Alaia.

strength testing

Brett Caller putting the "Valla Volta" fish through a pretty hefty strength test about a week ago..... board came up fine, I think Brett was okay after as well.
sequence shot by ST SURF IMAGES

duskie video clip

duskie from Tom Woods on Vimeo.
Back in late April I photographed Brett Caller and Sage Joske sliding on some late arvo point waves. I also shot a little bit of video and put this short clip together.
ST SURF IMAGES

a kid called jack

ST surf images has just posted up an interview with Valla team rider Jack Lynch. CLICK HERE to have a read a see some more pics of Jack shredding

Valla - TCSS - Japan.

Two more rad alaias with TCSS art work on them off to Japan.

nice pics Nathan.

Japan Calling

Flying out to Tokyo tomorrow morning and I'll be away for 19 days. Going to check out the Greenroom Festival and the Japanese Fish Fry. But probably more than anything else I am looking forward to getting out of the factory and away from the dust and fumes for a bit. I probably won't get a chance to blog regularly but I'll be back on board when I get home.

Sam on his Red Thruster

Got these images from Swellnet of my good friend Sam riding a little red thruster I made him recently. Looks like he's been having fun.

Toymaker

Sage Joske by Nathan Oldfield.

Harry Triglone.

check out this little clip that my friend Harry made of me. We filmed for about one hr and this is what he came up with. Nice work Harry I think that we will be seeing more of your stuff on our blogs.


Brett Caller at the pass from Harry Triglone on Vimeo.

Terry Sheather with his Valla Single Fin

Another shot I dredged up from the Valla archives.

Japan Quiver

I'm flying out to Japan, Thursday next week for 19 days. Going to check out the Greenroom Festival and the Japanese Fish Fry. Hopefully get a bit of surfing in too.

I realised after my trip to Noosa earlier this year that my boards were getting a little battle worn so I've put the above 3 boards together over the last month, fitting them in the spaces between my custom orders plus a bit of overtime.

From Left: 5'7" x 20 1/8" x 2 1/8" Stringerless Styrofoam/Epoxy Verve, 5'7" x 20 1/8" x 2 1/8" Stringerless Styrofoam/Epoxy Volta, 6'0" x 18 1/4" x 2" Vector.

Damien Horan

Another awesome work of art on a Valla alaia canvas on its way to Japan for the green room festival. Check out the TCSS blog for more.

Valla Shed

I was brought up on 5 acres in the Valla hinterland. The pic above is of dad's factory/shed. What you can't see to the left is the other half of the shed where we lived.


This pic brings back a lot of memories for me. Resin smells were never far away and dad was always pedantic about me never leaving the door open between the living area and shed... I had to be very careful around the boards... and I shouldn't touch anything. Which was sort of hard because when you're a kid, beautiful wet, shiny resin looks like great fun to touch. But going into the shed was serious stuff and dad made sure I was aware of the gravity of the situation.


Another memory this pic brings back to me is waiting while dad would finish making my boards. It always felt like it would take him forever. When i turned 7 and I could finally swim 50 metres unaided at the local pool I was awarded my first board... 4'9" double flyer with a winged-keel. I did some of the artwork on the foam myself. A few years later I was watching dad sanding a new board for me which I had been waiting for, for a while ... and it was taking him ages. I remember looking up at him ( he looked a lot bigger back then) and suggesting that he hurry it up a bit. He looked at me a bit taken-aback and explained that he was sanding out all the bumps. (Childspeak for fairing the form I guess). I told him that I didn't care about the bumps and that I just wanted to ride the board. Dad looked at me with a very serious face and in a dead-pan voice told me "You might not care about the bumps but I do". And that was that.




I like this shot of dad. I think the sign sums up a major part of his philosophy.

Alaia Tattoo

Jim Mitchell and the guys from TCSS have commissioned 5 Alaias from dad and I to use as art canvasses which will then be shown at the Greenroom Festival in Japan later this month.

Mesurf have a little article showing Jim's artwork on one of the alaia's. Check it out!

Bottom turn.

 Another great Tom Woods pic. 

Nambucca Guardian News 1970

An old newspaper article from 1970 I came across the other day.

