Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year from Victoria Skimboards

Just a quick note to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Stay safe so we can see you on the beaches in 2010!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Random Analog is here!

The newest video release from Victoria Skimboards, Random Analog, is here. A fun collection of lifestyle, skimboarding action, and artistic flavor filmed and edited by professional team rider Brandon Rothe.

"It could be a new way of looking at things" states Trigg of Victoria Skimboards.

Click here to watch RANDOM ANALOG and enjoy!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Women's Pro Event

Victoria Skimboards is stoked to host the first Women's Pro event. Thanks to a compelling DVD called Skim Chicks, which features many of the top women skimboarders, this years Victoria World Championships of Skimboarding will debut the first Women's Pro division. Gone are the days of going last in degenerating conditions. The men's Pro division has traditionally taken the best time of day for the conditions. Now, a coin toss will decide who, men or women, has first priority to go when conditions are best. Prize money will be proportional to the number of entrants in each division. All other scheduling traditions will continue. Saturday will begin with the youngest amateur divisions and proceed up thru the age groups. Sunday the order is reversed, so that the youngest kids, our sports most future stars, will go last as the contest finale.
Tex Haines
President.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Manzanillo fun

Our distributor in Mexico (X3M) put on a contest in Manzanillo recently with great success. Check out the video below.




If you want to see the write up in Spanish and some extra pictures, Click Here.

Thanks to X3M for what looked like such a great time at the contest. Congratulations!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Random Analog Video Teaser

The new Victoria Skimboards video, Random Analog, will hit the internet on December 18, 2009 for FREE. Yes for free as it is time to change the way you think about video.

Check out the video teaser by clicking here.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Late night session

Who says you have to skim during the day? And, who says it has to be all ocean all the time?

Well, we at Victoria Skimboards think that Flatland is an integral part of our sport and recently decided to take flatland to the night. A test run proved that there is plenty to learn but also plenty that can be done. A fun night and something we all look forward to doing again in the near future.

Lights, camera, action!


Morgan Just doing his thing.


Just the first step in the beginning of a process.


Thursday, November 12, 2009

Random Analog

Victoria Skimboards is proud to annouce that it will release a video on December 18, 2009. The video is called Random Analog and has been a collection of footage put together by professional skimboarder Brandon Rothe.

The few people that have seen the video state that it is "off the chain." The Global release is December 18, 2009. More details to follow.........

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Fall Cabo Contest

The inaugural Lands End Open took place between October 29, 2009 and November 2, 2009 down in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The idea of a waiting period is one we have all coveted and it was good to see it get put into place. The final event found its way down to Todos Santos where the top six results were as follows:

Bill Bryan

Jaime Lovett

Morgan Just

Sam Stinnett

Brad Domke

Paddy Mack


Congratulations to all involved on a solid event.

Friday, October 30, 2009

NJ Seabright

Victoria riders representing.

Victoria Skimboards Blog posting to Facebook

Catch all of the Victoria Skimboards Blog posts in Facebook. To see it all go to the notes section of our Facebook page and enjoy.

Atom Feed Available

The Atom Feed feature is now available for the Victoria Skimboards Blog. Sorry we did not drop this on you sooner but sometimes we learn as we go. Scroll to the bottom of the page and connect. Enjoy!

A special shout out to Scott B. for getting us in gear.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Snapshot

Victoria Skimboards professional team rider, Matthieu Thibaud dominates Thalia Beach in Laguna Beach, CA. It just so happened that one day while riding at Thalia, a French photographer friend of his caught him in action. The photo was then submitted to world renowned Photo Website 1x.com (which is very selective about the photos they display) and it was selected for display.

You can see Remi's picture of Matthieu at Thalia by clicking here

This is Remi's third displayed picture on 1x.com and is using the Victoria Skimboards water housing with a Canon 40D.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Mid week break

Few days ago Mo and Muchu caught the begining of the new swell at lunch.



Looks like a 2010 Mo Just promodel board to me.



Mo switch.




Bird going fishing.


Muchu

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Skim One comes to Laguna Beach


The Japanese retailer of Victoria Skimboards, Skim One, made it into the shop today to say a quick hello and take some pictures. While they were busy shooting some shots, we took a few of our own. Good to see you Yuto, Kuniko, Takatoshi, and crew! Have a great trip.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Matthieu Thibaud takes over

Here is a little video of Matthieu Thibaud for your head.


