Greenough inspired Velo Fish

At the fish fry there was a guy traveling up the coast in a bus who laid out a couple of great looking Greenough spoons and they got me thinking. It can be a little frustrating having a head full of ideas and doing nothing about them .So I decided that I would have to shape something as an experiment just for the hell of it. It is too small for me , but I have plenty of willing test pilots.

5ft 10" x 22" , not a lot of rocker...

The original spoon had a lot of flex in the solid glass bottom panel that flexed upwards to create a concave . So I have shaped the concave into the bottom front to back .

The idea was to squash the rail down to about 3" and give the deck some float and thickness. As the originals hardly float and are fairly heavy with all that solid glass. I Kept the hull bottom on the rails , but added the edge board and concave front to back.

A soft blend of many ideas and shapes coming together.

Still kept the concave spoon deck , but in a much more mellow fashion and at 2" thick it added the float that was lacking. If you look at some of the footage of the early spoons with just the hull bottom they really bounce around on the face. They were also lacking a little in waterline length at around 5ft 2". So I figure the flat edge board panel they later added acted like a planing plank on a speed boat and gave it something to sit up on and the added concave providing lift as well. I shaped the edge quite softly so as to not make the board track too much and blend everything together.

Anyway this is what it ended up like and the whole exercise has been very rewarding. I loved just carving away at the foam and look forward to the finished board glassed up.

Nuno's new Simmons

Nuno from Portugal just sent me a couple of shots of his new simmons from a local shaper , Paulo Jacinto. Good looking board.

New and Old

This is Eduardo Tibagy from Santos Brazil on his fish . " I love it surfboard fish, actually I have one 6'0 twin optional three fins (3 fins only for big days).
I send my picture with my first fish surfboard, 2-fins, 5'10'', local (beach) Itarare-SV during sunny day! "
He also sent me this shot of himself with a Cabalitto de Totara.
" Caballitos de totora are reed watercrafts used by Peruvian fishermen, originally the Moche people, for the past 3,000 years, archaeologically evidenced from pottery shards.
Named for the way they are ridden, straddled ('little reed horses' in English), fishermen use them to transport their nets and collect fish in their inner cavity. The name is not the original name as horses were not introduced to South American until after the Spanish arrived in the 15th Century. They are made from the same reed, Scirpus californicus, used by the Los Uros people in the Lake Titicaca region.

Fishermen in the port town of Huanchaco famously, but in many other locations practically, still use these vessels to this day, riding the waves back into shore, and suggesting some of the first forms of wave riding. There is currently a minor debate in the surfing world as to whether or not this constitutes the first form of surfing. "

All they were missing was a fish tail and some keels ?

Rubber up your Fish ?

Maybe only in Japan , but is this to protect your ride or to make it look like an Orca ?
Got me. Any ideas ?

Fish Fry Japan goes alternate

This years " Fish Fry " is to be held on the 29th of May 2010 in Shizunami, Shizuoka, Japan.

However, this is not going to be a “Fish Fry” as you know it anymore I am told. Apparently the Fish is an old fad or trend in Japan according to the Media driven surf industry. As it states on the poster it is now to be opened up as an " Alternative Surfing Movement " which means Fish , Quads , Bonzers , Egg , Spoon , Hull , Balsa Wood , Asymetric and more. Has this not gone off on a tangent like the " Anything But 3" that replaced the Fish Fry in California ?

Well I know that the Fish has opened up people's minds to experiment and get creative with what they will ride , which is great and only good for surfing. But I would still like to see the Alley Fish Fry as a Fish inspired gathering. That may also mean there are a few boards that have taken on some of their characteristics from a cross over and influence from other shapes or styles of boards , but are derived from the fish. Like Sage Joske's Vector which is a long slender fish inspired by the Alaia , or an Alaia in foam inspired from many years of shaping fish. Or the Mini Simmons .You know what I mean.

Long live the Fish and the guys who shape them and love to ride them.

New Simmons for Dane Reynolds

Dan Mac Donald here on the Gold Coast made this Mini Simmons for Dane when he was here for the Quiksilver Pro. It is 5ft 8" and was the first Simmons Dan had built.

Dane surfed it and said " Too Big"

So here is the next one he is yet to pick up - 4ft 6" x 19 3/4" x 2 3/8"


Now that is small when you see it in the flesh. More like a skate board to me.

Surfrider Foundation Board Swap

Adam Feichtmann, President of Surfrider Foundation Gold Coast and Tweed , just send me this note to let everyone know that he is organising the Surfrider Foundation Board Swap for Saturday May 1st at Currumbin Alley .

"We are trying to run a simple event that promotes the recycling of surfboards. It is pretty simple: Grab and old board that you have just sitting around the house/garage and bring it to the Alley on May 1st 9am-12pm with the hope of "swapping" it with another mate who brought their old boards. The event is free, and could cost nothing to pick up your next favorite board. If you wanted to hand out some flyers and do have the resources to print them, we could meet up and I could give you a handful of flyers. (I live in Palmy)"

Cheers,
Adam Feichtmann
0430710041
http://surfridergct.org

Fish Fry T Shirts

I have a couple of XL fish fry T shirts if anyone is interested email me at grantnewby@bigpond.com

Easter at The Alley - Saturday

5.30am and the first waves of the day...

Checking the sets roll through in the morning light.

Gold Coast white out to the south ... but off shore down the river mouth on the other side of the rock

You have to watch for the suck rook at low tide...

First plane of the day 6.00am

Pretty fat and gutless at times

Not as good as it looked from the carpark in the half light.

Plenty of crew once the sun popped out from the morning cloud

Oh yeah its a great time of year....

Some pretty solid swell at times on the wide sand bank.


Wouldn't live anywhere else...

Easter at The Alley - Friday morning

There were some nice ones going through to Laceys.

Nice ones inside the point as the tide came in.

Party waves all morning.

More party waves and boats coming and going out the river mouth to catch fish on the Palm Beach Reef


Beautiful morning with wispy showers out to sea.

No one was alone between sets and still they came.

There were even more flying in for the long weekend holiday. This is Easter on the Gold Coast.Why would we live anywhere else. There were guys in the lineup at 4.45am in the dark. Yes it was crowded , but there were plenty of waves to go round and good spirits all round. The way it should be.
Happy Easter everyone.

Pendoflex Fishes by Steve Pendarvis

Steve built this high aspect Pendoflex fish for Rasta in 2009.



Steve and Cher Pendarvis sent me these pics of their boards with good wishes for the Fish Fry.
" Here are some of our favorite fish rides, built of foam and wood. From left to right, high aspect Geppie Pendoflex, 6'10 chambered balsa fish by Mike Casey, Steve and Cher, 5'4 chambered balsa fish by Mike Casey, Steve and Cher, Steve Lis Apricot fish from 1970." Thanks for the kind thoughts and I hope they can join us at the Fry one year with their boards.

Find out more about their boards at : www.pendo.com

Start them young...

Young Cain Pridmore from Yamba is 11 years old and following in his dads footsteps as a shaper. Here he is with a stringerless 5ft 2" x 19" x 2 1/2" fish for himself. Under his dad Mark's guidance he was into it. He also likes to get into the artwork for boards and so it will be good to see the finished board. Never too young to start making foam dust.Good one mate.