eavey mini simmons.

5'6" eavey mini simmons. 

little nugget of fun. slightly pulled in nose and tail. subtle s deck. glass on twin keels and a fcs stubby stabilizer. 

sold my last simmons before my trip out to CA. went to greg and told him i wanted a 5'6" and left the rest up to him. couldn't be more stoked on the outcome. thanks greg. this thing is a ton of fun. its a good bit smaller than my last simmons but im not missing the extra volume and length at all.

christenson boneville.

9'6'' chris christenson bonneville. 

probably one of the best turning longboards i've ever ridden. pulled in nose, wide point back of center and lots of kick in the tail. i slapped a greenough 4a fin in there and love it. this board comes around quick as spit with almost no effort. it has a really shallow concave that runs almost to the center of the board. it noserides well in the steeper sections of the wave, not so well in fatter surf. also has some concave on the deck in the tail and a nice wedge stringer that narrows towards the tail. not sure if or how these elements contribute to the performance of this board.

mike was kind enough to give this to me on a demo from surf city. i had the pleasure of riding this beast for about a month before selling it to smith. during which time it became favorite board. fun in good surf, fun and shitty surf. a good all around board. deemed my bing a one trick pony. i was sad to hand it off. if you're looking for a new longboard in the wilmington area, head down to surf city surf shop and pick one of these  suckers up.

deck concave and high density foam tail block.

chocolate fish tantra.

5'10" chocolate fish 'tantra' by eric christenson. short fat simmons shape. a little more modern rails. light glass. and rad quad set up.

brief romance with this guy. scooped it up at icons of surf for my stay in california. sold it before i left. surf was small so the board was perfect. lighter and narrower than i am accustomed to on this shape. at first i felt like i had to work for it a little to much but once i got the hang of it i loved the liveliness and responsiveness of the lighter thinner, smaller board. tons of fun.

cool quads.

for sale :(

6'2'' eavey single fin mini egg. good condition. water tight with a little bit of pressure on the deck. beautiful resin tint. as usual.

hate to do it, but i have to let this one go. acquired in a trade. was hoping that i would get to ride this one before i had to sell it. but i need dough for upcoming CA trip. let me know if you are interested. ive got it up on craiglist for $350 but if ill let it go for $300 if you see it here.

bing levitator.

9'8'' bing levitator. 

this board noserides stupid easy. super wide. super flat. parallel. finely foiled. some of the design elements are beyond my comprehension. where as most nose riders have tons of concave in the nose to creat lift, this has almost none. how that works, i still don't entirely understand but ive never ridden a board that is this stable on the nose, even in sections you wouldn't normally stay up there. it also features a step deck which serves three functions 1) reducing swing weight for easier turning(turning is not this boards strong point) 2) nose flexes when nose riding to flatten out the rocker for speed 3) more maneuverability while on the nose.

i wanted a hoss of a longboard. i was thinking something closer to the 10' range. i was convinced otherwise after riding one of these. some of the boys were kind enough to let me ride their levitator of the same dimensions. after two or three waves i was sold. right up to the nose, no problems and barreling through sections in which most boards would not sustain lift. i ordered a custom to the exact dimensions of drake's board within the week. ive been super stoked on the board since. cure for the summertime blues.

glassed in nuuhiwa style fin.

con.

scored this super sweet mid 70's con for next to nothing. 

#three. mini simmons.

6'2'' mini simmons. shaped summer 2011 in the seagate shed. wilmington, nc. glassed by greg eavey.

same bottom contours as #two. slight belly in nose. flat middle section. slight concave in the tail. super pinched rails, upturned in nose to 60/40 throughout the rest of the board. slight s in deck. glass on true ames hobie twin keel fins.

the initial idea for this board and the final product are two very different boards. it started as a 6'6'' simmons, i wanted a super groveler for small summer days when i didnt want to drag around my longboard. put way to much nose rocker in it. chopped four inches off the nose to correct the problem and the board became a 6'2''.  somewhere during the process, decided to blade the rails out really fine. this looks cool but has made the board a little more difficult to ride. board went from big fat 6'6'' to thin 6'2''.

first few sessions on the board left me unsatisfied. rode it in some thigh high slop and it did not perform. thin rails dug too easy. yesterday we had some steep little waist to stomach high waves. board rode way better. it drove great off the rail and flew through sections. its a lot of board but i didn't feel that way. like it was stuck to my feet and i could throw it around. it was fun. different and will take some adjusting to get used to but fun.

weber strato series.

1969 8'0' weber strato series experimental.

late 60's experimental shape. heavily influenced by the smaller v-bottom boards the aussies were riding during that time. this board features a not so subtle tri-panel vee that grows into a hard vee right behind the tail. bob mctavish gives a great explanation of the function of vee in fantastic plastic machine. vee basically allows the surfer to control the board from the mid section. eliminating the need to walk back to the tail to turn. making the board more maneuverable and allowing the rider to place it in the more critical places on a wave.

i am under the impression that this particular board was only made for a short period of time. by 70' and 71' boards had become considerably smaller, likely making designs like this obsolete at the time. being that is an ' 'experimental' board im not sure how many were shaped. ive attempted to research it. apparently the strato series was a series of weber experimental boards from the late 60's. several versions were done according to the waves of particular regions (hawaii, east coast, and california).

i found this board on craigslist. i called the number and spoke to a gentlemen for some time before realizing that it was my parents next door neighbor of 15 years. he had a few of his old surfboards that he was trying to sell, this being one of them. on my next visit home, i stopped by to see tommy and check out the board. we visited for a short while, during which he told me all about his boards and surfing/living on the outer banks during the 60's and 70's. tommy bought the board brand new in 1969 from a hardware store in virginia beach. he said it was the first 'shortboard' he'd ever seen. it originally came with a greenough style fin but he rode it with a smaller fin, shaped like a porpoise's dorsal fin. both of which have been lost. he told me the board nose rides great and that it was fun to make the tail slide out and do 360's with the smaller fin.

