Road trip...

 Little Em and I are off to NZ in the morning its going to be amazing i'm sure.

There are no real plans other than we are flying into the North Island picking up our van and two wks later flying out of the South, I can't wait. I'll be making post along the way so make sure you check in to see what we are getting up to. Yeeeewwwwww.

Barrel sequence.

This day was mid last year on the Coffs Coast. I can remember as I was paddling in Harley saying or mate it looks straight (meaning don't go you'll snap your board) but I can't resist a barrel so I went any way. Ha ha it turns out H was right. You can check out more pics of this day here.

Pics from Tom Woods

The Verve.

40 years...

This year marks the 40th year of hand crafted Valla surfboards. This is one of the new T prints we did this season.

A man of many talents.

I took these pics just after the Logger Heads comp last year. They are two beautiful logs owned by Mr Nathan Oldfield. I think one is a 12ft Paul Joske Valla log and the other a Oldfield beauty shaped by Nathan himself. I surfed with Nathan that day on this fun 2 to 3 foot beachie at Scotts and Nathan was surfing really smooth. He's not just the man behind the camera.

Little Em.

This is my beautiful girlfriend little Em and she is getting a new VOUCH. Whats VOUCH ? our good friend  Evan Squirrell builds boards at North coast Surfboards in Byron. North Coast Surfboards construct Bear, takayama's and Morning of the Earth. Evan has his own brand called VOUCH, they're super sick and he has made up this new shooter for Em, siiiick. We are off  to the Bay this afternoon to pick it up. yewww

Sunrise.

A new day.

NZ.

Here are some of the timber boards that Nathan, Sage and I took to New Zealand last year.

We took with us a handful of Alaias a Hot curl and Kumu. NZ is rad, to me its like a cold Indo plenty of lefthand reef breaks. I'm heading back over to NZ to the North and south Island at the end of the month I can't wait.

Keith Novosel.

So I'm back from a crazy but super fun couple of days on the Gold coast.

Today is a pic that was snapped up a little while ago now by my friend Keith, Its of me at Byron doing a switch cutty.

BDO.

I'm off to the Goldy today to go to the Big day out.

I'm pretty pumped there are loads of rad bands playing and a bunch of my mates are going to be there. There probably wont be many posts over the next few days but I'll have plenty to blog about after this epic road trip. yewww.

Surf check.

Pic by my buddy Oldy, of a regular early morning at my local surf check spot.

Beachies.

I've been back down home for about a month now and I am begining to feel like I live here again. The waves have not been the best so far in 2010 here at home although I have been having alot of fun on small beachies in the area. This is a Tom Woods pic of myself riding my trusty old Volta Quad fish.

Online...

For all the TCSS threads that you need you can now get on line at http://www.thecriticalslidesociety.com/home/

Single fin.

Valla single fin shaped by Paul Joske.

Kumu.

This board is one of the first boards Sage ever made and he calls it Kumu which means teacher. Its a replica of an ancient hawaiian board made from a timber called Pink floss. I have had the pleasure of riding this board a few times now but what sealed the deal for me with this board was a day in Raglan at Indicators when Sage and I took out the Hot curl for it's maiden voyage it was about 6 to 7 foot and Sage was really ripping on the hot curl. I can remember trying to stroke into a few on Kumu and it seemed impossible but then everything came together and I timed it right on about a solid five footer. The belly on this board just sucked to the wave and I could not believe the control I had. I just remember flying down this wave double fist pumping, I was so stoked.

Driftwood.

Every year in my home town Urunga we can expect at least one massive flood. In 2009 we recieved 6 floods in total. Urunga lies at the mouth of both the Bellinger and Kalang rivers and due to the 6 floods the beaches north and south of the  mouth are now littered with just about everything from  trees, oyster leases, the local river rat boat, Driftwood and washed up cows. Every year a local guy that we call Grogan who is a fellow that I guess you could call a drifter rides his bike along the beaches collecting timber to build his log shacks that the council likes to burn down. This year Grogan located a new million dollar building site and constructed a two bedroom, one bathroom, double lock up car port shack  with an olympic size pool out the front. Ha ha its pretty amazing I reckon I could probably live in there.

Shapers.

So my buddies at shapers sent me down a little pack of goodies.

Hard Work...

I guess it's a little strange how we as surfers put value on surfboards. It seems that we always want something for nothing. We compare the value of a Thailand pop-out to other boards that are quality and  handcrafted to individual custom orders. I think that we take for granted the beautiful end product and don't consider the hours of hard work along with the dust, grime and toxins that board makers are subjected to to create the product that we are still able to buy for basically the same price as twenty years ago. The pics above are of Sage at the Valla factory putting in the hours to create the boards that we love to ride and enjoy.

Wood.

This is a pic of Paul and Sage at the Wood fry Last year. The board that they are holding is a 7'4 Alaia made from one piece of Redcedar. The board is amazing and the craftsmanship is unbelieveable as Paul uses all hand tools and general perfects his boards down to 1/64th of an inch to perfection. I am yet to ride this one  but I'm sure its only a matter of time.

The Vector.

This board is a board created by the mind of Sage Joske.

It has a fish rocker and Alaia outline, it even has the double square edges.

If your interested to how this board goes you should checkout the Valla saltwater constucts promo on vimeo. Sage is doing some pretty crazy stuff.

Pics above are of me and Jack snapped up by Keith Novosel.

Friends.

This is me and my good mate Evan Squirrell playing around at the pass. Evan is a great guy and really loves to surf. He rips on everything Hull's, timber, fishes, you name it. Evan has his own blog called Vouch you should check it out. The pic below is a pic that Keith Novosel snapped up of Evan riding Keiths hull that has the knifeyest (If thats a word) rails ever.

Tom Woods

I want you all to know who Tom Woods is. He is a great guy, a family man and an amazing photograher. In my eyes anyway. I am very greatful to know him because he volunteers a great deal of his free time to come and shot me and my buddies. He has a blog and a website that is well worth checking out.

Valla Fair.

So today I went to the Valla fair to help the Joske's with their Valla T-shirts stall. This year is pretty special as it marks the 40th year for Valla surfboards. We had a lot of fun and sold a bunch of sick threads.

Summer fun.

This pic was snapped up by Ben from In Byron Bay today. You should check his website out.