A Memorial Day on a Bluegill and Alaia

This is from Memorial day weekend. Torrance Beach has been having a great spring season, which has been good for doing research on the latest boards. This movie shows how great the Bluegill trims front side and backside and how an alaia can do quick position turns in the pocket. The Bluegill is the 8'er and the alaia is 6'4''.

We are back from Mexico, and had a great trip. The waves and wind were good practicaly all day every day. I will be working to make a few short movies. Luckily the Montezumas did not effect any surf sessions and did not kick into gear until I was about to board the flight home. The guy in the back row isle seat was not stoked to see me heading his way, which was often.

We will be gone to Mexico for one week

A batch of Bluegills 7' - 8'4''

This is the quiver we are taking to Mexico, I forgot to place a 6'8'' alaia in the shot. a stuth with a light swallow tail. I hope to do a little beach fishing between surfs. Also I will have A lot of good footage to keep the post interesting, I hope.

Finless Research and Development Center

Sometimes we get away from the beach and look at wave riding from a different standpoint, or we just take a short trip to the mountains.

Fin, belly board, and alaia

This fin will be going on the sequoia, paulownia board. It is made with the same woods. It has a light smoke color bead.

The bellyboard, paipo,tombstone, etc. is 3'6'' with a concave deck, belly to vee out the tail, and Morey style rails. The anchovy is a 7'8'' with a vee bottom. A replica of my favorite board, just a bit wider.

This a 6'4'' Wegg. It is usually set with a longer middle fin, 6'', with side bites. It ride with the volume of a fish and is still surprisingly fast even with the middle fin. It works great for people who have a hard time adapting to twin fins. The back fin helps it do more vertical, like off the lips and has good control backside. Swirls are kind of old hat, but I really like them. This is a good one done by Jorge at Bing/Jacobs glassing.

My brother Curt and I have made some tables. I have been using this one at the Sacred Craft Shows and other events. It is Sugar pine and Sequoia with a fibreglass finish. 6'long 24'' wide. We want to make some more tables so I am going to clean this one up and see what happens if it goes onto eBay. It has been bumped around a little, but I think it will look pristine again.

Hap Painting the Blues

The other day I had to go into the shaping room next to mine to kindly ask if they could turn down their crappy death metal. I was surprised to see Hap Jacobs holding a paint brush. Hap tries to retire from shaping every so often, but here he is tuning up the background walls so he feels comfy getting dirty. The shaping bug does not die. I do not know if this is good or bad. Maybe it should just be accepted. Hap has mainly been doing some balsa boards. They are, of course super nice.

It has been great working around Hap for around 14 years. It has been a high for me to shape some boards for the Jacobs logo, but the best has been able to go surfing at El Porto. We would always go in his car, which is cool. Hap is way too clean to get in my cars, which are known to be a little unruly.

High Speeds on Small Seas

This morning I was told by my informants that the surf was flat. After walking my daughter to school, I thought I'd better drive by the beach to make sure. Good call. No one in sight and this perfect mini sandbar impersonating Johnson's Cove at Noosa. I set the camera on the beach, press record, and went surfing. Note how the Bluegill attains speed with no need for pumping action.