The annual Board Room and Mud Run

The Ley Lines of creativity, design and craftsmanship decidedly cross in San Diego. Although their intensity peaks in the winter months with the increase in NW swells, this late Autumn show, after the last of the  summer "is my board ready yet?" questions has been answered, is a gathering of the local tribe.

I have made the trip down the last few years happy to leave the shores of Surf City to share the stoke.

As Jack O'Neil said so long ago, "Only a Surfer Knows the Feeling".
But if you want to know why then ask your shaper, glasser, sander, pinliner.

 Three kids playing with an artificial wave machine.
First thing I remember seeing at the show.
This bodes well for the future.

Some thing indeed!

Multi faceted artist Ed adjusting the flux capacitor on the *Enjoy stoke machine

This is the "other side" of one  Ed's series of handplane head photos. Check his Instagram feed for more. (yes full pinky extension is required)


 Mike Marshall's Skil 100

Pendo makes the best boards!

 So what does an artist do when he is done working on the big colab project?
If you are Matt Beard you head outside setup next to the band and get to work

 a parabola ( /pəˈræbələ/; plural parabolae or parabolas, from the Greek παραβολή) is a conic section, created from the intersection of a right circular conical surface and a plane parallel to a generating straight line of that surface (I see waves) 

The birth of the new generation in surf tycoons


Mark Richards was a great choice for this year's honoree at the show.
World champion surfer, great shaper and from what I understand a very nice guy and a class act.

But in the days after the show I have begun to wonder.

When does a handplane shaper get into the "in honor of" slot at the show?
Or a paipo shaper, how about a mat maker?

Swim fin makers, board fin makers, knee board shapers and designers have all made large and small contributions to our sport over the years but don't seem to be well represented.

Body boards are ridden by more people in more places than anything else.
When does Tom Morey get the nod he so richly deserves?

Can we really celebrate surfing and the people that design our surf toys if we are only looking at one facet of the sport?

My advice is for the producers of the show and shows like this is to close their eyes take a deep breath and picture all the things we love to do in the ocean and include that in the next show.


PS thanks to my wife who took most of these photos.
When I get to the show I can either 1. run around like a kid in a candy store or 2. Try to make some photo journalistic decisions on a cohesive bonding of some images to possible future story lines here on 23B.

Even though my dear wife is famous for her photo decapitations I decided that option one was the way to go.

Comments

towel rails said…
i love the design your so artistic..i was so amazed by the time that i saw your site..what a great idea that you have
pranaglider said…
TR - glad you like it stop by any time!
KingWaka said…
Nice read there Prana! We never see any surf expo's down here on the south coast of NSW, they are always held up in Queensland/Noosa or NSW/Byron Bay....What I have been told about MR, he would have hit them up for a pretty penny for his appearance...let alone his autograph!
We enjoyed your post about the surfboard show. It was great to see you and Mrs. Prana.
Mahalo for the pic of the Pendoflex in Bird's booth. Aloha and Cowa-flexit, Cher and Steve

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