Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?

     First of all, Merry Christmas! I got caught up in ye olde hustle and bustle of the Holiday season, and never got to do a Christmas post, which I had big plans for, and I never got to do a Monday-After-Christmas-Snowstorm-Swell post, for reasons I can't explain. But now I have a new reason to post: the completion of 007, right on schedule!

     By now everyone probably knows we got a lot of snow (except my neighbor, who is an older gentleman who owns the house a vacation home, and came down today. He asked Jeannine if she knew anyone who could shovel, and seemed surprised that he couldn't get in the driveway. By the way, he's from NY, and I think they got snow there, too.). I made sure to dig out what I could late at night on Sunday, so I could get out Monday morning. I was well on my way to the Island when I heard that a "State of Emergency" had been declared the night before, and one should only take to the roads out of necessity. Well, necessity is in the eye of the beholder, and my eye beheld this as I pulled up to the break:

    Yes, I'd say it was a necessity to be on the road. Waste to chest high fast and hollow lefts breaking down at the South End, which was probably the only place to surf that had parking, because no side streets were plowed.

     Walked around to take some photos before going out. The South End is beautiful this time of the year, especially with no one around and snow on the ground.

     The wind was blowing 30-45 mph offshore, the air was barely in the 20s, and the water was in the mid-to-lower 40s.Not the coldest it'll be all winter, but cold nonetheless. I was able to stay in the water for 2 1/2 hours before my feet started to get cold, which is a testament for to XCEL, even if I haven't had the best of luck with the durability of their stuff.

     This picture came out blurry, unfortunately, but I decided to put it up here anyway because I love the shape of the wave. Just perfect.

Ding-Dong!

    And in other news, 007 - the garbology mini-Simmons I've been working on - is complete, and right in time for my goal to finish it in 2010. 5'2" x 21 7/8 x 2 7/8 - I think this board will be fast and fun, especially on lined-up lefts (frontside for me).

     That being said, I will never EVER build a board like this again. Not the shape, mind you, but the method of piecing together the blank out of garbage/found pieces of foam. It was resourceful and interesting and I learned a good deal throughout the process, but the most important thing I've learned is never to do this again. The result of building a board like this was a board that is way heavier than it should be, but at least it took longer than it should have, too.

     That also being said, this board is dedicated to the memory of my Grandfather, a Master Garbologist who
helped to instill a fervor for thrift in me. And, yes, he also had a way of, even while utilizing incredible ingenuity and frugality, doing some things in a completely overcomplicated and time-consuming way, much as I've done with this board. He also had a penchant for labeling things with a DYMO labeler, so made the "Strange Flora Surfboards" on this lam from labels from his labeler.

     I made these fins for the board. I think they came out to about 9 1/2" long at the base and probably 3/8" thick, maybe a little more. I finished them off with some spraypaint, which was wonderfully simple after all the complications throughout the construction of this board.

     I left a sanded finish on the board - 320 grit on the bottom and 400 on top - sanded in the direction of water flow. I first read about a sanded finish of this type being faster than gloss on Greg Liddle's site, and have since read more about it on Swaylocks. I decided to do it on the bottom on this board, and was thinking of going gloss on the deck, but in the end, I liked the matte finish of this color, and, more importantly, I discovered I was out of 600 grit sandpaper. So that settled it.

     What lies beyond this beach-access of time that will take us from the parking lot of 2010 to the surf of 2011? That's stupid, but only time can tell. GOODBYE!

Who laughs this way? Ho Ho Ho!

       Well, Christmas is almost here, and we've had some fun waves the past couple of days, with a good next few days to look forward to. Surfed WJ and Sunken Rocks for two hours today, and got lucky enough to have it all to myself while six longboarders crowded around Beach One. I had a chance to get reacquainted with an old friend: SF 003, the hull I made. These waves proved to be perfect for getting used to the board again: not too big, but lined up nice and with some speed to them. I had a blast. On one of my best rides, as I coasted over the disappearing shoulder, I looked and saw the last blip of the sun before it set for the day.

    Sunset sessions on smallish south end surf in the wintertime are always very peaceful. I wish the moon would've risen earlier, I probably would have kept right on surfing into the night.

And All the Bells on Earth Shall Ring!

