Our holiday sale will be ending soon. Get 10% off all of our kits and clothing now. The sale will be ending at midnight on 12/31/07
Thanks to all of our customers for a great year.
Were looking forward to 2008!
Happy New Year
The Grain crew
We’ve been burning board dimensions, signatures and more into our wooden surfboards for a while now. Engraving into the wood is so much more satisfying then simply using a pencil. Wood burning gives the writing a sense of permanency and has a real unique look seldom seen on a surfboard.
With those thoughts in mind, we’ve been dreaming of a Grain logo branding iron for years, and we finally “bit the bullet” and had one made. Carved out of solid bronze and heated until red hot, our custom board logos will now have the timeless look of scorched wood.
Our in-house artist and board builder, Randy Gaetano, is also unveiling some new artwork he has just finished on one of our custom boards. Burned in with a wood burning pen, Randy has done some beautiful detailed artwork. On the board pictured below, he used prismacolor artists markers to fill in the artwork to really bring it to life.
If you’re interested in custom artwork on your board, we’d love to design something with you. You can contact Randy directly at randy@grainsurfboards.com
I can’t tell you how excited we all are to be featured in the newest issue (volume sixteen, number 6) of Surfers Journal. SJ is a top of the line surf magazine and worthy of collecting. SJ is filled with amazing stories of surf and adventure from around the world, top quality color photos, and almost no ads! Pretty refreshing.
Surfer’s Journal staff came to us almost a year ago about writing a story on the growing interest in building surfboards from sustainable materials. This article would be in no doubt an answer to the growing desire among surfers and readers to reduce their impact on the environment within which they live and play.
In an article entitled “Material Benefits”, Grain is featured alongside California’s Danny Hess, as new materials and processes are explored. Exerpted from the story: “Hess and [Grain] bring fresh contributions to the craft and have wholly committed to wood as their medium, finding a niche among those who love the smooth power of wood, the feel of the wave through the board, and the beauty of the grain”.
Here’s the cover and story photos:
Grain’s own Greg Cyr taking a stroll on the 10′ Waterlog below:
Keep an eye out for the issue and thanks to Surfer’s Journal for the great magazine!
So we have some good news and bad news. What do you want first?
We’ll start with the good:
We’ve had the busiest couple of weeks that Grain Surfboards has ever seen and we’re shipping a ton of kits, boards, apparel and gift certificates out the door. We’re so happy to be helping to spread the wood and good words of Grain Surfboards farther and wider this holiday season.
…And now the bad news:
Because we’re so tied up in the shop, starting today, December 11th, any kit orders placed will not be available for delivery until after the holiday. Some orders placed in the coming days may not deliver until early January.
… More good news:
We are leaving our online store sale active for another week or two, so Order Now to get the best deals.
Thanks and Happy Holidays.
Nick LaVecchia and Randy Gaetano recently returned from an N’east Mag surf trip to Ireland. Below are some thoughts and photos highlighting the trip and the once in a century waves they witnessed.
Ireland was really an amazing trip. We were fortunate in our timing and got to experience Ireland in some ways, at it’s best. We drove thru much of the west coast’s lush countryside in search of waves, castles and creamy Guinness. The locals warmly welcomed our crew from the other side of the Atlantic- a great group of surfers, writers, photographers and significant others, who were on an “Out of Bounds” trip for N’EAST Mag.
Usually on a trip, especially one of only 9 days, you’re presented with one epic aspect, maybe two. Our trip was so blessed that you would think we lived there for a month. We stayed in the most amazing straw-roofed cottages on sheep covered hills. As soon as we arrived we surfed some really perfect, fun days– only to be discover huge swell on the way for later in the week. We witnessed one of the surfers in our crew, Jamie Moran, tear up some of the biggest waves I’ve ever seen the Atlantic produce. A huge storm hit while we were there, allowing one Irish surfer to break the Irish big wave record of 55 feet.
We ate really amazing food, the best sheperd’s pie and raw oysters I’ve ever had in my life. We went to pubs and listened to traditional music and drank the best Guinness. We saw castles and old towers, even surfed out in front of one that was 900 years old. We saw rainbows everywhere, even a few rare Irish blue skies. We made new friends. We witnessed 50 foot waves crashing into the Cliffs of Moher with 120 mph winds at sunset! Probably the most stunning panorama I’ve ever seen and definitely the craziest wind I’ve ever tried to walk against.
One of my favorite aspects though was the feeling I got from paddling out in Ireland on our 6′0 quad Wherry with bamboo cloth. It felt so great to be an ambassador, taking this sacred object to new waters. In the line up, it was like I was given carte blanche. Guys just wanted to see the board up close. When you’d go for a wave, people would just get out of your way. I felt like our fish was made for this right-hander we found, it would just carve these walls forever, always generating momentum. And when the offshore wind picked up, I didn’t have to cheat inside cause the little extra weight from the bamboo cloth helped me get in earlier than the foamies. I could have stayed on that wave for days.
The holidays are just around the corner, so now’s the time to order your HomeGrown Surfboard Kit!
If you’re considering a Grain Kit for your favorite surfer or builder and expect delivery by December 25th, you must place your order before Monday December 10th.
Also, to make holiday delivery times, all Grain Gift Certificates, Apparel, Tools and Prints need to be ordered by Monday December 17th.
Happy Holidays and thanks for all your support!
Mike