It all started with the fish when the innovative shapers and board builders out there decided to revisit the past for some inspiration. In doing so they brought back some lost skills such as resin tints and hand foiled fins.The Fish Fry has been a place for these fine craftsmen to showcase their skills. We have seen some amazing boards as shapers have pushed the boundaries over the last few years. As this new look at the fish has evolved to its many forms, it has influenced other shapes and designs along the way.This has spawned a renewed interest in other board forms by this same group and a wider following.Notably the Mini Simmons, Hulls, old school Logs and Pigs. It is pleasing to note that there are an increasing number of people building their own boards as well.All of this is to be applauded and celebrated as a positive for surfing.So it is only natural that these shapers and board builders continue to share their skills with us and include these other shapes at the Fish Fry.It has truly become a melting pot of ideas for like minded people.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all for supporting me with the Fish Fry. Lets hope the year ahead is a little better than what we have endured this year. Fish Fry six next year, how time flies.  I hope you and all your families have a great year ahead.

The Brazilian Simmons


These two boards are built by Bernardo Sodré from Brazil. Red: 5´3'' X 21'' X 2 3/4'' Yellow: 5'5'' X  21'' X 2 3/4" , both with S-deck and Paulownia wood fins.


Check out his other projects at : umbeskate.blogspot.com

Wild old day at the Alley , Christmas Day Cyclone swell




Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you who have supported me this year. There have been some great boards built and many guys experimenting and trying new things. Looking forward to what you come up with next year.

Have a safe and happy time with family and friends where ever you are.

Grant

Tristan, the little Frenchman

Tristan Mausse is a very talented and very busy little guy. He is the artist who created this years illustration for the Fish Fry. He is also a fantastic glasser and polisher , who travels the globe plying his trade. On the way he is documenting his travels and producing a film of the glassers and some of the unsung heros who help create those wonderful boards we all admire. I first bumped into him in Byron a couple of years ago as he came in to introduce himself to Evan at North Coast Surfboards looking for work. He later did a stint at Classic Malibu in Noosa and then moved back to France to work with good friend and fellow artist Paul Lefevre. He is soon off to California to work at Lost Surfboards.
Here he is working on the Fish Fry art. Thanks Mate.


I first knew of Tristan with his very popular blog Mini Simmons Religion which was a great window to what was happening with the simmons in the very early days. He has a number of blogs to his name
* www.glass-sandingjob.blogspot.com
* www.nopainindream.tumblr.com
* www.glasslove-artwork.blogspot.com
* www.powersludge.com

" Hey, this is a trailer of my film documentary as i'm doing right now! It's a trailer with the Australian part only, because I'm actually doing this film, so my travel / film is not finished yet.


Next week I leave Australia, for go film in California, and after Canada, Nicaragua, Costa Rica."


SACRE BLEU is a documentary film of 1hour 30min, which calls the best glassers / shapers / artists / photographers around the world to tell their story, it is also a travelogue, which traces the 8 months of my experience going through the world to work myself in all these workshops surfboards, since I am myself Glasser. Starting with Australia and California, Canada, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the film not just talking about "glassing" because it incorporates many different images lyfestyle, surfing (many images aquatic ), skate, music and landscape. The soundtrack is composed entirely of small independent artists, who explore the roads of the "post-rock", "instrumental hip-hop", "punk-hardcore" or "folk"
I am currently filming the movie, the release is not expected before summer 2012."



SACRE BLEU Trailer, Séquence Australie from No pain in Dream on Vimeo.

That home built enthusiasm is great...

 Keith Nevelee ," Tiki " to his mates is a keen back yard shaper who loves to build boards for himself and his mates. I first met him at this years Wooden Board day.

 " Had these two to make and, as you might know I still work fulltime and do boards after work, so , production for me is 6 a year, they are both quads the shooter is 6' 3 and the Pocket rocket is 5'1x 201/2". The 5' is for my eldest son who is a shortboarder of a young 40 years of age , his feedback has been great with the board excelling better than the last one I made him which was 4'9  x 22" and was a twinny, I hope to make it to the fish fry next year but I'll have a few hurdles to get over to make it but, I will try. "

 Not sure what is with the nose horn here Tiki ?


  " I am making 2 boards that are very similar , they are both longboards 9'6"  and 9'8' but are reverse templates off Roy's Velzy Jacobs Balsa one is a pintail the other a squaretail...."

" Hope everything is good up your way and until next Cheers and Aloha "

Tiki

Where it all started...

I just love the look of hand foiled ply fins and resin tint fishes. To me a classic look that evokes the art and romance that made the fish the board of choice to bring us all together in the beginning of the Fish Fry. This interest and experimentation has been the driver for the great wave of innovative shapers to keep the ball rolling and apply their skills and passion onto other shapes. And this is what you will see at the next Fish Fry on Sunday the 4th of March 2012.

The other great thing is that there are so many guys out there having a go at shaping a board themselves and experiencing the thrill of surfing something they made themselves. There may be mixed results , but don't judge till you have had a go yourself.

So if you are one of these experimenters , the invitation to share the passion goes out to you to bring whatever you have built along.