Archive for October, 2007

It’s been a while, but we’ve finally settled back into the shop, unpacked the crate and are back to the daily grind. Our west coast trip was an eye opening experience in many ways. 1800 miles, 16 days each of memorable sessions, live music, dozens of surf shops, hundreds of people on our boards, great mexican food, early mornings and beautiful sunsets, sharks, logs, rats, rocks, homeless people, dolphins, pelicans and more.

The last four days of the trip went as quickly as the rest. We were fortunate to be able to stay at a friends house right on the beach in DelMar. It was a nice change after two weeks in the soulless RV. The Sacred Craft Show was a huge success. Two days of non-stop traffic topping 4000 surfers. We were honored to be a part of this show. Alongside world reknowned shapers, wood was well represented by names like Jensen, Hess, Shark Bay and more. We’re looking forward to making this an annual pilgrimage for us.

We had one free day in So Cal after the show and we made the best of it. We dropped in on Sector 9 Skateboards and were treated to a grand tour of the factory, warehouse, showroom, bowl and gameroom. Inspirational to see an operation so well dialed. From there, we headed over to see Ned at Home Blown Foam, makers of BioFoam. BioFoam blanks are made up of about 50% agricultural products. We caught the whole gang loading up a truck with freshly blown foam. Since meeting Ned back at Surf Expo last winter, it’s been great too see Bio Foam really gaining the recognition it deserves.

After a couple weeks of settling back into our own shop, we feel luckier then ever to be doing what we do. We feel like we’ve gained a real perspective on the current state of the surf industry and our place in it. People are recognizing that the environment around us is growing increasingly fragile. With an open mind for new materials and construction techniques, variations in weight and its effects on performance, and a desire for a lower impact, longer lasting surfboard, we can collectively make a difference for the planet in the long run while still enjoying the things that keep us happy and healthy day to day.

San Onofre to Cardiff and Del Mar

Thursday started with a demo at San Onofre and just as we thought, waves were the best we’ve seen so far. Head to head and a half high and clean. We setup at the point and while we did some people out on the boards, the waves were so good that we found most people just wanted to take advantage of the swell on the boards they knew the best, their own. It was ok with us though because it gave us all a chance to hit the water ourselves. We did meet up with a couple locals who were building our kits as well as some old friends of Randy’s and Mike’s from our days in Burlington Vermont, one of the coolest towns there is.

After a sweet breakfast at the Sugar Shack, we headed down to Icons of Surf in San Clemente. This was a real standout shop for us, filled with just surfboards, beautiful different and stunning surfboards. We’ve seen a lot of fishes along the way, but they’re collection of twin fins, quads and bonzers was inspiring. We had a hard time leaving, but we did.

We headed over to the Longboard Grotto and got our fill on surfing’s rich history. If you’re looking for old boards, magazines, books, wetsuits and other nostalgic items from surfings early days, this is the place to be. The afternoon found us at Swamis where we setup our boards at the top of the staircase. We had perfect view of the famous break and everyone who was either heading out or coming in stopped to to look at our boards. Greg and Mike took the longboards out for a while. There was a buzz around the wood and a bunch of surfers took them out to catch a few waves before sunset. Matt and Randy joined some of the locals for some overhead surf until there was no more light to see.

After a quik clean-up we made a mandatory Pizza Port stop for some great pizza and beer and went to bed at a reasonable time for the first time in days.

Well rested and ready to go again, we set up our final demo at Cardiff. There were still waves left over and the light offshore winds cleaned things up to perfection. We ended on a really positive note as all boards were out the whole time. Some guys came in and switched boards multiple times. Even one of the lifeguards came over and tried the single fin and the quad fish, quite a different scene from our home town where the lifeguards are chasing us out of the water all day. They even have stands up and down the beach for waxing boards. This is a real surfing town and the response was amazing. After packing things up we stopped at another staple eatery - Pipes Café.

We had some of the best breakfast burritos ever and then headed over to Encintas to visit our friend Tim at his shop called Univ. After a quick stop at Hanson Surfboards, we headed over to DelMar fairgrounds to set up our booth for the Sacred Craft show. There were some beautiful boards in there including other wood boards from Paul Jensen and Danny Hess and we’re looking forward to the show tomorrow.

