We really couldn’t ask to live and work in a better place. Our surroundings are as beautiful as they come. Yeah it’s cold and snowy for a large part of the winter…..but there are many benefits to sticking around home. Here’s a link to a gallery of some of them. Inside New England
The boards we build here at Grain need to be vented to let expanding air out of them. Up until now we’ve been working with a specially shaped aluminum or plastic screw with an o-ring under the head. It needs to be removed sometime soon after the board comes out of the water. And it definitely needs to be be put in before the board gets wet!
Once in a great while, people forget to put them in, or don’t tighten them enough and water gets into the boards. Usually it happens when boards are lent to your brother-in-law, or when we’re doing a demo and people are grabbing up boards and running in with them. Generally, they are totally reliable (human error aside!)
Lately, we’ve been experimenting with vents that don’t have to be removed. These are high-tech plugs, with a Gore-tex membrane inside them that lets air pass through, but not water. We checked with a couple of leading surfboard companies that have been using these vents in their EPS/epoxy boards and they’ve had no complaints in thousands of boards. But there have been some home-builders who have reported problems.
Gore-Tex Vent, assembled and with super-tech vent plug removed
Our experience is that this hardware is tricky to install, and it’s a good chance that the failures have come from poor installation, and not failure of the hardware. We’ve been putting them in some demo boards, and in our own boards for some time now with no issues.
While we’re not stocking them yet, HomeGrown Kit builders will soon be able to purchase these vents from our web store. We are offering them as an option on our custom boards, for those people that feel they may be forgetful and don’t want to take a chance. Or if their brother-in-law surfs.
We’ve been offering a new workshop this winter where we open the shop to locals who want to build their own boards, but wanna use our tools. It’s been really fun, and for one of the guys we pushed ahead our plan to expand the dimensions of the fun-shape that we built for Layne Beachley last year. Chris’s board is coming out so well, we’re going to push that board up in our never-ending queue of things to do and get it into the line within the next couple of months. This should be a super shape, as a seven-time world champion surfer helped to design it. The original was only 6′-10″ x 18-1/2 x 2-3/8 which is pretty small for a funshape. The new board will have the same contours and lines, but will be puffed up to 7′-4″ x 21ish. We’ll shoot out a newsletter when it’s ready. Thanks Chris for messing with our priorities!
Layne and loving her board in Hawaii
The original Layne Beachley design
It’s funny that when folks arrive at the shop for a visit or a class in board building, we never know where it’s all going to end up. Board and kit customers also seem many times to become part of a weird little extended family all centered around the simple act of building and surfing wood.
Last summer, Jeff Martin came down from British Columbia on the west coast of Canada to take a board building class. He left with a story that he and Nick put together for Surfer’s Path Magazine (reprinted here in our Board Stories Section). Recently, he was back again - this time building a 5′4″ Waka fish and getting an interview for SBC Surf’s Magazine.
We also had a great visit from the guys at The Daily Stoke who were full of questions and were… well, stoked. They posted an article about their visit. Thanks, guys.
Fact is, we owe thanks to these guys and to hundreds of others who have just plain done us the honor of caring about what we do. But beyond that, some friends - both old and new - have helped us in all sorts of ways that continue to make a difference and are greatly appreciated. Whether its lending boards or digs when we’re on the road, or helping us with blown engines or good advice, thanks to all of you.
The story of our trip to the North Shore of Oahu is typical of the weird way that things just seem to line up around here… Hawaii just happens to be (sort of) mid-way between Australia and Maine, and early December was the only down-time Rasta had in which to build a board, flights happened to be cheap, and we happened to want to do a new mini-gun. Rastovich was pumped about building a board himself, and he just happened to get hurt the week before we arrived. There happened to be world-class waves that week which would have kept a fit Rasta in the line-up all week instead of on the beach working on his new Grain board… There’s more too… It’s almost weird, but we try not to look behind the curtain, and just keep clicking the old heels. You should be able to read an enlarged version of the postcard above by clicking the image of the back. And you can read the whole story of the trip in our new Board Stories Section. You also won’t want to miss the piles of cool pics that Nick put in the new Pro Gallery of photos
We recently found out that Grain was selected by Sustainable Travel International to be featured in their 4th Annual Green Gear and Gift Guide. The guide showcases a variety of eco-friendly, renewably sourced, and fairly traded products and we couldn’t be more honored to be included.
Sustainable Travel International (STI) is a global leader in sustainable tourism development. The 501(c)(3) non-profit organization’s mission is to promote sustainable development and responsible travel by providing programs that enable consumers, businesses and travel-related organizations to contribute to the environmental, socio-cultural and economic values of the places they visit, and the planet at large.
Visit STI’s website or check out their monthly newsletter for more information.
