Tag: surfboard

Quality

Edgar, Surfing, Travel

We (as individuals) are responsible for our actions.  That being said, we also own their knock on affects.  Every action we have affects others, directly or indirectly.  Simple physics, “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”  The world around us is changed by our presence in it.

Pause, and consider the gravity….

Not too long, we do not want sucked into a black hole.

In construction there is a saying, “Today’s quality is tomorrow’s safety.”  People that are building nuclear facilities say things like that, well..,we hope.  We should all carefully consider the quality of our actions before executing them, because we are ultimately defined by our actions, not our sentiment.  The road to hell was paved, by masons, w/ good intentions.

I am a hurricane survivor and so is my motorcycle.  My motorcycle (a KLR 650) was nearly perfect before hurricane Harvey.  It had 2300 miles on it and not a chip of beautiful orange paint was missing.  When the system was spinning up into a cat 3, I decided I would be spending my hurricane days in Mexico (surfing).  The storm shifted, so all of the Texas surf was going to be blown out by gale force on shore winds.  No reason for me to stick around (and Mex was firing off), so I “secured” my things.  As any (first world) natural disaster survivor knows, the best way to “secure” is to insure.  (I should probably trademark that one.)  I know that now, but pre-Harvey I didn’t.  The bike was uninsured (liability) and unsecured, but physically I did what I could.  I put it in a 7’x7′ Lowes plastic shed next to my 38′ 5th wheel and locked the door.  This, my friends, is NOT secure.  Harvey whipped up into a real nasty little creature, and I went surfing in Mexico.  As I was traveling out of town, the storm started tracking more easterly (towards mi casa).  Less than ideal.

Before leaving, I had the bike in the shed and next to the porch.  I had several boards outside, and “secured” under the camper.  I decided to up my level of security for the boards.  I put 5 boards in my bathroom and shut the door.  My longboard went in the shed w/ the bike.
When the storm blew through, it flopped my 5th wheel over and onto my shed, presumably crushing my beautiful, orange, uninsured, dual sport.  Again, our actions dictate a lot of things, and some things we would/could never consider.


Texas is not known for surf.  I tell people I surf in Texas and they ask, “is there a ocean in Texas?”  I don’t get into the whole geography thing, and how Americans are notoriously poor at it, as are Australians, but I do mention that the Gulf of Mexico touches Texas.
Anyone who surfs the Gulf of Mexico appreciates longboards and their necessity.  I got mine in Galveston (the stoke in this town is incredible).  It was shaped by Mark Wooster.   I bought the board off a used rack at a local place, and the shop owner bragged on Mark and his boards.  He said that Mark took care in building a solid board.  Quality.  The shop owner was right, and Mark is a stand up guy.

Mark Wooster saved my KLR.

When the storm knocked my 5th wheel onto the shed, the 5th wheel contacted the northwest corner of the shed first.  That is where the elevated nose of my board was.  As the shed crushed from the weight of the trailer, it rotated the board counter clockwise and lined the board up perpendicular to the shed, spanning over the bike like a joist carrying the trailer’s weight, and keeping it off the bike.


To the layman, it looked like a pile of crushed rubbish, but after some creative rigging and tow truck operator finesse, the bike was recovered virtually unscathed.


I dressed the bike out w/ panniers and a surfboard rack, and now it resides in Mexico.  It is great transport, but every time I see it, my heart thanks Mark and his attention to detail.  I am convinced, a lesser board would not have taken this load.  The board did sustain some damage to its fin box, but is still rideable, and so is the KLR.

Thanks Mark.  You do good work, and I appreciate that.

Edgar~

Create

Edgar, Surfing

To consume, or create, that is the question?
Whether nobler to think, and work, w/end in mind,
Or lay and wait while others decide.
The interesting bit about questions like these, is they are being asked less frequently.

I recently took on a very interesting project.  I wanted a fish board, and I wanted to make it my own, so I found an excellent shaper and we started the process.  It was an interesting and very rewarding journey.
Surfboard shapers are interesting cats, and collaborating w/ them is a fun experience.  These folks are truly artists, wrapped w/ eccentric notions of crafting vessels ridden to a realm that comes and goes one time.  They understand, first hand, this powerful experience and the importance of shaping the ships that can propel surfers and evoke the fleeting feelings derived from spending seconds in a time and space that will never exist again.  These people are something between foam alchemists and boat builders, and they are shamens to their tribes, feared and revered.

Needless to say, I approached my shaper w/the notion of a board, some humility, and some good old fashioned green backs.  Turns out, this method of motion is mostly successful…  I mean it.  (I couldn’t resist one more “m”.)  Anyway, there I was standing in a space I had never been, trying to express sentiment, action, and motion that has, at best, a very crude language.  We began.

I brought three boards that I enjoyed riding, to the mystic.  We talked of local weather, and different breaks, paddling, hydrodynamics, eras of art, clean lines, different philosophies of different things, sustainability and even lightly dabbled in politics.  One of the best pieces I took from the talk was, he wanted to build the board I needed not the board he wanted for me.  That is really what we need from our shamen.  We need them to help us w/what we need, not w/what they want us to have.  Accepting what they want us to have is not sustainable, and will not take us to these beautiful but fleeting places consistently.

After our chat, I started considering the details of what I wanted, and even put a crude sketch together to discuss the art.  One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.  Being easily entertained, keeps one content.  We roughed out the foam blank, decided on retro twin fins, and I left the Master of the craft to do just that, craft.

Time rolled by, as it has, and will.  I waited….

Then the call came, and I went.  We met at his shaping room, and I realized we had brought notion to life.  The unreal was birthed into reality, and a surfboard was born, Bluefish.   I was very happy w/ the creation on many levels, and happier still when I caught the first mushy undersized wave on this artwork.  It was fantastic.  It was skatey, fast, and held a line.  We did it.


I do appreciate repurposing, well, most everything, but creation has its place.  It should be considered, especially now, in this age of mass production where unfaced capitalists nearly force plastic garbage, disguised as something fun or useful, into our homes and lives only to be put into the trash pile (best case) soon after it was purchased.  They happily take the proceeds from the consumer, slightly pay the producer, enlist advertisers to continue ensnaring us, and use the net proceeds to experience the finer things in life.  We, collectively, should recognize this and act.  We deserve better.

Create!
Build your own!  My own what?  Build your own whatever you cans.

Edgar~