RealSurf Surfers' Forum

'i remember years before reading an extraordinary novel by an italian named italo svevo. the narrator's father was dying and the family had gathered around the bed, weeping and waiting for the old man to expire, when he opened his eyes to look at each of them for a last time. when his gaze fell on t...

woo, love a bit of tempe goreng in my nasi campur!

now to teach you the right way and the proper way to spell 'tempe': a knife, a fork, a bottle and a... mmm that's the way we spell 'tempe', right on!

i really like this shot, because i remember the surf clearly: i was the only one out for an hour after hearing the wind change over my kitchen where i was working on my laptop and doing the bolt to the beach to find empty, offshore and sets overhead a spot that's usually crowded and crap. just a sha...

*Pics by Ry Beville

Maybe I should glass more?

Maybe I should surf more?

Does Ako-san surf? He used to, I heard. I never saw. Taro Taniuchi said he’s pretty good. But I never saw him surf. Funny, ha? Maybe glassers don’t surf. I never heard that Jack Reeves surfs. Shapers have to know waves, right? But glassing is more of a chemical thing. It has no relation to waves, wa...

Would you like to become one of the best? Mmm... yeah. You know, if you’re a shaper you look up to Al Merrick, Dick Brewer - those guys. Glassers have Jack Reeves. In Hawaii. Ever seen an Owl Chapman or Dick Brewer gun with a ‘JR’ at the end of the stringer? That’s Jack Reeves’ signature. The glasse...

Each year Surfing World publishes a surfboard catalogue, and two years ago I glassed an avocado-green fish, Ofuchi’s shape. And the colour came out good! I went up to Ako-san and said, ‘Look, Ako-san, I did this, and the colour came out...’ And there was a catalogue there, and I was looking for the ...

Three years after leaving Kamogawa Surfboards and starting Grace Surf, Ako-san started telling me things, like ‘Hey, that’s not the way to do it.’ Now I think he wants to pass his knowledge on to me. I can ask him questions, and he answers them.

What makes one guy’s glassing better than another guy’s? Less air bubbles. Light. Hard. Kamogawa has a really good glasser: Ako-san. He’s good. I learned from him. He taught me. Actually, no. Ako-san didn’t teach me anything. But he let me watch. So I used to watch. http://www.japansurf.com/photos/4...

Why? Because sanding makes you itchy, and you can do it forever. Glassing is fast. Once you put that hardener in, you’ve got seven-eight minutes, and you’ve gotta do it: ssssshhhhh... I love that. So you can glass however you want, but you need the smallest amount of resin possible, and you need to ...

How did you start out? I was working as a ding-repair guy in Kamogawa Surfboards, and I would watch Taro Taniuchi shape, another guy sand, another guy glass. And when I saw that guy glass, I thought, ‘That’s what I want to do!’ I wanted to glass surfboards. http://www.japansurf.com/photos/3resindrip...

Actually... I love my job.

Do you feel good at what you do?
Well... I’m trying to be good.

When I was small it was hard to find a surfboard, especially a small board suitable for a child. We looked and looked, waited, and eventually found a Byrne 5'4" four-channel swallow, sky blue with yellow rails, $70 secondhand in Dad's mate Johnny Skipp's shop in North Wollongong. From then on I want...