merry xmas

this is the video from our session yesterday, enjoy!

a four step program for happy xmas

step 1 - 22 dec 2012, 4.06pm
text message from toby

step 2 - 23 dec 2012, 10.30am
arrive in bremgarten at the perfect time

step 3 - 23 dec 2012, 11.40am

excited boys

  

step 4 - 23 dec 2012, 10.50am
jump in the water, 1h xmas surf session with 300m3/sec and 6.5 degrees water temp...

woooohaaa! nothing more to add!

handover

handover the board to toby, done.

having a sagres at the same time, done.

finally

today i finished toby's board. i'm quite happy with the result although the sanding work is still not what i would call perfect. but far the best i ever achieved.

it's a fun shortboard with some extra volume to make it quick to paddle. it comes with a thruster setup and a fcs plug for the go pro camera.

mr. curatolo plans to collect the board before xmas and takes it to a trip to italy. hopefully the med sea will produce some sweet swell lines to get the board in action.

007 - toby's stick - 5'8'' x 20 1/4'' x 2 3/4''

kepa acero

the best part of this movie starts at 3m50sec! LOVE IT!

dusty

started to sand toby's board. i am quite happy with both plugs (leash and go pro). 

à propos dust: check out this video!

gun show

again, i got inspired by paul fisher. this will be THE GAME for our next SGC surf trip. the couch looks similar to interior of our baleal villa :-)

glassing

days get darker, temperature has fallen & mountains are covered with snow. definitely a sign that winter arrives in switzerland. in exact 10 weeks we'll celebrate the xmas evening. for those who don't have to chance to jump in a plane and enjoy these days in south america (e.g. me) it's a great occasion to spend more time in the shape room.

toby's board just got its top glassing. let's see if it'll be under his xmas tree :-)

spain 2012, done

it has been a wonderful time with family and friends in spain! we got good weather, great food&wine, surf, made new friends and had a few special moments in life we all shared together. fantastic!

beside the 1st birthday of our daughter it is also the anniversary of LL. after reviewing my first year of landlocked surfboards i can be rather happy with the results and lessons learnt. the diamond tail we all surfed in zarautz was super fun and proves the fact that i am not doing everything wrong ;)

unfortunately, the shaping progress will slow down a bit as i have a very busy time at work and part-time studies.

soon off to spain

apart from switzerland, portugal and france a landlocked board will soon get in contact with the salty water in spain. this friday we'll be off to zarautz. i packed the 6'6'' fatum and the LL diamond tail 5'11''.

surf gypsy crew reunion no. 3 in 2012!

slowly we get there

worked on toby's stick on saturday and finished the lamination process. now sanding, top & bottom glossing, sanding... here a further glimpse:

  

toby's board in progress

shape, done

insert fin plugs, done

apply logos, done

bottom lamination, done

gipsy reunion in switzerland, done

what a great weekend with all the surf gipsy family... FANTASTIC!! nothing more to add! 

jesus edited a nice little video from the days in landlocked paradise. thanks for that bro!

landlocked goes france

thanks to toby for this picture.

five eleven diamond tail

it has been a while since i could work on my boards. there has been an important appointment last weekend with the boys :-)


nevertheless, my new diamond tail thruster (5'11'' x 21 1/2'' x 2 3/4'') is finished and waiting its new owner.

first order

after a dozen test rides on various landlocked boards toby got convinced and ordered his own costum shaped stick. my honor and pleasure to shape a board for him!

5'10'' x 20 1/2'' x 2 1/2-2 3/4, nugget, rounded square, thruster setup, fcs fusion, 1x6oz/2x6oz

the outline on this picture is not the final version as i will make the tail a little more narrow and rounded.

5'11'' diamond tail

the last few days i finished the lamination process for this 5'11'' x 21 1/2'' x 2 3/4'' diamond tail board. it goes with 1x6oz layer on the bottom and 2x6oz layer on the top. the outline is from a retro fish board. i will keep this thruster stick simply white. next steps will be sanding, gloss coating, sanding and polishing.


last week i got the new milwakuee sander and had a few trials with the blue stripe egg. it feels very easy going and hopefully increases the quality of my sanding work.

efficent weekend

surfed the friday afternoon, spent 2h in the shaping bay on saturday and surfed again on sunday early morning with toby. apart from the crowd factor i was quite happy with the efficency of this weekend.

i started the lamination work on the diamond tail board. the results of the new logo paper look very promising. pictures will be posted soon.

diamonds are the girls best friend...

...and the boys like diamond tails :-)

currently working on a new shape with a diamond tail. it's planned to finish the shape this weekend and start the lamination process afterwards.

wax on!

sunday morning, 7.15am, bremgarten, 345m3/sec... anymore questions?

toby and me enjoyed a great session this morning. we were quite surprised how "crowded" it has been so early. i surfed my 5'2'' pocket rocket and was super happy with this choice. toby shredded on the 5'8'' ant and ended the session with a big smile.

order new sander, done

i finally decided to invest in a high quality power tool which is known as the one and only sander within the surfboard shaping idustry: MILWAUKEE AP12QE. the shipment from uk is expected the next 8 days. initially i wanted to order it from a store in switzerland. but price difference was more than 25%. so the decision was taken to transfer the money to the island.



decals

since i am a little limited to perform any noisy work on an evening i applied myself to the new decal paper from uk. it is much thinner than the one i have and shouldn't be visible (apart from the printed logo) under the lam. it was quite a bit of work to get this paper trough the inkjet printer, failure rate: 20% :-) nevertheless, there are enough decals for the next shapes.

i also got two new sanding pads to improve the finish of landlocked surfboards. next investment will be a new sander...

