Archive for May, 2008

After a nice little holiday weekend, the Grain crew eased back into the swing of things with an adventure packed field trip to Portland’s Corduroy Surf Shop and Boutique. Everyone was pretty excited to pile into “the Pug” (our stylin’ 1966 Grumman Step Van) and open ‘er up after all of her recent ‘modifications’. So we loaded in some kits, one of our new long boards, a pile of apparel to handout, and our showroom’s three person couch. Ready to roll. Mike at the helm, we began our barrel up 95, wind in our hair, shifting gears, and everyone on the interstate motoring right by us as we dominated the slow lane.

Spirits high, we were making our way to see surfer artists Andy Davis, Tyler Warren and Jeff Canham for their Corduroy stop on the Ando and Friends “Unleashed in the East” tour. All was well until ol’ Pug started to sound a bit taxed and a worrisome cloud of dark smoke began billowing from the engine housing. After a couple of shoulder stops, a quart and a half of oil, and a limping pace….we rolled up to Corduroy.

A bit late, and a bit bummed at the Pug’s fate, we were excited to head into the shop to check things out. Jim, Tyler and the Corduroy crew threw a smashing event and the Grain kids’ forgot their Pug woes as we mingled with Ando and Friends, our own friends and other guests. (Later, we would face the fact that Pug must be abandoned in Portland after suffering a fatal blow to the engine. We were rescued by an angel in a minivan).

The next day, Ando and Friends stopped in for a visit at the Grain shop. It was great to have them here, scoping out our day-to-day, skating around the shop, and getting the chance to chat with everyone. Thanks to Andy and crew for dropping in. Good luck on the rest of the tour.

Words from the immortal and talented Lissa Luckey
* By the way, if anyone knows of a cheap Chevy straight-six, we need one!

We had so much positive response on the recent wooden surfboard building workshop that we wanted to announce the next ones as soon as possible.

Course Schedule is as follows:

Classes begin Sunday mornings and end Saturday

August 17 thru August 23 – FULL

September 21 thru September 27 – NEW

October 26 thru November 1 – NEW

NOTE: Full payment is required to reserve a spot.

Spring Class of 2008 – our first!

The classes are held right in our shop in York, Maine where you’ll learn alongside the same builders that craft our custom wooden surfboards from locally grown, sustainable white cedar. At the end of the seven-day class, each student will walk away with their own hand-built, wooden surfboard.

Throughout the week you will learn the following skills:

Each student will take home his/her own board ready for glassing and finishing on their own. Glassing demonstrations will be held in the evenings to help students with the basics. Materials used in the board and those to be taken home with the student are the same as we use in our Grain Home Grown Surfboard kits. The cost of the Home Grown kit is included in the course.

Students will have their choice of building our 9’ Root or 10′ Waterlog longboards. Two instructors will be available to guide each student through the easy step-by-step process to ensure that each board that leaves the shop will be a beautiful one-of-a-kind surfboard that will last a lifetime. Our Wooden Surfboard building manual will also be distributed as part of the materials for the course.

Tuition for the week-long course is $1,575.00, which includes the cost of the Home Grown Surfboard kit.

This tuition covers 7 days of instruction, all materials, including glassing supplies, use of all necessary shop tools, access to the shop, including your own shaping stand and rocker table, as well as full hot breakfast and lunch each day. Students are responsible for their own accommodations and dinner; we’re happy to recommend some nice places around the area.

Five new boards in the Grain Shop

The Grain shop has plenty of room for each student to spread out and enjoy the process. We have a great mill shop complete with state of the art dust collection, a full kitchen, bathrooms, shower, wireless internet, and plenty of space outside to enjoy the sunshine. The shop is conveniently located within a short drive to the beach and surf.

Located just an hour north of Boston, York, Maine is a historic, coastal village with beaches, shops, great restaurants and lodging right in town.

We’ll post more information on these surfboard building classes soon, but note that past classes have filled in just a few days, so please call or email to reserve your shaping stand soon.

Please feel feel free to call us at 207-457-5313 or email mike@grainsurfboards.com with any questions.

Look forward to seeing you at the shop!

In some way, I have been a teacher for most of my adult life. Long ago it was as a ship’s officer aboard educational and research vessels teaching young people lessons in seamanship, navigation and being a good shipmate. More recently it was at the University of New Hampshire teaching condensed courses in GIS. So I have had a pile of great experiences with students – often watching them gain new skills in intense situations that required a compressed time-frame and the need to gain skills rapidly.

But nothing compares to the experience we had with the guys from the Spring 2008 Longboard Workshop last week. You couldn’t have five more stoked guys – friendly, fun, relaxed and more than willing to be the guinea pigs in our first-ever attempt to teach others the process of building their own surfboard. And they simply sucked up knowledge. They were all enthusiastic, quick to learn, careful workmen that took the time to add great looking detail to their boards.

We didn’t know what to expect of this experience going in – we even wondered if it could be done since almost all of them had little or no woodworking experience! The week started first thing Sunday morning with breakfast in the builder’s lounge at the shop (all our meals were prepared by our good friend Molly who impressed the guys twice a day with fresh, freakishly good food). For the seven days following, there was always a mix of stuff, sometimes demonstration, sometimes a chalk-talk. But mostly, it was full on, hands on, getting-it-done surfboard-building where the five guys – each with his own building station – constructed a 9’-0” Root or 10’-0” Waterlog.

Mike, myself and John all cycled through the shop as instructors, but make no mistake – these guys did the work themselves and built five very impressive boards with high-quality attention to detail. A couple of the fellas even made some changes to the shapes of the boards as they constructed them based on what they learned about rail and board shape principles and to suit their own preferences.

One problem we had was that we couldn’t get them out of the shop at the end of the day – they just wanted to stay and stay to keep working on their boards. We crammed a lot of board building and learning into the seven days they were here. We also had time for a few nights on the town, a trip to a local surf shop, an impromptu lobster bake with new and old friends and a first-rate morning session during which everyone surfed wood.

Here are a few great quotes from the guys after the Course ended. It occurs to me that these guys may not fully realize how great this whole experience was for us too. We had nothing but fun, and we can’t think of a better bunch of guys to be our first.

Check back or subscribe to our newsletter to get word of future wood surfboard building courses and new announcements we have coming up. Thanks.

“Excellent food, Molly Rules!”

“Most memorable: The surfing, the lobster jam, the night at the bar, the amazing board I’m leaving with. I feel like I have new friends. I would recommend the class to anybody interested in surfing or woodworking!”

Thanks,

Brad