004 Completed!

     Well, I just finished SF 004 about 20 minutes ago. Actually, that's kind of false, I still have to grind little notches in the fins to serve as landings for the screws to push against, but 1 AM is kind of late for that kind of noise. Otherwise, it's done.

     It was nice not doing a gloss this time. It saved a lot of work, a lot of weight, and not to mention I think a shortboard sometimes just feels nicer with a sanded hotcoat finish instead of a gloss. I sanded it down to 320. I was going to go further, but then I didn't.

     I'm really excited to try this board out and see how it goes. I think it will catch waves really well and ride them even better. I'm really siked about that wide tail, and the adjustable fins.

      And speaking of the fins, here they are. I'm really pleased with how they came out, even if they did take forever. They could have been better, but of course the whole board could have been better, but I'm satisfied. Well, maybe I speak too soon, I haven't ridden it yet....
     Bu yeah, so it's late, and I'm off to bed. Hopefully we'll be getting some swell this weekend, it looks like Saturday might be good. Can't wait to try the board out. Next up on the build list is Mark's board, and fortunately I just got the five gallons of resin and 25 yards of cloth I ordered today, so the sky's the limit (acually, time is the limit). Alright, goodnight.

Some Fins

 

     Glassed some fins last night and hotcoated one side, the other side still has to be hotcoated. I also glassed the flats of the two rear quad fins for the 002 experiment, but they still have to be cut out and foiled. I'm not sure how these fins will hold up because they are made of plywood. I mean, plywood is pretty strong when it comes down to it, and these have two layers of 6 oz. on each side, but still. I'm not so concerned with the Spitfire type fin, because that's the full 9-ply, but with the Future Hatchet fin I had to sand it down to about 5-ply, which should still be good. I'm wondering about the attachment points of the Hatchet because it gets so thin there, and there is a lot of force on those points, but I cut the notches bigger than they needed to be, and I'm going to fill it in solid with resin and little bits of glass, that way it's something stronger than plywood that the screw is pushing against and the bar of the box fits into. It's funny, after I started making the Hatchet fin, a set of Future Scimitar fins with the 450 Hatchet were posted to Craigslist, brand new, for $30 bucks. Still, these plywood fins are cheap to make. The 24" x 30" piece of marine ply I am using cost $11.99, and I think I can probably get at least 30 fins out of one panel, so that's about 40 cents a fin. The cloth I used for these are all scraps, and I think I've used less than five ounces of resin so far. So they're real cheap. A little more time consuming than going out and buying them, but it's fun and I feel like I learn a lot by making them. When you handle something and sand down all the curves, it kind of gives you a sense of how the water will flow over the surface. Trying to envision that as I make it kind of gives me a better understanding of the way all this stuff works. Not to mention, with the Probox finboxes I plan on using on my next board, I can make all three fins, since all the bases are straight (unlike Futures, which have the cant built into the fins), so then I'll be having even more fun. Did I mention it's cheaper too?

     

     In other (and pretty huge) news, this large shed will probably be the future home of  Strange Flora surfboards. Stay tuned for more details. 

     I was listening to the radio while glassing this stuff last night at around 3 AM, and my buddy Alice Cooper told me he was about to play a song so deep from the archives that I wouldn't believe I was hearing it on the radio. "Try me, Alice," I thought. Then, after he told me that he used to live off the song he was about to play, he introduced it: "Astronomy Domine," the 1st track from Pink Floyd's 1967 debut LP The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Now, if your familiar with me or this blog, then you know that I kind of love Pink Floyd. Sometimes their first album is my absolute favorite of theirs, and without a doubt this early time in the life of the band is my favorite. Their live experimentation was phenomenal in the years leading up to Dark Side of the Moon. Don't get me wrong, I love Dark Side..., but live during that time they'd play pretty much the same sets, the album through followed by a couple older gems, which is understandable because it's an amazing album that should be heard straight through every time and they were touring to support it. But early on in their career, their live shows were like a blank canvas that they spattered with songs, noises, and sound effects blended to perfection. Some of the bootlegs I have are really amazing, you can just get lost in them.  

     Yeah, so this video is from probably '67 or '68, and starts off with "Astronomy Domine," followed by "Flaming" and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun." While there's not that much experimentation here based on the fact that the songs are pretty similar to the album versions, it's cool to see them make the music live that they achieved in the studio. Enjoy.

Fearless

"Fearless," the third track off of Pink Floyd's 1971 pre-Dark Side masterpiece Meddle. The last track of said album, "Echoes," was used as the soundtrack to a short film, also called Echoes, which was shot and edited by George Greenough in 1973. It consists entirely of in-the-tube and in-the-wave shots, which Greenough was an early pioneer of. The film was put on the end of David Elficks's 1973 film Crystal Voyager, which is an amazing surf film that chronicles Greenough building a 37-foot sailboat and then sailing it around California, surfing uncrowded breaks. The film also has scenes of Greenough kneeboarding and his buddy Nat Young surfing, among others. I have it in .avi format if anyone wants it, I think it's tough to find on VHS or DVD. Here is the film Echoes, in three parts (due to YouTube's size limit).







The word is that Pink Floyd made a deal with Greenough allowing him to use the song for his film if they could use the film as a backdrop during live performances of the song. Amazing.