  

new shapes in progress

i finished the outline of the second edition 'ant' (5'8'' x 22''). as the first board worked very well i am trying to further develop this shape.

the last blank delivery contained a broken 6'11'' blank which i started to use for a 5'6'' with diamond tail. the outline is similar to a retro fish but not as susceptible to failure as with the fishy tail.

our swiss wave machine is still pumping. this will be a great occasion for us to test the current quiver extensively on the weekend. below a statistic of the water discharge for the month of may. the level rarely dropped below 200m/3. from this perspective it's not the worst to be a landlocked surfer...

sunny sunday

the summer also arrived in switzerland. we enjoyed a great sunny sunday in bremgarten with family and friends. beside bbq and a cold beer, toby and me had a few rides on the 'ant' model. even though the water level dropped (190m3/s) we were both satisfied with the maneuverability and overall performance of this stick. definitely a board which will become a part of landlocked surfboard's model range.

peniche 2012, the movie

jesus, thanks for editing this video! many good memories related to this trip.

the session on thursday was FREEEEEEEEZING!!! Water temperatures were 7.5 celsius. i tested the "ant" (5'8'' x 22 x 3'') and had a real good time although i couldn't feel my feet after the session :-) a more detailed test report will follow shortly. probably we'll have another surf tomorrow.

test report - pocket rocket

first river surf session on saturday, done.


the wave works non-stop since almost two weeks! the early arrival (7.15am) really worth it as i had to share the wave only with another surfer. after 2.5h i was k.o. but left the cold water with a big smile!

i tested the pocket rocket (5'2'' X 21 1/8'' X 2 5/8'') and was surprised how well this stick works. due to its thruster setup it turns very well but for my size and weight probably a little too short. there was no time to relax on the board for a second, you always had to pump to stay in the wave. i even missed once the tail with my back foot during a take off :-) but for guys up to 170cm/70kg it will be a good choice.


personally, i'd prefer to have the board in a 5'4'' or even 5'6'' length. a deep v bottom in the tail area will make it more maneuverable. tail design is another discussion point: while the square fish tail makes the board very unique it also requires more pressure on the back foot to turn. i'd rather go for a wide rounded square.


the next session is scheduled for thursday. can't wait!

new boardrack & posca pens

i recently bought some posca pens. i tried to do a pinline on the 5'2'' river board. the result doesn't look too bad. i am looking forward to the first sweet water session in 2012 (maybe this weekend)!

i also invested a few hours of the swiss labour day into a new board rack.

landlocked goes bremgarten

toby is a brave guy and went to bremgarten on sunday. water temp 11 degrees... he was surfing the red stripe and confirmed the feeling i already had at mohlo leste. due to its twin fin setup the board is a bit loose and hard to turn. enjoy the video taken by his brother. thx!

portugal 2012, done

what an amazing week with the dudes in baleal!!


we tested the retro single fin as well as the red stripe egg board. both boards worked out well in smaller conditions. but it's a hard job to duckdive them due to its thickness. in my eyes ideal sticks for smaller summer days. our mate jesus has been a good boy and reported every day in his blog, check out http://www.diariodeunsurferdesecano.com/.


this video is from donavon's new album, great tune!

005 - retro single fin

i would call it "just in time". a few days before departure i finally finished my retro single fin. this stick will join my fatum board to peniche on saturday. sanding is still on a poor level but slowly i can improve the results.


i'm really looking forward to test this board next week!


005 - retro single fin
6'2'' x 22'' x 2 7/8''
http://www.quivermag.com/boards/landlocked-surfboards-2012

get your things packed

only one week left till our portugal trip. rock'n'roll!

6'2'' retro board

my latest project: 6'2'' retro with single fin. the board should be ready for the baleal surftrip.

 

004 - done

today i finished the red stripe board. still not too happy with the results of my sanding work. but much better than the first board i made.


004 - red stripe
5'10'' X 22'' X 2 7/8''
http://www.quivermag.com/boards/landlocked-surfboards-2011-1

new blanks, new ideas

i ordered new blanks from france which arrived yesterday. 6pcs (3x 6'5'' & 3x 6'11'') will be enough raw material for my shapes in the coming months. my next project is a 6'2'' single fin shortboard with a retro outline and heavy rocker. i will keep the board a little thicker in order to make it a 'playgun' for medium sized beach- or reefbreaks.

in the meantime i am in the sanding and gloss coating process for the 'red & blue stripe'. sanding is quite a complex part of shaping a surfboard especially when you laminate with epoxy. i underestimated the workload of this step by far.

gloss coat red stripe

since we moved a few things in our house i was allowed to enlarge the lamination room. the top deck of this 'red stripe egg' was glossed on saturday, bottom will follow this week.

blue stripe

i've been a little lazy the last weeks. but once i received yesterday my resin delivery i went back to work. the next weeks i will finish the two egg boards. below a picture of the stick i started to shape with toby. decided to made it a thruster. this time i had no issues with the stinger by routing the middle fin box.

egg II

a few weeks ago, toby visited us and we spent a few hours in the shape room. we started to work on a egg and enjoyed to get covered in dust. this weekend i further transformed the blank into its final measures. i gave it a little more rocker and thinned the nose. hopefully we can surf this stick in april during the baleal trip.


5'11'' x 22 1/4'' x 2 15/16''