     If I were to go to school again, it might be to study the origins and evolution of Christmas carols over time, and maybe Christmas traditions in general. Probably not, but it is pretty interesting. From wikipedia:

"I Saw Three Ships (Come Sailing In)" is a traditional and popular Christmas carol from England. A variant of its parent tune "Greensleeves", the earliest printed version of "I Saw Three Ships" is from the 17th century, possibly Derbyshire, and was also published by William B. Sandys in 1833.^[1][2] The lyrics mention the ships sailing into Bethlehem, but the nearest body of water is the Dead Sea about 20 miles away. The reference to three ships is thought to originate in the three ships that bore the purported relics of the Biblical magi to Cologne Cathedral in the 12th century.


Here's the Sufjan Stevens version, and if there's a better rendition out there I'd like to hear it. 

He sees you when you're sleeping...

 

Grog!

     Not much to post about. Surfed today in Bradley Beach, it was really fun and had one of the best backside tubes of my life I think. Got 007 all glassed on Saturday, mostly sanded on Sunday. Looks like it'll be a fast board. I hate waiting to find out!

British Vice Admiral Edward "Old Grog" Vernon

      If you find yourself reading "A Christmas Carol," which you should, this year, and if, like me, you are particularly keen on seasonal culinary things, especially if they are things from a bygone time, such as the Victorian era, then you will find yourself really wanting to eat and drink all the things that are at all the feasts in the book. The plum pudding (not made with plums, but raisins) will intrigue you, because how could a pudding be hard, and why was it set on fire? The goose will probably make your mouth water, partly because of the excitement surrounding it and partly because, if your like me, you've never had a goose, as it was supplanted as the bird of choice for holiday meals in this country long before I was born. But one thing got me good: the Grog that gets passed around in front of a blazing fireplace. If the idea of hot alcoholic drinks in front of a fire doesn't make you feel incredibly happy, then please hibernate until after Christmas, you're not wanted (JUST KIDDING IT'S CHRISTMAS EVERYONE'S WELCOME). 

     But what is Grog? According to all-knowing wikipedia, it was introduced to the British Navy in 1740 by the gentleman above, Admiral Edward Vernon. For 230 years it was issued to seamen at noon and after work. That's quite a run. Originally Grog was a water and rum mixture (4:1) but since its incarnation it has undergone some changes. When I made it for the first time last night, I used the Joy of Cooking recipe, which is as follows:

In an 8 oz. mug, stir together:

     1 teaspoon Sugar Syrup or Maple Syrup (I used Maple)

     1 tablespoon strained lemon juice 

     1 jigger (1.5 oz) dark rum (I used The Kraken black spiced rum, which is my new favorite rum)

Fill mug with:

     Very hot tea or water (I used tea)

Garnish with a twist of:

     Lemon peel

Dust top with a little:

     Ground nutmeg or cinnamon

     So I did this, and it was delicious. Jeannine opted for no tea, and she didn't like it as much. If you look online, of course, there are many recipes, some of which include lime juice instead of lemon, brown sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves, etc. I made it tonight with lime juice, a bit more rum, and chai tea. I have to say, I prefer the one from Joy of Cooking. Thanks Irma Rombauer!

   

Technical Difficulties

     Apologies for the technical difficulties with the previous posts. For some reason on my computer, I can't see certain images on blogger, both on my site and others. And when I go to post, sometimes the image I add doesn't show up. I thought these images were just lost, but for some reason they were there, but didn't shrink down. So that's what happened. I found out when I was showing my Mom how to use the internet and showed her this blog, and discovered the disaster. If anyone knows what is wrong with my blogger interface, please let me know.

     Rain day on Wednesday, so I worked on the board a while. Attached some more foam to fill in areas that needed it. The shaping is almost finished, and the "blank" has foam from five (5) different sources at this point. Also layed up the fin panel, above, to make the keels out of. I'm not going to make the "traditional" Mini-Simmons "half-moon" keels, and I'm not going to make traditional keels, like the Gepharts that are on my fish, but I'm going to make keels that are more rounded over, like a lot of the mini-Simmons boards are getting. I figure in the future I might make the half-moon keels, just to see how they feel.

     After blowing over 30 from the South all day long, the storm blew through around 3:00 PM and the wind switched hard West, so Frank and I headed over. It was big, definitely overhead, but mostly closeouts. Still, I saw some that were rideable. Frank didn't, he had the sense to stay on shore. So at around 3:45 I paddled out and Frank stuck around to take pictures and make sure I didn't get trounced (too badly).

     I had my 5'7" Quad, and knew once I was out that I was under-boarded. I would've liked my 6'0 Cannibal to be able to get into the waves a little earlier, because I just couldn't get into them in time to make the sections.

