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Our friend Nico came by the shop a few weeks ago and bought a few sticks of cedar from us for a home-build project he’d been thinking about. Gluing the wood together into a 3/4″ thick panel, Nico cut the outline he envisioned, and shaped the rails and deck. With just a few coats of oil he’ll rub in, there’ll be no need for glass or resin, making this type of board the greenest, most low-impact surfboard you can get. Or make yourself. Advanced surfers find these boards a complete new challenge that changes all the rules.

For alaia blanks that you can use to make your own, get with Jon & Rosa at Wegener Surfboards.

We wrapped another class in October. Six guys, six new boards, one returning for his second go-round. Thanks for coming, fellas. Hope the boards are glassed and ready for the waves. There’s no shortage of waves on the east coast these days.

Ryan touching up a pretty perfect swallowtail.

Returning champ, Bob and Navy Seal, Rob with new sticks

Roger, Bob & Rob, Mike, Ryan & Brian

We recently picked our heads up and realized that we’ve somehow grown our line to sixteen separate board models. Unless they’re very particular, we pretty much have something for every surfer to round out their quiver with. We also realized that we have over a thousand customers out there paddling around. This is so exciting for us that we want to get you all together once in a while – is that crazy? Next year we should be announcing various ways that owners of Grain boards and Home Grown Kit builders can get together and stay in touch. To celebrate, we’re going to give an un-precedented 20% off the purchase of a new Home Grown Kit to anyone that’s already bought a kit or board from us. But we don’t want to leave the rest of you out – if you’ve never bought from us before, we’ll give you 10% off.
Sale is good from now through Dec 7th.

Click here for more details.

Congratulations to Caroline Smith who won the drawing for the 5′4″ fish built by Jeff Martin. Karen Kelly had the honor of drawing the winner at Corduroy Boutique & Gallery last night during an evening celebrating the life of her son Jordan. Proceeds from the raffle are going to a fund in Jordan’s name hosted by Stoked Mentoring.

We were honored to have been a part of this fundraising effort, and look forward to supporting the fund in future years. Thanks to all that participated… we invite you to keep up with any future news about the fund by signing up at the bottom of the page for our semi-once-in-a-while e-newsletter. Our deepest gratitude to Jordan’s family for including us in their remembrances and welcoming us into his circle.

click-it for a ticket

Don’t forget to get up to Portland on Wednesday, November 11. We’re going to be at Corduroy to meet up with friends, celebrate the life of Jordan Kelly, and help give away a cool 5′4 wood fish built by our buddy Jeff Martin. Tix can be bought online only until tonight, but after that, you can still get them at Corduroy on the night, but you don’t have to be there to win. See you there!

Slide Mag: down with it.

This board has walnut-burl inlaid joinery, and was signed and surfed by Rasta in Australia to make it that much more special.

Thanks to Stoked Mentoring for the Flickr Photostream, and to Little House Productions for the shots.

The past two months around the shop have been crazy. This is the time of year where we’re prepping for fall shows, squeezing in extra classes and trying to enjoy as much of the fall colors and swell patterns as we can.

We visited California recently for Sacred Craft, where we’re always in amazement at how surfing is so much a part of the culture. You can’t ignore it if you try – surf shops on just about every corner, old VW’s with longboards stacked on the roof and beach after beach with crowds of people in the water. For those of us trying to earn a modest living building boards, you can’t help but appreciate what a beautiful thing it is to see.

On the other hand, I can remember back to some dark days last winter, and one day in particular when I almost lost it. We had a major nor-easter blow through, and had lost power for the better part of a week (at home as well as at the shop), trees were down, snow and ice covered the road, it was all I could do just to keep my small old dog alive and warm. Sleeping in a cold dark house, on a cold dark peninsula on the cold dark north Atlantic Ocean sure can build character – if that’s what you call it.

It often takes an outsider’s perspective to reinforce what we already know but often forget. And that happened recently when we had a small piece of the California surf community here in Maine. Between classes, tradeshows and parties, we had the opportunity to host Kassia Meador, Mikey DeTemple and Scotty Stopnik here at the shop. We met each at different times over the last few months and they all showed a real interest in building their own boards (even when we offered to build them for them). Luckily, they nailed the timing perfectly, 4 out of 7 days had waves, not big, but perfect waist to stomach, epic Long Sands conditions. They couldn’t stop talking about what they saw – and what we sometimes take for granted.

Though we may be physically removed from the thrum of the California surf-scene, we feel beyond lucky to be living on the coast of Maine. It’s a special experience to come to work each day, especially at this time of year. If we drive by the beach, we might see four or five people out surfing, and with a quick glance to the lineup we can pick out who’s who, even from 300 yards. Heading to the shop, we pass boat shops more than surf shops, we see wild turkeys more than tractor trailers, and the height of the tidal creeks that wind inland give us hints about the current wave conditions on the sandbars.

