Something you might want to watch...

Empowered greedhead profiteering, total batshit insanity, and EBM says what I'm thinking...

For those with a bit too much time on their hands, you might want to check out the Lockdown Surf Film Festival which is streaming this year's films.

Listening to a particularly good Beach Boys cover

So it goes...

some Saturday Mini-Simmons fun & frolic...

A quick visit to upside-down land, some sense being made, and in the protect and serve steal department...


homemade - mini simmons from Tom Woods on Vimeo.

Listening to the Volunteers

So it goes...

Some Sunday surf and Alaia shaping goodness...

On not losing touch with what's right, some needful situational awareness, and sometimes you just need to sing a song...



Listening to Mike Zito & the Wheel

So it goes...

in the a "lot more sustainable" department

A needful voice in the mix, just ripples in a pond, and a question we should all be asking...

Maybe boatbuilders should pay attention...


SURFBOARDS FOR A SHARED PLANET from erik derman on Vimeo.

Listening to Zella Day

So it goes...

In aid of less tyro glasswork...

Nope no global warming/climate change anywhere on the third rock, about that state sanctioned murder thang, and yet another reason I don't read Facebook...

Fiberglass Hawaii has an excellent glassing tutorial and profile of Jack Reeves that is well worth watching. Here's part 1...



There's more on their Composite Corner blog and whether you're glassing a surfboard, dinghy, or a full on cruising boat the skills are pretty much the same...

Listening to some Tears for Fears covers

So it goes...

Now, here's a thought...

Kinda creepy, yet another good reason (of many) to not visit SeaWorld, and when Dick Dorworth writes something I pay attention...

It occurs to me that someone should really do a cruising guide for Peru.



Ya think?

Listening to some John Hiatt covers

So it goes...

a sorta/kinda day off...

Looking towards the future (serfdom edition), sense being made, and not exactly the sort of introduction to the democratic process they deserved...

So, instead of writing a post today I watched this.


COUNTERCULTURE_THE FILM from CYAN on Vimeo.

Listening to Kathryn Williams

So it goes...

Something worth watching...

Not exactly surprising this idiocy is happening in Florida, it might be time to reconsider the needfullness of a watermaker aboard and is this just might be the future of marine toilets...

A series to keep an eye out for.


The Craftsman Project - 001/Brent Ferris from Russell Brownley on Vimeo.

Listening to the Bad Shepherds

So it goes...

Because there's surf just about everywhere we go...

Seriously, this is kind of scary, then again so is this, and six scenarios that tell a story...

Some mini Simmons goodness to think about...


Mini Simmons by Kent Senatore from adam funari on Vimeo.

Listening to Ages and Ages

So it goes...

a piece of the puzzle...

This is kinda neat, a cool car, and about that Mark Twain sailing quote that everybody uses that Mr Twain never ever said...

I spend a lot of time thinking about surfboards and wondering why designers of boats (or folks who sail boats) don't pay a hell of a lot of attention to the body of knowledge that is just sitting there looking lonely.

One nice thing about surfboards is that it's easy to try stuff without a huge investment in materials and labor. Since it's cheap and easy to try stuff, people tend to do just that and, as a result, designs evolve a whole lot faster.


Shaping Taïpan from Pablo Ballester on Vimeo.

Which brings me around to the work of Bob Simmons whose design sense calls out in a very big way to someone who thinks sharpies are a better than good thing...

Listening to Jesse & Joy

So it goes...

We need more stuff like this...

Really scary, apparently people not living on boats in far flung places have problems, and just banks behaving badly...

Good people doing good things


The Sunnydale Kids from Ripple Effect on Vimeo.

Listening to J.J. Cale (Sadly no longer with us)

So it goes...

Not just another day on a planet with finite resources...

I suppose this sort of study might begin to explain the whole sailboat/motorboat animus, in the not soon enough department, and why checking the math is so important...

Hey, it's Earth Day!




Need I say more?

Listening to Jill Andrew

So it goes...

The shape is the thing...

A bit of holiday cheer from the 99% choir, where's the climate leadership, and a cool way to get to the store...

