bro-phy'ed out...

...Drew's magical painting titled "Folly Beach Sunrise" came to life during his 3 hour demo last Sunday. Notice how the board is just levitating? One of the guys in this picture talked about surfing Teauphoo on a twin fin, and another talked about surfing the Washout on a twin fin. Just goes to show that twin fins work in the heaviest breaks in the world...

custom...

...maybe 25 years ago. Now your "Oceanside" surfboard is not made in Oceanside, California, but instead in Oceanside, China. And its not a custom surfboard if you can't custom order one. Support your shaper who does it for love, not money.

sit down paddlesurfing boards are great for surf cross training...

...why stand up when you can sit down? Plus you can use a double-ended paddle, just like that other double-ended toy of yours...

paint my paddleboard...

...Bro Drewphy, I mean Drew Brophy will be at the shop tomorrow, Sunday July 20th for a paint pen demonstration from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. Bring your 18 foot board and maybe he'll paint it for you.

the end is near...

...oh the "dragonslayer" is at it again. Check out the full article at USA Today , where I go for the truth in reporting...

Such quotable piece:

• "Laird Hamilton, revered as a god among surfers"- I always watch Laird video parts before surfing. It's like watching The Last Supper before dinner every night.
• "propel with a paddle almost like a kayak"- I can't think of more of a reason not to do it.
• "The sport stands to change ocean recreation, much as snowboards changed the ski slopes."- Not really, its like going from snowboarding to skiing. De-evolution?
• "I'm on for the ride. It'll be bigger than surfing."- Forildo, the day surfers are out numbered by paddle jockeys is the day Kevin Costner signs on for Waterworld 2.
• "Duke Brouwer, promotion manager at Surftech"- Is Duke Brouwer a made up name? Like Duke Kahanamoku and Dick Brewer combined?
• "a private company that doesn't disclose financial results."- For fear of being lynched by real surfboard shapers struggling to make ends meet.
• "He also buys, develops and sells real estate in Hawaii and is developing property on Maui and Kauai."- His fellow Hawaiian locals must love him for that.
• "his fierce competitive streak bubbles up" but "Hamilton, under the guidance of stepfather and pro surfer Bill Hamilton, scorned such contests."- Competive but hates contests?
• "eventually surfers will get used to the newcomers, and stand-up paddling will be welcome."- Never.

*photo By Bob Riha, Jr., USA TODAY

Myrtle Beach colla-bro-ation...

...Drew Brophy and Todd Sutz put together some boards for the shop featuring Drew's artwork and Todd's shapes. Drew will be in the shop this Sunday, July 20th for a little paint pen demonstration from 1PM-4PM. For more info, check it.

stylemasters 4...

...Jimmy Slade is that you? Solid dismount as always, he pretends like he's riding his seat-less bicycle off the wave.

proper technique...

...Perng demonstrates proper paddling and take-off technique at the beginning of the video...

...and dude shows how not to paddle for a wave at the end. Any questions?

the surfing dwarves...

dawn patrol...

...if you got up real early to check it, and turned around and went home, well... you blew it. Solid swell in the water didn't show much before 6AM but its head-high on the sets now. Get it.

swell of the...

...week. Grumpy Local stopped to get a pre-surf amp video and wish everyone a happy swell this weekend. He'll be waiting at the pier for you...

fines, fines...

...everywhere there's fines. F*in up the scenery, breakin' my mind. Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

pollution... pollution???

...these baggies, that came in plastic baggies, come with plastic baggies to pick up other plastic baggies with. And its called the "pollution solution"? All I need are the baggies, or boardshorts mind you. I didn't need the stupid plastic wax scraper either. Just baggies, that's the pollution solution.

Bertha the bummer...

...yesterday they had this sucker coming right across toward Puerto Rico, and now its taking a hard right toward Bermuda. Not so promising for swell as of now but stay tuned for further details.