MUCHU from Groovy Baby on Vimeo.

Moving on.

The end of October.........things are quiet at the shop. Summer rush is over and Christmas is still a ways off. It has been a rough year. We had to loose some good employees and cut expenses to adjust. The team didn't travel as much as years past. But I just wanted to say a huge THANKS to all our customers who visited our shop in Laguna Canyon and to those of you who shopped our online store. In spite of the severe recession our sales have been holding steady.
However most of our business is with the surf shops. Many have been hit hard with this recession. But surf shops are great assets to our towns. They sponsor and donate prizes to skim contests, sponsor skimmers, fund little league baseball teams and all sorts of good things. So send a little support to our local surf shop and do some Christmas shopping there. Get your Dad a new t-shirt and your Mom a new straw hat. You'll be glad you did.
Lynn Haines

Monday, October 19, 2009

Unofficial UST Results

We have run through the UST calculations and per our figures, Bill Bryan will take the title again for a second straight year.

Of course this is not posted by the UST and we may be missing something but it seems correct.

Congratulations to all UST participants on another great year.

Octoberfest

The Oktoberfest results can be found by Clicking Here

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Long Island

Thanks Toeknee for hooking us up with a little somthing to watch...


NJSKIM - Long Island aug09 - from Toeknee Bianchi on Vimeo.

Friday, October 2, 2009

In the Water

Water in town is super clear which is a good enough reason for us to jump in during break.



Tex hitting it frontside.


Muchu through the spray.


Practice time for Oktoberfest if it ends up being small.

Waiting for the weekend when the swell will hopefully fill in.



Orange County government supports contest

After 33 years of basically just being happy to have permission from the county to have the contest, I am thrilled to announce that the Orange County government has decided to create a support network for community events and the Vic contest at Aliso Beach is at the top of their list. Tom Starnes, Communications Manager, and Leslie Ray of OC Parks said they wanted to help us with the event any way they could. This will probably include promoting the contest on the community events calendar, linking the county web page to the Victoria web page and the Aliso camera web site. This major sea-change in our relationship will allow us to go after more dollars from the contest co-sponsors as viewership of the contest and the camera website should increase substantially. This is the most positive development possible in the long history of the contest. It should allow us to increase the size of the Pro purse by a significant margin. The contest is now recognized as a major community event, the sport is being honored as a real asset to the county and as a genuine tourism attraction that brings visitors and revenue to the local businesses. Thank you, thank you, thank you to whoever decided to make this happen. The sport of skimboarding will certainly take a giant slide forward in the near future. Tex Haines, Co-Founder and President, Victoria Skimboards. Always a few moves ahead.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Peru


Lookign through some pics from my trip to Peru this spring and found the one wave pic I took in Mancora at 5 30am.

Meeting with the County of Orange

This morning, Tex and Trigg met up with officials for the County of Orange at Aliso Beach to discuss the future of the Victoria Skimboards WCS. The future of the contest was of major concern for everyone in the office after developments over the last few years but today that was laid to rest.

County officials have said that from the top down, they all want the Victoria Skimboards WCS on Aliso Beach. After further discussion we are pleased to announce that we will be working with the county very closely to make sure that the event is a success for everyone involved.

Get ready for the Victoria Skimboards WCS 2010 on June 19th & 20th.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Morgan Just in France

Here are some links to a few pictures from http://www.gorgonitasskim.blogspot.com/ of Victoria Skimboards team rider Morgan Just in France using the Grinch set up. Check it out!

Image #1
Image #2
Image #3
Image #4

Fall Friday

Finally the crowds are gone, black ball is done, water is warm and we are not at work. The office decided to take a little break today and hit up some waves before getting back to the never ending task of building and selling boards.
Kyle not in retail.
Tex not afraid to gouge one.
Trigg managing a shoulder body surf style.
Ryan enjoying some of his last days at the beach.
Muchu getting excited about the sun finally starting to break though.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Weekend swell


Both coasts got hit with some swell this weekend. Hope everyone was able to get on it. Brickle enjoying some bowls out East.

Bill Bryan wins in Santa Cruz


Bill Bryan during the finals


The swell was there in Santa Cruz, a little bit too big for 26th Avenue, where the contest was, but there were definitely some good ones to work with in between sets. A lot of Pros and Ams showed up and competed in a spectacular skim contest. Congratulations to Beaker winning the UST event #7.