After a week of hard work, each of our visiting pro’s had built their own board; Kassia a 5′4″ fish, Mikey a Simmons-inspired 5′0″ and Scotty, a 4′5″ Paipo. Each board came out beautifully, with plenty of customization thrown in for fun. We’ll be glassing their boards over the next week or so, then we look forward to getting them under their feet. While it’s nice to have a little California influence here in Maine once in a while, it’s even better to know that a piece of hand crafted Maine will be enjoyed out there.

Through a lucky series of circumstances, I’ve spent more than half my life with a woman whose father, Erik, is wonderfully eccentric. One day in his late sixties, Erik and a childhood friend decided to sell everything, and with just a couple of suitcases, to move to a little backwater in Costa Rica called Nosara. Tourist accommodations were limited, roads were terrible, and a chico had to be sent down the crumbly runway to flush the goats and cows out from under incoming planes.

In the years since then, Nosara has become a surf destination with comfortable coffee shops, tasteful cabanas and a fascinating international population of expatriates living alongside the local farmers and surfistos. The the cows have been fenced out of the rebuilt airstrip, wi-fi is available almost everywhere, and a small group of surfers disguised as internet-jockeys are taking over the local real estate market using an unlikely tool: their popular video-based surf-report.

SurfingNosara.com sends a photog down to the beach every morning and posts zoomed-in pics of surfers scoring, with occasional video evidence when conditions are really good. That beats a web-cam all to hell because the images feature surfers, not wide shots of a whole beach. You can really tell if it’s good because you’re looking right at some lucky s.o.b. right in the pocket. Even when you’re not planning a trip there, it’s a great site to visit when the snow’s flying here for the fourth month in a row, and you really need to know that there’s paradise somewhere.

On a recent trip, I met up with these uncharacteristically motivated surf entrepreneurs and shared with them the Grain Surfboards story and our new wood Channel Islands Biscuit. The sight of a wood board in tropic blue surf is a welcome change from the dark green of the North Atlantic… I’m feeling like I’ve got an obligation to visit my father-in-law more often.

For those of you on the west coast, we highly recommend the Sacred Craft surfboard show in Del Mar. It starts at 10 a.m. and goes for the whole weekend (October 10 & 11). We always enjoy this because it’s a great chance to get feedback from surfers about what we’ve been working on, and to meet up with other board builders.

We’ll have six or seven boards there – we’ve been working really hard over the last month to see that they got ready – ’specially Johnny and Mike. We’re pretty proud of this bunch and hope you get to see them.

We’ll also be selling ten-dollar raffle tix at Sacred Craft for a pretty-much-new surfboard. The only guys that have surfed it are Dave Rastovich and Johnny Abegg… and they want you to have it. Plus, Rasta signed it for the lucky winner. Chances to win this unique board can also be bought online from Stoked Mentoring. Proceeds will go to a fund honoring the memory of Jordan Kelly. Good luck!

Johnny Abegg on top and out front on 5′4″ raffle-fish

We often have visitors at the shop, though we sometimes just keep right on working while we chat. But with over 150 people crammed into the shop this past Saturday, work was not an option… So we just pushed all the shaping stands aside, made room for potluck offerings and coolers, and hoped for the best.

Besides all the locals that make York what it is, we got to see old friends and kit-builders and Grain custom board riders who came back for the do. While seeing all those buds would be reason enough to have a great time, we also had some new friends there. Andrew Kidman’s crew came up with their wonderfully artistic new film – even playing live music as the soundtrack. If you have a chance to see or buy “Last Hope”, do it – great music and beautiful, contemplative images you’d be sorry to miss. As an added treat, the guys from High Seas Films (Picaresque) showed a quick short they whipped up of last week’s students surfing between board building sessions. Kassia, Mikey and Scotty had the whole place cheering whenever we saw them on the screen with Grain boards at our local break.

The whole thing broke down at some point as open beers led to open flames, but nobody got hurt – maybe next year. Thanks to all who came out to make it a special night here at Grain. Special thanks to Maine Root for supplying the tasty soft drinks, all the people at Brixham General Store for keeping us well fed, and Tyler and Jim at Corduroy Surf Boutique for helping make the party a huge success.

Great night, great potluck food, great time. Plus, we got a little closer to giving away a surfboard to a lucky winner (stay tuned for the drawing date.)

