Fish Fry New Zealand at Waipu Cove

Rich Pavel from San Diego, who has been to the 7 fish frys that I have organised on the Gold Coast was at Waipu to support Mike Cunningham and his first one. Rich was looking more like the old man of the sea after 2 months in Japan

Rich with local Ruakaka shaper and great mate Roger hall of Surfline Surfboards. as you can see in the background it was a classic day surf wise waist to shoulder high at times.

Classic Roger Hall craftmanship on one of his modern take on the Hot Curl.

Now that is a coffin box

Von Sol Surfboards by Sean Mattison from San Diego

Back yard shape with lots of stories attached for sure

Classic NZ brand

Great looking Del shapes

These brothers have been surfing and shaping their own boards all their life. Don and Ross Edge , locals from Whangarei know Waipu as well as anyone.They have been surfing for over 50 years.

 Don and Ross after a few waves on their self built boards

Thomas Bauer from the Netherlands was there with some nice hollow wooden boards. He is a furniture maker and looking at staying in New Zealand to work.

Thomas Bauer boards

Justin Tilly form the far North with a great looking board he had just finished building on the farm. Japanese Cedar.

Smithy for down south had a great aray of very different and innovative shapes that he has built himself.

Sean Mattison from California was at Waipu which was great to see. Sean was the guy I contacted about the whole Fish Fry movement prior to going to one in Oceanside California in 2006.When I got home and thought it was a great idea to start one on the Gold Coast he gave me his support and turned up at my first Alley Fish Fry. I have since held 7 of them.He exports his Von Sol brand boards to New Zealand and loves the surf there.
The other connection for me is that I grew up in New Zealand at Dargaville on the west coast within an hours drive of Waipu Cove. When I was a teenager my dad would go deer stalking each Easter and mum would take us to Waipu to stay in a cabin at the beach to go surfing. We surfed the all day and even in the moonlight one time I remember. So this day here was very memorable for me.

Sean with one of his boards.

This guy had a number of nice wooden board , some vac bagged over EPS.

Gold Coast local Jason , an avid body boarder , hand planer and all round fun guy was there as well.

Jay Jackman from Sadhana Surfboards from Christchurch in the South Island on the left with Roger Hall in the middle and Jackie enjoying a catchup on a great day at the beach. Thanks Mike for putting it on.

For more info and pics  thecovefishfry.blogspot.com.au

Off to Fish Fry in New Zealand

I have just finished this 5ft 6" x 22" Hydro Simmons and will be taking it to the first Fish Fry in New Zealand on Sunday 9th of March at Waipu Cove in Northland. Looking forward to going back to my surfing roots as I grew up less than an hour from here myself.

Oiling it up

I have also just finished this 6ft fish and will be getting 4oz glass each side to finish it off. It has the same bottom contours as the Hydro Simmons.

I will post a full report when I get back...   http://thecovefishfry.blogspot.com.au/

6ft 3" Hydro Simmons for Bevan

 The stringerless EPS blank being cut on the AKU machiine

 First cut down the bottom looks severe but that's just the deep full length concave

 All cut and ready to come off the machine. The laser can clearly been seen that helps line things up.

 The bottom of the cut corrugations is the actual board design

 So lots of delicate fine tuning to get the design tidied up.

 All smoothed out and flowing as planned

 Double diamond tail a little easier to do than one with a stringer as well.

The lower lights show up the contours that makes this all work.

6ft 3" x 22 1/2" x 2 3/4" for 50 litres. So the nose is like a hull entry with a soft concave through the middle , spreading out to a full width concave in the middle of the board. This then splits to a soft entry out through the tail and a chine bleeding off each side through the fins. This effectively narrows the tail and with the double diamond that also helps narrow the width. A quad setup on this one with FCS 2's

 Here you can see the chines

Plenty of squirt out through there.

Celebrate the 50 years of World Surfing Titles 1964 - 2014 whilst raising money for Surf Aid International.

As part of the Australian Longboard Surfing Open we are staging a Fundraising evening at the Salt Bar at Salt Village. The evening would consist of guest speakers world surfing champions Phyllis O'Donnell, Andrew McKinnon and Harley Ingleby among others. There will be a short talk from Australia's foremost surf author Phil Jarratt.

This will be a  ticket event with raffles/auction/donations with profits going to SurfAid International.

First Fish Fry for New Zealand

Whangarei’s Mike Cunningham has bitten the bullet and decided to host the first Fish Fry in New Zealand." Rather than bang on too much, here’s Mike’s open invitation to New Zealand’s inaugural Fish Fry;
Hi,
My name is Mike Cunningham, I am a Photojournalist based in Whangarei NZ.
Over  the past 5 or 6 years I have travelled to Australia to attend The Alley Fish Fry which is one of many Fish Frys around the world.
What is a Fish Fry ? It is a non-commercial, non-competitive gathering of shapers, backyard builders, surfers and surfboard enthusiasts, a day for sharing ideas and stories about surfing and surfboards, a time to make contacts, take notes, take some photos and enjoy the company of local and international shapers/surfers.
The Fish Fry concept was origanally based soley on the ‘Fish’ surfboard made by Steve Lis in San Diego but as the Fish Fry events have spread throughout the world. It has become more open to boards also influenced by the fish and other forms of surf craft, paipos, alaias, handplanes, cubits, mats, hulls, logs, hot curls, quads, mini simmons, the list goes on."

