Happy New Year from The Gold Coast

Lets hope 2010 holds a few more positives and we can all move on.Thanks for your support and I hope to see you on Sunday 14th March at The Alley. The Fish will be schooling once again.

Happy New Year from Grant and Jackie.

Great looking movie in production "Boardroom " - Ledgends of early surfboard shaping .

" BoardRoom featuring the legends of early surfboard shaping starts filming in Hawaii.

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 25 December, 2009 : - - BoardRoom - Legends of Surfboard Shaping is currently filming in the Hawaiian Islands and is expected for a summer 2010 release. BoardRoom is a feature length documentary by German director Markus Davids, SOC, featuring the legends of early surfboard shaping.

A special group of innovative and progressive surfboard manufacturers were looking for a better way to build lighter surfboards, when the common surfboard weighed in at more than 50 pounds. With the invention of polyurethane during the 2nd World War, it became a popular and accessible material for this generation of surfboard shapers who had been using redwood and balsa wood.

The evolution of the surfboard and materials was at hand and surfing was never the same. This pivotal era was hallmarked by surf movies like “Gidget” and “The Endless Summer” which took surfing to mainstream America. In combination of changing attitudes towards surfing and the evolution of the surfboard, a group of a few thousand surfers erupted in to millions over night.

Director Davids takes us back in time to the early pioneers of modern day surfboard shaping; craftsman and visionary Hobie Alter teamed up with Gordon Clark, and revolutionized the foam materials used for the next half century. His movie features legends in their own right such as Greg Noll (Riding Giants), Hap Jacobs, Donald Takayama, Larry Gordon (Gordon & Smith), Robert August (The Endless Summer), Dick Brewer, Terry Martin (Hobie), and the list goes on and on.

Filming commenced on O'ahu with Harold Iggy, who has had a tremendous influence on surfboard designs, windsurfing boards and Stand Up Paddle boards. "During our interviews we not only dig deep into surfboard history but we also touch on Harold's influence on modern board design," Davids said.

Shapers are being interviewed including Dick Brewer, Donald Takayama, Bing Copeland, Hap Jacobs, Mike Hynson and Rich Harbour.

In times when most credit and fame goes to the surfers who ride the boards, BoardRoom pays homage to the men who created the boards and also shaped this industry.

Assisted by cinematographer, Robert Jax, producer Robert Bell, and helmed by his production company CineBags in collaboration with Five6 Productions, Davids has been traveling up and down the west coast of California, and the Hawaiian Islands, capturing the true legends of their craft.

More info can be found on www.boardroomthemovie.com our the movies Facebook page."

Looks like one to look out for- Thanks to Surfers Village for the info.

Merry Chrismas to all you Fish Heads out there.

Merry Christmas to you all. I have been lucky enough to test my Christmas present to myself early. 10 foot x 24" x 3 1/4" styrene with 8mm Paulownia stringer and carbon fibre by Mo.Lots of fun shaping it last month and it is lots of fun to ride. The Halo fins seem to work OK for the size of the board , but look forward to some juice to test them out.
I hope you are all thinking of new fishes also and look forward to catching up at the 4th Alley Fish Fry on Sunday 14th March 2010 .

Von Sol "Moonfish " designed by Sean Mattison

A new design by Sean Mattison - 6ft x 21" x 2 5/8" 2lb EPS foam with Resin Research epoxy.5oz / 4oz on the deck and 4oz on the bottom. Lok Box fins. Looks like a sweet board.Check it out.
www.vonsol.com

Cardboard Fish , now you have seen it all ?

So you start with a large collection of computer cut pieces of cardboard, now that is green.
Start locking them all togther...
Still more pieces...
There you have it ...

Nick Yarnes lives on the Marshall Islands and got the pre cut kit from Mike Sheldrake in California . It's a 6ft 4" fish and in 2 hours on the kitchen table this is it.He hopes to glass it this weekend.
" This board will be a twin keel with probox fin plugs, and a gore-tex vent plug after fiberglass job is complete. Sometimes work can be fun! "

Looking forward to the finished project.

PT with maybe one of the first fishes in Australia ?

A young PT at Black Rock 1975 with his fish. Like those flames.

A big thanks to PT for his support , he lives in the States but has been to all 3 Fish Frys down here on the Gold Coast.

Sean Mattisom and PT out for a fun session together

Sean Mattison as you know is a well known Fish Man from Oceanside California and Fish Fry supporter. He has just forwarded these shots of himself and PT enjoying their first session on one of his new designs the Moon fish that he made up for PT under Sean's new label Von Sol. PT brought down a board of his that he wanted Sean to ride that he had shaped in 1974.

" He told me that this board that he made maybe the first fish in OZ.He was doing the G&S label in OZ at the time when he made it.He was inspired to shape it after he was in California watching Skip Frye shape a few Keel fin fishes. I will send you some classic photos of PT and this board following this e-mail."

" As for the Moon Fish....He loved it! Super Stoked ! Sean "

PT and Sean wax up. PT with the Moon Fish. His 1974 shaped board in the middle.


Sean giving PT's 1974 shape a real good work out.

PT's not past giving the Moon Fish a good shake down as well.
Some nice action shots care of Lance Smith.