We’re also pleased to be included for the second year in the TreeHugger Green Gift Guide. Our Board Building workshops are an unforgettable gift that can be shared by the giver and the getter because we often have family “teams” building boards together.
Don’t forget, it’s not too late to order Grain goodies for the holidays for your favorite surfers. Our bamboo, hemp and organic cotton t’s and hoodies, woodworking tools, Wave Tribe leashes, or if your unsure, a Grain Gift Certificate branded and burned into our cedar plank scraps.
Special Gift Certificate for Surfrider Foundation with beach-cleaning castaway
The North East has experienced a major ice storm which caused us to lose power at the shop for the last few days. This is obviously very bad timing as we’ve been working hard to get all the holiday orders out the door. As soon as power is restored we’ll be back behind the planer doing our best to fill every order as quickly as possible.
If you have called or emailed in the last couple days and have not heard back from us, we apologize and will get back to you as soon as we can. Thanks for your understanding.
You can read more about the storm at the Boston Globe.
If you’re thinking of ordering a kit for the holidays, now is the time. Every custom board and Home Grown Kit is put together in our shop in Maine. Kits are assembled to order, which means it does take time for us to mill, pack and ship your kit.
Place an order before Monday December 8th and we will do our best to get it to you before the holiday. Also ending on Monday the 8th is our Holiday Special. Take advantage of the opportunity, order now and get a free Wave Tribe Hemp Board Bag to keep that beautiful board safe. Hemp is a renewable resource that steps lightly on the planet, and these bags are some of the best built, best designed we’ve ever seen.
A couple of folks from Grain’s crew are headed for Oahu for a little taste of the North Shore winter. Photog Nick LaVecchia and Grain co-owner Brad Anderson will be drifting around the island with our personal chef Molly Johnson and our good friend Allen Anderson.
Down for a special project that we’ll let you know about later, Brad and Nick will also have plenty of time to talk boards, kits, wood or whatever. We don’t have any set schedule, as it’s competition season out there, and its hard to plan around all the buzz. We’ll probably have one or two boards with us as well, but if you don’t see the boards, stop anyone that doesn’t have a tan and ask him if he’s from Maine. Better yet, give Brad a call if you’re in the area and have some questions about our boards.
We’ll be around from Wednesday December 3rd - 11th, and looking forward to meeting some new people.
It’s that time of year again in the Northeast. Trees have gone bare, vacationers have gone home and the lineups are thin with bodies and full with waves. Luckily, with the start of every new board building class, we’ve had a new swell arrive at the just the right time. Our November class was greeted to waves on their first day. Here’s some photos to get you in spirit.
We’re always excited to add new products to our online store, and as much as possible, we try to support those companies whose focus is on providing the best product with the least impact on the planet.
Starting in the next few days, we’ll be carrying a full line of hemp and recycled board bags as well as recycled leashes from Wave Tribe.
To celebrate our new partnership, for a limited time we’re offering a FREE All Hemp Day Bag with every Home Grown Kit purchased. Place your order today and we’ll automatically add an appropriate sized day bag to your order. Bags will be drop-shipped straight from Wave Tribe and will arrive separately from the kit. You’ll get one of three great colors - chocolate, emerald blue or natural (color varies with availability). These bags are designed for everyday, but are tough enough to travel too.
THIS SALE APPLIES TO US ORDERS ONLY
This sale won’t last long, so don’t wait, order today!
THIS SALE APPLIES TO US ORDERS ONLY
Recently, we had the chance to talk at length with some legendary shapers at the Sacred Craft show in Del Mar California. These people - some of them foam shapers from the beginning - have helped make surfboard design what it is today. Part of the credit goes to foam - it’s quick and easy to shape, allows quick alteration of boards that need tweaking, or to have their fins relocated. But whether these iconic board builders worked in wood or foam, the experience and thoughtfulness that they have applied to board design have made all boards what they are today - or have opened our eyes to the true qualities of the boards of yesterday.
Tom Wegener with Mike
Tom Wegener is one that’s looking back to look forward… his long research into perhaps the most fully evolved board of the ancient Hawaiians - the alaia - is deeply inspirational. Tom’s choice to give up the hubub of a west-coast lawyering for the pure quest for a simple life crafting boards in Australia is impressive enough. But the discoveries he has made in shaping deceptively simple looking planks that are in harmony with ancient traditions as well as with the environment are stunning to see on film - as we were able to do during a presentation he made after the show closed Saturday night. Look for the upcoming Thomas Campbell film “The Present†that should be out this winter. Amazing.
