Tom's Creation Plantation

I had the pleasure of spending a few days with Cyrus Sutton last week. He left me a copy of Tom's Creation Plantation while he was here.

I get a lot of people asking about making their own alaias, and I would definitely recommend everyone see this film before tackling the project. Tom Wegener walks you through everything from the design concepts to the execution of making your own alaia.

The alaia riding portion of the film is insane. Ryan Burch especially will blow your mind
in regards to what you thought was possible on these boards.

Stoked I got a chance to meet Cyrus and talk with him. He's an amazingly talented surfer and film-maker with a really good approach and mindset about surfing and all that falls under that umbrella.

Tom's Creation Plantation Trailer from Cyrus Sutton on Vimeo.

Water Photography

Here are some random shots from a disposal water camera we were having some fun with this Summer. (The Gull, T.A., D.A.)

Hand Planing Taylor

T. AL making the most of this inside section with his Gully hand plane.

Drift Surfing - Europe

Thanks to Rui from Magic Quiver for the article he wrote for Drift.

Read it here.

Levi is Legal

Happy Birthday Levi...

Kyle Lightner

Here's a portrait Oden shot of Kyle while we were down at Lowers with Nathan last week.

Kyle has been getting some insane photographs of the Stopniks lately, as well as this one of Nate.

For those of you thinking "yeah.. we've all seen Lightner's Stopnik photos... tell us something we don't know" Let me just tell you that as someone with some inside knowledge... you 'aint seen nothing yet'

Just wait....















brother kyle.

Body Svrf & Destroy?

I think Oden has been hanging out with Lightner too much.

At least he's been staying creative in his free time... introducing the Tombstone Prone Alaia.

Enter the Camo Den

Check out Oden's new blog... the Camo Den also known as Cam Oden dot blogspot.

He's a visual genius, lens toting sniper, and core member of team Almond.























Oden and his 6'4 Kookumber

Wolfgang Bloch

I really love the peacefulness of Mr. Bloch's work, combined with the aged textures and woodgrains. Makes for extremely visually pleasing artwork.

Nate's New Fish

Me- "Nathan, when was the last time you rode a shortboard?"
Nathan - "Dude, so long, I can't even remember..."

The ensuing session at lowers... (a few minutes later)

















Photo: Cameron Oden

Jimmy Pham

Check out my friend Jimmy's blog.

Erin Ashley

...and her 9'2 Early Bird

Photos: Kyle Lightner and Unknown

Nate's New Fish

Delivered Nathan's new 5'6 Fish to him yesterday. Photos of the ensuing Lowers sessions coming soon.

Photo: Lightner

Kameron Brown

This is quite a bit overdue... but I just wanted to publicly congratulate our friend Kameron Brown and his recent joining of the ShortStraw crew.

































Photos: Cameron Oden

Adrian Knott

Here are some rad photos that Adrian Knott, of Rake Clothing, sent me. Wishing I was in his shoes right about then... scoring some solid left point on the mini simmons he shaped for himself.

The Best I Ever Had

The Smart Brothers

Kookumber Inlay

The {Kookumber} might be my favorite board for chest to head high days. Really stoked that we've gotten some really good feedback on them this summer. Possibly the best looking one we've done.

Best Shark Video

It won't let me embed... so watch it here.

Gulliver's Travels

(From L to R)
5'9 Stinger, 5'10 Sandia Fish, Gully, 8'10 Gully Womper, The first Almond Longboard, 9'4 Lumberjack.

Straw Hats...

Love 'em.

Neil Halstead

King Rat via Caleb Akey

Here are some shots of our own King Rat getting weird on both sides of the Newport Pier.












































































Photos: Caleb Akey

Swan Glide Part 2

Here are a few photos of Greg Swanson having some fun on his 9'2 Lumberjack at Sano recently.






































































Photos: Alex Swanson

Echo Beach

Echo Beach is playing at the Lido tomorrow night. See it, it's rad.

Alaia Wake Slide

If you've been wondering (or even noticing) that there have been no blog updates this week, it's because I'm visiting my Grandparents in Sandpoint, Idaho.  In order to cope with the separation from waves for a week (because wakeboarding just doesn't quite cut it all the time) I embarked on an a little wegener/sutton inspired experiment.  Turns out alaias are perfect for dragging behind a boat.