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Jim Heimann: Leroy Grannis : Surf Photography of the 1960s and 1970s
Almost everyday I go on www.surf-report.com to check the waves, and some info. Today I saw the new design, the new organization of the site.
Looks nice and less old fashioned.
If you come to France in a surf trip, go to this site to check the conditions.
It's been a long time since I've been posting something here, and also a long time since I've been surfing :-(
But I keep searching nice things to read and I've found one which is quite interesting :
http://www.phoresia.org/
Enjoy !
Seen on the Cleanest line, the Patagonia blog (created after this one :-)))
Series of nice posts and videos about Gerry Lopez experience in Pipeline.
The video is also available on youtube, here.
More patagonia videos are also available on youtube and on the patagonia web.
I especially like the "sea legs" one.
Enjoy this content, and be ready for spring surfing, climbing, running sessions !
By the way, it's snowing in Moscow :-)
Just bought it ...
Hope I'll try it soon.
Price was pretty nice, with a 50% discount !
Will let you know as soon as I'll drop into a good one !
Remark : first time I mentioned Aviso, it was here. At this time, I never thought I would be able to buy such a board one day, just because I thought the price was far too expensive. But finally, for the same price than a standard board, I couldn't resist ... And I will be able to test the black color with the wax :-)
Heard 100 times : 
"- So you are a surfer ?
- Yes, I try to be.
- And where do you surf ?
- In BZH, Brittany, in the west part of France ?
- HUU ? There is no wave there. All the waves are in Biarritz or Hossegor.
- Believe me, there are good strong waves, if you are not afraid of the cold.
- ..."
I will not give any special details, but just look at the pictures seen here, and you will understand that there is no need to leave far far away to find a brand new place.
(pictures copyright : Ronan Gladu - )
6 Months !
6 Months without going to the sea, taking real holidays, surfing waves.
6 Months without feeling the water all around me, duck diving, having some good wipe outs.
As far as I remember it's the first time in my life it happens. I do not like this experience.
I keep going on for the moment, caught by a wave of work. I hope it's worth it. So, like a shark, I keep swimming in this sea of nonsense, because, if I stop, I'll die.
But like a shark, I will find the right place to enjoy a new hunting territory. And I will be the sharpest wave hunter of this territory.
A new brand which launched eco boards.
ECOMOANA. To be checked on their website.
They are finalist in the ISPO brand new award.
Good luck and I really hope it's going to help to save the planet.
For those looking for good surf movies to put on their Ipod or Iphone, or only to buy in a DVD format, have a look there.
My selection is :
- Zen & Zero
- Litmus
- Fin
- Quest
(Seen on thecleanestline)
The kind of surf trip which joins humanity, travel, surf, and happiness. Go have a look at the official website of "Sliding Liberia".
A lot of interesting things to read.
Is surf more than only a sport for young wealthy girls and boys ? Definitely yes. It looks as a cliche, but it changes your life forever.
Enjoy the movie and the site !
(Picture : Screenshot of the homepage of the site Sliding Liberia)
There it is, the Eddie Aikau contest has been launched. See the website here.
Let's hope that the waves will be there this year and the contest will be spectacular.
