There was some drama at this year’s anything but three. It seems some athoritiiii just can’t believe that a bunch of people could organize a gathering that large without commercial interests involved. Read the captions in the slide show for the whole story, with embellishment where required.

Maggie is hosting 70 or so photos of sick boards, rad shapers and surfers on her site, but she thought you might want to be able to comment and such on these here.

Photos by Maggie Marsek.

It was great to see lots of you, and even better to ride your boards. Please send ding repair bills for the boards I broke to :

Surfy Surfy
Leucadia, CA 92024

It’s hard to find information on Steve Pendarvis, or his flex tail boards. I think it’s because more concerned with innovating than marketing, and has been since Greenough put flex in surfing. I got the chance to meet him and check out some of his boards at one of Richard Kenvin’s Festivus events.

Steve blew me away with his enthusiasm and the depth of the boards he had at the show. He ran me through the concepts of a flexed out fish, then he pulled out a single fin and explained how it all works when the fin is optimized to flex with the tail. Before those two sweet rides had entirely sunk in, I found myself in the parking lot holding a thruster and then a sick sabertoothed finned twin. I have to admit, it was all a blur and made me a bit dizzy, but that could have been the PBRs as well.

To get a feel for how Steve’s boards work, there’s no one better than the man himself. I appologize though, this is the abbreviated version…

You could apply that ‘mad scientist of surf’ analogy but it’s too cliché for Steve, so instead I’ll say that the guy just leaks stoke. I’m serious. Try talking to him for 10 minutes and see if you don’t find yourself swimming in the stuff.

I surfed with the polymer pro, big ass van driving, x pro snowboarder Matt Cambell, the creator of Resin-X yesterday. Matt was kind enough to offer me his Marlin Bacon quad, glassed in his special mix for a test ride. The board was light, despite the thickness Marlin added to compensate for the fresh water Matt usually surfs, but the glass job felt much stronger than a standard 4+4 over 4 poly construction (sorry Matt, I squeezed the Charmin). Unfortunately, I couldn’t put the board through any turns that would shine a light on it’s flex characteristics as Cardiff was about 2 feet on the sets.

Visually, Resin-X looks ton’s clearer than the epoxy on my Patagonia thruster. The Patagonia board is a few months older than the Resin-X board so it’s tuff to compare, but it’s starting to turn pink around the laps which is a known characteristic of some epoxies. JP of Moonlight told me Matt put Resin-X through a weather simulating UV light chamber set for a 1 year time warp, and it came out about the same as it went in, and faired way better than both epoxy and poly. The board also had a bright gloss finish which looks great and helps protect the board even further.

One of the most important factors in a light glass job is durability. Matt’s got the lab tests to stand behind his mix, but apparently Marlin’s feed back throughout the process told him what to expect even before the testing was complete. Stands to reason that a lab just can’t beat trials conducted by a board building expert.

Resin-X seems like it’s going to be a serious advancement for domestic glassers that will help them keep up with the growing demands for durability in light glass jobs. Judging from what I saw today, I’d feel confident enough to order my next custom wrapped in the stuff.

For more info on Resin-X see:

Surfy Surfy’s Resin-X Posts
Resin-X… What’s The Scoop erBB thread

Me and Andy B checking out a new slider, a Dano NoseRider model purchased at Mollusk Venice.

The surfblogger Born To Lose had his sick sick sick Steve Lis stolen out of his car.

Help him track it down here.

The Sacred Craft Surfboard Show put together by Scott Bass is really shaping up. Hehe. The list of exhibitors is long and includes more shapers than popout distributors. The Panels/Discussions are going to be interesting to say the least. Don’t miss Moonlight vs. the sellouts on Sunday. Here’s the schedual:

SATURDAY, OCT 13

10:30 AM: The Sustainable Surfboard with Ned McMahon

11:00-12:00: Don’t Call Me Skeg-everything you’ve ever wanted to know about fins, featuring Jimmy Robertson/Lok-Box, Tyler Callaway/FCS, Larry Allison/Pro Box, and Mike Caldwell/ Future Fins

1:00-2:00: 21st Century Boards-the latest manufacturing techniques with Al Merrick, Matt Biolos, Paul Jensen, Stu Kenson, plus representatives (TBA) from Boardworks, Aviso and Firewire.

2:00-3:00: The Kahunas-a candid history of the surfboard industry from the guys who shaped it by hand, featuring Mickey Munoz, Dick Metz, Mike Eaton (tbd) and Terry Martin

4:00-6:00pm: The Surf Chiefs: Pull up a beer or glass of wine and listen to rockin’ surf guitar from the legendary Del Mar trio

SUNDAY, OCT 14

10:30 AM: Core Values with Jon Stillman from Ice 9 Foam Works

11:00-12:00: Offshore Winds-the globalization of the surfboard industry with reps from . . . Lost, Channel Islands, Boardworks, 9Fish, and Moonlight Glassing.

2:00-3:00: Color Your World-a do-it-yourself board-painting demo from renowned surfer/artist Drew Brophy.

Tim Elsner shares this sick 6′10 Klaus Jones blade. Tim Says.. “This is the board Jimmy Gamboa is riding in “One California Day” but Jimmy’s is 6′8″. Like Greg Liddle, Klaus Jones builds the whole board himself.”

Pics of the full deck, hull and a place to ride it after the jump. Thanks Tim.

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My buddy John likes to ride two-to-a-wave and rips on a fish, so I thought I’d have this little beauty shaped for him. John always rides up front.

Payback is hell, right John? Mwwwuuaaahahahahaha

This Skip Frye Fish belongs to Cardiff Chris. That’s one hell of a nickname to live up to, but a quiver including this ride would be a nice starting point. More after the jump.
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This year’s Fish Fry (titled Anything But Three) was less commercial and had fewer attendees. What it lacked though, is what benefited it. With the majority of shapers represented being underground, independent or alt surfcraft specialists, a very freeform and BROtherly stoke was extended to everyone.

Christenson, Mandala, Jake Moss, Shaun Ambrose, Ford, Ian Zamora and KG plus lots of other established and up and coming shapers had amazing boards at the event. Surfers got the chance to ride as many different shapes throughout the day as they could pick up. I personally surfed boards I’ve never imagine existed. How else are you going to know how an epoxy, hull bottomed, perimeter stringer bonzer will perform?

Without a doubt though, Marlin Bacon’s (101fins.com) featherlight bamboo fins made the biggest impression. Both the glass-on versions and the new loxbox removables were lightening bonzers, quads and twins all over the reef.

Such a high level of excitement over handcrafted boards and fins begs the question, why does this only happen once a year?