So, we were talking about sharpies and sharpie questions, were we not? As it happens, the second most asked question about the sharpie experience is "why would anyone want such an inefficient hull form?"

Well... Is it really?

Rodger Martin mentioned recently in an email to me about his "Presto!" sharpie...

"We’ve done 13.5 knots in Presto! and hull # 2, Thorfinn,  has done 15 during the Fort Lauderdale to Key West race earlier this year."

Hmm... Doesn't exactly sound like an inefficient hull form does it?

Here's a question... When did you last see a round bottomed surfboard?

As someone who started surfing as a kid it just seems natural to me that a surfboard is a very efficient hull form. If you want to go fast the less shape in the water the better. Take a look at what a modern surfboard hull form by Hydrodynamica looks like...

Listening to Blackie & The Rodeo Kings

Have a great New Year!

So it goes...

A scowish surf aspect...

LAPD vies with NYPD in the hearts and minds sweepstakes, confessions of a child janitor, and since we were speaking of hearts and minds, a little something to leaven the holiday season...

I've always felt that the Mini-Simmons surfboard was, just maybe, the perfect board for a cruising sailor...

A board way ahead of it's time in the 50's and currently having something of a well deserved comeback. It seems there are Mini-Simmons boards everywhere these days...

It has not escaped my notice that the Simmons boards have a certain "scowish" aspect and just today one of my favorite surf sites, Hydrodynamica, did a post with an evolved Simmons called the Golden Mean Machine...

Sure looks like a scow to me...

Listening to R.E.M.

So it goes...

Stoked...

One of my favorite authors comes up with an excellent idea and offer, so much for free speech on campus 大象爆炸式的拉肚子, and the cure for a broken heart...

All day yesterday I kept thinking about shaping a mini-Simmons...


Sublime Experience from Flama Surf on Vimeo.

Listening to John Hiatt

So it goes...

Those "H" things, guitars and surfboards...

Hey, did you read this story? Life is just too scary when you can't even go out and buy some chicken necks without things going into meltdown mode.

I distinctly remember planning to be in the south of France sipping a Pastis when the next hurricane season was doing the same old in the Caribbean...

What can I say... Shit does happen!

Since we are speaking of excremental stuff, I'll just say that invest 91L is not at all happy making...

So, what better time to talk about guitars and surfboards!

I've had several readers write and ask if I were going to confine myself to just one guitar which one would it be? The truth of the matter is being a quiver guitar type of guy it's a hard question but since you ask, I have given it a lot of thought and the Godin A-12 is as close to a single guitar that would come close... Close but no cigar!

Over at Horse's Mouth he had a perfect surfing photo...

... and my current mantra is build some new surfboards ASAP!

Providing 91L gives us a pass...

Listening to Buffy Saint-Marie

So it goes...

Good news...

A quick note...

 The film "180 South" just won best film at the Cine de Surf Festival... Great stuff!

a cool tool...

Why we like Greenlight...



Listening to Clear Sailing

So it goes...

Just for the surf set...

GreenLight Surfboard supply is having a 12% off deal for the T-Day ting if you use the super top secret code Green Turkey...

So many boards to build...

What we do when it rains...

While the weather has been doing it's Biblical deluge/ Monsoon ting I've been spending a lot of time thinking about how to fit a small surfboard shop into a 34 foot boat that is already bursting at the seams with what some might consider too many guitars... Just for the record, it is impossible to ever have too many guitars!

The funny thing is I think I've more or less cracked the problem through a fusion of boatbuilding methodology, standard surfboard construction, a dash of guitar building trickery and some next gen rigging materials... More than likely I'll be writing about this in the not too far distant future as first I have to finish turning "So It Goes" from the mastless shadow of itself back to the sailing vessel it's supposed to be.

Right now we are at the rigging stage and  we will be doing a lot of splicing over the next couple of weeks as well as finishing the various mast cleats for said rigging to interact with... Our upcoming mantra aboard "So It Goes" is about to become...

" Pass the carbon fiber and praise the Dynex Dux"

The reason for the too long lag  of going from mast building to mast rigging has simply been that it seemed to make sense to keep the mast down for hurricane season and now that we see light at the end of that tunnel it is time to get back to work mode... Well, if it ever stops raining...