Late 2013 my awesome wife suggested we take a South Pacific holiday. I took a surf trip to Samoa back in 2006 which was good to me given some epic days of surf. The choice was easy for me - I suggested Samoa for our trip as the people are friendly, hospitable and is probably the safest country I've ever been to.
We booked in a few weeks before Easter 2014. This gave me only three months to complete a couple of boards to take with. I went hammer and tong and completed them with barely a week to spare. I did get the opportunity to test one out at Burliegh on a 4-6ft day. The surf was epic the board (the one stripey deck) was good but didn't quite have the right amount of volume. I guestimated it was a 32L - I had a 3.5hr surf session none the less. I ended up just taking one board which had a little more volume.
I won't go into detail of how I didn't get surf over in Samoa, but in short I didn't get much surf in Samoa - unlucky!
We booked in a few weeks before Easter 2014. This gave me only three months to complete a couple of boards to take with. I went hammer and tong and completed them with barely a week to spare. I did get the opportunity to test one out at Burliegh on a 4-6ft day. The surf was epic the board (the one stripey deck) was good but didn't quite have the right amount of volume. I guestimated it was a 32L - I had a 3.5hr surf session none the less. I ended up just taking one board which had a little more volume.
I won't go into detail of how I didn't get surf over in Samoa, but in short I didn't get much surf in Samoa - unlucky!
The builds are as below. I was happy with the end results. They draw their fair share of attention everywhere you go.
Rail strips on and fins marked out ready to put in fin blocks for FCS reinforcing.
I used Paulownia for the blocking for the FCS fin plugs. It's the lightest wood I had. I've heard of guys using a higher density foam for these reinforcing blocks or alternatively you could use a higher density EPS foam this does however double the weight of the foam blank.
I tried my hand at pyrography ... semi successfully.
The board on the left is the one that stayed behind. If I was about 5kg lighter this board would be perfect.
Lamination coat went on like a dream.
I was super impressed with the final result ...
Hawaiian Hot Grip make these semi see through tail pads. They are a little heavy being made from some sort of clear rubber. These do give a lot of grip mind you and aesthetically they are the best I could find.
Versa Traction deck grip is dead set awesome stuff. While it's not 100% clear it does still show off enough transparency to appreciate whats underneath.
Nice set of FCS bamboo fins I got off eBay.
Some more bamboo fins.
This magical shots are taken at Aganoa Beach on the island of Savaii in Samoa. The place boosts an amazing right hander that barrels when the swell is right. A friend and I scored it at 8ft back in 2006 - was epic and we where totally out of our depths.
This board has become my goto shortboard. I didn't score fantastic surf over in Samoa but I did surf regularly albeit at 2ft none the less. On my return home I scored another epic day at Burleigh around the 4ft mark. While it wasn't all time it was fun and caught some epic waves!