The list of lucky ones :
INVITEES: (first name alpha. order) ALTERNATES:
1. Andy Irons (Hawaii) 1. Darrick Doerner (Hawaii)
2. Brian Keaulana (Hawai) 2. Chava Greenlee (Hawaii) Aikau Pick
3. Brock Little (Hawaii) 3. Kalani Chapman (Hawaii)
4. Bruce Irons (Hawaii) 4. Pancho Sullivan (Hawaii)
5. Carlos Burle (Brazil) ** 5. Taylor Knox (California)
6. Clyde Aikau (Hawaii) 6. Reef McIntosh (Hawaii)
7. Darryl Virostko (California) 7. Tony Moniz (Hawaii)
8. Greg Long (California) 8. Garrett McNamara (Hawaii)
9. Ibon Amatriain (Spain) ** 9. Ross Williams (Hawaii)
10. Jamie O'Brien (Hawaii) 10. Dave Wassel (Hawaii)
11. Jamie Sterling (Hawaii) 11. Ian Walsh (Hawaii)
12. Keone Downing (Hawaii) 12. Braden Dias (Hawaii)
13. Jason Ribbink (South Africa) ** 13. Myles Padaca (Hawaii)
14. Kelly Slater (Florida) 14. Anthony Tashnick (California)
15. Makua Rothman (Hawaii) 15. Kala Alexander (Hawaii)
16. Mark Healey (Hawaii) 16. Keoni Watson (Hawaii)
17. Michael Ho (Hawaii) 17. Derek Ho (Hawaii)
18. Noah Johnson (Hawaii) 18. Tom Curren (California)
19. Paul Paterson (Australia) 19. Nathan Fletcher (California)
20. Peter Mel (California) 20. Danny Fuller (Hawaii)
21. Ross Clarke-Jones (Australia) 21. Dustin Barca (Hawaii)
22. Rusty Keaulana (Hawaii) 22. Koby Abberton (Australia)
23. Shane Dorian (Hawaii) 23. Laurie Towner (Australia)
24. Sunny Garcia (Hawaii) 24. Manoa Drollet (Tahiti)
25. Takayuki Wakita (Japan) ** HONORARY INVITEES:
26. Titus Kinimaka (Hawaii) Mark Foo (Hawaii)
27. Tom Carroll (Australia) Todd Chesser (Hawaii)
28. Tony Ray (Australia) Tiger Espere (Hawaii)
Jay Moriarity (California)
Just one thing I do not understand in this list : There is Mark Foo mentioned. As far as I know, unfortunately, Mark Foo died in Mavericks in 1994. But may be this is to honor his memory ? If someone has the answer to this, I would appreciate.
Seen in Le Monde, an article about Antony Garret Lisi and its "exceptionally simple theory of everything".
I will not enter the debate if it's wrong or right, and by the way I am far from being smart enough to tell if this theory is the answer to one of the latest questions asked by Einstein.
No, I will only point out that this guy is a surfer, and may be, the simplicity of surf and the pure feelings of waves, snow, helped him to figure out how to get a simple view of the world.
May be we can summarize the theory, very simply by :
Surfing is life, rest is detail ! :-)
For those who wants to know more about the theory, download the file and enjoy !
An exceptionnaly simple theory of everything (pdf file)
Also available at Arxiv.org
Enjoy and watch Laird on Yahoo. 
You may remember this post about surf forecast. Well, you will see the results of the swell here.
A very good illustration of the "wrong time, wrong place", just because I finally did not managed to go surfing this week-end, and so, I missed all these beautiful waves ...
And it's raining in Moscow :-), I'll go get a skimboard to have fun in the streets ...
From thecleanestline : Lance Armstrong, Kelly Slater, Laird Hamilton, etc etc.
A full page of exceptional people, in several domains.
Lynn Hill cannot stop climbing everywhere, even on a chair :-)
Kelly has lost his sponsor, so he's looking for a new one able to offer him a pair of shoes and a shirt/
Lairs Hamilton is not that tall finally :-)
Reading the Leroy Grannis book with pictures of surfers in the 60's, I was dreaming about a simple life of beach boy. Reading stories of the first Californian and Hawaiian surfers, I was dreaming about going fishing, diving, shaping boards to get enough money to go surfing my favorite sports.
Reading stories about globe surfers, I was dreaming of buying an old VW van, taking 2 to 3 boards and friends and going surfing Europe, Africa, in a simple life.
But, it looks like having such a life today in our crazy world is rather hard. I think Micky Dora showed us how hard it is to stand apart from the system, but still engaged in surfing.
Reading Surf Session, I see a lot about competitions, challenges, sponsors, brands, training. Searching for a Van to buy, I see the new VW Van (see picture), far too expensive for a surfer (not all surfers are poor, but I've never seen any Van like this one on the parking of a surf spot), looking more like the Rolls Royce for surfers than a real invitation to a trip.
Old Surfers are getting old and they are not ready any longer to sleep 4 months on a piece of wood somewhere in a jungle near a surf spot. They want huge boats paid by sponsors to be sure they will not loose 1 minute of surf, they want surf camp at 100 USD per day, to be sure they will get their waves. It's like people who want to have an insurance for Sun and Snow when going in the Alps. Some tour operators used to have this argument : Snow and Sun guarantee, or you get your money back ...
What bothered me is that they will probably raise their kids this way, and despite the good engagement of many surfers for enviro actions, I am not sure the surf world is going the right way for our planet, our spots.
You see these big blue things ? Waves coming, not far away from France.
Will it be for this week end ?
High pressure on France till this week-end or not ?
