Widow Modifications

This was much needed...

The Widow and the Mackie

Australian Blood

The new/larger side bites

Grinded down to the fin marks.

Here is a shot of the older fins standing up against the new ones...I had to swap out the olders smaller fins for the larger ones with more surface area. I has having big troubles with the board sliding out on the bottom turns...hopefully these new ones will give the board the little extra hold it needs.

Again you can see the old fin laying up on the new ones.

The new fins were made using the original side bite template that Andrew Kidman took off of his own board "The Crush". They were sent to me via snail mail about a year ago. With the perspective surf on the way I thought this might be a nice opportunity to get this board back in the water. I'll sink her into some turns over the next few days and report back... Stay tuned

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this board, click here for more

Widow Maker Pt.3

Painted widows for Franco and Clams

All photos by Andrew Kidman as well as the Purple/Pink paint job.

Widow Maker Pt.1

Photos by Andrew Kidman

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.