Griffin with a soon to be surf thump!

Griffen // Shaping Trick

Griffin, still trying to figure out how to shape boards faster so he can surf more. (With his small arsenal of planers)

Cam's 5'8 Beach King Hull

Cam's self-shaped board is glassed and ready to go...

Cameron Oden // Shaping

The multi-talented, Cameron Oden, adds another trick to his bag...

It's no secret that Cam loves small, wide-tailed surfboards. He has been kicking around the idea for this board for a while and decided to take a stab at it. With some coaching from Griffin, Cam shaped himself this little hully treasure.

Photos: Griffin Nuemann-Kyle?

He's Crafty

Griffin Neumann-Kyle is the man behind the mask.

Classic Almond Logo Pocket Tee

Photo: CamOden

The Hullee | Simon Perini

All glassed up, and ready to go.

Simon, with the backyard reshape hull I did with him, during my stay in Thirroul.

Hope it works, Simon! I already know what we're going to make next year. You're going to need to find a bigger old mal to strip the glass off, for the next one...

Offshore Tuesdays // Paipo Preview

Some days when it's small and blowing super hard off-shore, it's nearly-impossible to get into waves on a surfboard. With the Santa Ana winds in mind, as well as the coming close-out South swells in the summertime, Cameron and I decided to make ourselves a pair of paipos.

I hadn't ridden a body board since elementary school, but it seemed like a reasonable enough experiment; and a perfect option for windy offshore days with nobody out. We've dubbed days like this Offshore Tuesdays, regardless of which day of the week it actually is. Tuesdays seemed to embody the most exciting day for the surf to be perfect, because people are at work, and there's still nearly a whole work week ahead to enjoy offshore conditions.

Oden put together a little clip of the paipo creating and riding we did this weekend.

Not ready to make a full-time switch from logging to paipo-ing, but definitely a good option to keep handy. I still need to try this matting thing I keep seeing and hearing about.

Look for the paipo video tomorrow morning...

Dave Allee by Simon Perini

This is a photo Simon took during our mini-mal reshaping project. We cut an 8'2 down to a 6'2 and bladed it out a bit. It was a fun project to work on together, one that I hope we can make into an annual tradition.

Thirroul Backyard Shaping Session #1

Photo: Simon Perini

Reshape at Casa del Perini

Simon and I stripped the glass of an old mini-mal at his house while I was staying with him, and I reshaped it into a 6'2. It ended up pretty hully because of the thickness flow of the board once we got it all cleaned up. One of the first things I told Simon when I finished the board was "Don't show it to Kyle when he comes to visit, he'll be too critical of the rails"

I know Lightner all too well... he went straight for the rails when he saw the board. But I was relieved to get an email from Kyle saying he was stoked on the board, and the rails, and he gave it the nod.

It was a fun project to do with Simon during my stay there. Now it's up to Simon and his friend Brett to glass the thing.

Stoked you're home Kyle.

Australia Trip | Simon Perini

Been staying with Simon Perini in Sydney this week. He and his wife, Jazz, have been the most incredible hosts. They even drove me an hour last night so I could have sushi on my birthday. And it was incredible sushi. If you're in Sydney, check out Sushi Train in Cronulla.

Here's a rad photo Simon snapped of local shredder, Matt Chonjacki.

I stripped the glass off an old mini-log in Simon's backyard today and reshaped it into a hullish looking 6'2 disc.

Been hanging out with CK at FinBox in Thirroul. Headed to Six Ounce Boardstore and the Sugarmill tomorrow. Then a few nights in Bondi before I head home.

Australia is wonderful.

Aquatic Almond for Cam Oden

Griffin Neumann-Almond, putting the finishing touches on a new Cy's Aquatic Almond for CameronOden TheVisualCreator.

Photo: Oden

7'9 Stepdeck

I've been inspired by some of the midlengths that I've seen in the water recently. Cyrus has been making himself some fun looking 2+1 boards. I traded boards in the water with Knost a few weeks ago, and really enjoyed the midlength he shaped for himself, and I haven't been able to shake these boards out of my head.

With that in mind, Griffin and I put our heads together the other day to come up with something new and interesting. We started with the original log rhythm template as our foundation (21 1/2" wide log) We narrowed it to 20 3/4"

I really wanted to keep plenty of volume and rail through the middle of the board (50/50), but then transition to a modern edge in the tail. I don't really like displacement hulls, personally, but I do like boards that glide and trim effortlessly, so the extra volume is intended to make this board glide like a log, but turn and respond like a midlength.

We ended up pulling in the nose, because we agreed we didn't need so much foam up there for what we wanted this board to do. So we actually used the tail template of the Pinwheel model (longboard we did for Japan) for the new nose. In order to further eliminate foam in the nose of the board, we gave it a step. A nice heart-shaped step.

Cy Step

Griffin adding a slight step in the deck of a new 'Cy's Aquatic Almond'

Photos: Camera Oden

Air Compressor

Adios, dust.

Photo: OcciDENtal

Mathematics

Griffin, mapping out his plan of attack.

photo: oden

Ryan Burch | Sacred Craft

Here's a shot of Burch shaping at Sacred Craft yesterday.

He attacked that 10'10 blank like nobody's business.

Sickest.

Photo: James Kamo

1,000 Surfboards

Griffin just finished shaping his 1,000th surfboard!

Including many of the boards in this photo.

Congrats buddy!

Here's to the next thousand!

Mystery Midlength

We've been working on 2 new mystery mid-lengths recently.

More on that soon...

Griff, hard at work.

Oden, documenting as usual.

Just a couple kooks

1" Balsa Stringer Kookumber & Chambered Balsa Kookumber

photo: Cameron Lamar Oden

Vee in the Tail