Four Nikkors

Empty Vertical

One day my friend Andrew and I went searching everywhere for waves. Eventually we were rewarded. The strange thing was expending all those hyrdrocabons trying to "get away from it all". The banner image is one that Andrew snapped while we were chewing through the fuel and the rubber and the horsepower, so that we could spend a few idle hours in the brine forgetting that we remain intrinsically linked to the petro-chemical industrial complex. Thanks Andrew. The search is always more enjoyable with a mate.

Mono Monday x Kurungabaa

I wasn't going to try and land any words on this page today but while waiting for the coffee thing to percolate on the stove at dawn today I found these evocative words sent from Rebecca Olive of Kurungabaa following my Arc Poetry post last week and thought that I should share them. BIG thanks Rebecca,

'Lines of flight'

Despite our feelings,
and our needs,
The way of things
never really flow
in one direction.

They arc
north and south,
bending and curving in on themselves.

(In)consistent,
twisting,
bent,
warped,
clean,
curved,
divine.

Time and light
have
smooth curves
and
clean lines of flight.

We mould these
curves and lines
into our lives:
aesthetic
moving.
They hold us still and shift us
through the world,
earthly and oceanic.

The way of things

never really flow 

in one direction.

by Rebecca Olive Winter 2011

Late For the Sky

I'm calling it early. Winter is over. Spring has sprung out of that dirty big hole in the ozone.

Crowds are back as surfers give up on their footy teams' ability to win a grand final.

There's new sprouts in old growth areas and despite the menace of magpies, kids are tearing themselves away from the cyber playground to thrash their deady treadlies. Hello spring suit. Goodbye steamer.

Arc Poetry

If I was a better poet, I'd knock out a couple of evocative lines of rhyme about the arc as both a design feature and the way light travels through time, but I have to hitch a ride on the great metal goanna that is The Commute. For those of a performance poetry bent, check out this weekend's festival where my good friend Nathan Shepherdson is collaborating with some other wordcrafters.

Keep On Truckin'

Sometimes it's hard to separate the degree of retro romanticism from the angle of hype. Surely there was a reason we shifted from big old logs to "short" 8 foot single fins to twin fins and from them to thrusters? Something about design? Something about a better board? Or was it hype to get us to part with our dollars?

The only thing I can definitively say about board design on this wet, pre-Spring morning is that one vehicle won't do it in all conditions. For me, anyway. I shoot with different cameras, film stocks and lenses to distill what I see in my mind's eye and I ride whatever I think will maximise my stoke on the day. Even thrusters. I haven't gone goat boat or SUP, but you never say "never". But hey, we're all different. Whatever you're driving through the bowl section, keep on trucking.

The Commute

The global finacial crisis has resulted in surfers chasing a dollar away from the beach. Tourism is down. Retail is down. Surfers are turning up in worksites unfamiliar with the lure of the brine. (I'd like a dollar for every time I have been asked about sharks.) 

Some are spending hours and hours doing the tedious daily commute to The City where better wages and opportunity await. Others are doing the fly in/fly out routine to mining sites all over the country - leaving family and mates for long term financial gain.

The separation is even harder on days like today, when you know the swell is going off its nut. Today's post is dedicated to the commuter surfer. Travel safe.

Mono Monday

Continuing the "wood" theme with some monochomatic snippets on an overcast, wet, but wave infested Monday.

Woodsman

The man who showed many of us what wonder wood and water can provide - Jacob Stuth with a grainy quiver. Stuthy runs an interesting blog called Coastal Bamboo covering

"Farming for the future~bamboo, 

vegetables, fruits, nuts,flowers, 

herbs,natives, bees, boer goats,

 dorper sheep, freshwater fish

 (silver perch, Aust.Bass, yellow belly) 

Red claw crayfish. 

Cabinet timber , reforestation, 

rehabilitating weed infested lands, 

carbon neutral lawnmowing"

Holga x Nikonos

I was inspired by a beautiful shot of an electric guitar over at Salt Stained Eyes FB site to do a post today about the acoustic guitar I got for a big birthday, but the potential of a light leaked Holga shot got the better of my time. So, for now, here's Geoff from Western Australia - now resident of the bushy Noosa Shire hinterland. Have a great weekend and if the surf goes choppy try tuning your six string down to DGCEAD or something like that. EADGBE is for 6.0 thruster days.

Moon Wood Water Wood

Wood 1 - Blogger 0

The dreaded scratchie throat - headcold bug combo bit me a few weeks back preventing me from getting to the Wooden Surfboard Expo. Luckily my good mate Barry Davis was there with a camera to capture some of the sculptural wooden wonder. Here's a sample of what he sent me. BIG thanks, Bazza!

Squall

Thanks to Cher Pendarvis for posting this quote today on her FB page. Check Cher and Steve's site for much wonderful brine crafts.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; 

only Light can do that. 

Hate cannot drive out hate, 

only Love can do that." 

Martin Luther King

Mr Freedom

My new board

is called "Mr Freedom"

by it's designer

6"8"

Single fin

Two small side biters

Four channels

Hatched a few weeks ago

First waxed and wetted

Yesterday

Stoke factor = extreme

BIG thanks to

Simon Jones of

Byron Bay

HUG YOUR LOCAL SHAPER!

Put away the rubber

New idea for a surf comp - a winter contest where you cannot wear rubber. GfG demonstrating below that it can be done in the middle of winter, though sunshine and a big beach bonfire might be mandatory.

So long and thanks for all the fish

Final day today for Noosa Longboards' Noosaville surf shop. Get along, buy stuff and farewell Parrish (above) and Nathan (below).

"There was a point to this story, but it has temporarily escaped the chronicler's mind"

Douglas Adams from So Long and Thanks for All the Fish 1984

Zen x Dada

Walk in The (National) Park

Found these words in my journal this morning.

"I have been walking

in the same park

for forty years"

Shout out to my mate Tony for the photos.

You need graphic design, Tony da man.

Valiant Effort

"Studebaker!" the call goes out as we pull into the fish n chip shop after several sessions of shooting and surfing. Turns out it was a finely restored Valiant.

"Well I see a 50's apartment house

Bleak in the 1970s sun

But I still love the 50's

And I still love the old world

I wanna keep my place in this old world

Keep my place in the arcane knowledge"

from Old World by Jonathon Richmond 

on the album The Modern Lovers 1972

Monochrome Monday

Double Time