We ended the day by pulling into the driveway of our weekend residence. Our good friend and customer named Paul generously offered to let us stay in the beach house that he takes care of. After almost two weeks living in a sand filled RV, with infrequent showers, sleeping amongst our boards and gear, eating on the go, and with our only choice a public roadside bathroom, we were beyond ourselves to have a hot shower, a home cooked meal and a clean bed.

We’ll have an update from the Sacred Craft Show in DelMar California shortly. Thanks for keeping up with us.

See our revised Tour Schedule Here.

Santa Cruz, Wetsand and Patagonia

After loading up on roadside avacados and making it back down Rincon Mountain, we set up at C Street in Ventura for our first demo. The waves were small and the tide was high at first, but little by little conditions peaked up. After an hour or so, we sent out a bunch of boards, including the 10’ to a father and the 5’10” to his son. We’ve seen our kits become a great father/son project with lots of teams tackling the project, so it was great to see the pair paddle out together, needless to say, they were pumped on the ride

We loaded up for the short drive over to the new Wetsand Store (opening soon) in downtown Ventura. Since we started working with Wetsand.com about a year ago, Chuck and the rest of the Wetsand family have been very supportive to us. We’re excited for their new shop which will be the only retail store carrying our boards as well as our kits. From Wetsand, we headed over to Patagonia and had some great meetings. We even had a chance to meet and show our boards off to Fletcher Chouinard and Chris Malloy.

We setup for our afternoon demo at Malibu and with just a few people getting on our boards, decided to get in the water ourselves. We surfed some peeling knee high waves that seemed to go on forever. We drove into Venice Beach and spent the night tucked into a vacant lot with the rest of homeless people.

Wednesday rang early as we woke with the sun and setup shop on the beach. Once again, we were surrounded by locals and quickly filled the waves with wood. There were a lot of colorful characters hanging around the beach, but one standout was a local named Blue. We set him up with a a bamboo t-shirt and are proud just knowing he’s supporting the cause day and night in Venice.

We also met up with one of our Home Grown kit customers named Ned. Ned had just finished building a 9’ Root, and we were really psyched to be present for the christening and he quickly looked right at home planted on the nose. Nice job Ned. After the demo, we spent the day touring Santa Monica and Venice. We visited ZJ’s Boarding House who’s been carrying our kits for the last year, as well the new Mollusk Shop. We were also happy to meet with the guys at Arbor and check out all their beautiful wood skateboards and snowboards, true works of art.

We hit the road and headed south in the afternoon. Greg is a huge Bing fan, so we decided to stop in at their factory where Matt Kalvani was nice enough to give us a full tour. The boards coming out of that shop are second to none. From Bing, we turned the guys at Thalia Street Surf Shop on to the benefits of wood and look forward to their new expanded shop. With no afternoon appointments scheduled, the four of us decided to take in the sunset at Crescent Bay in Laguna Beach. Not a great surf spot, but a world class wave for body surfing. Waves had picked up, and Matt decided to slip on the fins and beaver tail and head out. An experience body surfer, Matt was catching some beautiful head high waves that broke fast and furiously on the steep sand beach. Nevertheless, some sweet barrels were had and we knew that with the surprise swell, the following morning would be great.

See our revised Tour Schedule Here.

Matt’s Home: Jalama and Rincon, California Coast

Early this morning we traveled off the beaten path to an amazing spot called Jalama Beach, just north of Point Conception. Jalama’s beauty is inspiring, the mountains stretch down to sheer cliffs at the ocean’s edge.

photo: Andrew McGill/Brooks Institute

The water was crystal clear, dolphins were surfacing just outside of us in the kelp beds. We arrived at sunrise to some chest-high peaks and off-shore winds.

A few of Matt’s childhood friends made the trip to get on the Grain so it was rad to have all the boards in the water all morning. It was really an exciting moment to see as many wooden boards as foam in this pristine Pacific line-up.

Matt’s friends Kili and Fred were very fluid and soulful surfers and felt right at home on the wooden boards. We were happy to see the boards getting tested by some great surfers in good conditions, as well as get positive feedback on the feel of our boards.

Matt and Randy were trading off waves on the fishes and loving it. Matt was stoked to share one of his favorite spots with his east coast friends. Randy had the opportunity to surf the bamboo-glassed 6’0 quad wherry and came back to the RV amping on the way it felt. He said the extra weight from the bamboo cloth (it holds a bit more resin than fiberglass) turned into nice drive on the steep drop-ins at Jalama and the flex was really warm and responsive.

photo: Andrew McGill/Brooks Institute

Two other stand-out visitors to the demo were John and his friend Gunner, a couple of homesteaders living on property Gunner’s family has owned since the 1800’s. There they have geodesic domes and makeshift houses set up and an amazing woodshop where they reclaim wood to make furniture that has both beauty and the environment in mind.

