16 year old John Cappetta sent in this picture he drew of Erik. He saw this photo on the site, got inspired and sent this in. Way to go, John. Keep up the drawing!

After having to take a break for a week to due to sick kids, we were back at it with the Grain. This time the hot coat was on our list of items to tackle.

Once again, Kipp did his thing and guided us through this process.

Kipp leveled.

I taped.

I poured.

Kipp heated the resin so that the bubbles would come out.

A trick that all should know. I got the rookie tip that hot coat resin was just laminate resin with a surfacing agent added.  You can buy it premixed (more expensive) or you can buy the additive and add it to your left over laminating resin (less expensive). Thanks to the guys at Encinitas Surfboards for hooking me up with that piece of knowledge.

The board was prepped and ready to go.

We didn't have a shooter so again, the hot coat was committed to memory. It was VERY quick. I let Kipp do the deck to watch how it was done. The resin kicked REALLY fast. It was a good choice.

Came out great. No problems.

Next up was pulling the tape.

A lot of the glassing processes is redundant. You do a lot of the same processes over again.

The bottom went smother yet and was done in no time. I set out to do the bottom myself but Kipp ended up diving in at the end as the resin yet again set really quick. We need to work on refining our catalyst ratio.

More tape pulling.

Done!

She is a beaut or what?

Now it's time to sand.

Sort of made me nervous to take a power sander to her.

I got the hang of it pretty quick.

Lots of dust. You sand and then you hunt for "Shinnies" as Kipp puts it. Anything shinny hasn't met the sander yet. 

It took a bit to get it done.

After the deck was sanded we cleaned her up to see how she looked.

Then we started on the rails. You have to scrape the bead that is left from the bottom and top hot coats overlapping.

A razor works really good for this.

It took some work to do but it was fun and really worth it.  More to do but looking forward to it.

Before this project I took myself for a "Likes to surf surfboards" guy over a "Likes to build surfboards" guy but I have to admit after taking a week off I really started to miss it. I'm going to have to find another project to do when I'm done. I'm thinking some fins. That would be cool.

Thanks to Kipp for taking some really great photos as well as telling me what to do!

In Dec of 2000 I went on a trip to Honolulu for a marathon Alia's mom was in. On the plane ride there I was reading Surfer and all about how Sunny was the new world champ. The trip was really short. Maybe 4 days max. On one of the non race days we rented a car and went out to the North Shore to check it out. I had never gone before. We parked, walked up to Pipe and sat down on the beach. Right as we do Sunny walks up and paddles out in front of us. I had just gotten a video camera and was so stoked to watch and film this all go down.  It was a smallish day for Pipe but everyone was out. (Andy, Bruce, you name it, were out.) Sunny was on top of the world. You could feel how stoked he was.  When I got back I put this little video together and forgot about it until today after I found it cleaning up an old website I had it posted on back then. It brings me back to that day. It was one of those things you never forget.

Music is Beck http://www.myspace.com/beck 

If you want one of your own finger prints with your own favorite books and such as the medium let her know. If you get one send me some photos so we can post it up.

By the way, is it just me or do thumbprints look like barrels?

Today was a grind. We had to get everything cleaned up from the lap so that the bottom could be glassed.

Lots of scrapping, sanding...

and cleaning.

Next was setting up the laminates. It was a little tricky but Kipp knew what he was doing so they went on great. 

This time I didn't feel as nervous but you can see in my eyes I'm getting psyched up.

We didn't have a shooter there with us for the resin work so all images are in my brain. It went really good. The resin set off really quick though which was a challenge. Other then that it looks really good.

The TLP logo looks cool.

This time around cutting the lap went much quicker and without mistakes.

Live and learn.

Tomorrow we do the hot coat.

It is almost done!!! More to do but having it glassed feels like a huge accomplishment.

The next time you pick up your board give a silent thank you to the glasser who did your board. I have no idea how they make any money doing this. It takes a lot of skill and a lot of time to glass a board. They have earned my respect.

Monday was the day we got everything ready to glass. Kipp, Erik and I sanded, taped and prepped everything and cut the glass to size.

He took over and went to work.

Sanding.

Masking.

More masking.

I put the camera down and helped out.

It took a bit but it was ready for glass.

Kipp showed me how to trim the glass.

He did the tail himself as it was a bit tricky.

I love how the glass glows.

It looked like a spaceship.

Today was the moment of truth. Time to glass the deck.

I was excited until It was time to drop the catalyst.

Then I got nervous. I'm calling out, "Wait I'm not ready!"

Game on. Kipp didn't listen and he set it off.

We have less then 10 minutes.

It really is a rush. You get into the moment and completely get absorbed in it.

Yet again Kipp was a huge help. David was there as well to document it.

Time to clean up. Kipp is really good about reusing everything. He cleans everything and never throws anything away unless it is completely trashed.

Resincicle.

Oh my. She is beautiful.

Time to cut the the lap and pull the masking.

This was a bit harder then I thought and made a few mistakes.

All and all it was a blast.

Tomorrow we glass the bottom.

Shawd from Rainbow Fins has been making some amazing one off fins. I went back a few times to the booth to drool over them.

More Grain. Did I tell you that my board is almost done?

Our buddy Mick Waters is now collaborating with Grain. His first assignment was to film a board coming to Rasta for him to test out. The board is a Waka 5'4" for a charity called Stoked Mentoring. They are raffling it off for $10 online. More on that later. 

