Happy Thanksgiving!

Went out today at Grandview.  Another gorgeous day.  Lesson of the day, if you're going to drop in on an Aussie's wave, you'd better hope you hear him laughing. It was my revenge for him commenting to me just before going surfing in Australia...  "Doesn't look too sharky today."

Took out the GoPRO HD cam just to get familiar with using it. Not that easy to use while surfing when it's strapped to your arm. 

Wet Wednesday at Zenbu with keep-a-breast.org

 

Two weeks ago at Zenbu in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, was their weekly Get Wet Wednesday evening event hosted by Nirvana Surfboards, and West Wetsuits to benefit the 'Keep-A-Breast' foundation.

The night included food and drink specials and raffles for various prizes which included Nirvana apparel and a West Wetsuit.




However, one of the most memorable items of the night was the official T-shirts for the event.  Pink with the Keep-A-Breast logo on the front, they discretely summed up the whole theme of the evening..."I Love Boobies"

Oh, and of course it just happen to be Marks 30th!  Happy Birthday Mark!

GoPro camera

Went down to the beach with the family to a spot that rarely has any surf and went out for some body surfing with my goPro camera.  Most of the shots were me learning how to use it, so they did not turn out that well.  But, I did get this one...

OK, actually it was in 'Movie mode' and I took this still shot from the movie.

Classic Clark Foam Blanks...

Saw this one while I was over at Stone Steps Manufacturing, (KKL).   If your looking for a Clark Foam Blank, give them a call at 760.722.7535

LNB7...

ASR and Sacred Craft was this weekend at the San Diego convention center. ASR was pretty impressive, lots of the big names were there, but most impressive was the huge half pipe in the convention center.

Sacred Craft on the other hand was amazing.  What a great venue to see shapers and other people involved in the surf industry.  Not only did they have two booths for shapers to show off their skills, but they even had a couple guys 'tarp surfing'


Best part of the day was saved for last.  That evening I ended up going with a friend to the Liquid Nation Ball 7.  By far one of the best charitable organizations around.  Basically its a big fundraiser for the SIMA Humanitarian Fund which benefits thirteen different surf related humanitarian organizations.

The venue was hosted at Reef Co-Founder Fernando Aguerre's amazing house located in Windansea.  The inside walls and ceilings were covered in surfboards.  Not just any surfboards though, great boards (hopefully we will see a Nirvana board in his collection sometime soon.)  The party was in the backyard which had two tiers, the stage being on the lower tier where the auction was and where they gave the 2010 SIMA Humanitarian Award.

Presenting the award was Jesse Billauer, founder and ambassador of Life Rolls On Foundation, and Kassia Meador, professional surfer and ambassador to Keep-A-Breast Foundation. This year's winner was Jason Mraz for his avid support of Life Rolls On, Save the Music, Free The Children, and more!

A great evening and a great organization...

More photos here:

Liquid Nation Ball 7 Recap & Photos

Time for a grom board...

My daughter looks like she is ready for a Nirvana board!  She already requested that it be pink...

Last night a bunch of us went to Avocados ( South of Grandview) for an evening session.  Surf report said  1 -2 ft. poor, but all of us caught some great waves.  Not to mention that it was raining and we had thunder and lightning moving to the coast from the desert.

Also met Lee in the water as well.  He just picked up a Nirvana custom, a 7' 5" egg / longboard with a glossy finish in a thruster setup.  Nice board...

And here is the fish...

6' "Roi Fish" - A Zenful blend of performance and flowing lines, this board has a welcoming and universal feel to it. Designed by our So Cal. Master shaper ROY SANCHEZ, it is a refined version of the ever so common “old skool fish”. With a split keel quad set up and a flat bottom, this board is like no other board you will ride. It lends itself to be surfed by all levels of ability. It seems to win the hearts of all surfers alike!…

Its new board time...

Two boards ready... Fish on its way...

6'  "Big Dude"  - This board is really designed for performance surfing in small 1-2ft waves, up to solid 4-6ft surf. We utilise the riders weight to their advantage by putting a little extra foam in just the right places while still maintaning performance at the core…

 5' 10" "Apex" - Specifically designed for the up and down conditions of California, this board is a staple for every surfers quiver. It is the definition of how to gain a lot of speed from a slow wave, and draw solid carves on a less than epic face. With a 5 fin setup, you have options allowing you to change the dynamic of the board and how it works for your style and preference of surfing. Small waves or Head high plus, this board handles it all!…  -Design by team rider Erik Baldwin…

Glass time...

