Mick Mackie is a very innovative individual and loves to do his own thing. It has been a pleasure to have him at past Fish Fry. And Andrew Kidman has brought us some very special movies in the past. So am looking forward to this one.
Mick at work on a stringerless Simmons in styrene.
Side cut , big butt crack , flex tail , all things Mick likes to explore.
Jordan Nobel the shaper of the great looking Rake mini simmons and fishes will be a speaker at the Fish Fry night as well.
Jordan is the owner of Note Surfboards on the Victorian coast. He was the 2009 Victorian Old Mal champ and is an avid surfer of all craft. He, like many other young shapers spent time at Classic Malibu at Noosa learning the ropes with Peter White, he later moved back to Torquay and started his own brand. He shapes a wide variety of boards but has a passion for the Mini Simmons and Fish that he builds under the Rake Label. He builds boards that are beautifully crafted with great glassing and finish. I am sure you will see why he is one of the new generation of Aussies leading the way out there doing what they love.
Ryan is a great example of the new young guns out there hand shaping and experimenting .He hails from Santa Barbara and is the owner of Point Concept Surfboards.
“He shaped his first board in Santa Barbara on his 19th birthday because he didn’t have enough coin to buy a Fish off the rack. What started as a one-man operation along with the help of best friends, namely Connor Lyon, Ryan has managed to turn his art, skill and energy into a dynamic business that creates between 5 and 20 boards a month for surfers who drool over his creative shapes and attention to detail”. He is self taught and willing to experiment with shapes, designs and materials which has led him to explore many aspects of board design and building. A shaper of the future with a keen following of young guns that inspire him to push the boundries.
Robin Kegel form Gato Heroi built these boards for Japan and he emailed to say he hopes to make it out this year. Be great to have him as part of the mix.
Once again the Gold Coast Surf Museum around the corner from the Alley is hosting a night for the Fish Fry. It is on Saturday night the 5th ( the night before the Fish Fry )If you click on the image you will be able to read it or email me and I can send it to you.A great night to be had for sure.
Rich Pavel has been a supporter of the Alley Fish Fry from the very beginning and each year he has traveled out here from San Diego. An interesting guy with a passion for shaping and passing on his knowledge to others. He is very supportive of young shapers and has mentored many of the young guns that are leading the way today.So it is great that he will be with us once again this year.He is keen to shape some boards while here , so if anyone is interested in one of his hand shapes let me know or contact him direct. Rich will also be a speaker on the Saturday night at the Surf World Museum. So this will be an opportunity to meet him along with many other shapers and to hear his background and take on the fish. He was one of the original San Diego fish shapers. An intriguing and generous man , that has an interesting story to be told.So come on the Saturday night before the Fish Fry the next day in the park to hear his story or ask him about the fish.
I found these shots on a site the other day and it looks like Daniel Thomson getting into a little finless action.I would like to see what he comes up with as he is a very talented surfer and shaper.
You can check them out in " The Surfers Journal" Vol 19 number 5 where Tony Alva said " They're the future primitive of surfing. Little , hairless cavemen riding spaceships". I am sure you will see some finless boards at the Fish Fry . Tom Wegener is to be there with a range of his Sea Glass boards to demo.
This is the original Fish Fry that Jackie and I went to at Oceanside Beach 2006 that set the ball rolling for us to start one here on the Gold Coast the following year
Happy New Year to everyone and thank you for your continued support. I hope we all have a better year ahead of us than we have just had.Here in Queensland we have thousands of people with their houses underwater and the biggest floods ever.Some rivers are yet to peak so the worst of it is yet to hit.When we have tough times this year , lets just be tankful that we are not one of these poor buggers waiting for the water to drop and see whats left to start again.
Christmas morning here on the Gold Coast 5.30am. Wet ,Wet, Wet and rain all night, Santa will have a soggy slay for sure. All we want is sun and waves for Christmas as usual , but they have both been in short supply.I hope where ever you are that you have a safe and happy Christmas and some waves in the New Year.Looking forward to a great 5th Fish Fry in March with some interesting guys coming out from the States and new faces keen to be part of the day. Also have some young guns lined up as speakers at the Surf Museum the night before.MIKEY D's MINI SIMMONS from ALEK PARKER on Vimeo.
The Mini Simmons is becoming more and more popular this year as guys seek out something new to get their heads around. Most look at them and find them a little puzzling and not sure how to figure them out. But come back beaming and surprised at what they have discovered. Short but wide means glide , like they have never felt before on a board of this length.We will see more of these sweet little wonders this summer.
Here is a sweet little Simmons from Michele of OLA SURFBOARDS, 5ft 2" winged mini quad-simmons , with titanium cloth step-deck and rose swirl resin tint bottom - full-throttle down the line
Fernando de la uz , looks like a pretty innovative and experimental shaper for sure and builds some sweet boards.
He foils his own fins ...
Now this is where it gets interesting or what ?
The Thumb with fins on the nose ?
The Meyerhoffer meets Thumb , meets whale tubercles , its all happening ?
An interesting couple of board that would be good to know more about. There is no more info on his web site , but here it is : www.delauzsurfboards.com
Just picked up the 10ft Simmons today.Can't wait to get it wet.
S Deck and square tail
Long concave blending into the hull / rolled nose. I shaped a chine in the second half of the board which lessens the rail thickness.
Beast of a board ...
I wanted to keep the twin fin original Simmons fin template , but thought I would experiment with having the last 1/3 cut away to lessen the base lenght and maybe free things up a little. Also moved the fins up 6 1/2" inches from the tail and sat them on top of the chine.I have to thank John Cherry for his inspiration and feedback. As well as Roger Hall and Dick Van Straalen for bouncing ideas off. But a big thanks goes to Bob Simmons for just thinking outside the square all those years ago.Imagine if he were still here now , where would surfing have gone ?
Andrew Roberts built this fish in one of Paul Jensens classes here in Australia and these are some shots he sent to Paul ...
" Got some nice clean waves, Bells is a great down the line the wave, especially in the Bowl section which is surfed at low tide 3 foot up. Easy to paddle and catch waves, had some nice drops, carving bottom turns then maintaining a nice fast line. Sweet! Here's a few pics for the album. Plenty of interest in Torquay in these boards and reckon you would not have too much trouble lining up a workshop down here if keen."
Dan is a great innovative shaper here on the Gold Coast and has been experimenting with his Simmons for a while now. After starting out last year building SUP with bamboo skins and then his short board range , he has now done the Simmons. They are stringerless styrene and look unreal.
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