Recent Handshapes

6'4 Deep SIx Singlefin G&S Update for Brad





5'6 Gloss and Polished Rocket Squash for Mike Howrigan.




6'0 Personal




6'3 Mexico Pintail Personal




6'4 Thumbtail for Shawn Bathe


6'4 Squash for Tarek Albaba

TSJ's Emma Wood Board Swap video and Larmo's "White Pony"

TSJ | POV - "Dan Malloy & Dane Reynolds Board Swap" from The Surfer's Journal on Vimeo.

I found this Surfer's Journal video on Monsterboards blog and had to repost. Beautiful little clip that makes me want to go surf and design and shape. Surfed many a day in Ventura and Santa Barbara with artist and kneeboarder, Russell Crotty, who got me into surfing fishes and experimenting with all kinds of boards and designs.



Larmo held a demo day at Law St. this weekend. Great to see some old friends and to ride the White Pony, a RK inspired Mini-Simmons. It was almost the size of boogie but paddled and surfed so fast. I've ridden some great Larmo's before but this one was an instant favorite. Will probably be the next board I order from another shaper.



The White Pony, an RK inspired Mini Simmons shaped by Larry Mabile.



I rode a 5'2 version of this board and easily got into 6 inch waves and skated full speed down the line. Blew my mind.

The Road to Santa Muerte

Golpes



6'3 Pin


El Padre de Mario


Desayuno por uno



Ancient mayan carving of Tim Pyles



Punta Santa Muerte
















Fresh Sierra (Spanish Sea Mackerel) Tacos


Thought I was ripping on a monster air kickout but the bottom came way too quick.







Paletas




Mozzies






D.F.

The Couch Sessions- Vince Quiroz Acoustic Tracks

Vince Quiroz covering Gwen Stefani's "Simple Kind of Life" (Audio Only) Sorry you'll just have to breathe in the lyrics and soul.


Vince Quiroz of Inure, Unigeronism


Vincent Quiroz of Inure covering Radiohead's "Videotape"



Vince Quiroz, Permanent Black Shades

Mick Fanning Interview

Mick Fanning Interview 1

BT: You’ve got a real clean style, who would you say are you’re stylistic
influences?

MF:  Probably Curren, and Occy.  Hoyo.  There’s Heaps.  Tom Carroll.
Dooma’s pretty good, too. They’re all pretty good.

BT:  How important is style to you?  How important is it to have a turn look
clean?

MF:  Not really.  I just like it to feel clean.  I don’t care how it looks.
If you care about how you look, then you’re not going to get very far.
You’re going to be too worried about showing off in front of all the girls.

BT:  How do you think growing up on right-hand points has helped you’re
surfing?  Do you think it gives you an advantage?

MF:  Not really an advantage.  It’s just; you get to go right more. (laughs)
It Os just so much fun, just goin’, play it up on the little right hand
points.  It’s not like at a beachbreak where you do one turn, you might have
to grovel for a bit and then do another turn.  You just keep goin' on and on
and on.  It’s sick.

BT:  What do you think the future of surfing will hold in terms of maneuvers
or approach to the wave?

MF:  I don’t know, it depends who’s on top at the time.  If it’s some
aerialist freak it’ll probably be aerials and all that, but if it’s someone
who just goes out and smashes it, it’ll probably be a guy like that.  It
just depends whoever’s on top.

BT:  What kind of style are you and Parko and the crew here trying to push,
or interested in seeing?

MF:  We just go out and try to do better than they’re doing.  So, we just
try and beat each other.  If they do a big powerful gouge, I’m gonna try and
do one to.  But it probably won’t be as good.  That’s how it is with me,
anyway.  They’re always better than me.

BT:  What excites you about a board?  What do you look for in a good board?

MF:  I just like boards to go fast.  If a board goes slow it just sucks.  I
hate it.  I just like Oem to fast, that’s all.

What’s your favorite wave around here?

MF:  Probably Kirra.  Or Snapper when it’s on.  Or Tweed Bar.  Tweed Bar’s
sick.  There’s too many to pick from, like Burleigh’s insane too, D-Bah gets
good sometimes.  There’s heaps of wavesS StraddieS go down south when it’s
good, wherever.

BT: When did you move to Kirra?

MF: I think it was a bout 5 or 6 years ago.  I used to live in Ballina. Just
like an hour south and it was sort of more beachbreaks and that around
there.  I never used to surf that much when I lived down there. I used to
play soccer all the time (laughs), and then I moved up here and started
surfing heaps more. It’s just more points up here, but they probably get
more swell down there.

BT: Do you think there’s a difference between surfing and other sports like
soccer, baseball or rugby?