Wegener Surfboards with alaia surfer Rob Machado
Another inspiration is Malcolm Campbell who, with his brother Duncan, invented in their late teens the first three-fin board (pre-dating the Simon Anderson thruster by a decade). The Bonzer was the most radical design of the times, and was made for many years by Bing, Gordon & Smith and Eaton with deep, deep concaves that run through radically oriented and shaped fins. As Bonzer5 Surfboards, the Campbells have kept evolving these boards to be some of the longest lived, most complex functioning surfboards the world has seen. Malcolm was so generous with his time when we met him that we’re already deeply grateful, but on top of that, he’s also given us permission to start work on a Grain bonzer-style board (name to be announced). We just got our first order for this board which promises to be a milestone in the Grain line.
Old-school Bonzer with Duncan Campbell
© Maggie Marsek 2008
We also have to thank Greg Noll who continues to move through the world as one of our true and lasting originals - never to be imitated, always respected. My short but memorable conversation with him left me with his words about our boards ringing in my ears: “radical craftsmanship”.
Greg Noll with tribute boards
© Maggie Marsek 2008
Meeting these guys and others and looking at their work inspires us even more to create the best shapes we can. And to get more wood in the lineup for a cleaner ride.
Thanks to Maggie Marsek and Rosa from Wegener Surfboards for the use of the photos in this post!
The decision to leave Maine is always a tough one, because we’re always doing so much there. Our friends are there, folks come by the shop all day long, the beautiful fall weather is on now and of course there’s all the boards we’re working on. But flying out west to the Sacred Craft show was worth the trip – worth the risk of schlepping hundreds of pounds of boards and booth dressings and miscellaneous schwag through homeland security, worth getting lost in the no-man’s land of malls and desert south of Ventura, even worth the time away from the shop.
Sacred Craft - it's about the boards
Sacred Craft is about the boards and the board builders, shapers, glassers and fin foilers. It celebrates the tradition of hand-made surfboards and we were lucky to have a chance to meet many of the legends of the craft there.
One thing that surprised us was all the wood boards at the show. There were standout craftsmen like Tom Wegener and John Cherry who have been working in wood just about forever. Their work is masterful and it was great to meet them and look at their boards first-hand. But there were also some new explorers in the world of sustainable board building which was great to see. They’re thinking about all sorts of ways to make surfboards impact the environment less. Overall, signs at Sacred Craft point to more wood boards in every line-up. Awesome.
As usual kit-builders aplenty stopped by the booth to talk about their projects, ask questions and groove on the finished boards that we brought with us. We also had on hand two Grain boards loaned by the Wetsand shop in Ventura . The curious or those in the market for great looking Grain boards – a 6-0 Wherry by John or a tricked-out Root by Randy - should stop by this terrific shop for a look. The place is first-rate, with plenty of really great boards to check out.
The fabled Santa Ana winds that were ruining the surf all week had pushed one of the infamous SoCal wildfires across the highway to close it down as we were rolling south to Moonlight Glassing late in the trip. We regretted that the fire helped keep us from making it down to visit our instant friends there, Peter and Sally St. Pierre. Moonlight is the ultimate glassing shop, with years of experience at putting on some of the best glass in the biz. They’re super-nice too and will do polyester resin glassing on home-built boards as well.
We did have time to visit the welcoming crew at Channel Islands Surfboards though – just a few minutes too late to be part of a surprise party they threw for Kelly Slater to congratulate him on his ninth(!) world title. Having a chance to talk with uber-shaper Al Merrick about their hi-tech production facility and his personal pet project, an agave/redwood gun, was a standout treat. It was almost funny to be in their small warehouse surrounded by foam that was hanging or racked pretty much everywhere and to see five guys all clustered around the only wood board in the place. Pure coincidence had Rob Machado there at the same time, and briefly meeting him reminded us of our admiration for his pure, easy vibe and his dedication to environmental responsibility.
Honestly, this post could go on and on with all the great people we met, friends we were able to reconnect with, and great stuff we were able to put together that should keep firing people up about the possibilities of surfing wood. But this needs to be wrapped up, so we’ll post some more news from the trip later.
This week, Brad and Mike and several of our newest and most exciting shapes will be flying to California for the Sacred Craft Consumer Surfboard Expo in DelMar happening this weekend, October 11th & 12th. Last year was the first show and we were so excited to be there, that we decided we had to make it an annual event. This years’ show will be bigger and better with an amazing line-up of surfboards, exhibitors, shapers, board builders, seminars, movies, live shaping and more!
Visit http://www.surfboardshow.com/ for more information. Hope you can make it, and we look forward to seeing you there.
Due to overwhelming interest in our board building classes, we are offering our last class before the end of the year, November 16-22. Come and join us for a fun filled week of Fall waves and walk away with a custom wooden surfboard for yourself or even a Christmas present for someone else! November is a great time in York to enjoy the benefits of off season rates, offshore swell producing storms, and a chance to connect with other folks excited about surfing. In order for this class to happen we need a minimum of 4 participants to sign up. Call or email soon to hold your spot!
