NICE VIEW

From a blistering start to a snail trail, have a squizz at some material that looks good to me. Thanks to Zane, the entrepid surf slut, and the links he sends through...

Matt Meola - $100,000 Innersection edit

Matt Meola - $100,000 Innersection edit from ACL Digital Cinema on Vimeo.

Slater's Snapper Sticks

From Surfing Life article: http://www.surfinglife.com.au/news/asl-news/5942-slaters-snapper-sticks

Kelly Slater kicked off 2011 in the sorta circumstances he’s known for, surrounded by rumours of retirement. He's committed to the Quik Pro, but that's about it for now. "The waves at Snapper wake me up enough for motivation," says KS, "but I’d love to get another win at the Quiksilver Pro. It’ll either be a great way to go out, or a great way to start another campaign.”

When quizzed about his plans for the year, Slater was as non-committal as ever. “I can’t honestly answer any questions about the year right now. I’ve thought about doing a farewell aloha tour and saying bye, and I’ve thought about retiring after this event for real."
If Slater wins Snapper ASL finds it hard to believe he'll be able to walk away. Kelly's defending champ at four events. His main sponsor, and a company he is now a three percent stakeholder in, runs three more. The last of these, the Quiksilver Pro New York, boasts a million dollar kitty and is the closest thing he'll ever see to a home event, without Rip Curl taking The Search to Florida. ASL ain't buying any talk of retirement but enough speculation, here's a look at Kelly's quiver for Queensland.

From left to right:

1. 5’5″ x 18 3/4″ x 2 1/4″ Wizard Sleeve, squash tail

2. 5’9″ x 18 1/4″ x 2 1/4″ Semi Pro, rounded pin, a copy of his magic Semi Pro from his 10th World Title Campaign

3. 5’9″ x 18 3/8″ Semi Pro, with a slightly wider nose outline

4. 5’9″ x 18 3/4″ x 2 5/16″ “Combo Platter”, The Semi Pro-Whip. A board specifically blended for the bank at snapper. Swallow tail.

He's got more, but this is all the King was willing to make public. Pic blog.cisurfboards.com

BOARD SWAP EVENT

I saw this the other day, a great idea, one that we should vibe out in good ol' dirtbin, check out Patagnia hosting a boardswap event, pretty much bring your old boards and swap em for someone else's old board, GENIUS!!! It had a great turn out and they also premiered a new Surf Film called 180 South at the shop. Here' a short video of what went down, check it out!


Patagonia Torquay Summer Board Swap/180 South Premiere 2011 from Patagonia Australia on Vimeo.

Surfings own Spandex - FibreFlex

From Stab mag: http://www.stabmag.com/elliot/dane-reynolds-on-a-fibreflex

Yup, it's another Dane Reynolds clip. And yup, it's a little older. But, see that little raft that's looking so good under the feet of surfing's most reluctant star? It ain't a Channel Island like he usually rides. And if you're as intrigued by equipment as we are, you'll be interested to know that Dane is actually riding a Hayden Shapes Fibreflex 'Psychedelic Germ'. It's Warren Smith's signature board with the Australian shaper and it's a funny-lookin' thing. A while back, when Dane was in Cabo, Mexico, shaper Hayden Cox flowed the Venturan one of his FibreFlex designs. Sure seems to go well for him. We thought we'd call Hayden and find out a little more…

Stab: What kinda craft did y'give him?
Hayden Cox: I shaped him a FibreFlex number so he could get a feel for the technology. He frothed on it, he really enjoyed that board. It was a different shape to what he usually rides, but the main idea was just to get a FibreFlex under his feet. He loved the spring in it.

How did it come about? I lined it up through (Craig) Ando and just shaped something with the FibreFlex tech. I wanted Channel Islands (CI) to have a look at the technology and that's probably the easiest way, just get one of their riders to have a go and then give the feedback to CI and hopefully there can end up being a few CI models in it. I flowed it to him free, no problems there. It was just the one, I'm not shaping boards for him or anything. It's just to hopefully get a CI model with the FibreFlex tech, maybe a Dumpster Diver or something. That thing'd go sick with that technology. It'd be super fast and fun.

Did he know he was getting one? I just sent it to him. He turned up for the trip, looked at it and went, "Ah, this thing isn't gonna go." Then first wave, he did that air-reverse in the clip (above, 19 seconds in). First wave, he just nailed it. It's cool to get guys of that calibre jumping on the technology and getting a real feel for what it's about.

Were you expecting him to ride it? Ah, you just keep your fingers crossed. You shape some boards occasionally for crew and a lot of the time (them riding it) never happens.

How'd you go about the dimensions? I based it on his Proton models that he was riding at J-Bay, which was around the time I shaped it for him. He had the 6'1". I walked past him once in Japan, years ago, so I sort of had an idea how big he was and went from there. It was a bit of a stab in the dark really, but it worked out in the end. I was stoked that he was frothing on the tech and that it ended up in a Quiksilver campaign.

Was the board a one-off? That particular model is the signature Warren Smith model, the Psychedelic Germ. It's got my Cool Crazy concave outlines happening on it. It's a really weird board to start off with, but that's what'll sometimes intrigue a pro. They get a lot of performance shortboards all the time and something different will make 'em go, "Woah, what the hell is this gonna surf like?" You can really see it in his surfing, some of the turns you notice how fast the board reacts. How fast it turns in a really tight radius. They're a sick little model. Hard to get off. I was talking to Ando yesterday and he's always wigging out, saying "This board's so sick but I maybe need to do some turns on a shortboard for video sections." I'm like, "I dunno, short boards don't go as well as fun boards. That's just the way it is."

BASIC OVERVIEW OF FIBREFLEX

The FiberFlex EPS is a completely custom surfboard shaped out of high density EPS foam with a parabolic carbon fiber frame to create a board with a high energy, rapid spring back resulting in ultimate speed and drive.




If you want to check out the finer details of this glide (read flex/twist and rippness) go to: http://www.fiberflexsurfboards.com/page_var186

It looks like a bunch of shapers globally can use this technology, seems pretty rad, anything that is going to get me surfing better and tighter then I am game, I just wonder what the price of these suckers are??

Dane looked like he liked it!

Slyde.

THRILLS & SPILLS

Dane Reynolds is unique, in the way he surfs and the way he thinks, acts, writes and wants to live, go and check out his site and you can look into his brain, some interesting stuff...

http://www.marinelayerproductions.com/

SWEET POTATO - MORE OF THE FAT BOTTOM GIRL TREND

More marketing hoopla on fat ass hybrid boards, we have been through this, now Firewire cashes in, even though I look at this as another version of everybody els's, I am so stoked that board manufactureres are thinking and getting out of the box.

My take, get your local shaper to make you a version of your own, you only going to ride it every so often, so you dont need to drop huge $$ on a unbreakable, forever surfable Firewire! That said, they do look sweet!

In the clip below, Chuey Reyna gives us the scoop on the new Sweet Potato Surfboard from Firewire. For those smaller days or if you just want to get off your longboard and feel young again, then definitely try the Sweet Potato or shape your own bad boy...



And some more of the Sweetness, actaully better than the Firewire official version...



Vid on how the board rides, looks much like the glide of my Trunk board and Flying Vee, looks great.



Slyde.