MF:  Surfing’s way different from any other sport.  It’s sort of like
dancing. (Mick squeals at this). It’s just different. It’s based upon
yourself more than a team.  It’s not like you can get your swing down all
the time.  You’re always changing and that, always growing, and your boards
are always different all the time.  With Golf your clubs are the same all
the time, and you should be swinging the same all the time, so it’s way
different, I reckon.

BT: Do you think that it’s problematic that with Tow-In Surfing you have to
have another person and a machine? Is it an equal part of surfing?

MF: Oh yeah for sure. GOD!  You don’t see many people taking off on waves
that big. It’s made it easier, but it’s still hard.  Just because there not
paddling into it they’re still surfing.  It’s crazy.  They have to save
their energy for when they’re getting worked.

BT:  Hopefully you’re going to be qualifying for the tour pretty soon and
you’re going to be surfing some much bigger waves.  How are you going to
approach that type of risk, and are you afraid of dying or seriously
injuring yourself?

MF:  Sort of.  I guess it’s life.  You gotta die sometime.  I guess you just
gotta go.  If you don’t go, then you can’t get through a heat, and you can’t
be the best.  So you just gotta go, I guess.

BT:  Do you look at some of those waves, like Tahiti and Pipe, and just go:
"Fuck, what am I going to be doing?"

MF:  Yeah.  Shit me self (laughter). Yeah but I’m sure it will come one day.
Just one day, I’ll wake up and won’t be scared, hopefully.  Just take off.
Get smashed.

BT:  Being a young professional, is it hard to keep your head on straight?
Do your friends sort of keep you in line?

MF:  Not really.  I sort of don’t look at it as other people might.  I don’t
care what goes on around me, as long as I’m having fun.

BT:  It seems like a lot of American professionals, even on the home
circuits, have a bit of a prima donna attitude that, it seems you don’t get
as much here. Everyone seems a bit more down to earth.  Is it because of the
strong friendships?

MF: Nah, I think it’s because, over here, if you start loving yourself
everyone’s just gonna write you off and say you’re a goose and whack up to
yourself. So, I guess that’s probably why not many people have got Oem over
here.

BT:  Do they call it Tall Poppy?

MF:  Yeah, Tall Poppy Syndrome. (More laughs)

BT:  Do you think all the media, and Hollywood has made Americans more crazy
about making celebrities out of people?

MF:  I don’t know, probably.  IOve never been to Hollywood, so I don’t know
what’s going on.  They get publicized a lot more.  All the major films are
made in America, so I guess they want everyone to be the best, coming out of
America.

BT:  Tell me about CK7.

MF:  Oh, it’s funny.  First we were just gonna make a video, like the Coolie
Kids, and then all of a sudden my brother, and Westie, and a couple of other
mates just changed it into the seven of us, because we had this picture and
thought we’d make up this little club. Then everyone around here just wants
to be in it, there’s probably twenty or thirty now.    We’re just so close
to each other, all our mates and all that.  So it’s just a little group
thing really.  You just go down the beach and you see the odd CK7 somewhere,
it’s sick.  I never though it would happen like that.

 BT:  And your brother started all this?

MF:  Yeah.  When we used to live on D-Bah hill everyone used to come around
our place, and he was always tryin’ to make up something.  Like he was an
inventor, or something.

BT:  How was it to win your brother’s contest?  Was it a special feeling?

MF:  Yeah, I was so stoked.  To be the first person to win it, I was so
stoked.  I didn’t want anyone else to win it.

BT:  And all your friends were there for you, too?

MF:  Yeah it was one of funniest weekends and nights I’ve ever had in my
life (laughing).  I didn’t stop laughing for probably an hour and a half
straight. It was just that funny.  Everyone was just playin’ up.

BT:  So what’s it like hanging out with Beau, Tony, Farmer and the boys?

MF: It’s funny.  I love just coming home and just hangin’ out with the boys.
We always have so much fun together, just writin’ off everyone.  We don’t
care. It’s sick.  They don’t winge much, so it’s good, I hate winges.  So
it’s pretty good.  I’m stoked to be home and hangin’ out with those guys.
I’d hate to have dorks as friends.

BT:  So your friends are pretty important to you?

MF:  Oh yeah, for sure.  You don’t have friends, you don’t have nothing.

BT:  You guys have good weather, good waves, and get heaps of chicksS

MF:  I don’t know about heaps of chicks, butS

BT:  Is it just a dreamworld?

MF:  Yeah, it sort of is.  I go other places and there’s nowhere like home,
but I guess it’s like that for everyone.  There’s no place like home.

BT: So is "Get Busy" your motto?

MF:  No, it’s Wayne Seacom’s.   One of my friends.  He just kept sayin’ it.
Just grown on me.

BT: Can you give me a good "Get Busy" for the camera?  A good loud one?

MF:  No, I can’t. I’m sorry.

