Dane Reynolds and Dan Malloy ride some interesting boards!!!

TSJ | POV - "Dan Malloy & Dane Reynolds Board Swap" from The Surfers Journal on Vimeo.

Ride shotgun with Dan Malloy and Dane Reynolds as they cruise from their Ventura homes to Emma Wood State Beach for a quiver swap. This insider look at their modes of surfing comes to a head as they trade—and ride—everything from homemade hunks to foiled Fryes.

Legendary Hobie Shaper, Terry Martin Shapes it up on video!

TSJ | POV - "Terry Martin and the perfect 40-minute board" from The Surfer's Journal on Vimeo.

This is a great viewing of legendary Hobie shaper Terry Martin shaping up a traditional longboard. He starts with a US Blanks 9-3Y as his canvas and works his Skil 100 planer over the blank. Those old planers just eat up the foam like no other.

Having started shaping wood as a lad in '50s San Diego, on through to shaping sleek Phil Edwards Models, to the now - where he finds himself an in-demand builder of boards of all denominations for Hobie- Terry Martin is the consummate craftsman. In this short video, Terry shapes a perfect traditional noserider, talking us through his philosophy and technique as he works.

Enjoy the video, we hope it provides some insight to your shaping experience.

Brad

International Surfing Day!

Ever needed a legitimate excuse to go surfing? Well, on June 20, 2009 you finally have it, International Surfing Day. Created by Surfing Magazine five years ago, this unofficial, official surfers' holiday gives us a chance to promote and celebrate the sport while bringing awareness to the state of our oceans and beaches. The goal is simple, take the day off or at least part of the day to go out and catch a wave or three and... while you're at it...help cleanup your favorite beach. In conjunction with the Surfrider Foundation, Surfing Magazine will be organizing a a handful of official beach cleanups. If there isn't an official beach cleanup in your neighborhood don't let it stop you from beautifying your own stretch of sand!

What are you doing tomorrow for International Surfing Day Saturday 2009? We'll be down in Huntington State Beach (North Side of River Jetties) from 8am to 1pm, along with a number of other surfing enthusiasts! Come down and join us there will be plenty of swag given away, refreshments, surf music, sun, and fun.

Some of the participants setting up tomorrow are: Foam E-Z, Future Fins, Harbour Surfboards, Van's Shoes, Katin Surf Shop, Greek Surfboards, Surfline, Monster Energy Drinks, Surfing Magazine, The Sierra Club, and many more. So as you can see it will be a great day to kick off the summer.

Hope to see you there!

Brad

Cool Surfboard Shaping Video with Tim Stamps

Tim Stamps grew up in Seal Beach and learned his skills under the legendary Rich Harbour of Harbour Surfboards. Tim worked almost every job at Harbour until he finally became Rich's right hand man. After years of shaping at Harbour, Stamps moved on to work on his own label. Designing and customizing is Tim's specialty, shaping all types of surfboards is his niche. Since he is a one man operation, working out of Westminster (down the street from Foam E-Z), Tim is able to have the utmost of quality control. Tim has shaped boards for some of the best surfers in the world. Check out his website for more information www.surfboardsbystamps.com

A view from above San Onofre

Can you believe this? A model airplane shooting an aerial assault on the famous surf spot San-O. The video footage was shot by the aerial genius known as Warz earlier this week. The surf was pretty small, the conditions were nice, and the crowd was at a minimum. This gives a great view of the lay of the land and the water that makes up San Onofre. Check out Church's and Lowers in the distance to the north. If you look close you can see the nuke plant south of Dogpatch. Stay tuned for more views in the near future.

Guy Okazaki is at it again!

Guy Okazaki always seems to find himsself on the silver screen or at least You Tubes version. This is a groovy little video with some shaping footage by a true Venice legend. Guy has a been a great customer at Foam E-Z for over ten years. Spending time between Californina and Hawaii for many decades has contributed to Guys evolution of shaping from the beginning of the shortboard era in the late 60's. Check out his website
http://www.guyokazaki.com/ for more info.

