Kneeboard fish in Indo

Christian riding one of the recent boards we collaborated on.

The 80's are back

Steph  with her birthday board, glow in the dark pink and green with random fractals forming on the bottom.

2 tone 9'6"

Gary Alexander surfing since 1963...... It is an honor to make this guy a board, "Today we ride!"

Can sage burning help?

some people will do anything to get there single fin to go faster

Alaia riding in indo

Christian Sea riding the alaia boards I made him for the last 2 seasons.

Fela board in action

Mike Rublacava at Marmeadows

Dream paipo

This bodyboard came to me in a dream, it had a concave that was 1,3/4" deep running from front to back with a belly that just as extreme (alot like ""velo"). I shaped it the way it appeared in the dream and I thought I was suppose to ride it laying in the concave, but it rode sluggish and wasn't very fun. Later it dawned on me that I was riding it upside down and backwards and sure enough she go, so fast it was hard to hang on. Just goes to show it can help to turn things around and the top could actually be the bottom.

10ft Bamboo

This is a 10'0" bamboo gun that is surfed by John Neth in San Diego. It was a collaboration between Gary Young and I, built in Hawaii.

Saved from the dump

This board is a remake of a kneeboard that was rescued from going into the land fill in Hawaii. On his way to the beach Travis Richardson made eye contact with the perpetrator and received it without saying a word except thank you. It was originally shaped by Rich Ritter

Another kneeboard evolution

I met Christian Sea about 7 years ago surfing on the Big Island. He had this board that originally was a kneelo made by RYK. Craig schwed had most recently been shaping and evolving 7 of them, Christian asked me to try a make one and so far I think we have made around 6 of them. They are 5'7" with 21" wide point and an extremely wide tail that wings down to about 4". An unusual configuration for a stand up board. We have eliminated the original chined rail and have experimented with some overall thinning and some rocker increases.  I must say my favorite shaping requests are for people who want to use kneeboards as inspiration for their fishes.

t-minus

never in those days of being a 24 year old grom that i thought i'd ever be surfing a 5'6 twin fin. my first board had seven fins and was almost 8 feet long. i didn't have a clue of how surfboards worked (i still don't) then but i was like any kid learning to surf..i was stoked just to be in the water. after graduating the current, the reef, and the wana of f***t & s****d bay i finally ventured out to the other side where the waves were more open and usually bigger, more powerful and just all around more rowdier. i also "outgrew" that first board and began to experiment with old shortboards that i came across. they were all thrusters of different shapes and sizes like what all the rippers were riding at the time. thats when i first met troy. he was always riding some funky fish of some sort with style and flow and i wasn't surprised to know that he shaped his own boards.

i remember he had a tan colored pathfinder puna ride covered in artsy home-made stickers that transported his quiver of straight up weird boards stored in boardbags he made himself. he was different from most of the surfers not only of his choice in watercraft but because he was a friendly guy. i was a newbie to surfing and i was having difficulty breaking into this local spot because i was an outsider and one kook. but troy sorta took me in. he broke down his philosopies in boardriding and over time invited me into his world of antidisestablishmentarianism, his quest for a "greener" alternatives in boards and doing what you love and not giving a fuck about anything else. at one time, he was living in a house made of pallets and instead of rent, he took care of some sheep. i was stoked because he had mentioned that "i mostly just shape for friends".

my first group art show was at kalani honua's rainbow room. i was proud to display our first of many collaborations. i chose a che guevarra painting for a fish that he had shaped for himself. he used a natural green dye for the background painted on with lauhala seed brushes. i remember he told me he liked that board a lot and after a little while, he gave me a twinner to try. that was about 5 or so years ago. since then i've been hooked on riding fishes and troy has given me an opportunity to express my art on his boards. he's always down with experimenting and exploring new ideas with my art and always pushing me in surfing. recently, he's been trying to teach me the fine art of surfboard-building and internet blogging..

"Old ranting"

I found an old internet journal page I wrote a while back and also an even older interview.http://truenorthsurf.com/Journal.html

Affectionately called "The Fish Tank"

This is a scaled down 9'0"  version of the 9'6" behemoth, shaped for Steph Macias for Mother's Day, mermaid art by Roy Ruiz, handmade Ulu fins with naturally occurring latex sap inside (photo of the Breadfruit tree).

Jalian grabs his new board

Jalian showed up on the Big Island for a month to grab this 5'7" and tear the funky wind chunks of Pohoiki to bits.

Monkey pod recycles

This slab of Monkey pod wood was acquired by Peter Mackenzie when it was retired from being a counter top. The dark wood mimics the plan shape that we made as big as we could, and natural warping gave it its rocker, don't mind the bug holes, she go!