i've only ridden the board once since i've gotten it. stomach high waves on a very full tide.it wasn't the best day to judge.  my first impressions were that it paddled like a board of a much bigger size. i had never ridden a vee bottom before, or not one this pronounced. you can feel the board shifting from panel to panel. almost teetering as you shift weight from rail to rail. i dug rail a few times because of this (likely combo-ed with the fatness of the surf). all though the conditions were not ideal it was still a ton of fun. very different.

crazy bat wing tail.

tommy and the strato-series. note his fingers reaching over the nose. he called my attention to it as i was taking the picture, saying that he and his friends used to trip out over the fact that the board was short enough to do so. 

#two. mini simmons.

5'5.5" mini simmons. shaped dec. 2010 in the seagate shed. wilmington. nc. glassed by greg eavey.

slight belly in the nose. flat middle third and slight single concave through the fins and out the tail. down turned rails to hard rail starting at the fins. bamboo half moon fins from larry mabile. with a removable cheater fin for good measure. super fun surf nugget. short. wide. and fast. fun in most conditions. great board for the inconsistent surf of the north carolina coast. glides across flat sections and mushy surf and flies in steeper conditions. as is previously stated, i am an advocate of these surf craft.

shaped this board as a surprise christmas gift for vern. i had been itching for a simmons since i rode one last fall. got allen at seagate to shape me one (hit the link to see said board). he was kind enough to let me observe and later give me pointers so that i could in turn shape one for vern. killing two birds with one stone. 1. getting vern a present 2. relieving me from having to share my simmons. everyone is happy.

i thought this board would be too small for me to ride. but actually pretty fun in punchy waist to chest high surf. rails are a little thinner than my other simmons so the board has a little more bite on those steeper days. both serve their purpose.

this is the second board i shaped, the first was a catastrophe. was and still am pretty stoked with how it turned out. definitely flaws, but none too great.

anderson pescado.

scott anderson pescado model. i ride mine at 6'4". super cool board in 'theory' and in the water.

the pescado is the love child of a single fin hull (with super pinched rails, bellied nose contour, almost no rocker) and a tri fin fish. the idea, or at least as i see it, is that it has the best of both worlds. front foot and back foot surfing. surf off your front foot, you get the glide/trim/speed of a hull. surf off your back foot, you get punch and drive through turns and the good old surfability of the thruster set up.

this board is new to me. i picked it up just over a month ago in preparation for our costa rica trip. i surfed it a few days before hand in mushy waist to stomach wind swell. although not the best way to judge it, it was a blast. had all the qualities i had hoped for, namely super fun release off of exaggerated bottom turns. we arrived in costa rica and were meet with some considerable swell. i was a bit worried that i was under-gunned and the width was going to be an issue. it worked great. board paddled great. turned great. and fast as hell off the front foot. surfs well vertically (or as vertical as i am able take it) and laterally. 

you can see how pinched the rail are in this pic. i really like it. because of my larger size i am accustomed to boards with fuller, boxier rails. very different and responsive. you can also see the s deck. it came with a set of MR twinzers but i am riding it with a set of future am2's and i think i prefer it that way. fun board.

6'4'' deadly flying glove.

6'4'' hobie deadly flying glove. shaped by terry martin. a corky carroll inspired transitional shape. these boards are generally shaped as single fins but for some reason this one came as a bonzer.

i bought this board to take to spain in 2007. i never took it (baggage fees were absurd, ended up buying a longboard from a french guy who bought it back when i returned to the u.s.). held on to it till 2009 when i sold it to pay for my dog's hip surgery.

it was a pretty fun board but i was never really stoked on it. felt a bit sluggish. probably not my best intro to bonzers but will not deter me from trying another.

deep single to double concave.

for sale.

 6'6" takayama flo egg. good condition. fun and fast, but you can't keep them all.

$325. asking $350 on craigslist.

seagate simmons.

the mini simmons is derived from a design engineered by bob simmons in the 50's. long parallel rails. hulled out nose. and wide twin fin tail. a planing machine. his boards were generally in the nine to ten foot range. 

i first rode a mini simmons last september. had a blast on it. full volume board that paddles like a log but condensed to a sub six foot package (i ride mine at 5'8'' and 5'5.5'').  very much suits the way i surf. we had a few done by larry mabile come in the shop but i ultimately opted to get allen over at seagate to shape me one and i am stoked on it.

i am very much an advocate of these surf craft. i have had the most fun on them. good waves or bad. so small, it easily fits in the pocket. a suprising amount of hold for a twin fin. im guessing because of the fin being so close to the rail and tail. i really enjoy laying into the rail off the bottom and speeding around sections. fun all around.

9'6'' one fin pin.

the one fin pin is the result of a collaboration between surfer/shaper tyler warren and shaper terry martin. beautiful double stringer, piggish, single fin nose rider with wide point pulled back. nice and heavy for lots of glide. and a pintail to facilitate almost effortless cutbacks.

vern gifted me this bad boy for my birthday this feb. i was floored. in addition to a bitchin' party, i received this beauty. hands down one of the nicest, most thought out gifts i've ever received. i have had a blast on this thing. riding it almost exclusively since (in part because its been flat but mostly because its such a fun board to surf). im very happy with my hobie.

 

i'd never ridden a pintail longboard, nor a board with the wide point back of center. it felt a little squirrely/ shakey at first when walking, but i've adjusted and come to like it. especially on cut backs. the board comes around suprisingly quick for its size.

hand drawn logo by tyler warren.