Holly Yang's New Steve Mast Board

Holly Yang always looks this upbeat, but this day it was in appreciation for the cool Steve Mast board she was picking up. Also an incredibly talented tattoo artist (his #1 gig) Steve has been shaping superb, innovative boards on "the Hill" by Channin and Fins Unlimited for a long time.
This is Holly's second Steve Mast creation that I have had the pleasure to fit with rudders.
Beautiful board Holly and Steve. Thanks for inviting me to have a part in it's creation. JC

Richard Kenvin~Film maker, Test pilot, Historian

Wednesday, January 20th. Richard Kenvin streaking under a double-overhead lip at La Lolla shores. He is riding a 7-2 Carl Ekstrom asymmetrical rocket. RK frequently test pilots Carl's innovations.
RK same day same board................ just deeper.

Amazingly, the following surf shot at the La Jolla cove is RK, same day, different spot, different board. He is riding the 10-0 Bob Simmons reproduction that Terry Martin and I built in May, '08.

Original, early-50's, Bob Simmons, twin-keel spoon. This one is white over solid balsa. I'm not sure about his particular board, shown here at the Oceanside Surf Museum, but in the early-50's many balsa boards were painted simply for UV protection.

Terry's shaping bay at Hobie. T. Martin and J. Cherry studying photos of several Original Simmons boards before T. Martin puts the planer to my close-to-shape blank to finish the 10-0 reproduction board.

Finished reproduction; 10'0" Simmons twin-keel spoon. 7' of parallel center concave in the bottom.

Jan. 20th, 2010. RK on the 10-0 at La Jolla Cove. I love how this take-off shot puts a measure to the wave against the 10'0" board and how it shows the paddle power and early-entry capabilities of the design. RK makes it look effortless. With the twin keels set back on the corners, the center concave and the 32 lb. weight of the board, it would like to have a mind of its own when it comes to picking a line. Riding it requires some forceful input at times. RK does it as well as anyone. La Jolla shots were courtesy of RK and his photo crew.

Winter in Italy

Francesco Di Tommaso just sent this photo to me. Near Bari, It gets colder there in the winter than here in Southern Cal. It looks like a fun wave, but Francesco is riding his older 9-0 G&S 2+1 instead of one of his more cherished boards. I guess the wave breaks into a shallow rock reef that likes to eat boards. He also sent photos of his G&S taken after this session. I believe him. Taken January 9th, 2010.

JZ's Incredible Longboard

This stunning longboard was Shaped by Jeremy Zagarella. I met Jeremy a few months ago when he dropped by my house to score a few balsawood sanding blocks for his board shaping. we hit it off and Jeremy told me he would shoot me some board photos. I sensed from our conversation that he was an experienced shaper............But this beauty really got my attention.
Jeremy shaped this one for his Dad. I had to share it. Great job Jeremy!!! Wow!
It was glassed at Resinworks. Sorry, I don't have the dimensions, other than......beautiful.

6'3" Simm-21 for CK

This 6-3 Simm-21 is for Cary Kinkead, a Windansea area local. I guess he heard Morgan Smith's report after Morgan returned from Mainland Mexico where he rode his Simm 21 (also 6-3)on
Big, beautiful, lined-up point breaks. He had to order his own. This one will be tinted coke-bottle green. Michael Miller is glassing it for us.

Fins: Imbuya (Brazilian walnut) and figuered white ash.

Each Simm-21 gets a hand-drawn Simm-21 logo on the bottom.

Aloha Cary.

Something New for Myself

8.75" tall ~ 9" base. Purpleheart, Phillipine Mahogany, Maple, Peruvian walnut.

Almost all of my work goes to clients. Once and a while I build something for myself.

This reverse -"D" template box fin is for my 9'-6", Donald Takayama Model-T . It will be glassed with 3 layers of 6oz each side and have a 1/2" clear bead. The base will be laid up by hand using alternating layers of heavy skate deck cloth and 8oz volan, then hand fitted to the box.

Personally, I much prefer this fin over a pivot fin. Although it is slightly less in height than the 9-5 pivot fin, the leading edge has approximately the same degree of rake and the depth is plenty to anchor the tail while nose-riding and bottom turning. The trade-off advantage is that the soft radius of the trailing edge is incredibly smooth and loose to turn and can be turned form a more forward position on the board. For me, it provides better all-around performance from an already incredible board.

I almost always have ridden boards that I shaped for myself. In the 70's I always had a Takayama LB in my quiver. I had been reminiscing and eying the Model-T's for quite a while recently. Today's Model-T is not much different than what Donald was already shaping in the 70's. When I saw one at Mitch's North that I liked, I bought it.

After the first wave I took off on I remembered exactly why I loved them so much.

I think I will hang on to this one!

Scot Cherry, Simmons Sequence

Sunday, December 20th, '09 - Simmons Reef, La Lolla
Lil Bro, Scot Cherry getting behind the curtain on a 9'0" semi-gun that I shaped for him back in 1995.

I know.........you are all wondering why there are no similar photos of me on this blog.

Truth is, I'm usually so SHACKED.................you can't tell who it is surfing anyway.

Really.