So due to the extreme lack of surf on the California coast I found myself sitting on the 405 freeway on my way down to the swell magnet of Lower trestles. Trestles seems to always have somewhat of a ridable wave and high hopes of being able to stand up, I walked down the trail to see clean waist high waves with a minimal crowd. While out surfing these two kids that were friends with Griffin Colapinto caught my eye because they were riding some pretty irregular equipment. They were catching these perfect little lefts on finless surfboards and having so much fun that I couldn’t help but have a chat with them. The three of us started talking about surfboards and sure enough I was in absolute shock. The two kids, named Max Caldwell and Nick Milanson (there is no way I spelled those correctly) went on to tell me their story about being bored with the standard performance short boards of todays’ time. So to switch it up and keep themselves having fun and interested, they started shaping and glassing their own surfboards. To any person who is ever tried to craft their own boards, its a lot harder than it sounds. These two save up their money to buy scrap blanks and just sit down and brainstorm crazy surfboard designs with eachother. Below are two boards that each of them shaped. The little purple board was freshly made the day that I met these kids. When I say fresh, I mean really FRESH. The resin fumes were so strong they still that they were being smelt throughout the whole lineup at lowers! Nick and Max told me they had created the design for the finless, asymmetrical, and channel bottom board and then decided to shape it and glass it in the back of their dad’s autoshop. Now is that totally bad ass or what?!? Just two kids doing what they want and totally ripping on their creations. To me, these two kids are perfect examples of what surfing is, and that is a creative outlet that you can have fun with your friends. Anyways, good stuff guys and I can’t wait to see you guys ripping again soon!

Howdy!

I have been over in Barbados for the last few days getting ready for the Sprite Jr. Pro. Lucky for the juniors Sprite put up this 2 star junior at Soupbowls, a world class right hand reef break that is really rippable when it’s small, and then as it grows in size it starts to turn into a crazy barrel. The swell forecast looks like it’s going to be small for the first few days and then an increase in swell and a decrease in wind should make for an incredible last few days. How lucky are we?!? I just surfed my first round heat and made it through so I will surf again later this afternoon. It’s pretty classic because the age limit for these Jr. Pro’s are 20 and under, but at 18 I feel like a full veteran. The majority of kids in this event seem like they are 14 and 15. That’s something that has really changed in the recent past. Kids are starting this series at such a young age vs. finishing their amateur careers and taking on the juniors after they age out of NSSA’s and what not. I saw my friend Pat Schmidt paddling out for his heat against these two little supergroms named Bo Raynor and Josh Burke. I couldn’t help but have a little chuckle about the size difference. Pat is probably about 6’4” and these two are probably not even cracking the 5′ mark. Safe to say Pat was gonna win in  paddle battle? But don’t let their size fool you, these groms can RIP! Life is good and i’ll keep you posted how the event goes!