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

I’ve been reading Jamie Brisick’s, We Approach Our Martinis With Such High Expectations for the last few nights and like an album worth buying, it has grown on me.

Sex with an ex, fixations on Bridget Bardo, collages of sex ads, surfs on Tavarua, time spent in Paris, Brazil and the Pacific.

At the root of Martinis lies pleasure. More accurately, the pursuit of pleasure, as Brisick doesn’t gloss over the grit that enevitably pairs with the glide.

A used package, once containing two condoms, on which the message, “Multiple Choices” is written.

What else is a rider of waves to write about? We arguably understand the ups and downs that are inherit to the pursuit of pleasure more than most. The act of waveriding is so pleasurable we quit jobs for it, live like paupers in insanely expensive cities or like kings in isolated, impoverished areas. Finding few words to express the pleasure we feel riding waves, we wrap new language around the activity. Where language fails, we gesture wildly with our hands or better, show photos.

The cardboard bottom of a sixer, condensation from the cans have left watermark rings, over which the words, “Lust, Hiccups and Matter over Mind.” are written.

Somehow, Martinis is saturated in these aspects of the life of a waverider without featuring surfing in more than a few stories. It is apparent on every page though, that surfing is the catalyst, the reason this sketchbook like record of Brisick’s globe trotting excesses exists and why you are reading it.

You can purchase Martinis at your local independent bookstore or at Amazon.