Bill Bryan backside air (finals)


Morgan Just also made it to the finals and takes a good 4th place.

Morgan backside wrap during semi final


Next and last UST event will be held in Newport Beach, Balboa Pier, October 17th and 18th

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Pro Surfer Jaime O'Brien on his Victoria Skimboard

Professional Surfer Jaime O'Brien found a little down time in the first ever Red Bull Rivals at Sandy Beach to throw down with his skimboard. For information on the article found on Surfline, click here.

Go to picture #15 & #16 of the set.

Zero Trash

This Saturday the ZeroTrashLaguna group set up a tent on the street in front of the Victoria Laguna Canyon shop and proceeded to collect trash from up and down the Canyon Road. The Red Shirted zealots mantra is zero trash on the beach or the streets leading to the beach. Here in lies the genius of the concept. Beach cleanups are quickly over, the beach is over cleaned by too many volunteers, and then they all go home strangers. Yeah! Good, but momentum is lacking in these endeavors.

Equally clever is to have the cleanups EVERY first Saturday of the month. What's so impressive about this plan is that it unites neighbors on each street Now we have the forming of a critical mass. It grows. I have met several families and kids on Oak St. who are into picking up trash. In a world where neighbors usually never meet, this is a really cool thing.
Visitors to the neighborhood see the red shirts, the bags and the camaraderie and want to do their own street.

Now they are adding Laguna Canyon Road to the already long list of adopted beaches and streets in Laguna. 60,000 people a day move on that road. The exposure for this simple, brilliant, movement is huge. It grows. Get a Can Catcher from Pikes Peak Industries Inc. Just google it. I like it for it's durable metal and wood pick up fingers. You can pick up a dime, and it makes picking up trash fun.

Contact Chip McDermott at Zero Trash to start a group in your hood this fall. There are others like us out there. Mark your calendar. First Sat. each month. Rendevous at Cress St. Just pick it up! It grows.

Tex

Labor Day is gone.....

With the Labor Day in the bank and the kids back at school it means summer is winding down. The end of summer does not signify the end of production for Victoria Skimboards. We are busily producing boards for our distributors and gearing up the team for the final two contests of the UST season.

Check the website for updates and go to the Victoria Skimboards Online Store for some last minute deals.

Enjoy!!!!!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Stoked!!!

Dylan from Florida came to the shop today, and had the surprise to meet Morgan Just...

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Friday, August 28, 2009

Lunch time.






Had a few minutes to burn before the In N Out arrived so I was able to get a few pics shot down at Aliso. We have been on a run of steady South's for a while now and the beach has paid the price. Not the best set up any more but still good for the ocasional wave. If you head down watch out for some new exposed rocks, concrete slabs and rebar!


Muchu at work.

Teddy checking out some of the new features on the beach.

Aliso Beach web camera on Surfline.com

Victoria Skimboards is pleased to announce that the free Aliso Beach web camera sponsored by EarthCam is now available on Surfline.com.

For a link to the official press release, click here.

To be taken to the Surfline.com site, click here.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Victoria Skimboards WCS 2010 - dates set

The Victoria Skimboards WCS 2010 dates have been set.

June 19 - 20, 2010

Mark your calendars, book your trip, and we will see you at Aliso!

Monday, August 24, 2009

10th Street sessions

Over the last weekend the beginnings of some swell broke through in Laguna Beach. Locals ran to 10th Street in hopes of picking up the side wash and were greated with some nicely formed waves.

Kyle Wiley at 10th St.

Victoria Skimboards team rider Matthieu Thibaud injured his foot on Friday but still pulled his weight by taking some pictures and helping with Video footage.



Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Chris Splendore gives back

Victoria Skimboards team rider Chris Splendore teamed up with Zack Hoag to give skimboarding instruction at the Children's Home of Tampa.

Click here for pictures.

Thanks Chris for helping to give back to those around you. We appreciate it!

Monday, August 17, 2009

Howell takes Dewey

Jon Howell laid it all on the beach and put together an impressive performance to win 1st place at Dewey Beach over the last weekend. Congratulations to Jon!

Also to be noted, Siobhan McAuliffe took 1st place in the Women's division.

More results as they become available to us. Congratulations Victoria Skimboards riders on a great performance!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Online Store SALE!!!

Victoria Skimboards is having a SALE in our online store from August 15, 2009 through September 15, 2009. Use the code below and save 10% but hurry as supplies may be limited.