The 5-10RP Fish Blank by US Blanks

We've been waiting for this one since Clark Foam went out of business in December 2005! The 5'10"RP by US Blanks just arrived in our shop and we're stoked to have it. This polyurethane fish plug was shaped by San Diego legend Rich Pavel. He is one of the experts and innovators in the revolution of the Fish board. Rich has been deeply involved in the "Fish Fry" events around the world which are his inspiration for this blank. The blank is versatile enough to be able to shape short high performance fish as well as traditional fish boards up to 5'10". This blank is thick enough to yield 2-3/4" if you're trying to recreate an old school design.

Come in the shop and check them out.

See you soon-

Brad

Seal Beach and Long Beach Surfing Pioneers

What an awesome night in the history of Seal beach! Thursday September 25th at 7:30pm some of Seal Beach and Long Beach's earliest surf pioneers got together for a Q & A session. Some of the panel members included Harold Walker, Bob "Ole" Olson, Harry Schurch.

Harold Walker of Walker Foam was one of the pioneers in making polyurethane foam cores back in the early sixties. He competed with Clark Foam for forty plus years until finally going out of business in 2007. He is now working with Ice Nine to try to perfect their foam formulas.


Ole is famous as an early master craftsman of surfboards in the beginning foam era. He still makes surfboards in Maui under the Ole name. Ole flew out to Seal Beach to join his old buddies to talk about Seal Beach surfing days.

Another of the legendary crew is Harry Schurch. He was involved in that first attempt at surfing Waimea Nov of 1957 with Greg Noll, Micky Munoz, and Mike Stange. They all paddled out in 15 to 18 foot Waimea Bay on 40 pound planks in an attempt to survive the massive drop.

Shaping and Seal beach legend Rich Harbour attended the discussion that included many hilarious stories from the boys. Of course everyone had something to say about the notorious and ever present Sphinx. It stood on top of Blackie Augusts (Robert Augusts' Dad) house for some forty plus years. They told about how they would show up at the beach to go surfing and there wouldn't be anyone else in the water so they would have to wait until a buddy arrived to adventure out. There were endless classic stories from this eventful Seal Beach night. Unfortunately two guys from the main crew ,Jack Haley Sr. and Lloyd Murray, were not present (having passed away in recent years) but they were memorialized in the many stories.

SEAWORTHY

Shelter Surf Shop ended there summer film series this past Saturday with there premier of the Australian surf film Seaworthy. The film was a good representation of Australian surfers getting back to the roots of surfing.The film had footage of everything from Tom Wegener surfing a 16 foot Alaia, to Beau Young surfing on a Simmons fish he shaped with his father. The night was capped off by live music from the Tijuana Panthers, and the Shakas and Single fins photo show. Thanks to the crew at Shelter for putting on a great party, can't wait until next summer!
Reported by RadRob

Aloha Midget

Quote: "I'd like to think that I've steered a couple of guys to the right path on their careers … like Dino Andino and Andy Fomenko, two guys that actually wound up having a career and making some money at it and turned out to be really nice human beings." -Jeff 'Midget' Smith

RIP Midget

Surfer/Shaper Midget Smith lost his battle with cancer yesterday. The San Clemente local passed away at his home surrounded by his family and close friends. Smith was first diagnosed with the deadly disease over 20 years ago and beat it. His cancer then came back in the last year and he had been fighting it ever since. Midget Smith also was the head judge for the ASP North America and played a major role in the San Clemente progressive surfing movement back in the 1970’s and 80’s. RIP Midget Smith.

"What a Great Celebration!" Terry Price (Cerritos College)

Here's a letter we received from one of the vendors at the show. Look for more pics, videos, and a complete run down of day coming soon.

"Congratulations to you and your team for a very successful 15th anniversary celebration.

We were very pleased with your invitation to help you celebrate with your customers. Your program was one for the books, demo’s, entertainment, food and all the vendors who support your efforts. Wow, what a great forum for everyone getting answers to any kind of question possible.

We had so many individuals come by our display and thanked us for being there to help them understand that if 13-year-old middle school girls (Surfer Diva’s) could make a surfboard, that they certainly could take a stab at it. We were also happy to help provide guidance and understanding as well as support in taking the mystery out of surfboard making.

We had a huge success with our drawing for a “Free” class in Surfboard Construction in our upcoming Fall Semester; I think it will catch on.

