Archive for January, 2007

Grain Surfboards featured on Phoresia.org Sunday, January 28th, 2007

Mike LaVecchia, owner of Grain Surfboards, was interviewed by the good people at Phoresia.org as a follow up to some earlier coverage of the company. You can check out the interview here.

Phoresia

Phoresia is a web resource for environmentally and socially responsible surf-related products and lifestyle choices. Other notable sustainable surfboard companies recently interviewed on Phoresia include Ned McMahon of HomeBlown and Tom Wegener of Wegener Surfboards.

Mike’s interview on Phoresia covered a lot of ground, from the history and motivation behind the company, to the choice of the Northeast coast for the his home base and the future of Grain Surfboards. Read the whole interview here.

Feel free to post your comments on the interview below or right on Phoresia.org. Also we’ve added a mailing list to grainsurfboards.com, so sign up on our home page and we’ll keep you posted with periodic emails from Grain Surfboards.

Another Grain Home Grown Surfboard Friday, January 26th, 2007

We just received this email from one of our Grain Home Grown surfboard kit customers. He seems pretty stoked, and by the looks of his board he should be. Nice work, Bob! Let us know how it surfs.

“Here are some photos of my new board. I am very stoked and can’t wait to get it in the water. Too bad it is only about one foot right now, maybe Friday. I had a great time building it and can’t wait to start on another.”

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Success and Fun at Surf Expo Saturday, January 20th, 2007

After a long drive, a ton of hard work and some great times, we’re back from Surf Expo and getting back into the swing of things. The 2007 Surf Expo in Orlando was an amazing experience for the company and our whole staff. The Grain Surfboards booth was in a perfect location, on the outside of the Launch area, front and center to the entire show. We were at the cross roads of the two busiest aisles in the whole Expo.

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Spending four solid days talking with some of the heavies in the surfing world was eye opening for all of us. Our wooden surfboards and kits got a great reception, and more than one person was overheard saying that we had the most innovative product at the show. It was a great opportunity to talk with buyers from large and small shops all over the country, and in the next couple months you’ll be able find Grain Home Grown Surfboard kits in shops up and down the east and west coasts.

The crew all pumped up and ready to surf in St Augustine. All the locals we met were super nice, and totally stoked on the boards. A few fin sightings, but nothing to get anyone out of the water.
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We spent months of hard work preparing for the show and drove 24 hours straight to Florida on the way to Surf Expo. So on the way home, we decided to enjoy ourselves. Our friend Ty Williams and his mom Wendy were so nice to open up their house to us in St Augustine and we finally had a chance to relax and eat some great, healthy food. Thankfully, there were also some small waves, so the boys got a chance to put wood to water.

Randy G. gets ready to hit the water on one of our new 5′10″ fish’s. We’re keeping this board as a demo model, so keep an eye out for it this summer at a beach near you, we’d love to get a lot of people on it.

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Grain crew paddling out after Surf Expo
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Brad A. getting ready to paddle out on a new 10′ Waterlog.
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We drove the coastal route home, giving us an opportunity to see some of the beautiful parts of the east coast, without the crowds found in the summer. If you havn’t been there, Cape Hatteras and Okracoke are beautiful this time of year. And with those memories still fresh, we’re all back at work, building wooden surfboards, filling new orders and making our customers even happier. Being back in the shop with the buzz of machines and familiar smells, we’re as stoked to be doing what we’re doing as ever. It’s a great life!

A few different ways to blow off some steam after some long hard days!
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Old school style.
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Nick and Molly enjoy some fresh air on the ferry to Okracoke.
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Exploring Cape Hatteras. We first tried to bushwack our way to the beach, but soon found ourselves in a swamp. We gave in to taking the main paths, but it was still a beautiful place to see the sun come up.

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Walking the sands of Cape Hatteras
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Grain Surfboards Makes it to Surf Expo Thursday, January 11th, 2007

Well, we made it to Orlando, set up the booth and the whole Grain Surfboards team is ready for the show to open tomorrow.

We’ve got an amazing booth spot right on the main path through the show. The Grain Surfboards booth is right at the opening of the Launch area, so we’ve got more space and exposure to the main show area.

The trip down from Maine went well, with all of us packed in the van, with all the gear, boards and comic relief from Ty Williams. Some incriminating photos are below with captions.

We’ll keep you posted on our progress at the show, keep an eye on the Builder’s Blog.

Here’s our location in Surf Expo, at the opening of the Launch area.
Our Booth at Surf Expo

Comic Ty and builders Greg and Randy enjoy some van time in the sun.
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Eatin’ good in the neighborhood.
Outside Waffle House

Staff meeting at the Grain booth, getting ready.
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The Grain Surfboards booth all ready to take orders at Surf Expo.
The Grain Surfboards booth

On the Road Monday, January 8th, 2007

Were on the road today, headed to Orlando, FL for Surf Expo.  Keep an eye on the site for updates from the road….Surf Expo, happenings from the road trip, and hopefully some surf.  We’ll be back around the 19th.

One of the fishes drying in the glassing room, soon to be heading southbound for showcase at Surf Expo.
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