Hum hum ... That's the good thing with surf. You can try to make things scientifically, you'll never reach the 100% success in your forecasts and this is exactly what makes your heart beat fast just when you discover your favorite spot !
Surf is life, ... rest is detail.
Reading the last Surfer's journal (french version), I saw an article about Surfaid.
Exactly the kind of NGO I like to hear about. Away from the surf business, but with the surf business (for the money), a good way to help the poor countries so rich in waves.
Nice pictures here.
Want to donate, click here.
David wrote a very good comment about the Aviso boards : "Black? How's that gonna hold wax?"
Well, very good remark, and we may have some elements about it, if some of you are going to the tests organized by Aviso. But for sure, when I remember how warm is the water and how hard is the sun in Tahiti for example, I have some doubts about the efficiency of black boards like this under the sun, with hot water wax on it.
UPDATE (22/07) : After a check on Aviso website, I saw they are doing some other color finishes. So, black is not the only option, you also have white, silver, blue, etc etc.(you can get the silver surfer board :-))
Anyway, here is a video for those who are interested in these boards :
Exactly the place to be right now (photo David Pu'u).
Nice summer content to be readen on Patagonia.com
Good videos.
Enjoy !
Looking for a new board, and you've got time and you are ready to spoil your mom's garage ? Then you'll find everything about shapes, tools etc on Shaperoom.net. One can find here tutorials, and interesting links. AMong them a link to "surf designer"
Manu mentioned this site on his blog and comments here. And we can find there the Surf Designer, a free soft to draw your boards.
Actuacores is a member of the 1% for the planet alliance.
So now, you can take your favorite board, measure it, and enter the inches measured in the soft. And you will save your shape. But, of course, shaping is not only about tools, softwares, products, it's about feeling ! Feeling the board in the wave, under your feet, feeling the strength of the wave breaking on it, feeling the glide, feelings ...
In the last Fantastic 4 movie, we see the Rise of the Silver Surfer.
While looking at the movie, as a fan of the Silver Surfer, I was wondering what is the shape of the board. The global shape may look like the 9.2 Takayama Diamond Tail. But of course, the board looks far too flat to be really efficient on a wave. 
If someone has a clue about the shape of his surf it would be interesting.
Also, I think that the shape of the Silver Surfer evolved in the time (look at the shape on the picture here). But finally, the Silver Surfer is still on a longboard, and he is rather radical in his maneuvers :-)
Summer time and a lot of special issues about the best quiver to own to face all the conditions : small
summer glassy waves, to big heavy winter swell !
The main discussions in these issues are about the "industrial option" and the "handmade" option, in other words, what is the best solution among Score, Bic, Surftech, and your local shaper ?
There are all the "old school" guys saying "no way" to these new tecnology, and they prefer coming back the good balsa boards of Wegener. New school surfers and new comers will fall in love with these nice solid strong boards, with famous shapers names on it, and nice colors. But is there only one option.
Looking at most of the quiver of the surfers, there is most of the time a mix of several kind of boards.
The pipeline or the Guetary gun, of course, hand made by a good local shaper, to face your exact needs in such critical surf conditions. But, for the stand up paddle board to have fun some days, you are not ready to spend thousands of dollars with your local shaper who never did a SUP board, so to try it, you buy an industrial version.
Of course, with the rise of all these brands (surftech ,...), there is always the question of the survival of our local shapers, who are only humans, and not able to produce thousands boards per day. But I think that the evolution of surfing industry as it is now may have some good impacts :
- The shapers will always exists : They will concentrate more on the search of the right shapes, and not on the production.
- The industrialization of the production, if done correctly, may solve some environmental issues, if all the companies are looking to produce more, with less chemical (like Patagonia's surfboards)
- Producing cheaper boards may increase the size of the quiver of surfers, in which there will be a mix of handmade and industrial surfboards.
Well, of course, these elements are optimistic, and we will see a lot of troubles for sure, like Shapers going bankrupt, or industrial companies producing surfboards without any environment concerns. But I think that instead of going against what is happening anyway, we should control it and drive it to where we all want : beautiful and efficent boards whic preserver our local shapers and our oceans.
Some remarks about the issue #60 of the French version of Surfer's Journal.
The cover is not the same than on the US version. A kind of French change, and Gibus explains why in the magazine. So, Surfer's Journal France is getting its own identity, which is good I think.
