New Board and Other Photos

     Been a while, but when there's no news, there's good news, as they say. The good news comes in twos, because A) there has been quite a lot of swell lately, and B)I finished this board, 012, a couple weeks ago, the night before it got really good one morning.

     This board, like Henry, is literally stronger than the storm. As my shop flooded during Sandy, the shaped blank for 012 took float and got a few good gouges, dings and dents, and took on a good amount of water . I let it sit for quite a while and almost abandoned it entirely before I looked at it one day and figured I'd better finish it. So I did....

....And I'm loving it. The low rocker, the big twin keels, the flat bottom to V out the back all translate into fast fast fast. It holds a high line on steep speedy barreling waves, but it also maintains a lot of speed in mushy flats to connect to inside sections such as those the south end has been exhibiting at certain tides lately.  And it goes backside pretty nicely too!

 Here's the only picture of it in action so far. See, I love it so much it makes me dance!

 Beautiful lugs on a classic Carlton. Not mine, unfortunately.

 Indiana's geese are NOT to be crosssed!

So Far To Go....

It's so satisfying when you start glassing a board. A lot of of the final look of the board manifests all at once, like the color and logos, and it starts to gain weight closer to what the finished product will be. If I really wanted to surf a shape before, I really really start wanting to surf it after the glassing process has begun.

Especially after the hotcoat, which might be my favorite part of the glassing process, because it takes 10 minutes at most and it leaves the board glossy and looking somewhat like it will after the board is finished, although there is really so much more to do. SFs 012 and 013, post-hotcoat, waiting for sanding, then pinlines, some more sanding, then leash plugs and fin boxes, then some more sanding, then gloss coat, then some more sanding, then polishing....

 This wonderful autumnal air has got me in the mood for some pumpkin ales. Not pictured: Harpoon UFO Pumpkin, which was pretty good as well. I probably wouldn't get the Terrapin again, but I might. It wasn't terrible, but there are so many available I like better. The Fegley's Brewworks Devious Imperial Pumpkin was tasty, but of course, the Southern Tier Pumking lives up to its nomenclature once again, and reigns king of all pumpkin ales for the nth year running.

I saw this glowing radioactive spider in my yard, and decided to let it bite me. FACT: When I was young, I wanted to be Spiderman when I grew up. Can't say I've lived up to that childhood dream, but I did set the bar high, I guess.

 

 Sanding some keels on 013

I've been in Smashing Pumpkins mood lately. Two from Saimese Dream.

Guaranteed to Have the Time of your Life!

     This board survived the Great Storm, literally. When my shop flooded I ran out to find it floating around on the in a foot of water. It was a board I shaped a while ago, didn't like how the rails came out, left it half forgotten and abandoned leaning against the wall of the shop, then, after sitting on the blank rack covered in dust and cobwebs, and on its way to mouldering like John Brown's Body, after I finished what will be SF012 (I think), I decided to allow more than this board's soul to go marching on, and fix the rails and finish it. I'm excited to surf it, as it will be quite a bit lighter than the garbology experiment that was SF007, which measures 5'2 or something and weighs as much as some longboards.

Stack o' keels waiting to be foiled...

 ...and a pair that has been glassed and ready for a trim. I've realized I need to be in the right mood to go out and foil fins. I tried a couple when I just wasn't feeling it, and they came out awful (not saying the fins above are perfect, but you should've seen the previous attempts).

 This one's for all my librarian friends!

      Scalloped Early White Summer Squash from the garden. Last yeah, this variety of summer squash all developed blossom end rot and I didn't get one strange fruit at all, while the other squashes and zucchinis did well. This year, while the others are still doing well, the Scalloped White bush grew like gangbusters, and has really been producing. I think this is the fifth one that we'll get so far, and it shows no sign of stopping. The only foreseeable thing that could happen is the dreaded Squash Vine Borer, which has already taken a toll on one of the other plants

This Blog Isn't the Only Strange Flora I've Resurrected

Well, it seemed to me that waiting around for some kind of divine inspiration wasn't doing the trick, so on Friday I made myself go out and shape the fish pictured above. It felt really good to get out there, break out the ol' Skil 100 and get covered in foam again. And the AC in the shop definitely helped with the "feeling good" part. The board came out not bad, just needs some fine tuning, then for me to make a set of keels for it, then it'll be ready to glass.

Here's a sneak peak at my new film called Henry Beats the Heat. It will be a full shot done in one long take of my dog, wearing a woman's gardening hat, lying on the grass in 90 degree sunshine, panting. It will be a hit among the art cinema crowd. It'll be five minutes long, but shot on my one roll of Super 8 film I have lying around. "It can't be done!" you are probably shouting. "Five minutes on one Super 8 roll?! IMPOSSIBLE!" Well, that will be the secret to the film's success. It'll be like a loaves and fishes thing.

OK, I'll shut up now. Time to go get sushi anyway.

Bardo Pond, "A Tune," off of the collection Batholith. I really enjoy shaping boards to music like this, at least I did on Friday. It really allows my mind to focus on what I'm doing and I find everything, the tools, the blank, the music, and me, flows together. It's a really nice feeling.