Redemption Code: VS-51892

Click here for the Online Store

Skim lessons

Kile from Mississippi sent some pictures of the skim lesson he had when he visited here a couple of weeks ago.

He got a pretty good sunburn (even if I told him about the sunblock thing), but he had a lot of fun. He got some waves at Thalia and then came down to Aliso.

He was super stoked, me too and we look forward to seeing him around again,


Click here for more information about Skim lessons

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Mega Wins! Morgan second.

The contest must go on said the contestants. Hard onshore winds and large offshore waves were dealt with by the contestants and it was pretty tough. Mega managed to get some frontside AND backside wraps, into the wind, to beat Morgan and take the title. Hugo Santos was out with a hurt foot from Saturday so the door was open for Mega to realize his dream of many, many years. Morgan said before the victory was announced that he didn't mind if Mega won, he was that good a skimmer and a great guy. With European football style chanting, the crowd was celebrating for every favourite and many of the cheers were for Herve LeDoux, the organizer of the event. He really knocks himself out for three days, hosts parties every night, has a huge sound system and a big crowd. Cree and little Noami, forgive my spelling, handed out the prizes. Very heartwarming to see the crowd appreciation for all the family's efforts. Morgan is now the leader on the European tour by a good margin and is planning to go on to England to try and get the title. Last night he got rained on in his tent, yes I said tent, and got pretty wet and cold. That's dedication. He said he was just now getting over the jet lag after 12 days in Europe. Sorry I don't have the names of the other finishers but rest assured, the Europeans are damn good. Morgan said he was really feeling the pressure in Portugal where he took second. Sergio and Eric of gorgonitasskim, find the blog on google, urged me to invite any and all to the 2010 in Barcelona. By the way, the contest in Portugal was a major ocean festival with a 1000 contestants in all the ocean sports. Morgan reported that billboards featuring Jaime, the winner of last years event, were all over town. That's not little old posters, but really big billboards. Reminds me of sailboarding, which started in the U.S., but really took off in Europe in a much bigger way. It is absolutely amazing to see how big skimboarding has become. Tex

Sunday in France

Bon Jour mon amies,
Today the contest is over early. Rain and strong winds last night blew out the waves, actually made them too big. So, since many of the people can't stay till the afternoon high tide, they are going home.
High tide is at 7:30 pm and is 13 feet. Yes, that's right, 13'. Morning high tide was at 7 am and was also in the 12' range. Last night at the party we had a great plate of rice and meat sauce and really slept well. Herve was saying tomorrow would be perfect as the beach was getting steeper very quickly after the flattening it received from Fridays high winds and waves. Conditions change really, really fast is what I have learned from all this. I hope I will be able to skim......

dit dit dit ......this just in from Cree, after speaking to Herve, the skimming will go on. As I just said, conditions do change fast. Now it seems Herve will return the rented equipment so he doesn't have to pay for an extra day and then come home. Skimboarding will be better around 3 pm and maybe I will get a chance to ride a little bit. I need to blow off some accumulated energy after traveling and only walking around seeing sights. Yesterday there was a traditions festival here in the little town where Herve and Cree live. Lots of Basque festivities, crafts, dancing. During the evening there was bull fighting in the local ring. Not the kind with capes and pokers, but totally different. The bull is encouraged to dash across the ring at a person standing still in the middle. As the bull approaches the person leaps over the bulls horns in a front flip and lands after the bull has passed. Variations include tying one's knees together and/or doing this blindfolded. Makes skimming look easy. I have read about the people of ancient Crete doing this, naked, but had no idea it was still practiced today.
I wonder if Morgan Just has tried this.
Tex


Saturday, August 8, 2009

Morgan Just tows in on Friday.


Saturday, once again Carly and I did the tourist thing while the skim contest took place at Hossegor. I heard the waves were much better. Herve LeDoux is down there from 7 am to 7 pm running the event. That is one heck of a lot of work, and I should know. I heard that Morgan Just entertained the skimmers on Friday by using Herve's homemade grinch to tow out to 2 meter faces. Good stuff! Bernardo and his partner in Bartardubreak will post up some shots of that. Go Morgan! He has been working hard on using the bungie cord for launches and pushing the sport forward with his willingness to experiment. A bit rainy today, expected to be clearer tomorrow. Today Carly and I visited Spain (San Sebastian) and St. Jean de Luz in France, a spectacular harbor that reduces a 3 meter swell outside to a 1 meter wave on the inner beaches. Castles and chateaus everwhere. Herve and Cree have displayed unbelievable hospitality to us and we are so grateful for the place to stay on our last minute trip to France. Kids grow up quickly and there is a very small window of opportunity to get in an educational trip with them before they no longer want to do these family activities. And as my mom always says, there is never a good time to travel, you just have to go. Couldn't be more true in our current economic crisis.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Friday too big!

