I feel it in my fingers
I feel it in my toes
Love is all around me
And so the feeling grows

WET WET WET, of course. A little nod to the weather of the past month(s).

It’s Not That Bad! It has been wet, but that’s just the way it is. Tourists are getting the full Britsh April showers package.

I’m nearly sure there was a Billabong advert with the slogan ‘Everything’s Better When Wet’, but I can’t find it. Which underlines my uncertainty even more, perhaps I drummed it up in my imaginary world.

In looking for the maybe, or maybe not advert, I found the lyrics to ‘Jungle Love’ by the Steve Miller Band:
‘Jungle love in the surf in the pouring rain
Everything's better when wet’

So here are some photographs from around Newquay.

A Sprinkling of Waves

Considering the wet weather, a good thing about surfing is that it’s not possible to get rained off! Perhaps not rained off, but as Storm Kathleen has just displayed over this weekend, the wind can call the whole thing off. However, the little corner of Towan Beach offered just enough shelter for the aqua circus to continue…it seems there is no stopping the hoards of part-timers.

Luckily, there have been days that offer something a little more rewarding.

Pencil & Pens

Suddenly the sun shone through one morning. The light shoved activity into the day and we did, perhaps what households all over the country did, a spring clean.

It was a fevered attack, it went to the point of naming the two days ‘The Executive Decision Weekend’.

Out with the old, not even in with the new…it was out, out, out! The sentimental value of many items was scrutinised, it was a ruthless purge.

The garage was brimming with an array of nicky nacky noo’s, the tat shielding a trove of long forgotten delights. In among these findings were a couple of portfolio’s with old drawings and projects, including my ‘O’ level art submission (showing my age!) pieces.

The timing was welcome as the force towards drawing more, with both pencil & pen, is growing, and these finds added to the push. A serendipitous moment.

I did take a lovely little square sketchbook with me to Mexico, when on holiday in January. I had visions of sitting under the shade of a parasol and drawing, just to reacquaint myself with the routine, even if just some doodling. But I under estimated the lure of the beach, sea and tequila!

So my efforts did not meet my intensions. But I did scribble away while having a few drinks when on the balcony. And despite not really paying attention, I still draw faces, even absent-mindedly it seems…I guess I always have done…all the way back. Something to develop perhaps.

*Scribbles from Mexico - tequila influenced efforts!*

Surfboards

It’s been a little rocky!

For my own sake, so I remain somewhat buoyant over the topic without running through it again, I have copied the text from a blog post from April 3rd:

More random photographs from around the surfboard factory...what could this mean. I'll tell you! The continuation of a sleepy start to the 2024 surfboard production year.

It's not too much of a stretch to call myself a veteran in the surfboard industry. In fact, you'd do less of a stretch in prison for murder than the years I've spent spraying surfboards.

It's strange how much has changed, and yet, just about nothing has!

The first time I sprayed a surfboard in a factory, for a shop or customer, I can't remember which, was in 1989. That was at the Hot Buttered factory in Auckland, New Zealand.

Iain 'Ratso' Buchanan, running the factory at the time, quickly realised I had talked my way into the spray bay with no experience whatsoever. With the NZ summer underway and little alternative on offer, I was told to learn fast.

So all those years ago, I taped up freshly shaped surfboards, popped open paint tins, loaded the spray gun and fired away.

That is exactly what I still do today. Sure, there are chapters, as mentioned in the last post, where designs and colourways change, a bit like fashion, but it all circulates back to the same essentials. Here are the same materials as used for decades, now paint, spray or draw on a surfboard to decorate it.

The reason for mentioning my self titled veteran status, is to highlight the 'feast or famine' nature of surfboard work, and the experience needed to meet the necessity to hold tight and not buckle under the highs and lows.

The surfboard industry has a way of spitting people out.

As Rory Russell once said, 'I've seen a lot of people come, and I've seen a lot of people go!'

While paint drys, it's quite good fun to wonder around the factory with a camera. Trying to find pictures, despite having seen the same things for decades. It's quite a challenge, but one that helps you look a little bit closer, trying to extract something visual from the repetitious nature of being around surfboard factories for so long.

Photos below from work the previous day from writing.

Of course, there have been a few boards coming through. One of which, led to a particularly interesting moment. Luckily the camera was rolling, so a short reel was made to display the drama. Some writing accompanied the reel on the blog, so I’ll include the excerpt below.

But we’ll start with another board, also with a blog post and reel.

Blog post, 27th March:

I can remember (somehow!) way back into the 90's when carpet drags were in vogue.