Glassing has started on the boards.  Erik sent me a some great photos of the fish being glassed.  Dont get excited though, even though we are in the last stage of making the board, this stage takes the longest.  Probably be done in a week or so...

Being Shaped...

Received some photos today from Erik.  He stopped by Roy Sanchez's place and took some great photos of Roy shaping the fish.  Enjoy...

Ordering a custom Nirvana...

Last week I went into the Nirvana Surfboards Shop in Cardiff to order a couple boards.  One for myself, and one for each of my brother in-laws.  Erik, the shop manager, has way too much knowledge on all of the different shapes that are available.  He can help you get exactly what your looking for and determine what size you need in that shape.  We ended up ordered three boards.

6'  "Big Dude"  - This board is really designed for performance surfing in small 1-2ft waves, up to solid 4-6ft surf. We utilise the riders weight to their advantage by putting a little extra foam in just the right places while still maintaning performance at the core…

6' "Roi Fish" - A Zenful blend of performance and flowing lines, this board has a welcoming and universal feel to it. Designed by our So Cal. Master shaper ROY SANCHEZ, it is a refined version of the ever so common “old skool fish”. With a split keel quad set up and a flat bottom, this board is like no other board you will ride. It lends itself to be surfed by all levels of ability. It seems to win the hearts of all surfers alike!…

5' 10" "Apex" - Specifically designed for the up and down conditions of California, this board is a staple for every surfers quiver. It is the definition of how to gain a lot of speed from a slow wave, and draw solid carves on a less than epic face. With a 5 fin setup, you have options allowing you to change the dynamic of the board and how it works for your style and preference of surfing. Small waves or Head high plus, this board handles it all!…  -Design by team rider Erik Baldwin…

 Placed the order, and picked up a copy of "The Arena"!

Quick stop before leaving town...

Its a small world when you stop in a little juice bar in Coolie, and you have Occy in front of you, and Ace walks in five minutes after that.

Looking forward to seeing Ace climb up the ranks!  We will always be fans of Ace since he is an unreal surfer, couldn't be a nicer guy, and a bit partial because he rode Nirvana Boards when he won the grom world title...

One more time at Greenmount

It was our last day up in the Gold Coast, and we decided to go back to Greenmount.  Its hard to beat the conditions we had ( It was small, but it was small everywhere), dolphins swimming 10 feet in front of you, rays jumping out of the water and circling you 4 or 5 times while you sit on your board, and the people.  Talked to a couple people in the water, one guy just started Uni there from Sydney, two older woman who longboard here when its not too crowded, and two younger Japanese kids who didnt speak English, but would yell and smile when anyone caught a wave.

After leaving it occurred to us that if the quiksilver pro starts up tomorrow, where are all the pros?  We found them just around from Snapper Rocks.  A break called D-Bar.

Road Trip to the Gold Coast...

Just about 10 hours up the east coast of Australia the Quiksilver Pro is about to take place.  We have a rental car with unlimited miles, Oak Vanilla Milk, two boards, and a map.

Arriving at Coolangatta Beach we looked out over Greenmount, the first waves we saw were epic.  They were small, but it seemed as if the break just kept going, and then we realized we were not seeing the start of the break.

We walked out to the end of Greenmount to see just where the begining of this break was.  Found some interesting artifacts...

Shark Tower?  Should I be concerned that there isn't anyone in the shark tower keeping an eye out, or should I be concerned that were at a place where they need shark towers...   and just around the corner was Snapper Rocks...

Central Coast

 First morning out.  Just a quick walk down the street and over a sand dune to check the surf.  Water temp and air temp both around 75F.

 

Nice peak breaking

  

 We ended up going out just north of 'Soldiers'.  Great spot.  Right before going out I learned a new Aussie slang word, "Sharky", as in: "It doesn't look too sharky today."

 

First Stop, Kincumber

After clearing customs our first stop was to see Bill Cilia at his shop in Kincumber, NSW. Bill has a great collection of boards in his shop. Each one seems to be better then the last. Not only is it the shapes of the boards, but each one its the finish look of the lam, the pin stripping, and other artwork that he puts in to each board.




Another example...

Flight to Oz...

The flight to Oz is long. 14.5 hours, from runway to runway, but there are some cool things on the Qantas A380, dozens of movies to watch, and even a live picture of the plane outside.