We hope our relationship will continue to grow and prosper for many years to come.

Again, thanks to you and your team for a great day. You promised what you delivered, good networking."

Terry L. Price
Chairman
Composites Training Center (CTC)
Cerritos College
11110 Alondra Blvd.
Norwalk, CA 90650
(562) 860-2451 ext. 2927
tprice@cerritos.edu
www.mfgskills.com

Glassing Supplies 15% Off Sale at Foam E-Z!!!

In celebration of our 15 years in business we are having a month long sale! Each week a different product category will be highlighted and all customers will be able to save fifteen percent (15%) on that category. This week, from Sunday May 18th thru Saturday May 24th, the sale category is GLASSING SUPPLIES. Customers can either come into the shop to make the purchase or you can purchase online with the redemption code 15YRGLASS3. Look for a new category and redemption code next Sunday May 18th. Stay tuned, it’s gonna be a great month!

Don't forget our 15 Year Anniversary Party Event from 11-3pm on Saturday May 31st. It will take place behind our shop and will include: Giveaways, Raffles, Food/Drinks, Board Building Demos, and a Storewide 15% off Sale.

The Guys at www.FoamEZ.com
THE ORIGINAL ONE-STOP SURFBOARD SUPPLY SHOP!
www.FoamEZ.com
Foam E-Z, Inc.
ph.714.896.8233
fax.714.896.0001
Support@FoamEZ.com

Since 1993

Shaping Supplies 15% Off Sale

In celebration of our 15 years in business we are having a month long sale! Each week a different product category will be highlighted and all customers will be able to save fifteen percent (15%) on that category. This week, from Sunday May 11th thru Saturday May 17th, the sale category is SHAPING SUPPLIES. Customers can either come into the shop to make the purchase or you can purchase online with the redemption code 15YRSHAPE2. Look for a new category and redemption code next Sunday May 18th. Stay tuned, it’s gonna be a great month!



The Guys at www.FoamEZ.com

Foam E-Z's Q&A with Surfer Mag's Scott Bass

Posted on Surfermag.com May 7, 2008

The good folks at FOAM E-Z have been servicing the Southern California marketplace with board building equipment for 15 years. Brad Nadell is the man behind the machine that is FOAM E-Z and what better time to catch up with the hard-goods retailer than during his month long 15-year Anniversary celebration.

Q: So, 15 years in the surfboard products biz; how did you get started?

Brad Nadell: I started working at Harbour Surfboards doing everything, and eventually ended up spraying boards mostly. Then a friend came to me, he had owned the big glass shop in Westminster; he came to me with the idea of providing professional shapers with foam blanks. In '93 there was a large amount of shapers in the region and we figured instead of driving to San Clemente for blanks we could provide the HB area with product.

Q: And the store evolved from there.

Brad Nadell: Yeah, I bought out my friend and ran with it from there. I slowly added more and more tools and resources for shapers. As time went on I realized there was a market for the home hobbyist builder, and that led me to bring in more stuff like fin systems, books, and resin and all the necessary requirements for the home builder.

Q: How many blanks have you pushed out the door in the last 15 years?

Brad Nadell: Gosh, I don't know upwards of over 100K blanks. It fluctuates each year or cycle.
Q: What other stuff is available at FOAM E-Z?
Brad Nadell: Logo paper; safety equipment, respiratory systems, how-to videos. If you want to build a board we have it all, and we'll help you understand the process. It's all pretty simple but it can also be intimidating. It doesn't need to be. We try to put the fun into the equation.

Q: Do you get a newbie customers?

Brad Nadell: We get hobbyists all the time. I try to pound into our sales staff all the time that it's crucial to welcome the new hobbyist. It can intimidating to walk in and be new to the concepts of board building. Some times our industry doesn't understand customer service. I make sure our people are helpful and service oriented. It sounds simple but customer service is what makes or breaks businesses.

Q: What types of customers do you get?

Brad Nadell: We get all different levels from your professional shapers to your garage builders, to the hobbyist guy who just loves to build stuff. You know, the father and son types stop by or guys doing senior projects for school. It's really sort of cool. Everyone loves the idea of surfboards and building your own magic board. The neat thing is, it is totally do-able.

Q: You've got a big celebration all month long?