There is a very good article about Michael Tomson, surfer, and founder of GOTCHA, the brand which said that if you do not surf, never start, but if you surf, never stop. This article shows the surf business in its pure format. Passion, errors, crazy trends and ideas, success, failures. This is far away from the glamor image of desert island and free surfer. No, here it's about life, passion, work (hard), money, drugs. The hidden side of what the marketing departments show. Very interesting article, and very human.
Surfer's Journal is definitely the best magazine from my point of view. But may be it's because I'm getting old :-))
Available for EUR 6,99 on surfingmovie, the last movie of Lionel Sarran in VOD, and other movies ...
Very nice pictures. While crawling and paddling in the storm of blue sky and cold air in Moscow, this movie brought a little sunshine to begin this week correctly.
This movie will complete the collection I have on my Ipod.
Enjoy and have a nice week.
A nice small Hawaiian Shirt for kids. Always funny to see these little kids with nice colored shirts trying to grab the rail of the skateboard for the first time.
Here are some detailed pictures of this model for kids : 
Surfing art
Surfing lifestyle
Thanks FX.
Pointblanks surfboards are in fact Fletcher - Chouinard surfboards.
The noseglider looks fine ...
And they do what they can to reduce the enviro impact.
25 degres and more in Paris, beautiful waves on the Atlantic ocean coast, all the elements to dream about the endless summer, about cool swiming pools, clean coral reef waves.
Flowers, colors, blue, yellow, orange ...
Want to be in Bali, in Tahiti. Drink fresh juices, eat fresh fish.
Reading some stories in The Surfers Journal, I believe this is possible to achieve, to have a full life dedicated to the ocean and surfing.
Surf is life, rest is detail.
Get up at 07h00.
In the ocean at 08h00.
Looking for the right place, the right peak.
Paddling on the biggest set, take off !!!
Hearing the people shouting, smiling, encouraging you to ride it strong, happy to see someone on a good beautiful wave.
That's surfing ! Waves, sun, smiles !
Right time, right place !
Hurry up, still possible to buy on ebay a patagonia surfboards signed by Jack Johnson. More here.
80% of the final sale price will support T.J Martell Foundation.
You may have noticed that the Patagonia wetsuits was, few months ago, a kind of mystery. Hard to find info about it. The only ressources (as far as I know) were rare.
Ali did a wonderful job with the unofficial Patagonia wetsuit website.
He mentionned the document available online here, which was given to me by Patagonia Europe's offices.
Now, you can find much more information about the Patagonia wetsuits on the Patagonia website, here.
You can see a full range of wetsuits (fullsuit, springsuit, ...). You can get also more details about the products (see Common Features & Close-ups).
The only point is : WHERE CAN WE BUY THIS !!!????
Well, still at Cardiff's shop. Looks like this is the only place ... unfortunately :-(
May be if several surfers in Europe want to get the wetsuit, we can make a list, and send this to Patagonia Europe, so we will place one global order to get the wetsuit in Europe ?
If you are interested, send me an email at pierric.duthoit(at)wanadoo.fr or let a comment. I'll check with Patagonia Europe's offices what we can get.
Sun, temperatures at 20 degres (but water at 12), it looks like the season of surfing is openned. But, not a lot of waves. The hard equation of "sun + warm + waves" in Europe. Not really easy to solve.
But, more and more alternatives when the waves are very small or almost not there :
Run, dive, stand up paddle (still a good exercise for the arms, shoulders, legs, ...), read a good book on the beach (or the last Surfer's Journal), or just enjoy the landscape and take time to do nothing.
(Photo from the patagonia website : Dan Malloy finding some depth and providing direct feedback to a surfboard's evolution. Photo: Jeff Johnson).
The exact place where I want to be right now ! (more on TSJ).
Check there, and also here, to see the Patagonia Wetsuits in action.
Since I have posted some documents about the Wetsuits, and since the unofficial patagoniawetsuit site has been created by Ali, it looks like many people are coming to this website and this blog to find information.
So, I keep on posting information about the wetsuit, each time I'll get some, and also keep on checking the Patagonia website and blog, to check if there is anything new.
Picture : Keith Malloy. Chile. Photo: Branden Aroyan.
Looking at some girls websites (but I prefer this one), I found an article about longboard.
First surprise, the picture associated is a fashion girl with a longboard skate ... And looking at her legs it looks like she is absolutely not used to skate :-) (open thrasher mag and be sure not any girl doing skateboard look like that ...)/
Second suprise (or I should say, confirmation), the text is rather poor and a pure "cliche".