On behalf of the Massey family I'd like to say thank you to everyone who came out for the paddle out last night in honor of Craig. I was half surprised to see so many people in attendance, and I say half because he was just that likable of a kid. With a keg in the sand and all friends and family in attendance, the huge paddle out turned into a giant expression session. It pretty much went down just the way Craig would have wanted it to. Peace on Craig. You will be missed.

Rest in Peace Craig Massey.

Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends of local surfer Craig Massey, who passed on last night. He left us way too soon. Craig was one of the first in a crew of groms, now in their late teens, who I took a liking to when I first started working at the shop in 2003. Always a smile on his face, he'd be the first to strike up a conversation and was genuinely stoked on surfing. Before I moved to California, he bought one of my favorite Round Nose Fishes of all time from me since I needed money to move. I had no problem parting with this board because I knew it was going into the hands of a surf happy grom who would enjoy it as much as I did. Once I moved back to Folly Beach, every time I'd see Craig the first words out of his mouth would be "Sickest board ever!" The last time I saw him he said it was still hanging up in his house, in beyond surfable condition. It had the same sentimental value for both of us, being one of those magic boards, and neither one of us took it for granted.

I have this huge pit in my stomach knowing I'll never hear those words from him again, and every time I picture his face the pit gets a little bigger. I'm going to miss not seeing Craig around, along with a lot of other people around here.

behind bars...

...I didn't have anything else to do today so I put these wetsuits in wetsuit jail. They'll be lucky if they get out by late November. Well, time for a donut.

surfing is a crime...

...Finn Dennis spent the night in jail last night for surfing near the pier. But it wasn't the lifeguards who ratted him out, rather an officer near the pier who saw him in the water along with another surfer. A lifeguard was sent out to get him and got handled by a set wave on his paddleboard, lost it and had to swim back to the beach to get it, finally making it back out to tell Finn to paddle in. Finn shared some nice words with the lifeguard as the lifeguard tried to block Finn from catching a wave in while insisting he paddle in, and not surf in because that would be to much fun. Finn stroked around the awkwardly paddling life-saver and caught another wave, finally going in to the beach. Upon feet touching Finn was not hoisted onto the shoulders of a cheering mob of fans and peers. Finn instead began telling the officers what a fine job they were doing and asking them if it was a job requirement to be 30 lbs overweight, reminding them there isn't even a donut shop with 8 miles of Folly Beach. His board was then ripped out his hands by 1 of several portly officers while another handcuffed him and paraded him across the swimmer-less and storm-emptied beach during which time he continued to sing the officer's praises. Finn was then escorted to jail. No, not the Mayberry-like Folly Beach jail, but the Leeds Avenue County Jail, among the most overcrowded large jails in the country running at nearly 3x its capacity. Wonder why? The other surfer was lucky enough to have his father watching from the pier, who talked the police out of taking his son also.

Check out this slide show and see where the surfer would fit in.

Fish, I mean Finn, I hope you made friends with the Squirrel Master and stayed out of Nasty Nate's way and hopefully you'll be home safe soon. If you can carry a tune, it wouldn't hurt to know this one. It might get you out of a jam...

friday bonus...

...Chris Ward and Tom Curren ripping Lowers. Take special note of time code 3:54 of the video, and put that move into practice. You don't need to be one of the best ever to do it, but it should be the first move you learn.

lifeguards surfing in safe-swimming zone...

...this is the second missed opportunity for me to catch one in the process, this time due to the fact that someone left the shop camera ISO setting at 800. You can see him carrying the board back up the beach at least. Is there a big word that describes this situation?

probability and statistics...

...is the only math class I needed to take in college and I squeaked by. How bout you? Let's see how good at math you really are. This block of FCS cups were extracted from a "performance" longboard and replaced with a slide box.

1) How many inches long is this entire block?
2) How many different FCS fin configurations are possible?
3) What is the probability percentage that this board was made in South Carolina?
4) What is the probability percentage that you would order something as ridiculous as this?
5) How many beers are left in the cooler?