They were as stoked on the boards as we were on their set-up, perched perfectly just above a right point break.

Once in Santa Barbara, we first stopped at Surf N Wear Beach House and were received with a warm welcome. The response was super enthusiastic. They had the largest collection of vintage surfboards we’d seen thus far so we felt right at home. They loved our wooden surfboards and were really stoked on the idea of the kits. Sounded like there were a lot of young kids in SB that weren’t afraid to get their hands on a woodworking project.

We stopped to see the Channel Islands guys for a moment as well and again were happy with their responses. It was awesome to continue to see next generation kids hooked on the idea of building their own wooden surfboards.

We ended the day with a mellow session at Rincon. The waves were small but Matt and Greg managed to squeak out a couple nice long rides while Randy and Mike manned the demo and spread the wood. Afterward, we drove the RV on a crazy road to the top of Rincon Mountain where Matt is currently living in a yurt on an avocado farm. His place was unreal, with a great deck looking out over a 360 degree view. All the Grain boys slept well that night under a dome of a million stars.

See our revised Tour Schedule Here.

Saturday - Ocean Beach to Santa Cruz

We woke up in the same dirty SanFran parking lot that we did the day before and poured ourselves down the two blocks to Ocean Beach, groggy but functioning. But we perked up when we saw that conditions had finally cleaned up, and there were double overhead peaks kicking up everywhere. The parking lot quickly filled up with surfers, surf-checkers and “morning people”.

One of our guys pointed out an odd but telling sight: six surfers, each pausing to stretch at about the same spot before entering the water one after the other. Each carried a nearly identical, nearly all-white thruster. Clad in all-black wetsuits, with matching surf-caps - hell, they even had the same build - they looked like the same surfer times six, one following the others. It put us in mind of the conventions that seem to drive surfing today; conventions often rooted in dictates of style and conformity. We unpacked our boards, each one beautifully unique despite the similar golden hues they reflected in the early light.

In a short time, people drifted over, and most seemed really psyched on what we were doing. But we noticed one recurring comment - regarding the weight of the boards - from about a quarter of the onlookers at this location. The trend was that the people who have never heard of us and have little or no familiarity with wood boards, think our boards a little heavy. Contrary to that, people familiar with what can be done with wood always say that they can’t believe how light they are. We have always felt that an important part of our job was to educate people as to how wood can be an alternative to more toxic and unsustainable alternatives, and these comments helped us see just how important that is. It is part of the reason we are on this tour, in fact - to dispel some of the misunderstanding that surrounds the performance of wood boards by making them available for people to surf.

Some of us have been reading through Tom Blake’’s Hawaiian Surfriders 1935. After the required history-of-surfing sections, he talks about how the first hollow boards were built back in the 1920’s. We were pleasantly surprised to hear that white cedar was very common, even back then. One of the things we like about our technique is that it allows for maximum use of the material with the minimum of waste; keeping the boards as light as an all wood board can be (they’re lighter than comparable chambered balsa boards), while still having the board built from solid, mostly renewable material.

After our demo, Randy said goodbye to his Sarah who was flying back east, and we headed over to Aqua Surf Shop and then Wise Surf Shop. After explaining how the added weight of a wood board will add to momentum and glide, and how a wood board is stronger than foam, one of the guys from Wise Surf commented that if he wasn’t worried about weight, he could simply build a foam board with a super-heavy glass job, and it would last “forever”. Randy quickly came back with “it would last forever in a landfill too”. No comment followed.

We dropped Brad off at the ferry terminal to begin his long trip home and headed off for Pacifica and the Log Shop. This is another must see shop filled with classic logs (obviously), bonzers and single fins. Aaron, the manager and a good friend of Matt’s, was speachless while checking out our boards. Needless to say, you’ll be seeing our kits there in the near future. From the shop, we drove by the beach to check out the scene for our demo. Waves were closing out, so we decided to leave.

As we were halfway out the driveway, we noticed a guy holding up a wooden fish in the back of a pickup. We’re so thankful that he flagged us down, because not only did we get to see his beautiful home-made redwood board, but also a work of art from one of our Home Grown kit customers named Dean.

