It feels like things never slow down around here, but I suppose that’s a good thing. As we speak, we’re in a mad scramble to put the finishing touches on a bunch of new boards that we plan to bring to the upcoming Sacred Craft Show. The show is April 10th and 11th at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura California. It’s a great show that’s all about boards and the folks that make them, so if you’d like to meet some of the great shapers of all time, this is the place.

We decided to leave Brad at home to hold down the fort, but myself and Johnny Hamblett will be coming out from Maine to man the booth. John’s built a lot of boards that come out of our shop, so if you’ve got one with his signature on the bottom, this will be a good chance to come out and put a face with a name.

Here’s a preview of just a few of the boards that we’re planning to have in the booth. We look forward to seeing you there.

Last summer, we had the pleasure of working with a crew of guys from the New York City creative agency, Exposure. They came up to do a photo shoot in our shop for one of their clients products, the Casio G’zOne, but the stars aligned, and swell from Hurricane Bill arrived the same time that they did.

Thursday night March 18th, G’zOne will be hosting a film screening and an exhibition of photographs at Saturdays Surf NYC in SoHo (map). Brad and I will be on hand with the crew from Exposure to showcase the body of work that came out of that trip, which includes a short film on life in the Grain shop . Images from the shop, and around the area as well as of the epic waves that lit up the coast will be on display for all to enjoy.

Hope to see you there.

It’s always a great compliment when people travel from afar to take a class at our shop. And about a year ago, a guy named Mori came all the way from Japan just to build a board here in Maine. It seemed that Mori, recently laid off from his job, was casting about a bit trying to figure out what was next for him. Somehow it occurred to him that hanging around in Maine for a week would be a good idea. We had a great time with Mori – he was so fun to talk to, and so completely stoked on the boards and the surf we got that week that it was a perfect.

While building his own 6’5″ Seed, he got to know our friend Ty Williams who then ended up flying over to Japan for a visit. The two palled around for a while, heading off to Bali for some surf and generally enjoying life. Back in Japan, but tired of the rat race, Mori decided it was time to make a change. So he joined forces with Akio, a good friend of his, and helped along by Ty’s creative input, they created a new surf shop in Kanagawa, Japan called “Buoys”.

While Mori was here, he had a chance to try several of our designs (and Ty’s had a wood board for years) but it wasn’t ’til Buoys was coming together that they started talking about our boards for the new shop. After talking it over, Akio placed an order for four Paipos including an experimental 5’2″ that we’re really excited about. I guess you never know how one thing will lead to another: Mori coming here out of pure love of the idea of surfing wood, leading to a web of friendships that ended in our sharing our boards with Japan.

We feel so lucky to have grown these friendships, and to have had the opportunity to build boards for this special shop. We also know how excited the guys at Buoys are to have these cool Paipos to share with their customers, so if you live near Kanagawa, be sure to stop by.

The new issue (#15) of Slide Magazine is out and in it is a great look back on how Grain came to be, with words by Jon Coen and photos by Nick. Be sure to pick a copy at your local surf shop or book store or order it online from Slide. Download the pdf here for a preview.

Slide Magazine, Cover Issue 15 (click for pdf)