Friday's log. Too big for skimming, contest will run Saturday. Lots of skimmers hanging around waiting for the afternoon to change, but still too big. Carly and I visited the Cathedral at Bayonne and felt closer to God. How anyone can build something so tall with stone is beyond belief. I guess that is what it is all about. Drove, if that is the correct term for wandering all over, to Biarritz. One of the most spectacular coastlines I have ever seen. Castles, churches and massive hotels build right to the oceans rocky edge. A harbor, more like a fort against the sea, holds fewer than 50 small boats for the local fisherman. The harbor walls are 40' tall. Wandered, and I mean wandered, back up to Herve's to rest up for the party tonight. Matthieu's brother Nicolas will play the music, should be fun. Tomorrow we will try to visit St. Jean de Luz and maybe San Sebastian in Spain to taste the local food and see the harbor.
Tex and Carly Haines, roving students of history and skimming.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Herve LeDoud house

Well, here we are, Carly and Tex Haines, staying at the home of Herve and Cree in France. The waves today are huge! Some rain, a little wind, and swell dropping over the next few days. I am with Bernardo of Bartardubreak and he lives in downtown Paris and we hope to visit him when we return to Paris on Monday. Pascal is here, the famous French tagger who created a couple of our best shirts for Victoria many years ago. The skimmer with the peace sign in his hand making the word Victoria as he skims. Around 2001 or 2002. And my other favorite the rectangle with a small red dot and a nike swoosh representing a wave. Inscrutable art. Classics!..... Tomorrow the contest at Hossegor will start. Probably waves too big, so Herve will run the contestants on Saturday in two time periods. The tides change so much that the window is small, so it will be good two times Saturday. Carly and I will probably drive Herve's car around and see the sights. Bayonne, Biarritz, and St. Jean de Luz. Tourists, what a pain!. Aren't we lucky? More later.......
Tex

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Testing the Flowrider

Victoria Skimboards team rider and employee Matthieu Thibaud got in the car with General Manager Trigg Garner yesterday and headed on down to the Wavehouse in San Diego. The goal of the trip was market/production research but "when in Rome" as the saying goes.......

Matthieu Thibaud talking to Brandon of the Wavehouse about the design of the boards for the Flowrider.


Matthieu on his first run of the day. When you are starting on the Flowrider, you use the rope to get your bearings. Matthieu ditched the rope after his second run and started hammering out shuv-its.

Trigg getting a little beginning help from Wavehouse employee Brandon.


Of course, when your skill level improves on the Flowrider you move up to the Barrelrider. Victoria Skimboards team rider Bill Bryan featured above getting "slotted" in the barrel.
Special thanks to Robert and the staff at the Wavehouse for being so accomidating and letting us play around a little bit. For more information on the Wavehouse, click here.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Victoria Skimboards WCS video on Transworld Surf Website

The Victoria Skimboards WCS video by Spencer Taylor (competed in the contest) has made it to the front page of the Transworld Surf website. To see the video, click here.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Free shipping for one board to France expires Aug. 3rd

Available now, a space in my board bag for one skimboard, leaving on Tuesday the 4th of August, arriving at the contest at Hossegor on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Must be paid for before I leave. Let us know via info@vicskim.com and I'll put it in my bag on Monday the 3rd.
Tex

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Hobie store in Laguna Beach #2

Here are some more pictures of the history board set up inside the Hobie store in Laguna Beach.




Thanks again to the Hobie employment staff and management for working with us on this program. Come on down and see the Victoria Skimboards display today!

Hobie store in Laguna Beach #1

Victoria Skimboards is proud to have worked directly with the employees at Hobie in Laguna Beach to create an in store experience rather than just a window design.




