Byron Bay Surf Festival 2013 unreal

This years festival was just the best show of Australian surf culture art music and anything to do with surfing you could ever gather in one place. The weather was great the vibe was right. All sorts of people and all sorts of things to interest anyone who loves their surfing. Friday nights opening ceremony was on the beach front, open air in the park with a large inflatable screen to show the movie Bella Vita. Fantastic intro to the weekend ahead.

Typical Byron gathering of people from all walks of life.

 Saturday morning was the dawn of a great day , warm sunny and Northerly winds up early to knock the gloss of the waves that were there. But the focus was in the park...

 There was something for everyone

 

 

 Hand plane workshop

 Tom was busy all day helping people build his "Surfies"

Andy had plenty of Gato boards to look at

 A couple of legends at a book signing, Jack and the Mex

Bjorn, came all the way from Finland to share his skills with us. The board next to him is hollow and made from recycled skate decks. Great guy. www.boboholm.com 

Rodrigo, came from Brazil to hold a workshop on handplanes and then off to Japan.

 Thomas Bexton and crew had most options covered

 Californian shaper , Ryan Lovelace with his mix of different boards

 Girls having an ice tea party

 What better place to get a hair cut, A teepee

 It was hot for everybody

 Legend Rusty Miller having a book reading and story telling with the launch of his book.

 Eden Saul, from Dead Kooks

 Andy from Rake on the lookout

 Adrian from Rake surfboards

 

Dan Malloy launching his new book and movie

Mick Mackie, Ryan Lovelace, Ryan Burch and Jessie Watson. Mick was giving a lesson in flextails. 

 Rusty Miller and Bob McTavish

 Nat Young and Bob McTavish had some great yarns to share

Rodrigo Matsuda learned everything about alaias in Japan with his master Yuichi Endo. A profound 11 year experience that has elevated his skills to mastery. www.lascasurfboards.com

 Andy Finlay in his element

 Art in the Park

 Mermaids in the making

 Keith and the Patagonia boys

 Tim Baker at the book launch

 Great food

Mike and the classic surf wagon

Saturday night we went to the release of the Wayne Lynch movie at the community centre. And the final judging of two short surf movie comps. What a great night and Wayne was there to answer questions after his movie.

Byron Bay Surf Festival this weekend

 

This is a great weekend to celebrate surfing , art , music and all things connected with surfing. It is growing and expanding each year and is the best of it's kind around. Do yourself a favour check it out on line and get on down there.

www.byronbaysurffestival.com 

The Sun House / Patagonia board swap today

 Out the back young shaper Cori Munn was hard at it bustin out a shape.

 Great to see young guys like Cori taking up hand shaping and he is good at it to.

 

 The Sun House Surf shop is an old KFC building so it has some character to start with and the boys have decked it out well.

 Justin here is a great host and keeps things rolling

 There is a drum kit and amps set up in the shop full time as the guys like their music and have gigs most Sundays

 A great selection of boards, fins and wet suits

 Today there was a great selection of older boards on display and some for sale. Mostly from Von Wierdo.

 Local shapers and some Bings and Almond boards as well.

 Check this out. One of Ralph Riddells creations and a sanders night mare.

 Unreal

 Neil Purchase Junior, Cori Munn and Chris Garret are well represented

 A couple of nice shapes from Eden Saul of Dead Kooks

 Classic Valiant and old time boards go well together

 

Brent , Johnny and I enjoyed a few Stone and Woods Pacific Ales on a hot day. Great place to catch up and shoot the breeze. Thanks Guys

www.facebook.com/sunhousesurf

Beau Yong enjoying this round of small surf - get inspired on the right gear

  

www.beauyoungsurfboards.com

SingleFin Classic Surfing Festival 2013 Italy

Good friend Marco Mazzini just sent me this great little clip from last weekends Italian version of the Fish Fry. A gathering of Italian surfers gathered and camped in the Tuscan hills to celebrate their surf / skate culture.

Illustrious characters at the Byron Bay Surf Festival 2013

This year the Byron Bay Surf Festival is hosting a unique and rare array of captivating workshops and presentations delivered by several illustrious characters from our worlds surfing tribe.

Some of the individuals presenting include international and local identities such as Keith Malloy, Belinda Baggs, Derek Hynd, Bob McTavish, Nat Young, Rusty Miller, Tim Baker and many others. Some of these will be ticketed evening events at the Community Centre on the main street with others up by the main beach day markets in the Presentation yurt and SurfLit Tipi Lounge. For the larger events, tickets will be limited and available to buy at the Byron Community Centre online or on site at the centre. Many others are for free viewing.

Californian free surfer Keith Malloy will be presenting his recent project 'The Plight Of The Torpedo People' on the Saturday evening, guaranteed to be a rare window into a the niche world of bodysurfing; the purest form of surfing there is. This has been a long anticipated project undertaken by the celebrated Malloy brother and will be a great visual scene to behold, revealing of the magic and trickeries of various ocean masters.