This Saturday October 3rd. Rain or Shine. 3pm till the bonfire burns out, we’ll be having another Grain Surfboards Open House and Potluck. Kids, dogs and food are all welcome. This year’s party will feature live music and the premiere of Andrew Kidman’s new movie Last Hope. Buy advanced tix online here. Special thanks to Maine Root for hooking us with some great hand crafted sodas.
Hope to see you there.

It’s no overstatement to say that we regularly feel pure amazement and deep gratitude at the community that seems to be growing around our little passion of building wood boards. But every now and then, we learn of a story that literally confronts us with how important this widening circle can be. What we’re taught on these occasions is that far more is happening here than just building boards, surfing whenever we can, and giving people the chance to do that too. Even our simple hope to change attitudes about disposable surfboards and reduce the harmful impacts of surf lifestyles pales in comparison.

One of these events occurred almost a year ago. Literally a life-and-death story, it strikes the kind of dramatic note that files everything else in the “so-what” drawer. It’s the story of a young man that simply died for no reason. Suddenly, with the deepest possible loss to those that knew him, he was killed in a car accident after a Thanksgiving Day of surfing, family and friends.

What connects this guy to Grain is that he had a deep interest in working with wood, creating, and surfing – so much so that he had a mildly zealous aspiration to attend a Grain Board Building Workshop. But he was taken just before he was supposed to attend. His story is told by family members in the Board Stories section of our site.

On an inspiration that she credited to her recently departed son, his mom Karen decided on the spur of the moment to accept donations in lieu of flowers at his memorial. She knew instantly she wanted to send some other kids to learn to build boards and so donations would be put to that purpose. When we learned about it, we thought about ways we might be able to help Jordan and his family touch even more kids. We called our friends at Stoked Mentoring, a 501(c)3 non-profit that helps kids to collect life skills and role models in board sports professions and through board sports related activities. The result is that we’re going to help them develop programming that’ll get kids – who might normally never have it – access to some of the things that inspired Jordan. Now this fund can reach much farther than Karen might have originally imagined, and Jordan’s wheels will spin on.

Our thanks to Peter, James, Tyler, Steve, Karen and Billy for all their generous help during this past year to create Jordan’s fund at Stoked Mentoring.

With media ownership worldwide accreted into the fat greasy hands of fewer and fewer mind-control freaks, it’s comforting to know that participation in the new media is open to people who are selling only heart and soul. Two of these are Cyrus Sutton and Ryan Tater. Their websites are go-to spots for those interested in do-it-yourself-surfing (Cyrus) and surf-related arts of all kinds (Ryan). They stopped by the shop just as hurricane Bill was leaving for an afternoon of pics and talk.

Cyrus’ efforts are very close to our hearts. His site, www.korduroy.tv is a repository for deeply artistic and fascinating short films that tell you how to make your own racks, wax, all kinds of things – even beer coasters. Also posted there are stories about people that build their own boards, with info on how you can too. It’s a one-stop enabler for those with an interest in cleaning up their surfing act by doing it all with less.

Shakas and Singlefins seems like it has to be the world’s fastest growing surf art portal. Ryan continues to accumulate art of all kinds there, film, painting, writing, announcements of events, interviews and more. You can spend forever just paging through all the interesting stuff there. A very soulful guy with nothing but good vibes and good things to say, it was a real pleasure to meet him.

The idea of building your own surfboard is what got Grain started to begin with, and we started putting together kits so that everyone else could too, so we feel a real kinship with what drives Cyrus. And our own collusion with artists like Ty Williams, Nick LaVecchia, and Scott Lenhardt give us a real appreciation for what Ryan hath wrought. Great to have them by for the day.

From left to right: John, Brad, Ryan, Doug, Cyrus, Nolan and Mike

Bottom two photos courtesy of Ryan Tater

Hot off the press and into the Grain shop, our newest graphic T-shirt has arrived and is available to you. An original Ty Williams illustration. We love our ‘66 Grumman too much to not wear it around. Premium fabric is made from 70% organic bamboo, 30% organic cotton. Made from the fastest growing plant on earth. People are going to want to touch you.
Men’s and Women’s styles and colors available.

* Men’s logo shirts have also been replenished. No need to worry.

Save the date! Coming up October 3rd from 3pm till the bonfire burns out, we’ll be having another Grain Surfboards Open House and Potluck. This year’s party will feature live music and the premiere of Andrew Kidman’s new movie Last Hope. Buy advanced tix online here
More info to come. Hope you can make it.

This Friday night Aug 21st. Portland, Maine. Corduroy Surf Boutique. 59 Market St.
For real, if your in the area you’d be crazy to miss it.

THIS JUST IN*** – We still have 3 spots available for our August Board Building class starting this Sunday Aug 23rd. If you haven’t noticed, this might not be a bad time to visit the coast of Maine. Sign up now!