Ok, it's a good thing to mention surfing, and promote the benefits of surfing for women. But, honestly, it would be much better to have an interview of a genuine surfer girl (many beautiful girls are surfing look there)
Finally, I don't want to be a "taliban" of surf and articles about surf, but honestly, in this case, I find the article very poor, far away from the real "longboard" spirit which attract girls. There are special girls issues from surf magazines, they are much better ...
Got an Ipod video ? Then go on surfhistory.com, download some movies and surf stuff on your Ipod. Go to your nearest apple store (online or other), buy an Ipod AV cable.
Connect your Ipod to your TV and enjoy hours of surf movie !
You can even travel with your Ipod and your cable, and wherever you find a TV, you can watch your best surf movies to wait for your next surf session.
When I see how fast technology goes, I can't imagine what will be our future. I also keep in mind that millions of people in the world, wether in Asia, in Africa, in South America, have never seen a phone !
Well, while waiting for the next surfsession, and after a good saturday run, I stay quiet, eating tons of Nutella, watching surf movies. And thanks to who I know who knows for the movies.
PS : Sprout is a great surf movie.
PS' : I also bought an Igroove Ipod speaker to listen to the Ipod ... Today is another day for my neighboors :-))
Quick, quick, today on vente-privee you can buy Salomon S core surfboards, and also, wetsuits.
The good news is that, not so many surfers seem to be registered to Vente-Privee, so there are still, wetsuits and surf at interesting prices.
If you are not a member, and you are in France, let me know, I'll send you an invitation, so you can buy the thing you want (leave a comment for that).
For those who like to surf here and want to keep the spots of the area working, go have a look on surf-report and on Mesopinions.com.
There is a project to extract sand around the area, and there is a risk that it changes the spots configuration. The main risk is effectively that the changes in the sea bottoms due to the sand extraction for some companies, will change the flow of sands and so the spots. Some reefs will stay, but for the beautiful beach breaks, nobody knows ...
If you think that this project will harm the spots (and I think it will), go sign online the petition.
Take action now ! and go to the demonstration on the 25th of March.
A funny picture from Leroy Grannis in his book (Leroy Grannis: Surf Photography of the 1960s and 1970s
And also a private joke ...
(hum, j'me comprends)
:-)
You can wait a long time for others to offer you some surprises, but you can also create yourself your own surprises. That's exactly what I did, and not on purpose ... The right components to organize a surprise for yourself were in this case : Leaving home for more than one week. Order something you really wanted since months. Be sure you have a lot of work so you'll forget about the non-working things you've done in the past 48 hours.
How to proceed :
Just when you arrive in your temporary destination, jump on any of your prefered online shop.
Buy online your items.
Forget about it, and do not track the mails to confirm the order.
Work hard.
Go back home (or in one of your homes ...).
Then finally it gives a welcome back home with Leroy Grannis: Surf Photography of the 1960s and 1970s
The Leroy Grannis book is great, beautiful, a true trip in the past, in the 60's and the 70's. I have not ended yet to look at all the pictures, I prefer looking a little bit everyday, reading some of the texts, feeling the water in the board and on the Katin trunks ... I have not ordered the Leroy Grannis $2,000 edition
For "Une Gourmandise" - Muriel Barbery, I need first to end the current book I am reading, but, given my past reading of "L'elegance du herisson" - Muriel Barbery
Strange.
Not a lot of snow in the mountains, as if the world changed and is turning to another era.
But a lot of foam on the seashore, looking like snow.
Funny feelings of walking, swimming in a giant "ile flottante".
Will bring some caramels and chocolate next time, to enjoy a special menu.
See all the pictures on the foaming album (link also in the right column).
Thanks to Surfkultura for this quote which I find very good :-)
"Una madre que hace surf es una madre feliz"
"A mother who does surfing is a happy mother"
Simple, true, and can be declined to all the family :-))
If you are looking for a good shaper in Tahiti, because you do not want to bring yor board with you and want to use the exact board you need for Tahitian waves, then you can get a surf from Kevin Heminway. You have a list of Tahitian shapers here.
I've been surfing with the board you see on the picture, in different reefs in Tahiti, and beach breaks. I partly broke it at the end of the trip, falling on the reef :-) (yes it hurts, but goosh, that was a good wave !). But the shaper repaired it quite well.