BT: It’ll be good way to start your sequence.

MF:  I’m scared

BT: You’re scared?

MF:  I’ll get in trouble

BT: For reals? No get busy?

MF:  Nah.

BT: C’mon

MF:  It’s all over

BT: C’mon, "Get Busy."

MF:  Nah, it’s all over

Tom Curren Interview

BT:  A common remark made of your session in Indonesia in which you rode a
5’7" fish in fifteen foot surf was "yeah, but imagine how he would have been
surfing on a real board."  In an activity so free as surfing why is
experimentation now looked upon with skepticism?

TC:  Um. Well.  I guess there’s certain laws, physical laws that exist, and
one of them is if you have a board with a tail that’s too wide, you’ll have
problems in the tube.  Because there’s too much width in the tail the board
actually goes back up the face and you can’t really ride as deep as a narrow
tail. So there are certain things that have to be considered, but there’s a
lot of times when a board like that is actually a lot more fun.  Probably
not in ten or so foot waves, more like little waves, little mushy waves.
It’s a lot of fun.

BT:  So was the board not the right for those waves?  It seemed like it was
a good thing because it was fresh and you were trying something that other
people weren’t trying at the time, they were just riding their standard guns
or shortboards, whatever they were supposed to be riding and you were kind
of trying something different.

TC:  Well, I guess I was just interested to see how you could ride a really
short board in pretty big waves. And I guess just around the same time or
maybe a little bit before I went on that trip, there were guys towing into
really big waves with really short, different equipment. You know, a little
bit heavier board, kind of a short, and twin fins were what they used in
some of the big waves on Maui.  So, I think it’s good to have a shorter
board in a way.  But usually in overhead surf you have to have a balance
between something you can paddle and something that you can turn. So that’s
where you have to compromise a little bit unless you’re towing in.  But I
think that design of a board was working well in way.  It seemed to go well
in facier waves and sometimes it was just nice to have that, you know a lot
of speed going under the board. I kind of like the idea of having less board
just so you don’t have to worry as much about getting hit by a big heavy
board.  But you know, there’s other guys riding really short boards in tow
in surfing, but those boards work a lot differently.

BT:  It seems that your experimentation in board design, whether riding Skip
Frye fishes, hybrids, or sawing up your Matt Moore’s, has led to a more
open-minded approach to the quiver.   Certainly there are more fishes in the
water. The masses today follow trends established by pro surfing and the
media.  Is there any way to counter the herd mentality on an individual
level, and generate more free thought in surfers?

TC:  Well, Gee.  I think it’s usually the case in surfing, that you have
different waves and different conditions, and for every slightly different
condition of the waves, then you have a different board that’s gonna be
better for it.  You know, in one-foot point surf there’s either a longboard
or a really wide kind of a fish or something.  Up to say bigger, overhead
surf.   It’s kind of subjective and also it’s good to be on something you
don’t have to work too hard at, you know, surfing.  A lot times in the
contest scene you have to kind of ride the same board as everyone else, it
may not be the funnest board but there’s a certain amount of work you have
to put into to doing a maneuver in a contest.  You can’t really do well in
the contests riding something that you’re just into riding because it’s fun.
You have to ride basically what everybody else is riding.

BT:  So all the surfers not on the pro tour see all the pro surfers riding
the same board because of it’s competitive advantage and then they don’t try
out new designs.  Do you think it’s normal that the masses of surfers would
just follow the example set by the contest surfers?

TC:  Well I don’t know, was out surfing the other day and the waves were
really small so it wasn’t really surfable on that type of board.  So I
noticed there were, you know, a couple guys on longboards and a couple other
guys who were riding these sort of used boards from the seventies. So I
think definitely when the waves are good enough, it’s good to have the
modern type board and there are a lot of advantages to the boards now that
the old boards don’t have. But at the same time, you have a lot of days when
you’re just going to be out there working really hard to do a turn.  And in
that case, it’s then it’s better to either go ride a longboard, or a morey
boogie, or anything that’s just something you don’t have to work so hard at.

 
BT: With Kelly Slater and consumer culture pushing surfing toward a
pervasive country club mentality, will we suffer from a lack of creative
changes and corporate mediocrity?



TC:  Well, uh.  I don’t know.  I don’t really look at it like that.  I think
there’s probably more diversity now than say, ten fifteen years ago.  There
is a problem though.   There’s like a mental block with the idea of coming
up with better materials.  The designs are going forward and there’s a lot
of different ideas.  A lot of guys on the tour ride completely different
equipment even though it may be the same over-all dimensions.  But I think
there’s a real block as far as using better materials.  And it’s a real
problem that after thirty or 35 plus years, they’re still using archaic
materials.  That’s something that there will be a break through in for sure.
The only thing I see is a kind of consumerism and conformity and all that.
People are not really willing or interested in trying new materials such as
epoxy, carbon fiber, different types of foam that are better.  So that’s
where the problem is.

