More Flux

Some more pics from my recent NZ trip

Winter Skies

Its Winter here on the North Coast of NSW and it's a beautiful time of the year. Regular offshores with cloudless skies and deep blue days can make it hard to stay put in the factory.

There's a stillness and calm associated with this time of the year too which I really enjoy but is hard to identify. Maybe it has something to do with the shorter days and longer nights... I always seem to get to bed earlier. Its like nature has pulled her curtain down... everything feels... stiller. There's no noisy Cicadas or Mosquitoes like summer. And I like it.

The pics above were taken around this time last year by Angela Raab. I love the skies in these pics... it has those wintery colours... that sense of stillness and calm.

Rock-hopping

Negotiating the rocks and the cold in NZ recently. Pic: Brad Wittaker

New Vibe for Steve

Steve came to the factory last weekend with his son Zac to pick up his new 6'6" Twin Keel Vibe which he's been waiting patiently for! I was really happy with the blue tint and white pigment combination.

Happy fishing Steve.

Inspector vector...

Heres a Tom Woods pic of me sliding around on Sages vector at the pass last year. I don't have my own yet but  I manage to snavel Sages one every once and awhile and it is all ways a super fun experience. I guess it's like you get all the feelings of riding the Alaia although its so much easier especially for us goofy footers on our back hand. I was fortunate enough earlier this to get to go back to New zealand and slide the Vector on some super fun lefts at Raglan, how I wish we had some left points here on the east coast of OZ.

Custom Single Fin

A youny Wayne Barnes checking out his custom Single Fin sometime in the 70's. I love how shiny the board looks in the pic on the left. Note the deep concave when the board is on its rail (pic on right). Scanned straight from the Valla Surfboards family album.

Flux - New Zealand

Some pics from a New Zealand Trip I got back from a few weeks ago. I was fortunate to be involved in Surfing/Christianity based documentary being developed at the moment called Flux. I travelled to New Zealand with a diverse group of 8 surfers and hung out for 10 days. Was cold but we got some cracking waves.

Valla Virgin

Well, This is my first blog as being a part of Valla Saltwater Constructs. I'm frothing to be a part of the team on here as I'm loving the material Sage and the boys put up for us to geez at. I'm over in Newquay at the moment for a WQS and it's about as WQS as life gets, meaning, tiny dribbly waves, thousands of people on the beach and everyone paddling over each other to get that one elusive score. It gets a bit annoying at times! This shot is from back in 2004 on the first wooden hawaiian board Dad made with Tom Stone on my first real trip to Hawaii! It was a real privelege to see the making of the board and Tom was always trying to involve me in the process as he thought it super important to pass the skills of making these amazing boards down the line.

Weekend Fun

A new header for the Valla Blog has been well overdue. So I Got the guys (Dad, Brett, Jack and my bro Heath) together last weekend at the factory. Tom Woods graciously drove 40 mins down from Coffs on his birthday to take some pics! Thanks bro.

Pics: Tom Woods (ST Tmages)

Luke in the Maldives

My buddy Luke recently had his honeymoon in the Maldives and just happened to luck into some cracking swell. He said he got the best barrell he's ever had... sweet. Here's a couple pics from his trip. Luke only took one board - a 6'0" PJ Special which I made him a while back.

Safety

This is my Dad's gun. Thick Redwood stringer, Double leg plug & Pintail.

Board Swap

This is my friend Yoshi and I with our new boards.

A few months back Yosh wanted me to make him a Vector... in the end we decided to make a board for each other and do a swap. Yoshi makes beautiful boards on the Gold Coast under his Takeda label, is a craftsmen and does some beautiful resin tints as you can see on the fish he made me.

Since beginning shaping I have found myself more and more just riding my own boards... for two reasons I guess - firstly its important to stay in tune with the boards your creating and secondly I guess I feel in some underlying way that I should be riding my own boards. After all, why would somebody buy a board off me if they saw me surfing and I'm not even riding my own board!

But the truth is I love riding other people's boards. It was interesting riding Yoshi's fish he made me... feeling different sensations on the wave than my fish gave me... drawing slightly different lines... learning.

I remember maybe about 10 years back my dad went through a period where he predominantly rode boards that other people made him. Experiencing different designs, giving himself a break from the dust and fumes, and learning a lot. I remember I thought it was a strange thing for him to do at the time.

To check out more of Yoshi's work go here.

Aaron's New Verve

Here's my buddy Aaron with his new Verve. Hope you're getting some sweet rides bro.

A Kid Called Jack - LSD from A Kid Called Jack on Vimeo.

Here is some selfless self promotion.
For my new blog at tumblr.
The vector is ridden plus a hint of 9'7 Log.

Logging Last Year at the Pass

Pics: Keith Novosel