Bruce Jones was there throwing boards on the ground all day long. It was hard to watch at first. You get so used to your board being so fragile.

Gary Hanel and his team rider Miss Anne. 

Erik spent some time in the Moonlight booth chatting about boards. Petter made a finless Thumb Board that Erik will get to ride.

Love the Sticky Bumps wax art. Erik has been playing with the colored wax for months now. It was really cool to see the  kids get so into it.

Anne bought this beanie. It says Surfing Sucks. Don't try it, you'll hate it.

Jamie, Tak, Anne and Kirk. Prom Photo.

Cyrus Sutton, was in the booth showing off how to make one of his hand plains. I met him the day before. He's a super cool and humble guy.

Karl Eckstrom's model. I got to chat with him for a while. Just a really down to earth guy who is just as stoked now as he was when he was a kid.

MR was such a nice guy. He signed posters and took photos the whole weekend. I had him sign it to the Leucadia Project.

Brewer judging the boards. The judging took a bit and had to be hard. You had 5 of some of the best shapers in the world. They had to measure everything and fight to find flaws.

Dennis watching as the judging was going on.

Dennis had every one sign the template. John Peck took notice and checked it out.

Dennis was funny. Every time I tried to get a photo of him he gave me a new face. This was his serious one.

And the winner is.... Pat Rawson. 

I wondered if Dennis was disappointed. I asked him how he felt and he said he was just really honored to be there. All the boards were amazing, besides, how often do you get to hang out with Dick Brewer!

The guys I went to see, Grain crew Mike, Brad and Allen, were there to answer questions and share the stoke of wood board building. Here's a shot of forever stoked Kevin, a two time kit builder from LA with a third in his sights.

The booth was busy all day as people came in to see first hand what these boards are all about.  I have to admit I was a booth rat. They couldn't get ride of me as I kept asking questions and looking over their boards.

This is the board that I think is going to be amazing. It's copy of a 60's relic that somehow made it to their shop. It's called the Leaf. It's 4.6 and guys have been surfing these things. They hinted that I might get to demo one! Erik, you down to try her out?

Man of the weekend, Dick Brewer, was on hand to judge the shape off and take part in the festivities. I got a chance to say a few words to him and he was a really cool humble guy.

Dennis Murphy was up first in the shape off. He did really good. It was so much fun to watch.

Brewer came in and complemented Dennis on his shape. Dennis was blown away to meet him. He said later "That was soo cool. As a kid everyone wanted to be Dick Brewer. "

Erik was there to represent Sticky Bumps. He has a cool wax art project at the booth for kids.

Moonlight and Surfy Surfy were there. Good news for us Leucadians. We will soon have a new place to hang out. The old Longboard Grotto space will be the new site of the Surfy Surfy board shop!

Surf Heritage museum was there was some amazing boards.

Lots of great craftsmanship. This was a cool hand burned sign.

Lot's and lots of Brewer boards, old and new.

The old ads were posted up and were really cool. My favorite was John Peck.

Karl Eckstrom was there with his amazing asymmetrical boards.  I really wanted to ride this fish.

Eli Marandon was on hand to show off his work. He is one of David's favorite guys to shoot at Blacks. He is a well rounded guy, with skills in the shaping bay and in the water.

This weekend is Sacred Craft. Dennis Murphy won a spot on the shape off with his Balsa fish. Tomorrow he is in the booth at 11am showing off his talent. 

The guys from Grain will also be in town and displaying. I was hoping to get my board done but I had a few set backs in schedule. 

Moonlight Glass will also be there. Stop by and say hi to J.P. and the crew. I will be there this weekend as well. 

Stop by and have fun. See you there.

As I get ready to pour resin all over a board that has taken me 2 years to finally get shaped I take a deep breath and hope for the best.

It's wet and it's time to move. 

Kipp was great. He would call out what was happening and direct me on what to do. As we start out we are calm and take our time.

 After a bit the resin started to kick off so we had to hurry.

It was huge to have Kipp there. He's done a dozen or so home glass jobs so he at least had an idea of what he was doing.

The wood grain is soooo amazing. It darkened to a deep amber.

On the board I wrote a message to Alia. It said... 

{Alia, I hope your children's children ride this board. Love Dad.} 

With all the time I put into this project I can't help but think how amazing it is that having it made out of wood means that it will last for decades. I spent a lot of time and my friends spent a lot of time on this board. As it all comes together it feels so good knowing it was all worth it. 

When we flipped the board to do the bottom the experience I had with the top made it much easier. 

I still can't get over how amazing the wood grain looks.

Tomorrow we glass the deck.

Leucadia local, Steve Burrows, is having an art show at the Pannikin in Del Mar/ Flower Hill Mall. It goes from Oct. 5th to November 5th. You might remember him from his Fin Art Submission. Steve has some great work so stop in and check his stuff out. You can checkout his work online at  www.burritoart.com. 

Thanks to everyone who helped make that happen. Special thanks to Kirk for manning the booth and putting in a lot of his own artistic efforts to make them turn out so good. Good job everyone. Less bottle caps on our beaches!

Kipp has a really cool setup in his garage. A nice little shaping/glassing bay and work bench. Here's a shot of his bench with a home made D Fin project he has been working on.

I was playing around again with my fin tees and came up with this one. I little bamboo ghost job.  It is definitely one of my favorites. Enjoy.