Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Theres a feeling I get when I look to the west


During his 3 month stay in New York, Andrew Kidman found some time to come over to the "clam shack" aka "the casino" (my shaping room) to work with me on some boards. Andrew Kidman is more than just a talented film maker he's an amazing shaper, surfer, musician, photographer, writer and philosopher. In between playing music, surfing, making artwork, writing and eating lox bagels we had a lot of time to work on boards and talk about design. AK's ethos, design theory, shaping techniques, and fine eye for detail is derived from his mentors, Simon Anderson, Dave Parmenter and Pat Curren. Its been fascinating to hear and watch his approach to everything from doing a cutback to turning a rail and doing channels. The first two boards we made together were two Widow Makers with channel bottoms. One for me. The other for my mate Franco who was also there helping every step of the way. Before we started these boards AK called Parmenter to let him know what we were doing and he was not only stoked that we were making Widow Makers but he even gave us specific details to run by. Things like this always amaze me and excite me. Here you have Dave Parmenter (the guy who designed and invented the Widow Maker) helping AK help me, giving us details and guidelines in order to recreate his design and he's stoked!! I guess being from New York you always expect someone NOT to help you and when two people who I hold in such high regard are here helping facilitate my techniques and enhance my experience is truly a sign of how humble they both are. The following has been a product of our work together.
(The posts will be titles Widow Maker)

Much respect to Dave Parmenter and Andrew Kidman for the guidance, respect and knowledge the has been passed down.


6 comments:

  1. Clamdip, this entry get me stoked.I think its an old buddhist saying that goes "when the student is ready the teacher appears". Apparently you are ready! The thing is you deserve everything you are getting. You are an authentic dude and that comes through in your writing keep up the good work.

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  2. Ak is a cool cat. Been wanting a w/maker for ages. We'll have to bring AK or DP over here one day.

    Jealous!

    NiegĂ 

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  3. you sure it was Parmenter who invented the widow maker?

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  4. Well there was always versions of the 2+1. Terry Fitzgerald had a 2+1 winger model called "The Drifter". "The Widow Maker" is Parmenters name for it. He didn't claim to invent the wheel or reinvent for this matter, he just named his own version of it and perfected its entirety.

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  5. where's the patented deebow/clams exhaust???

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