Paulownia

Interesting plant Paulownia. In the right conditions, it can grow incredibly quickly and yield timber that has a light, fibrous quality yet maintains its strength. The big challenge these days is to find sustainable materials from which to build boards that work, that last and that still look beautiful.

Friction free

If surfing's 'retro' movement is played out and has become part of the ebb and flow of contemporary things, then we're all very lucky. With creative minds like Tom Wegener creating finless Alaia boards in Noosa for a new generation of surfers looking for an unsullied experience, and people like Derek Hynd promoting the disapearance of the fin as a return to the roots of wave-riding, there's never been a more interesting time to be a surfer. I'll be sticking to my skegs for the forseeable, but take a look at Loose-Fit's nice new site for more inspiration and great pictures of these ancient Hawaiian designs being ridden. Jon and the guys import boards from Mr Wegener himself, as well as Paulownia blanks. More on Paulownia wood later.

Tom Curren

Came across this handmade footage of classic-era Curren. Dig the radical flow in the slop, and the hi-line double pump down the line in the juicy stuff. Dig also the black beauty board and the dayglo panelled spring suits. Curren surfs twenty years ago in a way that would make any WCT surfer today proud. It was truly radical in the eighties. Would love to be able to understand Brazilian Portuguese too.

John Isaac

John Isaac is a Kentish gadget-botherer, procurer of tales and can convince by his presence like no other man on earth. He was the front man for Revolver, the much maligned surf shop that was a proper surfshop and is now sadly passed. For a brief couple of summers, Revolver was the beating heart of a group of friends and a focal point of a lot of good stuff in Cornwall that hasn't since had a centre. The place was like a beautiful lotus flower in the rancid pool that is Newquay. If you were there, then you'll dig what I am saying. Since Revolver's passing John has been having babies, taking pictures, becoming a bit obsessed with odd cameras, English belly boards and tweed whilst purveying fine, often strange custom orders for the discerning resin fetishists of England. He's a pilgrim good and true and his rancid bay births some cool sticks (including a 10-0 pintail speed shape of mine in British Racing Green that flies when it's juicy). We eagerly await the resurrection of the shop. With a little help from his friends, he can make it happen.

Ross Holden

Ross Holden is an old friend and collaborator from way back. I commissioned him to do loads of illustration for adrenalin magazine back in the day. During the invasion of Iraq he started making mandalas from grabbed images of the media. The images grouped together, in geometric form (sometimes horrific images, sometimes challenging images), by the alchemy of the art process, were changed into something intriguing and beautiful. Now he's been commissioned by everyone from Transport For London to KIA cars to put these things together. Tibetan buddhists spend meticulous hours, days, weeks constructing mandalas, these incredibly intricate patterns from coloured sand as a process of meditation. They aim for a kind of stillness-in-movement of mind and body whilst constructing them, before wiping them away with an instantaneous sweep of the hand. Impermanence. In a way, surfers draw lines on waves that celebrate their fleeting form before they disappear forever on the shore. Mandala. Good name for a surfboard label.

Mandala

There's something about pictures of short fat quad-finned beauties like M.Caro's Mandala shapes that brings out the consumer in me. I wonder if they'd work eight feet long, 3 3/8 thick with a 16 inch blunt double end? Answers on a postcard please...

Giacometti

Nice site from MOMA in NYC on Giacometti.

The mighty Thor

Thor Jonsson is one of the most committed surfers and photographers I have ever met. We hooked up in London around five years ago, when he was just back from three months feral in Madagascar. He had the eye of the tiger alright. This image (used as header) of Sam Bleakley during our Ireland trip reminds me of a Giacometti sculpture. It's typical of Thor's unique eye.
One wave. One man. Existential alone-ness in a watery universe. A huge talent.

Review in Huck magazine

Huck is a great, ambitious little magazine. Constructed by Vince Medeiros, Danny Miller, Rob Longworth and a dedicated creative crew in London's Shoreditch, it draws the worlds of surf, skate and snow together beautifully. Real 21st century take on one of the truly global cultures. Published in four languages. Nice review by Vince himself. Check it out.

Greenough: variable rail profile

It's worth taking the time to listen to George tell us about why the surf matt is his favourite wave riding vehicle.

Memories of an easy sliding summer

On a cold, wet stormy day here in the crux of England and Wales with an overhead swell running and a skirt-lifting southwesterly to go with it, it's nice to remember an easy sliding summer. This little memory from September project film maker Chris Mannell, music by Mr Radford.

Nick Radford

Nick Radford is one of my favourite illustrators. He's also a talented musician, a knowledgable jazz head and a stylish surfer. One of the good souls. I first met him over in Ireland a couple of years ago and have worked with him a lot since then. There's tons of his illustrations in the forthcoming book. This is his rendering of Alan Stokes, Tyler Hatzikian and Dane Peterson from the first edition of September.

A-Side Displacement

Ross & Alex at A-Side are great designers and good friends whose studio is nestled above a little surfshop in the middle of Falmouth in Cornwall. I worked with them on the first edition of September, as well a new book that's due to hit the streets this summer. Stay tuned for details on that. The guys have a fetish for stubby little surfboards, and Ross has this lazy, crooked legged but flowing style. Alex is obsessed with MP, and has been known to hand-jive his way through the pocket nicely. Does he surf like MP? Well, he's got those long, MP-like arms, at least. The boys came back from California recently with a strangely foiled displacement hull. Interesting. It's all about the rail, baby.

Superb animation

By Laguna Beach animator John Lamb from 1974. Really captures the tube-focussed vibe of the era, though there's an air in there too. Not even Larry Bertlemann could have been pulling airs in '74.

howies

Howies is a cool little company (that's getting bigger by the moment). They make great, high quality clothes in the wild west of Wales. They're good people and they have collaborated closely with us on the September project. Their seasonal catalogue is a thing of beauty, and I have written a couple of pieces for them. Check them out.

the september project

This is a little notebook that I'm going to use to communicate to the worldwide crew involved in the little green book, and anyone who's interested in getting involved. For those of you who don't know about it, the september project is a series of books made by a global community of writers, artists, photographers, film makers and friends who happen to surf.

Each year we'll explore a corner of the surfing planet, write a few words, make a few images, and publish them in a beautiful little book. The ambition is to capture the beauty and the richness of not only riding waves in a particular area, but the diverse experience a surf trip entails. The idea is that each book will be infused with the essence of a time, a place and a surfing moment. We want to capture the incredible blessings surfers are bestowed by the ocean, and have chosen to do this in the permanent, tangible form of print.

The books are printed and bound using 100% sustainable materials and non-toxic inks based on vegetable matter, just down the road from where I live in the west of England. So, hopefully, the process leaves as little trace as possible. We published the first book just before Christmas 2007, based on a month long sojourn to the West coast of Ireland. I'll post some images for you to see. I have very few left, but if anyone is interested in scoring a first edition, get in touch, and I'll try to get a copy to you, wherever you happen to be. Alternatively Howies and Loose Fit surf shop have a few left too, I believe. The edition features contributions from Tara Darby, Kieron Black, Thor Jonsson, John Eldridge, Dan Crockett, Easky Britton, Mickey Smith, Sandow Birk, Jamie Brisick, John Isaac, Tyler Hatzikian, Dane Peterson, Jimi Newitt, Peter James Field, Spencer Murphy, Sam Bleakley, Jamie Bott, Chris Mannell, Nick Radford and Helen Gilchrist.

The next edition will be out in November 2008. Watch out for news of cast and content soon. with love