I ran across this photo of our local Legend Pete Smith and his son Pete Jr. Photo was taken around 1970. Check out those sweet pork chop side burns. Pete Smith was co-owner of one of the first surf shops in Virginia Beach called Smith & Holland Surf Shop.
Austin is offering, for a limited time, free shipping to anywhere in the contiguous 48 states. It must be shipped to a terminal or a place of business but 95 % of all cities have a shipping terminal within minutes of their residence. This include all boxing, handling, and shipping. A nice deal for the holidays!
Are you one of those new “GO GREEN” or go home surfers? If so why in the world would you order any surfboard other than one made from Paulownia wood? Granted Poly boards are not that great for the environment (even though we do try and limit our carbon footprint where we can) but epoxy isn’t the answer either. If you want a balsa board you might also run into trouble if they are clear cutting the forest to obtain it or cutting down old growth forest that should remain for the animals. The most eco-friendly and durable surfboard we feel is made from paulownia wood. All the paulownia that we purchase is farm grown that is planted and replanted specifically for the purpose of harvesting. None of the paulownia we purchase is wild grown. This helps us not buy wood that was illegally harvested and also keeps the paulownia crop going. For those tree hugger surfers wrap your legs around a paulownia board.
Austin goes through phases where he pushes the envelopes in each area of a surfboard build. His current area of focus is working on is in the different stringer arrangements. A few months ago it was custom fins and fin art. This was one of the wood and resin fins that he and Joe created. Austin sells the singular fins like this for $250 a piece but if he puts in on a board it would only be around $125. If you sold something like this as Art he could get 10 times that figure. From now on we do not sell surfboards we sell Art!
The Austin designed Bonzer type fins are not for the squeamish. They occasionally do bite back. The picture is of an Austin Surfboards family member that got pitched and then met the business end of his Figjam coming back up from the bar. Nice gash and a few stitches but no real damage thank goodness.
I have always loved this picture. I ran across it on another blog and saved it because I thought it showed the pure joy of surfing. Even through the water wings and goggles you can see the joy in her face. Don’t we all wish we could feel that pure joy again!
What do you get when cross a redneck with a surfer? See the picture above! No airbrush paint. All the work is done with pigment. Why? Because we can!
Many moons ago we got a call from one of the Cambell brothers. If you don’t know that name in the surfing community you must have been living under a rock. The Campbell brothers’ were the inventors of the Bonzer fin set up. They were calling us to nicely ask us to quit using the name “Bonzer” on our Austin Bonzer due to them having a Trademark . Not only did we think it was a stand up thing that they called us to talk it out instead of sending us some cease production letter by some high paid lawyer but how cool is it that some legends in the surf community actually calls you to talk to you even though it was to nicely chew you out. Since that time we started using the regular Austin logo on our Bonzers and we now call the Bonzer the “Figjam”.
About 2 months ago we had a guy from Florida stop in our shop. He said it was cool because his friend “Austin” owned a surf shop in Florida called Austin’s Surf Shop (no relation) and he thought it would be cool to buy a couple of stickers to take back to show his friend Austin. Well Austin (our Austin) being the nice guy that he is says just take a couple no worries. A few weeks ago we had a friend of ours that was vacationing in Florida bring us one of the “new” stickers for this Austin Surf Shop in Florida. I will let you be the judge and decide how close it is to our logo. Even though our Logo is also Trademark, which is an extremely time consuming and costly thing, we decided not to push any confrontation this time. I imagine if we see any shirts or boards with our logo on them coming from Florida we might not be so forgiving but for now we are just going to take it as a form of Flattery.
This summer was full of experimentation from the Alaia’s we have been building, to the paipos, and even the hand planes. Each trip to the beach lead to a new revelation in watercraft design. With each trip we began to realize that we way underestimated the abilities of the Hawaiians on their wooden blanks. We also discovered how much damn fun these things could be. With each exploration we found a new thrill. Even though so simple the hand plane was the real surprise. You forget the simple pleasure of body surfing once you begin to stand up but the hand plane brought that simple pleasure back. The hand plane helps adjust for your youth lost and for the extra bagage that comes from time. It makes bodysurfing fun again. This little board gives you a tripod point that actually lifts your body out of the water to reduce drag. Of course this isn’t going to replace your go to board but when the waves are dumping and its all close outs break the flippers and hand plane out of your car and give it a go. You will fill like a kid again.
Austin has been experimenting with different stringer set ups. He bought a few unstringered blanks and thought he might try some unusual designs that is not normally seen. He has been talking about how when he shapes them they have different flex characteristics than the normal typical stringered board. We can’t wait to see these babies after they are glassed.