There were some pivotal years in the 90's when surfing turned a corner and got into its popularity stride. The surf shops were screaming for more surfboards to fill the racks. I worked in a few factories at the time, and each label, understandably, wanted their boards to look different than the others, especially when stacked next to each other in a shop.

This lead to several approaches, graphics and ideas that, quite frankly, were ridiculous! Especially if using the current generic stock spray of 2024 as a gauge.

To illustrate this, and without getting too graphic, a custom order from Holland wanted a cartoon squirrel with an erection the size of its own body on the deck, the entire length (excuse the pun) of the board. The bizarre nature of the request did warrant a photograph, but now decades later, it is nowhere to be found.

I shan't include a sketch of what it looked like, or how it fitted on the surfboard, I'm sure your imaginations can do a good enough job!

Luckily, in amongst the fevered attempt to keep the shelves stacked and custom orders pleased, there were some good sprays.

Before the internet, the only way to have a look around internationally, was to examine all the surf mags cover to cover. When a new spray was seen, the next step was to decipher how it was done. Many were easy to work out, but the odd one caused some head scratching!

One craze, predominantly British (I think), was spraying through doilies. Using doilies as a stencil left the pattern on the board. I remember trawling through charity shops to find doily sets among the tea pots, cups and crockery.

There was a flurry of using random materials to create a stencil to spray through or over – torn cardboard edges, fibreglass rovings, coins, fishnet stockings...the list goes on! This could be done in pin-lined panels, or randomly to create an abstract look. Occasionally, if done right, it could look good. Today, many would look dated, and in my opinion too tacky to be considered retro cool or vintage. But nothing should be ruled out!

One technique that stuck around for a while was the carpet drag. We would fill a roller paint tray and dip an offcut of carpet into the paint, before dragging it along the foam of a shaped blank in various directions, usually nose to tail.

The common sense way to achieve this look, is to use a wide paint brush. But at that time there seemed to be an idea that each sprayer/factory was trying to baffle their counterparts. It couldn't be just a paint brush...surely it was an offcut of carpet or another material. Turns out a paint brush works just fine.

So here is a short reel of a team riders board being paint brushed earlier this week!

Now For The Blunder!

Let’s start with an image of the board in question – this is the bottom of the board, the green & black paint-drag is on both sides. Luckily, the paint-drag approach has a fairly abstract, random nature, with no two being exactly the same, perhaps alike, but even with the greatest efforts the paint won’t land the same twice. This provided the safety net!

Now, it’s just by chance that I used the word ‘land’. Because that’s what the paint did (without intension) on the board. Oh my!

Blog post (including title) from 12 march.

OH SHT! – SURFBOARD PAINT DRAG (WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG!) REEL*

Music on, friend in the wings, creative surfboard art brief. What could go wrong?

With several decades wearing the orange jump-suit, that goes with the life long sentence of being a surfboard sprayer, a few phrases are often repeated to the point of them becoming annoyingly standard.

'Could you just' / 'While you're here!' / 'Just one more thing' / 'It'll be shaped in a minute...it goes on. This flannel, I suspect, is wiped across the faces of many production (and more) industries; the linking thread being humans attempt to orchestrate the workforce and materials toward a finished product – ready for shelves, food in restaurants, or scarily, organ replacements and perhaps even Air Traffic Control.

The surfboard industry is surely on the podium for the 'Blunders Award Night'.

This is footage of a blunder and recovery of mine on a custom Pyzel surfboard. It was all going so well, especially with the amount of preparation that was put into place for this fast moving paint drag. But not tightening the lid on a ketchup dispenser bottle full of paint, was my fault.

Luckily, I have experience in recovering mishaps, an essential requirement when making surfboards, and Clive of 'Soul Jammer Surfboards' was fast to help. We did it, and after the initial alarm, I would venture to say we enjoyed it!

OH SH*T!

FREE RIDE (THE MOVIE)

Finally, Free Ride comes to town.

This 1977 surf film is one of the few surf films that etched itself into my mind. There were only a few, because there were only a few. Before the internet, before video capabilities on cameras, phones, GoPros and then all the on-line platforms to show the endless hours of footage on; there were surf movies and magazines.

So wherever you were in the world, message would get through of a surf film doing the rounds, hopefully making it to somewhere near you (no guarantees). And if not, a worn out VHS tape would be shared around the town. Watched repetitively, branding itself onto your surfing D.N.A

Well, the 1977 film made impression enough to fill every seat at the cinema in 2024. Most of the crowd, especially the older viewers, quietly narrating and singing along to the soundtrack.

Good Fun! With a sense of wonder at how long surfing has meant everything for so long.

Until next time, take care.

Newquay, Rain, Surf, Rain, Sketches, Rain, Surfboards, Rain…Carry On!