Brad Nadell: We are having a month long sale through the end of May, each week we are spotlighting a different section of the store. On May 31st we're having a big party and event at the store with tents and product and demos. So everyone should come by.

For more info on FOAM E-Z check out their website - www.foamez.com.

SOS SURFIN U$A Art Show - Gato Heroi

This past Saturday April 5th marked the opening of the "SOS" SURFIN' U$A art show, presented by Gato Heroi Surrfboards. Robin Kegal did a wonderful job of telling a story of the rise and fall of surfers through his original surf art. Robin (a regular customer at Foam E-Z), is known for his unique style of turning surfboards and surfboard material into great artwork. The evening also had live music performed by Mattson 2, and lead singer Alex Knost's band capped off the night. The art will continue to be displayed for the month of April at Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana.
Reported by RadRob

What the Blank??? 12'2"-B 10'9"-B

While traveling through ASR on Friday September 7th NeoN and I ran into a old time Foam E-Z customer. We found him working in the Dick Brewer Surfboards booth, if you look close you can see Dick in the background. This guy has been building Guns since the first day he came in our shop way back in 1996! He's been surfing big waves since he was kid in Huntington Beach but now resides in San Francisco and become a regular at Mavericks. He has spent extended periods on the North Shore of Hawaii and has done Tow-Ins at Jaws on Maui.

In his rant he is bascially talking about the old Clark Foam Blanks that don't exist anymore, the 10-9B and 12-2B. These were old Brewer plugs that he made for Grubby

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE VARIOUS SURFBOARD TYPES

Here are great short descriptions and historys of the various styles of surfboards by Dave Parmenter:

LONGBOARDS: The garden-variety longboard shape is indisputably the most resilient design in surfing history. A lot of people forget that if the Polynesians hadn't finally migrated to an island with big enough trees to make their olo boards, we'd probably all still be riding prone on paipo boards. The ancient Hawaiian longboards literally created the sport we know today. The papa nui went on to bridge the ancient and modern eras, and is the only design archetype to have been built with every conceivable material, from koa to redwood to balsa, foam and even sponge. Today, the longboard is back in a big way and more versatile than ever. Often debunked for its "old guy" stigma or "unfair" paddling superiority, the longboard has endured for a millennia for the same reason we all surf - we love the "glide."

BIG-WAVE GUNS: The big-wave gun is the "warbird" of the surfboard design kingdom. Let the other boards strut down the catwalk with their garish frills and fashions -- the gun is as lethal and purely functional as the rhino-stoppers they're named for. The big-wave gun has changed the least over the years of any type of surfboard because the mission has never changed: build up a head of steam with three strokes, bust through the ledge, skitter down the face, reconnect and worry about the rest later. You really want to learn about surfboard design? Look at a gun. Its design components are the simplest and purest of any board because they're not made for Quasimodos, roundhouses or 540-to-out-of-its. They're shaped strictly for two things: paddle-power and survival.

SHORTBOARDS: We call them "shortboards," but today's state-of-the-art high-performance surfing isn't happening because the boards are "short." The ultra-radical surfing you see on shortboards is more due to an amazingly deft balancing of design features that seem contradictory. Curves and flats, torque and drag are all combined into the most complex, temperamental and volatile surfboard design ever built, then fused to the power plant of the power-hungry Thruster fin array - and heaven help you if you're a sloth-foot or over 30.

THE HYBRID: Since all forward motion in surfboard design stems from combining established ideas into new combinations, then technically the "hybrid" surfboard should be granted the status of being the most progressive surfboard type of them all. What?! You mean those bulbous, hideous "funboards" are more progressive than my Merrick, dude? Well, take a fresh peek into the "hybrid" skunkworks: these aren't yuppie-doofus eggs anymore. The hybrid design family is burgeoning into fresh new fields and is robbing the shortboard blind of its edges, flats and rockers. Now, they're faster, more forgiving and more versatile than anything the "hotties" are riding - why else would all the pros consider riding them in contests as "cheating"?

Now you know the background behind the board you're riding, even if you've built it or want to build it.

In upcoming posts we will be showing examples of each type of board with detailed descriptions and dimensions. Keep an eye out for this cool and informative content.