5'10 Zephyr - TOMO/Simmons inspired EVO4 bonzer

The other day a friend of mine said to me “you are an artist really aren't you Tim”. I have been reflecting on this and the nature of art. To me it is an expression, a communication of beauty. For me art is all around us. It's not just what we see but in what we hear, touch, feel. It's in the way someone smiles, the inflection in their voice, the glint in their eyes, their unique walk and the way they look into you. It's in the sun bursting through the space between leaves, it’s every wind inspired rustle, it’s the light glinting off a cresting wave and the calamity of the pebbles tumbling in the shore-break.

 
As surfers we experience art profoundly, not just through the beauty of the Blue but in the way the water flows between our fingers, how we stroke into a wave and slide down the face, how our bodies torque and respond in our own unique style, the quite hiss of the tube as we focus on the almond of light that visualises our achievement.

As surfers it’s the crafted rails we caress, it’s the lines of the stringer strengthening and dividing toe and heelside, it’s the subtle concaves, the tucked under edge, the form enhancing pinlines, the thoughtfully placed leash loop, it’s the light percolating through a translucent fin.  

Wherever there is care and consideration there is art, overt or not. Wherever there is unconscious reaction there is art. Wherever I look there is beauty, even in pain and suffering, for from this comes knowledge and growth. Wherever I look there are waves.

 
We are all artists, whether we decorate, build, teach, counsel, lay carpets, study, shape, glass, sand, design, serve... Where there is mindfulness there is art.

When I look at a board, if I focus I can see the journey of the blank, the choice of stringer which came from a forest far away, the glue line, how it was shaped and the tools the craftsman used, the weaving of the cloth, the tinting of the resin, the sanding of the board back to the shaper's vision.

When I look at the ocean, if I focus I can feel the journey the waves have been on to reach our shores. Every wave unique, every moment only existing right then. When I look at nature, if I focus I can truly see each tree and reflect on its years of growth, the hours of sunshine that let every bud become a twig, and then a branch the rain that nourished it and the clouds that formed, and maybe one day it will be embodied in one of my boards.

Everything is art and every creation has its own incredible journey.

So I guess I am an artist, but aren't we all and isn't everything.

North Atlantic Right Board - asymmetric bonzer for Secret East

 

East Coast Orca

“Tim here is a shot of the orca someone sent me.”Merrick.

Photo Mikal Boukhari

Nice one Merrick.

7’10 WTF

The other day i was nosing in the factory looking for a messed up blank for Seren’s board and i stumbled across a longboard blank that the APS3000 had “attacked” off centre, huge gouged first cut running along the bottom, nose to tail. Totally missed the deck but cut a little rail (again about 3/4”off centre)… so I said to Nige “what the f**k you gonna do with that!” and he said “you want it, you can have it…” Of course i jumped at the chance, there was something kind of familiar in its chopped off nose and the gouge looked like an interesting starting point for something… so Friday I had a few  minutes left after shaping Ant’s 2 Zen Dogs and decide to try some templates.

  Now in the modern shaping room templates are as much there for nostalgia and the odd adjustment, so there wasn’t exactly a load to choose from… but i found some curves that i liked and got started. Felt like it wanted a shovel nose and a twin pin tail… so that was my starting point.

I am still unsure where this board is going… its dimensions are pretty obscure already due to the machine’s influence… 7’10 x 23 x 2 1/2” – so at the end of the day once i have skinned the blank both sides this board wont be any thicker than 2 1/4” is my guess. I think things will become clearer once i know how much foam i actually have to work with.

Fins – not even sure it’s going to have any at this time…

Week off with my daughter now so no more updates until next week.

The Joker

A review by Jon Price of the Joker… which he liked so much he bought off me… no matter how hard i tried to get him to have a custom he wanted what he had ridden and enjoyed, so eventually i succumbed. Here is what he thinks.

“I am without doubt a surfboard monogamist. I truly believe that a surfer’s boards should evolve from one to the next, that the shape of a new ‘stick’ should be based around the characteristics that were liked and disliked on the last one, i.e. “I love the way this board paddles but I want it to turn harder”. Having evolved through a series of boards over a few years, I felt as though I had found exactly what I wanted and I’d stuck with it. However, that was seven years ago. I was married and happily so. Until Tim came along.

The Joker was Tim’s first longboard. With any shaper this would cause me concern. With Tim I needn’t have worried. I’ve only ever met one other shaper with the same obvious understanding of surfboard dynamics and believe me with nearly two decades experience in the surf industry, I’ve talked to a lot of well-known shapers. Unlike many who seem intent on surrounding their art with mysticism, Tim explains things in a way that is logical, straight forward and makes sense; the guy obviously knows his stuff. He is also a friend of mine and that meant I was open to persuasion, a lot of persuasion. Maybe it was time to try something new.

On one of those fun, clean, chest-high beach break days, I finally gave in; I started my affair. At first I didn’t like it. I was so used to my board that I got frustrated rather than patiently adapting my technique to suit a board that paddled differently, was more responsive and was just......... different. I gave up, claiming my old board back after a few waves. Glad to be back on the board I knew and trusted.

A week later, more ear-bending from Tim and I gave The Joker another try. This time something clicked. I dropped, bottom-turned and cross-stepped to the nose. I couldn’t believe how stable this board was for nose riding! Tim will tell you it’s to do with the way the nose flexes as you stand on it. I didn’t care. I just know I liked it, I liked it a lot. A slower section, I walked back to the tail, made a couple of turns to build up speed and ‘wack’, hit the lip on the close-out. Man, where did that come from? Tim didn’t say a word as I paddled back out, my smile was enough. This time it was a little harder for him to get his board back.

I have to say it has taken me a while to get used to The Joker, to feel as though I’m getting to know it in that ‘one’ way I have with my other board. And, unsurprisingly, at times I go back to my ‘wife’ of seven years. On occasion I find The Joker, with its continuous rocker, a little awkward to paddle and that’s something I’ll ask Tim to address on the next evolution; when I start my next affair. The thing about the Joker is, I’ve never spent so much time on the nose. This board nose rides so easily! What really gets me though is that it turns hard as well. I find it hard to comprehend that combination; a longboard that nose rides and turns well. How do you make a board like that? I guess you’d better ask Tim. I’m just glad he isn’t a marriage counsellor.

Jon Price, Big Blue

Reverse lap tint