Just as fascinating, and not known for his public outings, the illusive and friction free surfer Derek Hynd will be also be showing his face at the Community Centre venue. Hynd will be delivering a standing dissertation on the 'State of the Art of Surfing' which will highlight some unknown quirks, tales and designs across surf history unto today. Derek's sharp and poignant 'gift of the gab' and uncanny ability to articulate language and historical detail is something to behold. Being the only top ten pro surfer to have ever completed a university degree, he is a clever cat and revolutionary surfer to this day. In his time, he has documented over 2000 interviews with top surfers including icons like Isobel Lethem or Skip Frye and remembers every single detail.

Also brushing the topic of design and historical surfing will be Belinda Baggs speaking to a short film by Nathan Oldfield documenting her unique experience with an old 1960's logger board inherited from Australian legend Wayne Lynch. Belinda is renowned for her grace and style in the longboarding world and has a lot to say about the use of weight and line in logger surfing. Accompanied by some female logger greats, Lauren Hill and Taylor Miller, Belinda will discuss the evolution of women in modern day loggin with the audience.

Also presenting/ reading at the festival specific Surf Lit Lounge will be Bob McTavish and Rusty Miller on their newly released books, Nat Young joining Bob for a historical yarn, Rebecca Olive on her academic thesis about women in the lineup and a handful of other obscure talks and activities such as the helidrone demo, ocean survival skills and surf forecasting/ oceanography drill. Check out more details and the rabbit hole of succulent events at the online festival program.

Get your tickets for all Byron Community Centre presentations early and book online here http://www.byroncentre.com.au/whats-on/ or at the Centre.

The Sunhouse / Patagonia board swap at Coolangatta Saturday October 12th

Roger Hall talking about supporting California Design 1930-1965 Living in a Modern Way at Auckland Art Gallery

Wanda Fish Fry 2013 a great sucess

The 2013 Wanda Fish Fry is done for another year. What a day!
"On first light it looked to be a beautiful day. Then the southerly blew. We were on location a little early to set up. Pitched the tent and got some boards. Then council asked us move as the clubbies had booked the grass for an event, on que it bucketed down. Still being the faith filled guy that I am , we moved to the grassy knoll across the road took shelter in the tent with Stephen from Mako boards, Adam from tree house shapes and Robbie Marshall (self labeled) it looked dismal. 40minutes later a few more shapers arrived and so did the sun!!! It was perfect timing! We were on!

This year ended up being the biggest so far, with 12 shapers and collectors bringing a total of 86 boards. Fishes, logs, finless, mini Simmons and 70s singles which seemed to be the popular choice of board this year Even had a little hand crafted goods area with hand planes by Lupo Di Mare and board bags by Gonzo Lizard. The whole day went really well, positive feed back throughout the day.

I want to thank everyone that came and was involved in making the day fun and interesting. You know who you are. But a special thanks goes to my wife for supporting my crazy dreams, George G. for filming and Richard from 3rd Shade surfboards for coming straight from a 24hour flight with kids from the U.K and pushing through the jet lag."

Byron Bay Surf Festival a great weekend to be part of again

BYRON BAY SURF FESTIVAL

 2013 October 25 -27th

The festival is blossoming to its byronesque best, flowering a newly renovated program that's stacked, packed and budding with cool. The three-day event is a unique intersection between surf, art, music, film and the local Byron Bay community lifestyle. The festival kicks off with a free Friday night film premiere under the stars, followed by the Saturday all-day gypsy surf art market/ pop up tipi precinct, colorful Sunday surfing events and demos at Wategos beach and film, music, party and panel events scheduled each evening. Creative film is a strong feature this year with two major film premieres; Bella Vita featuring Chris Del Moro and Unchartered waters featuring Wayne Lynch, and the surf shorts film comps comprising of local and international entries. Patagonia surfer Keith Malloy will be introducing The Plight of the Torpedo People bodysurfing presentation at the community center, alongside the loggin’ panel with Belinda Baggs and a controversial live dissertation on ‘the state of the art of surfing’ by Derek Hynd. Up on Main beach, bear witness to Surf Yoga sessions, Helidrone demos and handplane/skateboard/bellyboard workshops amongst an art and photography show saturated with unconventional art pieces, live music, surfboard shaper exhibits, vintage motor delights, gourmet food and surf literature stalls with book launches where you can gaze, mingle, read, obtain, listen, dance, eat or just chill. Corona hands out $1000 cash prize money on Sunday at Wategos beach Party Wave Invitational (open to all) alongside Malloy’s body surf jazz, style based contests, tandem exhibition and what was last years most applauded event, the Surf Swap Meet. On top of all this comes a stellar lineup of music, headlined by Wolf & Cub’s new album release at the Beach Hotel, after parties with The Delta Riggs and tons of magical acoustic market musicians. Keep an eye on new announcements and go feast on the program now @ www.byronbaysurffestival.com/program/

Prono Paradiso - come slide a few at the Alley

 

The ancient Polynesians recognised differing forms of riding waves...from lying on small boards, to standing on 16 foot Olo boards, to surfing with nothing more than ones own body! One common thread linked all these diverse forms of surfing...the Ancients were all STOKED!