Dean (who drove all the way from Sacramento just to meet up) did an outstanding job building one of our Wherrys. He decided to paint his rails blue, which really highlighted the wood deck and bottom. He also had invested a considerable number of hours in getting a stunning finish on his board. He used the MAS epoxy that comes with the kit, but took some extra steps to achieve a super polished high gloss finish. We were so glad to have met him and seen his board.

From Pacifica, we headed south for Santa Cruz. As we came up on Half Moon Bay, we decided no west coast surf trip would be complete without a visit to Mavericks. We made our way past Jeff Clarks Mavericks Surf Shop and parked at the trailhead to the infamous spot. We took a quick walk up and over the point to check out a really nice left just around the point from the big wave spot. Tide was a bit high, so we decided to high tail it to Santa Cruz in hopes of catching a sunset session at Pleasure Point.
We didn’t make it in time to get in the water but instead watched the sunset behind some beers at the Crows Nest down in the harbor.
Mike’s friend Andy who he used to work with him at Burton back in the late 80’s came down and clued us in to all the secrets of Santa Cruz where he now lives. We fell asleep in the harbor parking lot dreaming of perfect sunrise at Pleasure Point.

Sunday- Santa Cruz to Big Sur

We went to bed the other night with rats on our minds and were awoken this morning by the sea lions - a.k.a. sea roosters. They’re up early and love making noise. We drove over to Pleasure Point first thing, and found our friend Andy holding a parking spot for us. It’s key to have a local friend when trying to park a large RV in a crowded surf area! (Thanks Andy!)

We quickly pulled out some boards, and before we knew it, were surrounded by surfers checking them out, and it stayed that way for 6 hours, until we literally had to apologize and cut it short so we could get in the water ourselves. The waves were in the knee to waist high range, but super clean and fun. Our 9’, 10’ and 12’ were in the water all day, as was the 6’0” and 6’5”. It is always great to actually surf alongside others as they try our boards for the first time. First hand feedback just moments after a wave… what could be better?

We even got a couple local rippers, Bjorn and Ashley on board. Bjorn, who typically rides a super light short board, was so stoked on our boards that we’re going to try to work together to develop a more performance design with him.

Most of our demos have had a real road-side flea market feel to them. The schedule is set - so that people know where to find us - but the demos themselves are super-relaxed.

It’s just a great chance for us to talk with people about our shapes, weights, different types of construction, and performace characteristics as they are having the opportunity to try the boards out themselves.

We packed up around 3pm and headed over to Oneills Surf Shop, grabbed some mexican food and hit the road for Jalama. Opting to take our time vs. rushing down the freeway, we drove Big Sur and hit the top of the pass right at sunset. Great ending to a busy day of logging with love.

Thursday - Cliff-top Vista to Vacant Lot.

See our revised Tour Schedule Here.

Having parked late last night, we woke with the sun today realizing we were parked on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. At first, the surf looked great from this high vantage point, with big, long rolling swells that appeared to start at Camel Rock and bend all the way into Moonstone Beach. But the gorgeous lines never seemed to materialize into surf-able peaks in the calm waters south of the camels though – so it was looking like another shut-out. There was a fairly treacherous path down the bluff to get to the water and we followed a lone surfer down to watch him, but predictably, the swells just kept speeding in under him, and pretty much doing nothing on the inside. Probably just the wrong tide…

But we had a chance to talk to the lone surfer we met there that day, and to admire his ride - even as he admired ours.

With not a lot of people around to demo boards, Brad and Greg decided to suit up and give it a try at a long beach break we ran across farther down the road.

It’s amazing how much bigger the waves looked once we were at sea level and we quickly learned why the locals braved the trail at Moonstone. The guys started their paddle-battle and after an hour of turtle-rolls and a couple of disastrous tries that are better not described, they had been washed so far south with the current that we couldn’t even see them get out of the water. They walked over a mile back to the camper with their tails between their legs. Like Oregon, Northern California just had it in for us.

On the plus side, Matt’s sister, who lives nearby, had met us with some delicious baked goods and fruit (thanks Nicole!) and showed us the way into Arcata. This hip little town has a great surf shop called Greenhouse Surf, so we paid a visit and drummed up some interest in the ways of wood. A few coffees later, we hightailed it out of town and set our course for San Francisco. The drive took us through some of the most beautiful areas of the state, winding roads through forests of towering cedar and redwood.

