Fish Fry 4 , the boards and the people who made the day.

We had a great roll up given the weather that we have been getting. This was between showers.

Local shaper Sam Yoon with Rich Pavel and myself. Great to see Rich again and have his support.

Tony Dempsey a long time local Gold Coast shaper , but first time Fish Fryer dug out an old board he shaped in the late 70's to bring along and shared a few stories.

Now this is foiling at it's best . The Valla boys get these made by a local guy down their way.

Sage Joske from Valla Surfboards talks about his foam and glass version of the Alaia called " The Vector" with Junko from Japan.

Ronnie Goddard with a beautiful stringerless board with Paulownia and Cedar rails.

The engine room of the same board

Local Japanese back yard shaper with a nice home built board

Another home built mini Simmons by Eden

A couple of Mini Simmons by Richard Harvey. There were quite a few Simmons in the park. It has taken some time to catch on since Ian Zamora bought the first one to Oz a couple of years ago.

A nice job by 15 year old Matt Wheeldon. He built it as his Christmas project in the Paul Jensen method. Great to see him as part of the day and willing to share his experience with everyone.

Rich Pavel meets Marco Mazzini who was out from Italy to check out the Alley Fry as he prepares to organise the European Fish Fry later in September this year.

Roger Hall from Surfline Surfboards in New Zealand with one of 3 new wooden Fishes he has built since the Wooden Board Day here last August. This is a Balsa and Coconut wood keel fin fish. That is one hell of a lot of pieces of wood glued together.

Roger catching up with 80 year old Ballina local Barry Regan who builds wooden boards and still has a paddle out at The Pass on occasions.

Coconut and Balsa

Just beautiful and those of you that have worked in wood will appreciate the work involved.



Flexy fins for a flex tail by Roger Hall


Bob McTavish with one of Jed Dones Bush Rat finless boards

Some boards have a story , some boards tell a story Jed from Bush Rat


The Red Bull girls turned up and handed out some free samples to fuel us through the day

Richard Harvey deep in conversation with me for a small doco.

Local shaper Dan McDonald from DMS surfboards meets up with Rich again.

Andrew Wells of Grown Surfboards in Lennox Heads with a couple of his fine wooden fishes


There were quite a few flextail fishes in the park , but this one pushed the limits. Jed from Bush Rat with a flextail that had this separate support over the top so as to not inhibit the flex




Jed 's finless flextail underside .

Nice side cut fish and graphics by local shaper Diverse Surfboards

80 year old Bill is a regular Alley surfer and dropped over to check out the boards after a surf.

Bobby Crisp From Wellington New Zealand with a range of his solid Balsa boards.Great detail and design elements.

Green resin tint with graphics and gold tinsel over Balsa. Different .


Bobby builds boards under the Deluxe Industries brand.

Balsa Paipo board

Grown Surfboards fin , nice.


Funky home built fins do the job

Eden with his home built Simmons

Murray Burton from Base and Burton Surfboards checks out a small side cut fish by Mick Mackie

Murray , loves to play with fins and positions on new shapes and is always experimenting and this is what the Fish Fry is about. Checking out what others are doing and sharing your experiences to expand the horizons. It hasn't always been like this.

Fish Fry 2010 , a wild old day in the park at times.

A day that tested us all , thank god for the quikshades and tents to hide under at times.Just shows if you are a true supporter you turn up no matter what. Thanks to all those who did.
A great day was had by all that ventured out on what was a very changeable day weather wise
Plenty of interest and plenty of interesting boards and people to catch up with.
When the rain came and with plenty of wind at times , it was hang on to the tent boys.

Rich Pavel and Bob Mc Tavish with plenty to talk about. Great to have the support of guys like this who lead busy lives and travel all over the globe. Thanks guys.

I am sorry it has taken a day to get the first post away but I have been laid out in bed with the flu after a day of running around in and out of the rain at the Fry.Hang in there and there will be more.

Ronnie Goddard is flat out finishing a couple of boards to bring

I just got these two shots of some nice fish getting the finishing touches and a polish to be ready for Sunday. I know of a few people burning the midnight oil to finish a few projects. Thanks guys.
This one is stringerless with cedar and paulownia rails.
I also spoke to longtime Gold Coast shaper ,Tony Dempsey and he has a couple of early boards he has dug out to bring along. So a bit of history and a few stories to share. I also spoke to Bert Burger , shaper of the year 2007 today. He is in town and will be along on Sunday as well. Some older shapers , young shapers and all with ideas and stories to tell. Be there to share in it all.

And after a low tide wave at the Alley today , I can tell you we are in for some fun waves. Wind is up to 30 knots and swell to get up 3.5 metres over the weekend. But we only need the hint of west in the wind like today and the valley acts like a giant funnel and we have offshore at the point and rivermouth. Yet on the other side of the rock it is howling southerly.

Who is coming ?

People always want to know who is coming to the fish Fry. The truth is , I don't really know until the day rolls on. Some people tell me they are coming , but the balance is unknown.

Well we can only hope the weather finally clears up , the rain and floods stop and the surf cleans up to give us the day we are after.We have been lucky the last 3 years.

