Mark your calendars, Saturday October 16th, make your way to 60 Brixham Rd for our annual Fall Party and Potluck. Bring some grub to share and enjoy the company of others. Festivities kick off around 4pm with live music by our own Gemini Meeh and his band Pressure’s On. Around 6:30pm just after the sun goes down, we’ll be showing Cyrus Suttons new film Stoked and Broke.

A heroic effort to get a surf trip on the road using no fossil fuels and with no money, two minimalist surfers bounce around SoCal using homemade bamboo rickshaws and skateboards. Shown outside on the wall of our shop – weather permitting – screening this movie on a farm in Maine is not to be missed. There’ll be a $5 charge per person for the movie.

We’ve got a good pile of cedar cutoff’s saved up, so a good bonfire is probably in order as well.

Clear your calendar, we’ll see you on the 16th.

We got word recently that Keith Malloy would be passing through this way, but when he and Surfer Mag photographer Chris Burkhard hooked up with Nick, it seemed a sure thing we’d see them at the shop at some point.

We had no idea that their visit would turn into what it did. With the uncanny timing that’s come seem standard around this place, not only did Keith and Chris land in York just in time for days of hurricane swell, they also got here just as we were getting ready to try our freshly shaped hand plane made from plank scraps. Since they’ve recently started filming a new body-surfing film, they spent a lot of time with the hand plane and also our quiver of paipos getting some great images and some great waves on the very last days of summer and maybe the best of the year.

Here are some pics for the scrapbook.

Loading up and heading to the beach in Nick’s 63′ Econoline.

The lineup, including some experimental shapes.

Our friend Shem, down from the Green Mountains with hopes of seeing the green room.

Keith, paipo sesh…

Does it get any better then this moment?

As surfers, we’re often living in the moment, not thinking too much about what lies ahead. We’ve gotten so many requests for classes that have already filled however, that we felt we had to get our full schedule up for 2011. That’ll also give time for students to plan around vacation dates or – if you’re like one couple in our last class – your honeymoon arrangements.

We’ve been having so much fun hosting students here at our shop that we’re adding even more dates for next year. We’re also working on some new class ideas tentatively including a class in building alaia’s with Jon Wegener and making your own handplane with Cyrus Sutton.
Check here for our new schedule and give us a call at 207-457-5313 to sign up.

Still need some convincing? Here is some feedback that we received from this years students:

“I am still finding myself daydreaming of my visit to Maine.Thanks for all the hospitality,Virginia might have something to learn from y’all.”

“I can’t really say this enough, but many thanks for a great week last week. I really had a great time and I’m really happy to be part of the ever growing grain family!”

“I had a really great time up there and I feel very lucky to have met all of you. I hope we all stay in touch and get back together for a possible surf classic at some point.”

“Thanks for this wonderful gift guys, the whole experience of building the board and also Maine and meeting all the folks has been priceless! I think i may be hooked..1st I did’nt know cedar was addictive (I miss the smell of cedar in the morning) and 2nd..I’m already itching to build another board.”

Look forward to having you here.

We’ve had a virtual parade of tropical depressions and hurricanes marching up the east coast lately, and more are on their way. It’s not often that it gets really good here, but when it does, there’s no better place to be. Because of that, we often get roving bands of surfers knocking on our doors, looking for a couch to sleep on or just some tips on where to surf. This past week we had the king of the couch surfers in town, Dave Rastovich. We’ve been keeping in touch with Rasta ever since he built a board with us on the north shore of Oahu. Dave heard about the pending waves, and hopped a plane for the northeast.

We really enjoyed spending time with Dave, he really is one of the best house guests you could ask for. Always interesting to talk to, great on the Ukulele, and a really talented cook. But he didn’t come all this way just for domestic duties. He and Nick scoured the Maine coast for days seeking out new waves. While they enjoyed some great sessions around the more known surf spots, their scouting paid off, and word has it that they scored in a big way in some spots that few others have ever seen.

Here’s a glimpse from Dave’s visit, but keep an eye on Get in the Van as well Surfer Magazine in the coming days and weeks for more.

John, Mike and Dave talk bottom contours over a Spray.

Explaining our unique milling process.

All wood is good, we have a huge respect for the Tom and Jon Wegener and all the Alaia surfers out there.

Since we started building boards, we’ve spent quite a bit of time exploring our coastlines. We’ve visited dozens of surf shops, some of our favorites we’ve stopped at over and over, just to drool over what other shapers/ builders are doing. Building boards in Maine, we’re a little removed from the mainstream surf scene, but all in all we think that’s not a bad thing.

Between our boards, kits and classes, we’ve had customers from all over the US and Canada, Japan, Norway, Iraq, Singapore, Australia, Mexico, Bali, France, Portugal and more.

Here in the US, while the majority of the boards and kit orders that we receive come to us directly from individual surfers, we do have a small but growing community of retail shops that are helping to spread the word on Grain. Some of these shops might stock a board or two, others may have kits, but each one is excited about what we’re doing, and we’re proud to have them as spokespeople of our brand.

In no particular order, here’s a list:
Our newest dealer: Ride the Wind in Ocracoke NC.
Cinnamon Rainbows in Hampton NH.
Farias Surf and Sport in Long Beach Island NJ.
Liquid Dreams in Ogunquit Me.
Nor’Easter Surf Shop in Scituate Ma.
Corduroy Boutique in Portland Me.
Quiksilver Surf Shop in Miami Beach Fl.
ZJ’s Boarding House in Santa Monica Ca.
Wetsand Surf Shop in Ventura Ca.
Channel Islands Retail Stores in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles California.
Cleanline Surf Shop in Seaside Or.
Edition Hotel- Waikiki Hi.
Buoys in Kanagawa Japan
Chesepeake Light Craft In Annapolis Md. And speaking of CLC, they recently sent their demo truck out to the west coast, and along with all their beautiful boats, they have one of our 6’5″ Seed display boards. So if you’re curious what our boards look like and want to get a glimpse how they are built, check out their demo schedule here.

Buoys in Kanagawa Japan

Be sure to check out these shops and let them know that your interested in our boards. If you have any suggestions for other shops that you think we should be in, we’d love to hear from you…or better yet, let them know that if they stocked our products, we’d have you as a customer in common.

Thanks for all your support.