Some construction delays in the mountains set us a bit behind, but the guys at Proof Lab in Mill Valley were really nice and waited ‘till after hours for us. After a good visit there, we rolled down to Ocean Beach in San Francisco where we pulled up to the curb in time to witness a gaggle of rats fighting it out along the seawall. Just when we were heating up a late canned dinner, the police rolled alongside and made us push on – no bad thing considering the rats. A vacant lot behind Aqua Surf shop became Grain’s West Coast office this Thursday night.

Friday - Ocean Beach, Suicide Texting and the Shins

Pre-dawn Friday, we moved the two blocks back down to Ocean Beach and set up for our first demo in the area. Waves were big and stormy, but a good number of people still came to check out the boards.

A few of our custom board and kit customers came out as well, and it was really nice to meet them and see their boards first hand. We were psyched to see Emily and to check out the great job she did on her board.

With a little prodding from our Home Grown customer Emily, Matt decided to paddle out and brave the ridiculous conditions with her.

Despite the waves and the current against them, they managed to get a few inside rides as the waves reformed.

Danny Hess also stopped by to welcome us to the neighborhood. We’ve been seeing more and more of his boards around, and they look great. We were hoping to visit his shop, but he had to go to his glasser all the way down in Santa Cruz to pick up boards and wouldn’t be back ’till late.

After the demo, we visited Mollusk Surf Shop. This shop is a mecca for any surfer, with an amazing lineup of boards - hulls, bonzers, fishes and longboards - a real candy store.

With a relatively free afternoon, we decided to take an hour drive north to see if we could find a break protected from the relentless wind. The road north hugs the side of slopes hundreds of feet above the water.

Tight hairpin turns with sheer cliffs alongside is scary enough, but our 30′ behemoth RV on a road that seemed designed for sportscars and sport bikes was clearly a poor choice. Multi-tasking Matt was undaunted. Text messaging local contacts and snapping pics while banging around turns and flooring it up steep grades, he eventually got us to a quiet little spot where Brad, Mike and Matt suited up for a relaxed session.

The local crowd was super-friendly to us and we caught some nice waist and chest high peelers. We didn’t have the only wood boards there, though… there was a Hess kneeboard in the lineup! Nice.

After another hair-raising ride up and over the pass, we met up with Randy who had flown out from Maine to join us for the southern part of the trip. The whole group of us (plus a few) met up with Clayton and Shelly, some old friends of Randy’s from Costa Rica who live in Berkeley. Shelly’s a concert promoter and arranged to get us all back stage tickets for the Shins at the Greek Theater on the UC Berkeley campus. It was an already amazing day, but the show and the back-stage scene was a capper for sure.

We had a great time looking at Clayton’s classic quiver (maybe thirty boards) and had some deeply lusted-for hot showers after the show. Getting our clean bodies back into our rank, dudey smelling RV and returning to our charming vacant-lot location for a fast five-hour crash brought us back to the surreality of this thing called “Grain Goes West”.

Wednesday - Late. Pumping South to Moonstone.

See our revised Tour Schedule Here.

We woke up today at Devils Punch Bowl State Park parked a short walk from Otter Rock Beach. The days of rain had stopped, the sun was finally showing and we began drying things out. The surf didn’t look a lot better than the day before, but with the sun came renewed energy, and a couple people paddled out.

Andrew Ross, one of our custom board customers, came out with his “Thrustling” (a Grain round-tail Sapling with H-2 thrusters) and jumped in the water.

He and Matt swapped boards giving both the Root and Andrew’s board some play in the sub-par conditions.

Matt also christened the 6-0 bamboo board - we had to remember to tell everyone that it is glassed with bamboo - not made of it.

A number of other people stopped by to check out the boards – it’s always fun to tell people that there isn’t any foam inside our boards when they don’t expect to hear it. With all the veneered boards and wood-grain pop-outs around, it’s a natural mistake to make. One guy (Ryan) left his new wood-veneer surftech on the beach and took our trusty ten-footer out instead.

Eventually we left the beach and ran off to some shops. We made a quick stop at Ossies Surf Shop and got some much needed coffee from the shop next store (no coffee maker in the camper!). Our next stop was the Ocean Pulse Surf Shop in Newport. Andrew turned us on to this shop and we were really glad to stop by. Tom, the co-owner of the shop and a shaper himself spent a lot of time with us. He was really stoked on our boards and kits and thought they’d go over really well with the local surfers.