Switch Foot II now available

The first Switchfoot book was a great read and insight

Great new film being put together

At this year Fish Fry we had John Smart and Morgan Maassen here filming Tyler Warren on a variety of boards throughout the day. Moran was never dry from what I could see and Tyler was up and down the beach all day trying different boards.
Moran did a lot of water time and John had all the other angles covered. Great day all day.
Tyler was off to give one of Tom Wegener's hollow Paulownia Tuna's a run.
Tyler chilling with the Paul and Dain from Sea surfboards. In the foreground a couple of boards by Josh Hall and Manny that tyler brought with him.
Looking forward to the release of the film. Check out his blog for further updates.
www.thetylerwarrenexperiment.blogspot.com

Shapers night at The Gold Coast Surf Museum

“Shaper’s Night at the Museum” went off with great success on Wednesday the 9^th of September. Surfing icon Bob McTavish was the keynote speaker for the not-for-profit event which was held at the recently opened Gold Coast Surf World Museum in Currumbin.

Shaper’s that were there included DHD, Al Byrne, Passion8, Bourton, Full Force, DMS, Dorrington, D’Arcy, Chris Garrett, Grown , Hellfish, FIREWIRE, Diverse, Astro Surfboards, Joe Larkin, Tony Dempsey, Dale Chapman and of course Bob McTavish.

Local muso Dan Hannaford entertained the crowd as they had a few beers to warm up
Al Byrne, a great shaper , innovator and a funny bugger to boot. Kiwi as well.
Bob explaining his new quad fin setup, where the width of the back fins are set at the same length of your foot , so as to give you the most control and power.

Bob McTavish captivated the audience as he showed off his new fin placement system and explained the logic behind using your foot size to customise fin placement on surfboards. It wasn’t all technical, as Bob took us all back in time to uncrowded perfection of Noosa, sleeping in surf clubs and surviving on a shilling a day.

Al Byrne and John Milne were also guest speakers and gave the crowd some different bottom design ideas which included channel bottoms and 1 and a 1/2 inch thick concaves.

Nice turnout of interested folk.

John Milne from Hellfish then pulled out a show stopper. His “fish” surfboard with a vibrant lifelike fishy artwork has to be seen to be really believed. The “fish” is trippy and looks like a giant lure.

Shaper’s were all invited to bring along a board to showcase, a crowd favourite was Full Force’s hand shaped gun featuring a spray of rock goddess P!NK and her husband Carey Hart. Dan MacDonald (DMS) also provided a good looking twinnie, which also proved to be very popular with the crew.

The night really was something special.

“The Gold Coast Surf World museum is totally reliant upon community support. Volunteers make up the entire staff roster, we are always on the lookout for people willing to help out”, said Bob Pankhurst, one of the museum committee members.

‘Shaper’s Night at the Museum’ was an initiative of three volunteers, Nikki Jackson, Werner Kotze and Gus Goozee. They are hoping that following this project they can source unpaid work experience in various areas of the surfing industry.

The event was proudly supported by Southern Cross University and Australia’s Surfing Life Magazine.

For further information contact:

Surf World Museum Gold Coast: (07) 5525 6380

Nikki Jackson: 0432 743 599

Gus Goozee: 0406 080 309

Werner Kotze: 0431 469 856

Fish Fry 5 Oceanside Harbour Sunday Sept 13th 2009

Sean Mattison, just sent me this little gem to give me the heads up on Fish Fry 5 ... the day after the ASR trade show in San Diego. As he said "where we left off " After all a Fish Fry is a Fish Fry not anything else. Just a Fish Fry. Good on you mate to get back to where it all started.

Fish or not , there are some things going on here

A friend sent me these pics of Derek Hynd with one of his fin less creations. He was riding it at 8ft plus Bells Beach . Some interesting things to ponder none the less. Let a lone a glasser and sanders nightmare.

Shapers night at the new Gold Coast Surf Museum - Wednesday 9th September

The legendary Bob McTavish will be amongst the line up of guest speakers at Surf World Gold Coast’s “Shaper’s Night at the Museum” that will be attended by the who’s who of Gold Coast surfboard shapers on Wednesday, 9 September 2009 from 6.00 pm.

The event will give shapers the chance to come together for a relaxed night at Surf World where shapers and the general public will get the chance to interact in what could be the first of an annual event for the recently opened museum.

When asked to be one of the guest speakers, McTavish replied: “I’d be stoked and honoured to speak about shaping at the museum. I’m keen to support your museum. It’s really cool.”

Bob McTavish started surfing when he was 12 and began shaping at the age of 17 and was the inventor of the vee-bottom surfboard. He was Queensland state champion in 1964, 1965 and 1966, and was runner up in the Australian National Titles in 1966. Bob has appeared in about 10 surf films. Australia’s Surfing Life magazine selected Bob as the “Most Influential Shaper of All Time” in 1992. In 1996 he was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame.

The night is being held as a non profit event and all proceeds will go towards Surf World Gold Coast. Guests will get the opportunity to hear first hand how shaping and surfing evolved over the years and where the industry is heading and will take a tour through the museum’s big surfboard exhibition.

It promises to be a night not to miss. The public are urged to book their tickets quickly as numbers are limited and should sell out quick. Tickets can be booked by sending an e-mail to shapersnight@hotmail.com. Tickets are on sale for $10 each and will include snacks and refreshments.

The event is supported by Southern Cross University through their Diploma of Sport Management (Surfing Studies) course.

For further information contact:

Nikki Jackson Ph: 0432 743 599

Karen Hutchinson Ph: 0439 226 057

John Cherry and the 7ft 2" Simm 21, plus the 10ft 10" swallow tail glider.

DVS rocket Fish hits the cool waters of NZ

Dave Foulds from Christchurch in New Zealand was over last week to the Gold Coast to pick up his Dick Van Straalen Rocket Fish. He's home and hit the 8 degree water for a rubbered up sesh.