     The drift was unbelievable and soon, after a couple of good wipeouts and being caught inside for a massive five-wave set, I was in a section where none of the waves were makeable, just big walls of water. Didn't get a ride before it got dark, which bummed me because I can't remember the last time I got no waves during a session. Still, pretty amazing sky with the storm blowing out to sea and the clouds looking like a time-lapse film. Worth it? I think so...

     Oh yeah! Also, Jeannine and I got engaged during that gap of time when I didn't post much. That's her finger with the ring on it, not mine. Now the planning, which everyone claims is hard but I think is probably pretty. We'll see.


     Well, it's December, which means it's the Christmas season. Which means, it's the Christmas music season. I love Christmas music, and you should too. So, it's kind of ironic that the first Christmas song of the season I post isn't technically a Christmas song, although it is found on Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, which, it could be argued, is the best Christmas album. I don't make top 10 lists or anything, but it would definitely be in my top 10. Anyway, this song, Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans' "The Bells of St. Mary," is the third track on said album. Enjoy it, because you really can't help but do so. Expect more from this album throughout the Holiday season.

Listen to Queen

     Been working on 007 a bit. Took a little bit of time to glue up this blank, as the foam so far has come from no less than four (4) different sources. The finished blank is above, with the outline drawn...

...and cut out. It's going to be a 5'2" x 21 3/4" x 3" (tentatively) mini-simmons. Initially I was going to make a short egg type thing, with a single-fin box and a Probox quad setup, but I after I realized I had enough foam I decided to do a mini-simmons. I've been wanted to do one since I started shaping, and there's no time like the present. I think I'm just going to go with a twin-fin setup at first, way back about 1 1/2 off of the tail or so, then maybe try a quad. Everyone of these I see has the fins way back, so I figure I'll start there.

     I'm no professional, but I don't recommend using nails to fix your surfboard, as it seems the person who owned this board prior to me did. Very odd.

If I were to tell you should not only listen to Queen very often, but also take them absolutely seriously, you might scoff. You might picture a very flamboyant Freddie Mercury, clad in an interesting white spandex outfit, jumping around he stage singing one of Queen's overplayed radio hits, and you might laugh. But if you do, I say you're the fool and have never heard Queen, Queen II, and Sheer Heart Attack. The only song you might recognize from these first three albums is "Killer Queen," the second track on the third album. You might not be familiar with the blistering Queen II album closer, "Seven Seas of Rhye," in the above video, or the beautiful "Nevermore," below, or the opener to Sheer Heart Attack, "Brighton Rock," also below. Please listen to these first three albums, straight through each one. You won't regret it.

  

Happy Thanksgiving!

The morning of Oct. 22, 2010

     Well, it's been a while, but I've been busy with a few things. First of all, I finished Frank's board, SF 006, a little over a month ago. It came out out pretty nice, Frank's comics ended up looking really good on there, that is before they got covered by his filthy wax. He also likes how the board rides, which is a matter of peripherality, but cool none the less. Here are some pictures:

Before...

...and after!

From RastaFish to Fangfish. This was a pretty interesting project,  and not only because I was excited about the shape we were doing for the board, which is 5'4" x 19 5/8" x 2 5/16" (or something like that) with a relaxed rocker (it did come from a fish) and a fairly full foil throughout, and a single wing thing going into those fangs at the tail. The cool thing about this was that this was Frank's first board when he started surfing seriously again within the past number of years, and so it suited him fine then, but as his skills progressed he left the board behind. Now, through the magic of evolution, the board has transmogrified into a shape that matches his current skill lever. Will the wonders of Nature never cease? No, they won't.

     So after Frank's board, I glassed a board for a friend of a friend. Now, with that completed, I've started on SF 007, a garbology project in that all the foam has come from the garbage. The main body is from a stripped longboard blank that I found in someone's garbage on Clay St. in Tuckerton, as reported here. I'm using rail cutoffs, which I think came from 004, to fill out the width, and part of a broken Boneyard surfboard I found in the trash on 25th St. in Surf City sometime during the summer of '09 to fill out the nose. I think I'm going to get something like 5'2" or so out of it. Maybe shorter.

Something very gnarly was done to this tail around the fin. While grinding this off, I found chopped strand mat, bondo, some strange black cloth, brown all purpose resin, and even some metal pins.

Gluing and fastening these rails was pretty fun. I felt like, and imagine it looked like, a person wrestling an alligator.