Today, there are small pockets of folks who embrace these modes of surfing, not because they can't rip on a modern board, but because it's great fun! Diversity is a fantastic laugh!

Prono Paradiso aims to bring together all types of people who like wave riding on their bellies, and folk who think they might like to have a go. Even if you've never tried surfing, you're bound to enjoy the diversity of wave riding found at Prono Paradiso!

Grab your surfcraft and fins -- or just bring your wettie or budgie-smugglers -- and enjoy the party-wave at Prono Paradiso!!!

Food for thought from a past master - Terry Martin

AB's paddle out

Terry Martin to be honoured at "The Boardroom"

Shapers Announced For Terry Martin Icons Of Foam Shape Off

The Boardroom At The OC Fair & Events Center, Oct 5-6, 2013

(San Clemente, California) Last year, sadly, the surfboard world lost iconic craftsman Terry Martin. In a special memorial shaping tribute this October, The Boardroom will honor Martin during the Icons of Foam Tribute to the Masters Shape-off presented by US Blanks. Five shapers will receive the honor of replicating a classic Terry Martin surfboard.

“Last year was tough. We lost a truly humble, beautiful, classy and beloved father, shaper and surfer,” said Scott Bass, founder and show director of The Boardroom. “The grieving has mostly passed, and it is a fine time to honor Terry Martin’s shaping legacy and exalt his surfboard craftsmanship during the Icons of Foam Tribute to the Masters.”

 The five shapers selected to honor the memory of Terry Martin during the Icons of Foam Shape Off are all worthy of the man himself:

Tyler Warren: An inspired and well traveled illustrator, designer, painter, shaper and surfer. Tyler has turned heads for both his incredible art work but also his shaping, including a dual-keeled "Bar Of Soap" design -- a "refined and tastefully decorated variant on the Bob Simmons planning hull, with a noticeable dash of Lis fish thrown in for good measure," says Richard Kenvin in The Surfer's Journal.
Matt Calvani: A California surfer/shaper who heads up the Bing brand of surfboards. "The Bing brand has always had a mystique about it—from its association with David Nuuhiwa and Dick Brewer to the Campbell Brothers bonzers—that has made it a part of surfing history. I started introducing and refining those amazing historical shapes. My goal was to capture the essence of those eras in surfboard history while adding the knowledge I had learned in my own journey," says Matt in a Liquid Salt interview.
Ricky Carroll: Two-time winner of the Icons Of Foam Tribute to the masters, Ricky Carroll is the owner of R&D Surf, a surfboard manufacturing facility located in East Central Florida that’s been at the forefront of surfboard building for nearly 20 years.
Donald Brink: Renowned for his asymmetrical shapes, Donald is also a big believer that the creative process in building a board should be shared between shaper and surfer. “Its an honor to be included in the conversations of surfing and surfboards throughput the world. Hard work, dedication to a passionate path and a commitment to responsibilities seems to be the common must-haves to things that are built over time and have a good effect on others and add to the world."
Mickey Munoz: Grandmaster board shaper and legendary waterman, Mickey Muñoz has been surfing and designing boards since the late 1940s. A Waimea Bay pioneer, his iconic Quasimodo surf stance and decades of quality shaping have carved a permanent place for Munoz in the pantheon of surfing's greatest. Nobody casts a longer shadow.

About Terry Martin
Terry Martin, described by many as ‘The Machine’ because of his effortless and efficient shaping style, spent the majority of his 60-year shaping career working at the Hobie Surfboards factory. He averaged ten boards a day and surfed during lunch.

Martin helped to create signature models for legendary surfers including Corky Carroll, Gerry Lopez, and Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew. Mickey Munoz, a legendary shaper in his own right, described the big, bearded Martin as “giving, ethical, knowledgeable, passionate about shaping and surfing and the art of shaping; a friend, a real friend, a good friend; a brother. He was almost like a saint, if you will, just his consciousness and his demeanor."

“Terry Martin took great joy in walking the aisles of past Boardroom shows greeting his friends and fellow craftsmen and talking story. He was always particularly interested in the Icons of Foam Tributes and loved to study the techniques of his fellow shapers. I think Terry might have had a hard time being featured in this way had he been able to attend the event… but to honor Terry and his talents as a shaper in this way is a wonderful tribute to this great man and iconic shaper” said Royce Cansler on behalf of the Martin family.

"Each year at the Icons of Foam Tribute, US Blanks is in awe of the talent level and inspirational shaping that takes place," said Jeff Holtby of US Blanks. "This years' lineup of shapers honoring Terry is jaw-dropping. We are again stoked to be a part of this special event."
For more info : www.boardroomshow.com