We’re always struck when traveling that the world simply vibrates with variety – easy to forget in our little corner of New England. While the class here in San Francisco is humming away inside a firehouse built in 1896, I take a fiver out on the city street as the trolleys roll by sparking the wires overhead. I watch the little neighborhood pretty constantly come and go, sometimes meeting the neighbors, even being checked by a guy named Chico to see if I am lurking with bad intent. It’s more motion and more people of different colors than I see in York in a month – and the fact that an architect and his motor-cycling, chef-ing, graphic designer wife made their home in an old firehouse in this working class neighborhood impresses me more than just a little. “Out of the ordinary” seems to be normal here, and doing what moves you appears to be fully freed from the bounds of social expectations or trends or fads.

Case in point is the Dolphin Club, where on this night, our host Jay took Allen and me… In a nearly labyrinthine, ancient, wood frame “club house” on a pier that looks past nearby Alcatraz to the Golden Gate, over a thousand members share a weird lust for swimming in the cold waters of the Bay, sometimes out to Alcatraz and back, logging hundreds of actual miles in nothing but a speedo and goosebumps. Tuesday is “Boat Night” which doesn’t mean you meet for cocktails on a yacht; it means you show up in work clothes to sand varnish on one of their dozen or so brightly finished lapstrake rowing boats. Your labors earn you a seat at a long table set amongst the beautiful old wooden pulling boats which – thanks to Boat Night – are almost all in service constantly. One amazing home-cooked meal, a few glasses of wine, and a dozen eclectic conversations later, we ambled back along the dark waterfront, a 5’4 Waka under my arm. The mold-breakers at the Dolphin Club had alot of questions about it, and had seen it as sharing – with their boats – a kinship of quality; something with soul, something out of the ordinary.

Well, the summer has passed by and life on the coast of Maine is starting to get back to the way it should be. Undoubtedly one of the busiest times we’ve ever had, but we finally seem to be coming up for air. While Brad, Nolan and Allen are in San Francisco instructing a new group of budding board-builders how to DIY, John, Gemini, Brendan, Alison and I are here at the shop catching up on all the things that have fallen behind. We’re also prepping to head out to Southern California for Sacred Craft on October 8th and 9th at the DelMar Fairgrounds. With an honoree like Carl Ekstrom, this falls show promises to be one to remember.

With some quiet time in the shop and a few minutes to focus on why we love what we do, it seemed like an opportune time to show you a few of the things that make us smile everyday. Hope you enjoy them.

Glass-ons.

Experimenting.

New Friends.

New designs thanks to new friends.

Shapes.

Winning the battle.

Gloss Coats.

Getting organized.

Loud and Proud.

Successful dumpster diving.

Committing to better ways.

A lifetimes worth of fin rope.

Surprise visitors.

And more gloss coats.

Enough words – enjoy this cool little video from Dylan Ladds & Ryan Scura at SurfNH

We wanted to take a few minutes to thank everyone involved, from our invited guests to every one of the four hundred or so that attended for an absolutely amazing Surf Re-Evolution. We heard from more then one person that it was an inspiring, eye opening event that clearly touched hearts and minds as we hoped it would.

We had a packed house in the Grain shop with glassing demonstration by Rey from Entropy Resin with their 50% bio based resins. Our good friend Tyler from Corduroy Gallery transformed an old dairy barn into a stunning art gallery and theater. Cyrus Sutton’s film “Under the Sun” was played in the barn to a crowd of 120+ people. From there our panel discussion took place with guests including Thomas Meyerhoffer, Jon Wegener, Ed Lewis, Rey Banatao, and Randy Budd. Outside, we were dazzled by the sounds of Speed of Sand, our appetites were satisfied by mouth watering treats like Flat Bread Pizza, cotton candy and popcorn. And as the sun went down, everyone gathered under the nearly full moon for the east coast premiere of “Manufacturing Stoke”. What party would be complete without a giant bonfire to light up the night.

We also need to thank Eco-Movement for helping to make this a zero waste event, Surfrider’s New Hampshire chapter for helping to educate people on water quality issues, Eastern Surf Magazine for spreading the word, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery for the libations and of course Korduroy.tv for their support both before the event and the night of.