       Well, I started this post this morning, and am finishing it post-Thanksgiving Dinner. Jeannine and I hosted a decent crowd of 12 and have way too many leftovers. It was a lot of fun and a good time, and I really didn't get too full. Surf's up tomorrow, hopefully.


     Since today is Thanksgiving, I wanted to post Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant," but since I couldn't find a satisfactory version online, and since dropio has discontinued their streaming audio service, I didn't. You should still listen to it though, as it is a classic. Instead, I decided to post almost the complete opposite. Here is Bardo Pond, with the first track off of their album Ticket Crystals, "Destroying Angel." Really a great song, and you should check out that album for an amazing version of "Cry Baby Cry," by some band called the Beatles.

XC

 Sonnet #90

Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now;
Now, while the world is bent my deeds to cross,
Join with the spite of fortune, make me bow,
And do not drop in for an after-loss:
Ah, do not, when my heart hath 'scoped this sorrow,
Come in the rearward of a conquer'd woe;
Give not a windy night a rainy morrow,
To linger out a purposed overthrow.
If thou wilt leave me, do not leave me last,
When other petty griefs have done their spite
But in the onset come; so shall I taste
At first the very worst of fortune's might,
And other strains of woe, which now seem woe,
Compared with loss of thee will not seem so.

- W. Shakespeare

One Less Great Man In The World

     My Grandfather, Otto Hansen, August 12, 1919 - October 22, 2010. At 91 Years Old, still smarter and stronger than many people 1/3 his age. He was and will always continue to be a profound influence on my life. Garbologist, Inventor, Carpenter, Sailor, Patternmaker, Artist, Carver, Hunter, Fisher, Soldier, Son, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather. The most frugal person I have ever known. He would say cheap. Also the most generous. The endless things he gave me (and many others besides) extend far beyond the material realm. My heart breaks to think of him gone. I will miss him until I the end of my days.

Oh, Henry.

      Haven't posted in a while, and what it really comes down to is I just haven't felt like it. I know, letting down my fans and all that, but oh well. I started to post a bit ago, which original post is the title and the musical content stem from, but I just didn't finish it and let it go. I've been a little busy with the little guy above, Henry, who joined our household last Saturday. I was wondering why I've been kind of tired lately, and then I realized I've been walking about 4-5 more miles a day than I usually do, because this guy is pretty energetic. He's really fun though, and very nice, and we feel like we got pretty lucky. Of course, he is getting more comfortable, and you never know what ol' Henry will do next....

     After I finished Science Fiction in the Gaslight Era, the collection of science fiction stories written between 1891 and 1911, I picked up a recent find from the thrift store, which was The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, a Sherlock Holmes story from 1974 obviously written by Arthur Conan Doyle, but by Nicholas Meyer in the style of the Sherlock Holmes tales. The basic premise of the book was that Watson, seeing his friend Holmes in the absolute depths of a serious cocaine addiction, delirious and paranoid, decides to trick him into going to Vienna, so that the world's leading cocaine expert, none other than Sigmund Freud, could cure him. While there Holmes not only battles his own demons, but, of course, stumbles upon a case that needed solving. So anyway, after reading that book, I realized it had been a very long while since I had read any Sherlock Holmes at all, so I grabbed the Complete Sherlock Holmes and started reading. I have been enthralled ever since. All I can say is if you haven't read any Sherlock Holmes recently, start with A Study in Scarlet, and go on chronologically from there, as each story usually refers, if only in some small way, to the previous cases. You're mind will thank you.

    And oh yeah, this is a blog about surfboards, right? So here's one. Frank's board, 006, shaped from his rasta fish that I skinned. It's been a while, but I finally got to glass it, doing the bottom lam on Friday and the top lam, along with all the comic covers, and both hotcoats on Saturday. Everything went pretty smoothly. The comic covers, which are Grave Yard Atlantic covers drawn by Frank, each depicting some kind of ghoulish local lore, real or make-believe, in Technicolor. They're pretty cool, and was a real challenge to do, as I've never done so many lams on a board. I'm happy with the result. This one is my favorite.

     Yeah, pretty cool, right? They all are. I'm excited to see how this board works, I think it'll fly. It'll be done by the next swell, that's for sure, so stay tuned!

     And now, for the music. A week or two ago, when I originally started this post, some Purple Martins Migration Pattern songs were floating around Facebook, so I went searching in the archives to see what PMMP songs I had lying around, and these are some of the things that I found.

WARNING: These tracks are of varying degrees of sound quality. Most were recorded live for reference purposes only. Proceed at your own risk.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN!

