Archive for April, 2008

I recently returned from a surf trip to Alaska with pro surfer and Grain Surfboards poster boy, Ben McBrien. Back in the early months of ‘06 Ben spent many weeks in our basement banging his head and building the first two 5′4 Waka’s ever. Lucky for us Ben brought his board along for the trip to Alaska. What I witnessed over the next 8 days was pure magic between Ben and that board. After returning home I asked him to write a few words about his experience. Below is what showed up in my inbox only minutes later.

Ben and his 5′4 Waka’s in ‘06

“If you asked me a week ago to describe my wooden board I would have told you it was a novelty board. Sure it looks good. Yeah it’s a miracle of modern woodworking. But looks only go so far until you combine the right board with the right wave and I had ridden it only 5 times with only marginal success in the wrong conditions for it.

Taking the plunge in icy Alaskan waters

Alaska is more beautiful than any tropical destination on earth. For serious!!!!! Walking out of the snow and moss covered forest and seeing driftwood piled up on the dunes, four foot round trees thrown onto the beach like matchsticks, and oil slick glass with a perfect head high swell reeling just off the beach was a dream come true. It was clear that I had chosen wisely. But my first session with the wood board was not what I expected. First of all we were at a beach break and I was working against the weight of the board once again and second, I was chased from the water within 10 minutes by the Alaskan locals, Sea Lions; huge, hulking, masses of gristle and fat coming at me with teeth-bared. I was out of there.

Perfect trim

GLIDE… that is the gift of a wood board. Taking off on my first wave I realized that this board and this wave were meant for one another and I was along for the ride. I could go on for hours bro-ing out over how perfect my session was but it won’t do it any justice. I’ll just let Nick’s pictures do the talking.

I had one of the most perfect sessions of my life the first night, I was on fire, (if I don’t mind saying so) riding the board better than I had ever guessed I could.

Hard on a rail in Alaska

This board has been through a lot in its life and put me through a lot as well. Like all the greats this board went out on a high note, in it’s prime, like the Beatles or Seinfeld. I want to remember that session for the rest of my life and I may not ever ride it again. I’m never going to top that session, and that’s fine with me.

Chased out of Alaska from all angles

Brad has just finished building one of our newest designs to date, and we think it’s going to turn some heads. Our friend, who sails as a chief mate on oil tankers, asked us to build him a custom longboard suited for our local conditions and well as to his physical size and style of surfing. Nothing in our current line was really right for him, so a new shape was required.

Developing new shapes for custom orders is a growing part of our custom board building business, but it requires a whole pile of additional steps, the most important of which is getting as much input from the surfer as possible.

For smaller modifications, when we have a current design as a starting point, we can begin the construction process and alter the frame shapes as we go. But for completely new shapes, we draw new designs using a 3D CAD program. This enables us to design boards in 3D space and create the exact shape we’re looking for. We can send models to our customers for review and really dial in the shape that our customer has been dreaming of. From there we design the internal structure, create the frames and check them out to be confident that we got it right.

Our new mini-tanker

For this mini-tanker, we chose our 8′ Sapling as a starting point, pumping it up to a more classic longboard shape. Brad started by adding width and volume to the nose and tail of the board for more glide and to make it a sure-fire wave-catcher. He rounded out the rails keeping them full to create some suction in the softer, slower waves we get around here, transitioning to a tucked rail toward the tail for speed.

Flat entry, and a gentle belly running to a slight ‘V’ at the fins should help this board serve surfers of all skill levels. The 2+1 setup allows this mini-tanker to surf as a traditional single-fin or for more control and performance, with sidebites. We designed it to work well in a variety of conditions, but it’s definitely intended for the lighter-weight longboarder looking for a classic glide.

This new board’s dimensions are 8′ x 22 3/8″ x 3″, 19″ nose width and 15.25″ tail width.

The current 8′ Sapling and 9′ Root with the new 8′ mini-tanker

Let us know what you think as we’re considering adding to our line in the coming weeks, if there is enough good support for this board.

Thanks.

Our Spring Special ends this Sunday April 13th. If you’re thinking of buying a kit and are looking for ways to save money on tools, now is the time.

Place your order before midnight on Sunday April 13th and get a free Stanley Spokeshave, the most useful tool you could have with your new kit.

Happy Spring, and keep checking back for more news from Grain Surfboards.

Ever since I was young, I dreamed of living on the coast of Maine. I’m not sure what first sparked my interest, but I know from a young age, I was drawn to the water, and the boats that floated on it. Growing up, we’d go to the Jersey Shore in the summer and my family would lay on the beach all day, but I was happiest at the boatyards, walking the docks.

One day at a bookstore I opened up Wooden Boat Magazine, and everything changed. Every page I looked at was filled with beautiful wooden boats, rowing, sailing and power. Compared to the fiberglass production boats seen running around our waterfronts these days, these boats had character and romance and were built for a purpose. Suddenly everything became clear and I realized my love for traditional boats and our maritime history.

You can’t really think of Maine without thinking of boats. No other place in the country has such a rich connection with the sea, from fishing and coasting schooners built by the thousands to lobster boats and dories used to fish.

When I finally did move to Maine, and prior to building wooden surfboards, my first job was working for a boat builder named Paul Rollins, http://www.rollinsboatshop.com/. Paul learned from the best and has been building and restoring classic wooden boats for over 30 years. It was in Paul’s shop, one summer day laying down a deck on an old cruiser where the dream of building wooden surfboards was born.

For the last year or so, just down the road from Grain, Paul and his crew have been working away on a schooner named Magnolia. On a bright December day, some of the crew from our shop had the pleasure of joining friends and family at the launch of the Magnolia and I realized finally, I was exactly where I wanted to be.