BT:  In an era of rampant trash talking and narcissism in professional
sports, why did you use your podium as World Champion to express spiritual
yearnings and modest appraisals of other surfers?

TC:  Gee, I don’t know.  I guess people think that it’s the best thing just
to be able to go around the world and surf.  Which is really great and
everything, but I think it doesn’t make you a better person.  I’m just
reminded a lot that it’s a lucky thing to be able to travel and surf and
that doesn’t make me a better person, or something.

BT:  I was thinking of basketball and trash talking.  And even in the
seventies in surfing there seemed to be an emphasis on this "I’m the man!"
attitude.  Where as, when Martin Potter won the world championship in 989
you stated "Martin Potter is the best surfer in the world" when it could
have been argued that you were the best surfer in the world at the time.  It
seemed that you were always very modest and appreciative of the other
surfers’ talents.

TC:  Uh huh, yeah.  Whoa. Thanks. I was able to do well in contests, more
than a lot of guys, and I don’t always think it’s because I’m better.  It’s
just the thing, that  in contest surfing you do have to have a kind of focus
and a competitive thing.  But a lot of times the best guy on the day loses
and it’s just something you’re aware of when your traveling on the tour.  It
helps, I think, just because you don’t get discouraged if your digging
rails, or you’re not really happy with your equipment or whatever.  There’s
always other factors that doing well in the contest has, such as getting the
waves, getting rest and sleep, getting a good breakfast.

BT:  Are you at all concerned that your reluctance to fully participate in
the myth making machines of media and popular culture only increase the
myths surrounding you?

TC:  I don’t know. I have a really normal kind of life, just you know my
kids, my family, it’s really pretty normal.  There’s nothing to be really
too mystical about.  I make blunders, I do what I can, I get discouraged
sometimes.  I don’t know what else is there.  There’s nothing to glorify
there as far as me personally.
   
BT:  "When you are in the water you are a king.  On the land is where the
real slipping takes place" ­ Gerry Lopez.   Real surfing seems to involve a
duality.  You have been linked to drug use and devout religion and in your
clothing line I noted an interest in the tides.   Does your surfing life
involve an ebb and flow of creative and destructive tendencies?

TC:  Well um. No I never really thought of it like that.  We kinda got away
from that moon thing, we were aware that there’s a lot of abstract symbolism
that goes with it whether it’s eastern mysticism or something that has to do
with the moon, I don’t what, tides or anything like that.  I wanted to have
it like a "C," It’s "Curren." It’s our label. So we kind of came back from
that kind of representation.  But no we don’t want to conjure up too many
symbols of anything you know.  We got a label and it’s all about a product
now.  What ever it is we want to make a good product. It doesn’t matter what
it is.

BT:  And what about religion and drug use?  In a recent SURFER magazine
article, Stone Parker compared surfers to criminals and drug users citing
surfing’s stimulation of body chemicals.  Do you surf to fix something right
inside of you in the same way you would turn drugs or religion?  How do all
three fit into your life?

TC:  Well I think you can pretty messed up on drugs and I think you can get
messed up on surfing too.  But surfing is actually a very good thing, it’s
very healthy. It’s just that people get hung up with that totally dominating
their whole life in a way that actually is destructive too.   It can destroy
your family, just like drugs can.  It can destroy your marriage, surfing too
much.  I’m really grateful that I didn’t have to go through any heavy drug
period.  I have tried a few different drugs, but I’ve never had to account
for a lot of money spent, or this or that, luckily for me, but that doesn’t
mean that I wasn’t touched by that aspect.  I think a lot of people, just
about everybody, has some kind of experience there.  As far as now, I just
get up and try to go surfing once a day and keep the balance there.  I can’t
let surfing dominate me because then it will cause problems with my family.
While I am surfing a lot, there is balance.


BT:  Do you think your dad was obsessed with surfing?  If so how did it
affect you?

TC:  He wasn’t obsessed surfing, he may have been a little bit controlled by
the idea of finding some kind of paradise.  Which they did find in Hawaii.
Then he was drawn to Central America, and first it was California, but he’s
not controlled by that now.   It just may have been something, a place you
could just live off the land, fish and dive and surf and make boards.  I
wouldn’t call it an obsession, I’d just say that it was his inspiration.

BT:  How do you prioritize your life?

TC:  It depends on what kind of material type of priorities we have to deal
with.  I don’t really think of things categorically in the priorities sense,
except with out sort sounding too religious or whatever:  If it’s okay with
god then everything will work out.  And that’s about priorities. My Family.

BT:  So would you say family or surfing would come first in your life?

TC:  Surfing, it is very important to me, but my family is more important