With history boards and pictures detailing out the rise of Victoria Skimboards and skimboarding, we appreciate the opportunity presented to us by the Hobie store in Laguna Beach.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Tex in the Brooks St. Surf Classic

Owner of Victoria Skimboards, Tex Haines, participated in the Brooks Street Surf Classic over the weekend of July 25th through 26th. Noteworthy of the event was the swell size as at times double overhead waves (pushing 15 foot face) pushed through the lineup. Second reef at Brooks Street was breaking consistently. Props to all of the contestants for braving the heavy weekend surf!

Tex Haines results:
6th place Longboard division
2nd place Grand Masters division

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Aliso afternoon

Everyone is waiting on the new swell to arrive, should be a fun weekend if predictions are correct. Grabbed a few pics down at Aliso yesterday afternoon. Wasn't breaking to it potential but when it does riders will be ready.
Of course with summer swells come summer crowds. Beaker escaping.











Matthieu. Bail Bail!










Matthieu and Beaker on a little clean one.






Matthieu slapping the new swell around a bit. Yes he did wrap it and pull in.









Beaker hiding out.









The Grommet has been Reinvented

Always persuing the betterment of our products, Victoria Skimboards has reinvented the Grommet. Part of Project Triangle (click here for more information on Project Triangle), the Grommet is the perfect board for the little shredder weighing in around 70 – 100 pounds. With a size of 44.5 inches in length and 17 inches in width, the Grommet has been molded after the professional model Victoria Skimboards product. Thin, light in weight, strong, and fantastically priced, the Grommet is here for you.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

After picking up Wave Riding Vehicles (WRV) as a new account on the North Shore of O'ahu in Haleiwa . . . I gave these 2 groms their 1st skim lesson at Sunset Beach yesterday. Little man is already in training to be a plumber (haha). Check out the old skool woody! =)

MAUI MELE Skim Contest

Check this video out from HASL/Savemakena.org skim contest on July 11, 2009!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onbVipO8b6Q

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Save the Victoria Skimboards WCS petition

The County of Orange regulates all of the county beach activity. Park Rangers and the Permitting Department have a heavy hand in what happens on the County Beaches, Aliso Beach being one of them. In case you did not know, the County might attempt to push the Victoria Skimboards WCS to before or after the summer months basically killing the longest standing contest on the UST and Skimboarding circuit.

Victoria Skimboards has started a petition to "Save the WCS" and ask that you all read it, sign it, and add some constructive/positive comments to it. We will take this petition, a local hard copy that is signed by retailers, and any other support to the County Officials in hopes of keeping the WCS during the end of June or month of July. To read and sign the petition, click here.

Thank you all for the support.


Friday, July 17, 2009

Sean Explains

Since the beginning of NJskim, which is how I ended up meeting the crew there, the riders in NJ have made their mark on the skim scene. Always stoked to ride no matter the conditions, everyone from NJ has been working hard to keep skimming fresh on the East Coast. With the state constantly churning out new spots, great riders and a lots of stoke I thought it would be good to ask one of our team guys a little bit about his new shred sticks. Sean just put in an order for a new board and has been convincing friends to try his out for a while now so I hit him up to see if he could explain his taste in skims. For those of you that don’t know Sean, if you see him at the beach say hello he is a friendly fellow.


What made you choose the squash tail for boards?
Mike Geldart, an O.G. from jersey let me try one out and I loved it.

How long have you been riding this shape?
I’ve been riding a squash off and on for the past 4 years.

What benefits do you see over a standard tail?
There’s a few things. A squash is a wider board because it’s a bigger shape with a few inches off of the tail, therefore you have extra float and still fit in the pocket. You can throw the tail out real hard and stall harder because your foot can get closer to the tail than a pin tail.
-To clarify he gets the width of a ML with the length of a MS.


What disadvantage do you see over a standard tail?
Jah does not live on a standard tail.

What’s your favorite wave to ride it in?
Big barrelly shore break, wraps and liners.
-Sean lives next to some of the best liners ever so he knows what he is talking about.

The normal rider these days seems to like ¾” with carbon, why do you ride 5/8” with s-glass?
The only boards I have ever snapped in half were carbon. Carbon is too stiff for the way that I skim, s-glass gives me that flex. A thicker board feels like a boat to me, I just ride a wider 5/8”.
<>

Why do you like to have a quiver of boards to choose from? (Sean keeps a few diffent board styles and sizes on hand)
Different sized boards for different styled and sized waves. Bigger board for far out mushy liners and a smaller one for big wraps on the beach.