 

"After my last trip to Australia I decided after much thought and bending of friends ears  that NZ needed it’s own Fish Fry, I launched a blogspot (website) a couple of months ago to see what interest I would recieve, it has been amazing how many people are stoked about NZ having a Fish Fry and so far local and international support has been fantastic.
The event is called ‘The Cove Fish Fry’ and will be at Waipu Cove, Northland, NZ on the 9th of March, 2014, it is not an invite only event, it is open to all and will be a great event for local and international shapers to showcase their designs.
This event is not for ‘Importers’ of surfbaords, it is to help build a network for shapers and surfers, both here in NZ and from overseas.
If you have any questions about this event please email me at  mmm.cunningham@xtra.co.nz or michael.cunningham@northernadvocate.co.nz

The Cove Fish Fry site is HERE 

I would be stoked to see you there, Cheers Mike Cunningham"  ( reposted from Go Surf NZ )

 

If you are looking to go over to New Zealand to be a part of this great first time get together you can check out whart the surf is like at : http://gosurf.co.nz/forecast

By March the water is warm and they have had some great summer weather and surf the last couple of years. Be great to see you there.

THPG Hang Loose And Draw Art/Design Contest

THE HAPPY POISON GANG, or THPG for short.  "We are a group of like-minded individuals with a diverse team of surfboard shapers, craftsman, surfers, skateboarders, bikers, artists and creatives based in Singapore and Malaysia. All of us got together from the happy positive energy the things we love brought along with it and we like to spread that poisonous energy back to the people who share the similar passion and interests."

About Contest:
Artists are to interpret or create the meaning of “Happy-Poison”. The Happy Poison Gang will issue entry forms to artists with the brief. Entries will be submitted to us by the stipulated dateline. All entries will be posted on The Happy Poison Gang Facebook and Instagram Page. Winner will be judged by the most number of TOTAL likes on The Happy Poison Gang Facebook and Instagram Page ONLY. Winner will then work with The Happy Poison Gang to get their artwork on a custom THPG hand shaped surfboard. The surfboard with the winning artwork will be sent to the winner after it is produced.

Brief:
Interpret or create the meaning of "Happy-Poison" in your own expression through the use of text, image or the juxtaposition of both. You're free to express the boundaries of the meaning in any form or understanding and in any context you imagine for it to be, no holding back now.

Be it hand drawn, the use of software or any medium of your choice the final artwork has to be submitted digitally with the background in 1 color and the artwork in another single color i.e artwork in blue, background in cream.

Here are the avenues on how to get connected with us;
Website - http://thehappypoisongang.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thpgthpg
Instagram - http://instagram.com/thehappypoisongang 

Beers , Byron and Bob, a great combo

I just spent the day down in Byron with my daughter Natalie and surfed at Wategos. What a magic day 29c and water crystal clear and at least 24c. Dolphins, nice A frames on the point between Wategos and Little Wategos. It was like surfing in a postcard. How lucky are we.

After the surf we headed out and caught up with Bob McTavish at his factory. Here he is involved with a couple of his passions...

Bob McTavish

A great interview with Bob McTavish on Liquid Salt . Bob is bar none the most stokes guy you could meet and will always give you time. A rear man in the surf industry , a gem.

Happy New Year everyone

Merry Christmas

All things Fish by Roger Hall

Roger Hall of Surfline Surfboards in New Zealand has a passion for fishes that goes along way back. He has just written about it in his last newsletter for the year. I would like to share it with you.

"I would say one of the things that defines me as a shaper would have to be my early love affair and long term romance with a cute little surfboard design simply called “FISH”.
The early 70’s for me were spent pawing over the pages of Californian surf mags searching for images of Fish in action and any clues or info about their specific shape and design. Fishes stood out as being completely different to all other surfboards of the day due to their shortness of length, twin keels and wide fish tails. There was something very exciting about the lines drawn and the style of surfing on these amazing little short, wide and flat boards.
I was indeed in heaven when a Californian surfer named Phil moved to my neighborhood in the early 1970’s bringing with him a tiny Steve Lis Fish. Steve Lis is synonymous with the Fish design and to be able to see and touch a Fish sculpted by the man himself had a deeply profound affect on me. I built and rode fishes well into the 80’s until peer pressure took its toll. I managed to persist with the twin keel fins even on non-fish type boards until the Thruster eventually won the battle for global domination. While I moved with the times I always felt like I was “cheating on my girlfriend” and missing the Fish sensations and certain “moments” that only a Fish can deliver. It wasn’t long before I started to combine fish designs with elements from another important influence in my life - Ben Aipa.

These Fish and Twin Keel boards have evolved and mutated over the years and there is strong  evidence in the models section of my Website. I can tell you that the only times I have experienced true Déjà vu in my life has always occurred while riding fishes.The realization of having experienced the exact same thing at another time of your life (decades apart) sends a strange sensation through your core which you simply can not ignore. It has never happened on any other type of board (or any other time in my life for that matter) other than while riding Twin Keel 70’s style Fish. LONG LIVE THE FISH!"
Be sure to join in as surfers the world over celebrate Fish Surfboards at Waipu Cove New Zealand - March the 9th 2014.

To find out more about the first annual New Zealand Fish Fry at Waipu Cove check out http://thecovefishfry.blogspot.com.au/

or touch base with : Michael Cunningham   Michael.Cunningham@northernadvocate.co.nz