Trip North 2012

A great trip lotsa waves and great to catch up with longtime friends from the bad ol days, but ah! they were good. Here are some shots , the wooden board is Paul Joskes" powlonia finished and surfed and goes like a gem, the rest are in Mctavishes with Bill glassing beautiful stuff as usual and Bobby Mac showing that he still loves me, I worked and surfed with these guys in the 70s and early 80s and fond memories of passion and a complete involvement with surfing remain and the passion for boards and design still exists in a big way, the reason we have such good equipment to ride now is because of what was done and experimented in the past ,dont forget your roots they are your treasure trove for all your wonderful toys  ... Long may you surf.

Clarky's board

In Byron Bay

pic stolen from inbyronbaytoday.com

Valla

On the way back from the Fishfry I called in to see how Pauls' Paulonia boardwas doing , he was at stage of finishing off the rails, which you seee here . Its 9 foot of timber that he grew and then after 13 years , harvested and finally after curing he shapes it, now thats what I call dedication to the wonderful art that encompasses SURFING and the photo of his 200 plus templates of over 40 years stands for themselves , what a library... There are many so called shapers who think they really are , but these days the reality is they are mere process workers doing a machines bidding not sculptors or artists who create from the raw , so think about your next board , is it something thats been spewed out in a couple days! or lovingly, skillfully crafted and it works like a magic carpet beneath your feet..... TIKI

Six stringerless V bottom " Plastic Machines" for America by Bobby Mac

Black carbon fibre Bobby Mac handshape 7'6"..

Its a great airy glassroom...all Bills

Bill does 20 of these a week.

tint with pigment insert ,the true art of a glasser

Old friend and ex workmate Bill Mclean Glasser extraordinaire has been with Mctavish many years .. this guy sets the level for what a good glass job is all about, don,t believe me ? just ask Bobby Mac

If ya gonna do tints and pigment glass jobs yo better have the right stuff , and the experience

while hes gone..

while Tiki is off enjoying some fun sliders in bali, heres a couple of pics of local places working
enjoy..These are Grant Fuller photos, he has been a photographer for a long time apart from being a great surfer and an exceptional guy. Thats Grant when we worked at Mcoys holding the BK and his Mcoy.

moby stick getting a run

lucky enough to grab a couple over the weekend amongst the crowded, after a surf the Doc took a couple of snaps, check out his blog here

More photos for the gallery

I used to put these( in those days they were my Viking Prow or Bowsprit) on my own 6 foot shooters 40 years ago and after a bit of prompting from Paul Joske of Valla surfboards to put them on again ....I did! but a bit deadly on the longboard as you get close to the nose which wasn't a worry on a short 6 foot shooter . I like them they are me,... the way I was and, still am.... that is, forget the mainstream just do what is in your soul. Mobystick is going unreal , much ,much better than I hoped .... TIKI

9'7 MobyStick

surf museum

The GIDGET board was  a good exammple of what they were shaping out of Balsa before foam . I surfed a few of these when I was 16 and in those days they were sooo heavy compared to the foam boards. Bout 26 years ago I came upon one at Avoca beach and borrowed it for a surf , its shape was identical to the GIDGET board , the board went unreal ,very manouverable and even tho heavy very light to surf. The secret I think was a combination of the Pig planshape ( widest point below halfway) and the blocky rails combined with a reasonally flat bottom through the middle, all these seemed to be the right combination.