a hybrid of the Fish and the Alaia which is a reflection of Sage's open minded approach to surfing and board design.
Floating through the park, absorbing the atmosphere was Rich Pavel from California, sharing ideas, thoughts, history and the relevance of the fish with fellow shapers.
As the boards filled the park the backyard shapers started to appear and one who stood out from the crowd was Currumbin local Eden Saul. Saul brought along his Tombstone model, a mini Simmons esk twin keel, semi-glossed, resin tinted with handcrafted plywood fins - not fitting into the true definition of the fish but had all the elements of a well executed shape, finish and reflected his vibrant personality.
Fellow New Zealander Bobby Crisp of DeLuxe Industries came along fully equipped with his highly detailed wooden framed models and said he would be definitely return to the event.
A late entry on the day was Australian surfing and shaping legend Bob McTavish with his fish influenced, finless, foam and glass, twin hot curl - another board that was not a true fish but had heads turning and got shapers thinking.
Another last minute contender was Dan MacDonald aka DMS from Currumbin with his version of a mini Simmons he shaped for Ventura California free surfer Dane Renoylds. Dan has been crafting fishes in many forms for sometime now and is well known on the Gold Coast for his mastery when it comes to his resin tints.
A mixture of local and international media followed the days progress for blogs, paper and online magazines which was a strong indication of the events life expectancy.
Italian Marco Mazzini flew out especially for the event to help with his planning of a European Fish Fry, set down for September this year.
The Fish Fry format is as strong as ever and is spreading worldwide - I wonder how the fish will evolve this year and what will be in store at next year's Alley Fish Fry?
by MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM
>>>>>
Through a small window overlooking the sea, swell lines rolling in at The Alley, Currumbin and an empty park come into focus - the perfect venue for the fourth Annual Alley Fish Fry.
Travelling to the Gold Coast to look at surfboards and go surfing with friend and shaper Roger Hall from Ruakaka, New Zealand, has always been a fun-filled experience and this trip would be no exception.
Once again our host, swallowtail enthusiast and event organiser Grant 'Big Fish' Newby has managed to bring together a wide range of fish surfers, shapers and vast variations of the board together in one place at the same time, by phone, email and word of mouth - no mean feat.
It was a cosy affair this year with shapers, backyard builders and surfers alike huddled together sheltering from the odd heavy shower, but this did not dampen the spirit of the event.
If anything it made introductions happen a lot faster, so everyone could get down to the nitty gritty of discussing the fish.
The first shaper to lay out his creations at the park was Bush Rat's Jed Dones from Merimbula with an assortment of fish, flex and finless.
Jed who shapes for Derek Hynd became a focal point of the event attracting much attention, also followed closely was Roger Hall of Surfline Surfboards with his quiver of chambered wooden quad fishes, a chambered twin keel made from his collection of balsa and coconut, the coconut was found washed up at his local break and with Roger's flextail twin keel fish on display meant Roger and Jed had much to discuss about the fish and flex combination, Mick Mackie's arrival from Ulladulla with his flexible fishes added to the debate as you can well imagine.
Sage Joske of Valla Surfboards from Nambucca Heads with friend and team rider Brett Caller called in on their way north to the Noosa Festival of Surfing with a mobile showroom, which was a sea of lush coloured and tinted twin keeled shapes.
Sage also showcased his personal creation, the Vector, a hybrid of the Fish and the Alaia which is a reflection of Sage's open minded approach to surfing and board design.
Floating through the park, absorbing the atmosphere was Rich Pavel from California, sharing ideas, thoughts, history and the relevance of the fish with fellow shapers.
As the boards filled the park the backyard shapers started to appear and one who stood out from the crowd was Currumbin local Eden Saul. Saul brought along his Tombstone model, a mini Simmons esk twin keel, semi-glossed, resin tinted with handcrafted plywood fins - not fitting into the true definition of the fish but had all the elements of a well executed shape, finish and reflected his vibrant personality.
Fellow New Zealander Bobby Crisp of DeLuxe Industries came along fully equipped with his highly detailed wooden framed models and said he would be definitely return to the event.
A late entry on the day was Australian surfing and shaping legend Bob McTavish with his fish influenced, finless, foam and glass, twin hot curl - another board that was not a true fish but had heads turning and got shapers thinking.
Another last minute contender was Dan MacDonald aka DMS from Currumbin with his version of a mini Simmons he shaped for Ventura California free surfer Dane Renoylds. Dan has been crafting fishes in many forms for sometime now and is well known on the Gold Coast for his mastery when it comes to his resin tints.
A mixture of local and international media followed the days progress for blogs, paper and online magazines which was a strong indication of the events life expectancy.
Italian Marco Mazzini flew out especially for the event to help with his planning of a European Fish Fry, set down for September this year.
The Fish Fry format is as strong as ever and is spreading worldwide - I wonder how the fish will evolve this year and what will be in store at next year's Alley Fish Fry?
by MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM
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