There seems to be plenty of interest in the Fish Fry this year with new people and guys who have been before expressing their keeness to be there next Sunday. We have Robbie Kegal and his Gato Heroi brand coming out from California for the first time. A young creative artist and innovative surfer of the new generation shall we say. Jed Done and his Bush Rat brand from way South in Merimbula will be a first time fry guy. And Mick Mackie is back again with his innovative ideas , flex tails and side cut fishes. Young Lennox Head local Daniel Thomson , will be with us again fresh from being named " Best Of Show " at the Sacred Craft show in California last year. He has some fresh ideas and different outlines and fins. Also we have Roger Hall from Surfline Surfboards in New Zealand coming again with a selection of beautifully crafted wooden fishes and a multi stringered flex tail fish. Bobby Crisp from Wellington will be here with some of his very detailed wooden fishes under his Deluxe Industries brand.

It is always hard to know who will turn up with what and that is one of the great things about the day. You never know what you will go away with in terms of new ideas and inspirations.

So come on down to The Alley and bring your board old or new and a picnic lunch. Meet some new people , go for a surf swap boards and ideas. Just remember it is a non commercial and non competitive get together and I am sure you will have fun at The Alley Fish Fry , Sunday 14th March - NEXT SUNDAY.

Some people are going to a lot of trouble to bring something special to the Fish Fry

A five stringer flextail fish nearing completion.Roger Hall will be taking her out for a few test drives prior to cutting the swallow tail into the rear.
Roger working away in a 5ft 11" x 21 3/4" x 2 7/8" Speed Dialer.The mix of timbers are : Centre Beam - Agarve , Central Lattice Beams - Paulownia/Redwood/Pine , Outer Lattice Beams - Agarve and Cabbage Tree , All other beams are either Redwood, Balsa or Paulowina.
All fully chambered and foiled , now the rails and then hours of hand sanding , very carefully as you have so many different timbers and densities to contend with.
You won't see Roger doing things by halves...
The board in the background is a Speed Dialer - 5'11" x 21" x 2 7/8" with timbers : Centre Beam - Redwood/Paulowina. Outer Lattice Beams - Agarve and Cabbage Tree. Rail Beams - Redwood;/Pine/Purple Heart/Oregon/Mahagany. All other beams are either Paulowina or Redwood or Balsa.

He is also working on a Keel Fin Fish - 5'10" x 22" x 2 7/8" - Central Lattice - is Coconut Balsa with Pine and Redwood Stringers. Rails are Redwood and Coconut.

Be sure to check out the detail and craftsmanship of this guy. They certainly don't come much better than this. To my mind Roger is the best wooden board builder I have seen. Maybe a big call ? Then send me your pics and I will post them as well.

Check out his sites : www.surfline.co.nz
and www.fishnlog.blogspot.com

It is always great to see new ideas evolve

They may not all be what some would call fish exactly , but they certainly are a close cousin .It is always great to see people thinking outside the box and experimenting and blending ideas and design elements to come up with something different.Sage Joske from Valla Surfboards near Coffs Harbour has created the Vector above. Sage is an avid Alaia and fish shaper and rider and from this the Vector was hatched.
This is the Anderson Stealth 6' 4" and is an obvious marriage of the two, like a fish on top of an Alaia , then add fins.This is in California.
Fins for bite when you need them and out when you don't.The foam will certainly help the paddle into a wave.
The fish and the Alaia marriage is an interesting one, but not unlikely.I would say the Simmons is pretty well involved in there as well.This is the sort of thing that will be seen at the Fish Fry in 2 weeks time.

The Fish Fry - a gathering of afishionados

The Fish Fry will be a gathering of all parties interested in "The Fish" and all things of a fishy variety. There are always interesting new boards and ideas. A chance to meet shapers and check out what they are doing. Swap ideas , try a new board or be inspired to head home and have a go at making one in the shed yourself. There is sure to be something to catch your eye and plenty of interesting people to met and talk to . A very simple day in the park. Bring your lunch and chill for the day with your board.

Great illustration by Ben Waters from TCSS.

Matt's Christmas holiday project

Greg Wheeldon is an Architect from Brisbane who did the board building class with Paul Jensen last August. His son Matt was keen to build a board , so with his dads guidance he was kept busy over the Christmas break.
" Matt wanted something different, so we cut the deck and hull boards at 450, inset a woven bamboo panel into the deck nose and tailpiece, and hull nose. On the hull we turned the boards back to parallel, to give the tail and fins more interest."


" We even managed to form a 5mm concave to the hull nose, and a 3mm double concave to the tail under the parallel board section."





" He is keen to show it at the Fish Fry so we will see you there ." Would love to see the board at the Fish Fry Matt, this is exactly what it is all about. A great life experience for anyone to build their own board .


Proud dad with his board he built with Paul Jensen at The Eco Village last year.

Marco Mazzini from Italy to be at the Fish Fry

Marrco is coming out to check out the Alley Fish Fry as he gears up for the European Fish Fry to be held on the 25th of September at Versilia Italy later this year. It will be great to host him and show him around.It seems as though the word has spread far and wide and the day has come of age. There were over 35 shapers last year as well as plenty of guys who are building there own boards , which is great to see. I am looking forward to another great rollup. Hope to see you there.