Mesurf:

One of the STsurf images of me made this weeks "Money Shot" on the "week that was" published on the mesurf webite....... so stoked


CLICK HERE to go straight to the mesurf page that features the pic. and HERE to go to STsurfimages


 

5'4" Lis Style Fish

Pic: David Scott

Valla Vector Info Sheet

Click on the document above to enlarge.

The Valla Vector info sheet will be always available in the future in the sidebar to the right.

Gloss Coat

My dad, Paul Joske back in the day doing a gloss coast. He said that he liked to wait for a still evening, shut any windows and doors, and take his shirt off, so there was minimal air flow in the room.

Oldy but a goody.

This is just one of many epic Paul Joske creations that lie around the Valla factory. It's an early 80's twin fin with a box. I am really interested in these boards and the way that they ride. Sage is currently shaping me up and 80's quad, I can't wait I'm sure it will be rad.

Home away from home

View on my way to the shaping bay (upstairs). I spend way too much time in the factory.

Lis Fish

The second board I made myself - 5'4" Lis Fish.

I can remember being guided through all the processes by Dad - starting with milling a piece of Paulownia for the stringer, glueing the stringer in, shaping, spraying the blank, glassing, cutting out then handfoiling the keels, glassing the keels, sanding the keels, attaching them to the board, filler-coating the board, sanding, taping up then applying a Poska pinline (yes I know - a bit of a cheat), glossing, and finally polishing. I probably spent about a month making this board. Every process was new and difficult. And I loved every minute.

At this stage I was down home and was supposed to be helping dad finish off his catamaran. But every afternoon I would sneak off and work on my board... sometimes it wasn't quite afternoon.

I found my Lis fish very challenging to ride and it took me 18 months before I felt like I had wrapped my head around the intricacies involved with riding it. I can distinctly remember one of my first surfs on a small day at the Nambucca Rivermouth. Nose-diveing on take-offs, catching rails and mis-timing sections. I was humbled. And shocked. The board looked so good... yet I couldn't ride it.

Interestingly it was on subsequent surf at the same spot but much later on when I started to really appreciate this board. There were double overhead sets with some long running left-handers and I found that I could take off and go straight down and out way in front of the wave, bank the board on rail and maintain speed all the way back up the face. Likewise I could run horizontally way out onto the shoulder... onto the flats then maintain speed on rail all the way back to the curl. It was exhilarating. I realised that the same design elements which initially had me nose-diveing and catching rail were allowing me a totally new surfing experience.

I still have my Lis Fish at the factory but I have moved on to newer boards - Styrofoam, lighter, quad-fins. However a lot of the fishes I make myself today have design elements that I discovered in my Lis Fish.

Tim's Sweet Volta

This is Tim's new Stringerless Styrofoam/Epoxy Volta Quad. It's almost identical to my own Volta I ride all the time. The Styrofoam/Epoxy is an interesting medium, and although the boards go great in the right conditions I am hesitant to make them for customers.

Here's why I hesitate - my first styro/epoxy I made myself got some hairline cracks which I didn't notice immediately and ended up soaking up so much water it was destroyed. As soon as you ding them they have to be fixed. They are not tolerant to heat. If you leave them in the car on a hot day they can delaminate. Epoxy resin is a lot more expensive then regular Polyester resin, which in turn makes the boards more expensive.

On top of this because the boards are light and responsive they are hard to ride in windy or choppy condtions.

That said I love my Styrofoam Volta. In the right conditions it is fast and super responsive. Because the core is so light I can glass them strong (6oz bottom, 6x6 Deck) and still keep them light. This year when I went to Noosa during the cyclone swell I just could not get off that board... and I had about 15 with me.

So anyway... Tim, I hope you have some great surfs on your board and that you look after it carefully!

Shaping Profile on Mesurf

Mesurf have just done a Shaping Profile on me. Big thanks to the guys at Mesurf for including me. Check it out here.

The Beginning

Valla Farmhouse 1970. Birth of Valla Surfboards.

80's Christmas Present

I've been getting inspired to make some 80's quads of late. Been looking through the old templates and have spotted a few sweet outlines. I'm half-way through shaping an XPS blank for Brett and Heath has been asking me for probably the last 6 months to get one too.

The pic above is a good example of the style of boards Dad (Paul Joske) was making in that era. This quad was a personal board which he made himself for Christmas Day '83.

5'10 Quad, Rounded Squaretail with Single Wing. Floral inlay fins