We’re back, after a bit of a forced break. I’ve been on a few different assignments in Europe (France, Italy & Spain), running around like a headless chicken for most of July. I have been missing our usual sunrises, but I’ve been enjoying the heat and long days of the European Summer. We’ve also used this time off to improve some features on our website (more info soon). But I am glad to be able to resume the newsletters: from today until the start of Spring we should be able to share with you 1 to 2 newsletters per week. And for today’s up-date, I’m really stoked to be able to come to you with something different from the usual.
Since the waves were almost totally absent from the coastline of the Basque shorelines, I had made an appointment with a living Australian surf legend: Bob McTavish. In the last years, Bob has been sharing his time between shaping at his Byron workshop, and Oiartzun, in the Spanish Basque Country where the Pukas‘ headquarters produces some of the finest foam work in the world (Taz Yassin, Axel Lorentz, Matt Biolos or Chris Christenson…to name a few).
How did I feel after spending the day with 72 year young Bob McTavish ? Well, I almost felt old next to this fresh soul. Bob is loaded with the most incredible energy, sense of humour and mint love for his work/art of surfing & shaping boards.
I’ve spent quite some time in different workshops over the years. The thing that stroke me with Bob is the minimalist approach of his shaping bay. Only the minimum number of tools, all laid out on the shelf in the right order of use for each board. His gestures are precise, effective and efficient. His hands are incredibly accurate tools and act as foam volume sensors. The work looks effortless, just like when you watch an amazing surfer draw some smooth lines.
During his first 5 days in the Pukas’ factory, he had already shaped 95 boards (!!) straight out of the airplane, on the tools from 6:30am to 8:30pm regardless of the jet lag.
Bob is a real hard working machine with a great soul and a kind heart. An inspiration. A true legend.
We’ve had such a great connection that I hope this black and white series with translate in picture his skills, his experience, his kindness and his youth.
I’m sure our paths will meet again. I think I know who’s gonna shape my next boards…
Beau Pilgrim here sharing some Fiji Cloudbreak gold from my last trip. There was a huge cast of pros who flew in for the big swell on the 23rd May. It was a scary start to the day with Aaron Gold from Hawaii copping a 3 wave hold down and blacking out on the very first wave of the day. With the brave help of water patrol and other surfers, Gold was successfully rescued and resuscitated. It sent the wind up everyone but didn’t stop the line-up filling out a few hours later.
The wind was up making the 15ft+ conditions difficult but there were still some gems to be ridden. The star performances were from Damien Hobgood and Dane Gudauskas scoring some great rides.
There should still be plenty of swell around this week. Hope you’re all scoring, whilst Franck Gazzola is currently busy packing his gear for the beautiful coastline of France.
Beau Pilgrim here. I returned back from Fiji a couple of weeks ago and after watching the WSL final on Friday I thought I’d share some shots from my trip. May is such a great time for Fiji with amazing swells and minimal wind. I had a flawless three weeks of waves on Namotu Island, perhaps scoring more than the guys on tour with an almost 2 week flat spell.
Here’s a bit of the action. I will also share some photos from the big swell in the coming days.
Telling that we got soaked on Sunday would be an understatement. So, if I’m sure that if you had to do medical claims, make some space in the wardrobe, tidy up the garage, catch-up on emails or watch the latest episodes of Games of Thrones, yesterday was the perfect day to do so!
Today it’s clearing. Stormy sunrise, which looked promising…but no. No fancy colours. Nothing too exciting. Waves ? Yes. Tama is the pick even though it’s a very shifty.
We’ll be cold later this week. Howling westerlies on the menu. We’ll struggle to pass the 10ºC mark, so enjoy today’s warmth. It won’t last.
I still can’t believe how WILD Big Monday was. Here are some crazy images of last week that I wanted to share with you, especially after all the amazingly nice emails received yesterday after posting the newsletter.
Now, we’re due for another storm but this time, we’re in for crazy amounts of rain, and not so much swell. Not as fun.
Gabriel Medina is taking the Fiji Pro crown, in front of Wilko. This means that Namotu wins another title ! Yew !
Recent Comments