By midday, we were off to Eugene, Oregon ‘cause a couple friends had recommended that we trek inland to connect with the active year-round community of surfers there. Sure enough, even as we were parked by the curb, people were even knocking on the camper’s door to ask about the boards.

In Eugene, we started out at Boardsports then shot over to Tactics. Even though we are hitting a lot of shops, we learn something at almost every one and find great people with interesting feedback. With the official business behind us, we stopped for some dinner, then a much needed shower at Matt’s generous friends, the Pyles. Their home felt super warm and cozy, partly due to the thick-walled strawbale construction.

We hit the road late for a five-hour drive through redwood country that will get us to Moonstone Beach and Arcata California around 3 am. With Matt behind the wheel and the rest of us dozing off, the lumbering camper’s headlights slice through the night as the road gets narrower and the trees, bigger.

Tuesday - Evening. Sitting Tight at Cannon Beach.

See our revised Tour Schedule Here.

Nothing better after a rainy day than big leather chairs, hot drinks and getting in touch with your friends. This internet cafe in Cannon Beach couldn’t be better place to recap the day.

We made it to Short Sands this morning followed by a bunch of the guys from Instrument - which includes Mike’s brother Vin and his partner Justin - who were there with us on a field day away from the office. They are the Portland-based group that put our website together and helps us to figure out the business side of what we do. Our friend Denis also came out, and as a group, these guys really get the credit for Grain’s website design as well as our logo. Thanks for the amazing work guys.

Conditions were big, sloppy and onshore, but we met a few surfers out there despite the rain and wind and nasty conditions. Matt took a shot at a few waves on his 5′10″ Waka anyway…

The boards look like they grew here, it is so wet and verdant, wild and primeval feeling.

Later, we headed on over to Seaside and Cannon Beach (picked up Sloth, Chunk and One-Eyed Willy) and visited Seaside Surf Shop, Cleanline Surf and Cannon Beach Surf all in the effort of spreading the wood.

The Grain crew feel right at home here in Oregon. These seasonal towns remind us of our own base in York Maine. There is a similar mindset in regards to the environment we live and surf in, and there is a real community that make these places special.

By the end of the day, we were excited to have Cleanline Surf Shop signing on as a Home Grown dealer. Wooden surfboards and the idea of build-it-yourself kits is a snowballing movement. It seems that for every surfer that builds his or her own board, another dozen hear about it. Even so, we consider each Home Grown dealer a partner in our mission to spread the wood and offer a product that will have more impact on your surfing and less on the environment.

Wednesday - Dark Hours before Dawn. In the camper.
The snoring in here is unbelieveable. The sides of the camper are practically flexing from the pure power of it.

Monday - Early AM. Heading to the Oregon coast.

See our revised Tour Schedule Here.

It’s Day two of the Grain Spreading the Wood Tour – though it feels more like four days. And for good reason. After a 24-hour travel day started at 2:45 in the morning, we spent the next 20-hour day getting our show on the road from our starting point in Portland Oregon.

The crate of all crates arrived with only minor damage, but all was well inside so Matt and Brad camped out in the DHL warehouse for a couple of hours to unpack and break it down. Our first thanks go out to Trish and the whole DHL crew from Boston to Portland, they were great to us.

Soon Mike and Greg rolled up in our biggest environmental compromise to date; a giant, gaudy RV from some rental place. We had scoured Craigslist and Ebay for some cool, biodiesel camper or bus that we could buy for the two-week blast down the PCH. We actually found something we thought would do, only to have it sold out from under us three days before the trip started. So if you see the ugliest camper in the world with wood boards strapped to the roof, it can only be us. We’re on the lookout for something more permanent for our next trip out here.

We had a good, long visit with the guys at Gorge Performance in Portland. They have a great little cluster of rustic shacks and buildings in their own little back-alley, definitely our kind of place. Matt showed us around, we met a bunch of their customers, showed our boards and had a great time. Nice people and we are really looking forward to working with them. You’ll be able to pick up our Home Grown Kits there as soon as we put their order together. We got some advice on surf spots and headed out for US Outdoor Store in the center of the city, which is an adventure in itself in the camper.

So now, we hurtle through dim morning light to the rocky rain-bound coast… should feel like home…