     The Purple Martins were originally John on vocals and shakers and tambourine and some keys, Nick on guitar, Lou on Bass, Matt on drums, and finally me, on guitar as well. We started out in John and Lou's garage, and went on to play such venerated venues as the Moontower II, the Lower Banks Tavern, a gazebo in Smithville, and a basement in LEH. It was fun, and listening to these songs always makes me want to play again.

If I Had A Hammer - That's right, the folk classic, written by Pete Seeger and made famous by Peter, Paul, and Mary was the first song we learned to play as a band.

Byzantine Ecstasy - Our "Echoes," if you will.

Lakes and Fields - A crowd-pleaser, every time.

Untitled Jam - Some kids fooling around.

Migration Music No. 1 - While this never became an official song, this was a demo I recorded of a song for consideration. I forgot about it until I found it just now, and I like it, so here it is.

Have I The Right?

1964 million-selling hit from British group the Honeycombs. The primal growls during the choruses and the suave sauntering of the singer are great. Another notable feature: a female drummer, who has the excellent name of Honey Lantree. Sounds made up. Oh wait, it is.

Some Joker in VB...

 And I quote:

"The waves weren't so hot as Caleb Kauchak and his friends paddled out off Sandbridge on Friday. So the 18-year-old decided to goad Poseidon, the sea god in Greek mythology, into sending some better surf.

'Smite me, oh mighty Poseidon!' he shouted.

The response he got wasn't the one he was expecting. As he stood in chest-deep water next to his surfboard, Kauchak felt a searing pain as something took a bite out of his ankle. He jumped onto his board and felt another wave of pain as the creature clamped down on his knee, he said."

Well, Caleb, I guess that will teach you to take the great Greek myths so lightly.


     While I was working outside today doing a major overhaul on the interior of the shop (it and I had reached a critical mass with the disorganization around the place, and I probably would have had a breakdown if I didn't do something, quick, so I did) I heard some clowns walking down the street singing something. As they passed I realized that something was familiar, then I realized that something was Weezer. The song they were singing wasn't the song above, which is "Only In Dreams," the 10th track from their 1994 debut album, but "Say It Ain't So," the seventh track from the same album. After I realized what they were singing, I also realized that, oddly enough, I hadn't listened to Weezer in a long, long time. So here they are, so you can listen too. 

When in doubt...

     So, maybe it's true that the last big swell wasn't nearly as good as the prior. Plenty of big waves, plenty of big wipeouts, and the when a wave was made, it was really good. The sad fact is that falling in love with a sandy-bottom beach-break is bittersweet, and while we enjoyed the sweetness of the surf at Sandal and Wounded Gull a few weeks ago, now the early morning view is tinged is tinged with bitterness. Where once were perfect, empty, hollow barreling lines there are now sand-sucking closeouts. More sand has washed down from HC and really ruined the place, and to drive the point home, Frank witnessed the actual Wounded Gull, after a period of time with nary a sighting, battling a bigger, stronger gull for a dead bird. The outcome? Wounded Gull lost! O! But the bitterness is made a little easier to stomach by the spectacular sunrises, which, it turns out, are not influenced in the least by shifting sandbars and seagull battles on the beach. Thank God.

    Been working a little on Frank's board, figured on art layout and stuff like that, but have been a little busy preparing for a new addition to the Erricozia household: Henry, pictured above. He is a White German Shepherd/Husky mix and will be ours on October 2nd. He was at a "high-kill" shelter (I know, never realized the term existed, and it is terrifying) in South Carolina, and is on his way up here. A Southern gentleman? I think those eyes say it all.

    And on the music front, the hardworking prog-psych-stoner-rock-free-form-jazz-explosion Brooklyn-based trio La Otracina has just released another album, Reality Has Got To Die, a double-LP mind-bender from everyone's favorite psych/strange/interesting music label Holy Mountain. The album definitely leans towards the harder side of psych-rock, part of which is due to drummer Adam Kriney's vocals, which fit the part to a "T", as they say. The band has been leaning towards more definite song structures as of late, but there are still the free-form psych-aural exploratory jams that everyone who is a fan of the band have come to love. Just take the title track for example. When I checked the album out, and saw that it was 19 + minutes long, I knew it would be good, if you're into that sort of thing, which I am. For your consideration, two tracks from the album.

Click here to hear.

01 - Hail Fire
06 - We Ride On (Maybe my favorite on the album, although I admit I have only given it one serious straight-through listening so far)

   Without a doubt, the best advice I have ever received from a fortune cookie.