When a group like this gets together, there is a powerful message being sent… that it’s time for a change in the surf industry and time to begin thinking about where your products are coming from. It’s time to begin supporting people who are venturing outside of the norm, whether it be new shapes, better construction, greener materials, or a DIY ethic. Together we can make a re-evolutionary change.

We’ve already begun thinking about how we can make next year’s event bigger and better. So thanks to everyone who attended for making this a really special day.

The shop’s been humming the last few days primping for what we hope will be a great time on Saturday. Besides all the interesting invited guests we’ve been blogging about, we’re going to make sure there’s plenty of fun to be had once we abandon the beach and head back to the farm. Here’s the full schedule.

We lined up three separate friends with good hearts and the whimsical foresight to own carnival carts that serve up popcorn, cotton candy and shave ice. Eat ’til you’re sick.

The surfers that run Flatbread Pizza will be here with their mobile pizza rig to serve really, really good pies that are a shop favorite. Salivation is in order.

Amazing Dogfish Head brews will be served to those so inclined and of legal age until there’s only foam to be found.

Tyler Briggs, the engine behind Corduroy Gallery has curated a cool art show in the hay barn featuring favorite artists that share with all of us a deep love and connection to the sea and the waves.

The soundtrack for the day will be provided by Speed of Sand, which sounds like the 60′s, but feels like now.

Plus bring along some old gear that needs a little extra something, and you can get an embroidered Grain Patch (same as on our truckers) sewn on by our pal Jenny who’s coming with a sewing machine, some thread and a bright smile. Bring hats, clothes, courier bags, back packs, board bags, canvas beach/shopping bags – any old thing you got that could use a facelift.

AND we’ll be showing not one, but two great films – “Under the Sun” shot by the inspiring Cyrus Sutton with ancient 16mm cameras, and the East Coast premier of the “documentary with surfing” called “Manufacturing Stoke” by Pierce Kavanagh. Both of those guys will be here to introduce their films and chat with aspiring filmmakers.

If you can find a way to take full advantage of all that fun, AND still have time to talk with guys like Ed Lewis and Mark Marchesi – hand plane makers from opposite sides of the country, you deserve an award. See you there!

PineKnot Surfboards is the work of one man in his basement in New Jersey. Entering Randy Budd’s workshop one gets the sense of a mad scientist in his laboratory. Always experimenting with new shapes he’s crafted everything from alaia’s to handplanes to planning hulls, using mostly reclaimed wood. One of the most generous people we have met, Randy offered roadside help to me (while on the East Coast Ramble) if I was anywhere within 100 miles of Randy’s home. As it turned out, the Pug broke down on the NJ turnpike. Randy got there before the tow truck and brought me home for lunch!

We’ve bumped into Kevin Cunningham, the mind behind Spirare Surfboards, over years of attending events like Sacred Craft and shows at Corduroy Gallery in Portland Maine. Kevin is a mix of designer, surfer, artist that may not be that uncommon in the world of surfboards, but for his creative and unusual application of his skills and passions.

The first thing that impressed us about his work was the wood honey-comb interiors surrounded by parabolic wood rails that formed the basis of surfboards we saw him showing. Though he also has a full line of standard polyurethane foam/polyester resin boards, he’s expanded his interest in sustainable surfboard construction into an exploration of boards made entirely of beach trash. We haven’t seen any of these fascinating “trash boards” yet, but we’ll hear all about them when Kevin joins the panel discussion we’re having at Surf Re-Evolution starting at 6:30 pm on September 10.

Here’s a little vid from his recent Kickstarter campaign:

We met Thomas Meyerhoffer for the first time just about two months ago while he was passing through town on a demo tour and we hit it off right from the start. Thomas’s designs represent some serious out-of-the-box thinking adhering to few of the constraints that many surfboard shapers take as gospel. And when you combine his out-of-this-world shapes with our passion for pushing the boundaries of what can be done with wood, well, the gears just start turning.

Thomas’s shapes are like three boards in one, which really makes sense as there is often never more then a few feet of board in the water at a given time. Longboards that catch waves easily, but then handle more like a shortboard… who doesn’t love that. Come by the beach from 10am-2pm and get a board under your feet, then come back to the shop for some tech talk with him and with all of the other shapers and thinkers who will be here.

Look forward to seeing you.

meyerhoffer 2 from meyerhoffer surf.