The Evolution of a Board

From this...

The Bennett Blank




TO THIS:

Ok, so.. after a little contemplation I decided on a checkerboard design with some cool 80s vibe, though I had no idea it was going to be as much work as it ended up being...

Started by taping it up criss-cross

Then, I cut out every other square, to give it the checkerboard effect...

then comes the paint... by air gun... orange fading into red

Starting to remove the tape...

...getting closer

Peeling off every little square was actually a lot of work...

Then, to the bottom...
I wanted to do a rising sun-type design, and this is how it came out...

After all that work, I was pretty excited to get her out in the water...


...and in case you were wondering, she rides like a dream.



P.S. Now taking custom orders!

Shape Up!

Today I shaped my own surfboard for the first time, with the help of my friend Ray Promer at Clear Water Glassing in Newport. It took about 3 hours to shape, and now it's ready for glassing, though I'm trying to figure out whether or not to give it a logo or a paint job. It's in the shape of a retro fish, and I can already tell it's going to be a lot of fun- I can't wait to ride it. This may be the beginning of yet another hobby as if I don't already have enough...

At about step 23, seriously

Sanding her down from nose to tail and rail to rail


Shaving down the stringer


Documenting the specs



Now, I just need a logo.... any ideas?

Utah Powder

The greatest snow on earth...


Sometimes you just get lucky. That's the only way I can make sense of the impeccable timing of a strong winter storm that dumped over two feet of fresh powder and then left sunny skies for me on a recent Saturday of Snowboarding at Snowbird. (You like the alliteration there?) It was seriously some of the best snow I've had in years.. probably since I lived in Utah. It's easy to get good powder when you live there, but not when you have to plan your trip in advance and then hope that it's good. Anyway, here is my action shot of the day:

My good buddy Brett Shields enjoying Utah's finest. I told him I am going to posterize this shot.


Here, Colton got a good taste of the powder after a nice little kicker


brothas


The Shields clan and a Maughan

Since my freshman year of college, Snowbird has been one of my favorite resorts, and it did not disappoint this day. The only thing that could have made it any better would have been to have all of the old crew there like back in the days of skipping class when we had a big storm. For any parents reading, let it be known that it was rare that we actually skipped class, but when we did, it was much more productive than being in class. In fact, I recall taking note cards with me to study on the lift during finals week. You can't just not go if the snow is good, even if it's finals..

Anyway, I look forward to the not to distant future when Baird or Shields or Hoyt or Willie or Nels (well..maybe Nels has a couple years) calls me up to say they've booked our heli-skiing trip. I can only imagine what that will be like after getting small but sweet tastes of untouched powder. But to get miles of it.. that will be unreal.

Bottom line... I've got the fever, and I can't get rid of it.

California on fire..

In October, Southern California turned into one big bonfire from Santa Barbara down to the US-Mexico border. Major contributing factors to the extreme fire conditions were the drought conditions in SoCal, really hot weather, and unusually strong Santa Ana winds with gusts reaching 85 mph. Unfortunately, about 1,500 homes were destroyed along with approx. 500,000 acres of land. There was a layer of ash on the cars for a week, and it honestly smelled like a bonfire, no matter where you were outside.

Here's a picture of the Santiago Canyon fire - I took it on the way to work at 6:30am

The sun dipping into an ash-filled sky


The guilty pleasure of this mostly bad situation was the fact that the Santa Ana winds were strong off-shore, which when combined with a good-sized swell, can create ideal surf. So, while California was burning, I headed to the beach for some of the best waves Southern California has seen in a long time.

56th - Newport

Everybody wanted a piece of this one..

There were a ton of waves, but still more guys out then waves. In Southern California the demand always outweighs the supply, especially when it's good.

After 2 hours of heavy paddling, my lungs were burning, and I was totally spent. But it was quite an experience to be out in those epic conditions. Hopefully next time we have these kind of conditions, they won't be accompanied by the fires.

The Huntington Beach Pier at sunset. This was at the end of the week as the smoke was finally clearing out.

Driving Across the Country...

to

When I typed my starting destination (Arlington, VA) and ending destination (Fullerton, CA) into google maps, reality started to set in. 39 hours of driving did not sound like a very pleasant way to spend... well, 39 hours. And to do it alone, seemed like somewhat of a daunting and actually pretty dangerous undertaking- considering I'm prone to extreme drowsiness while driving. In any case, I had to do it, because it was the only way I was going to get a bunch of my stuff and my car to the west coast. I knew I could do it too.. I've actually I've done the cross-country driving thing out to the east coast (though I did have a little special someone at the time, to help with the drive- also, the pit stops were a lot more exciting rather than strictly taking care of business.)

So, I started the drive early Thursday morning (a day and a half later than originally planned) with the intention to be home in California by Saturday so that I could attend the BYU vs. UCLA football game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. It's actually a really pretty drive going into the west and southern parts of Virginia and Tennessee.

Country roads, somewhere in northwest Virginia

On Thursday I made it to Nashville where I stopped to hang out with a good friend.

some little pub on music row in Nashville

Here's me thinking about the 29 hours I have left to drive...

one more pic before getting back on the road

After hanging in Nashville for a few hours, I got back on the road and made it only a couple hours before I was too tired to drive anymore.. So I stopped at some random little hotel about an hour outside of Memphis to get some sleep. It's an understatement to say the hotel was not the nicest hotel I've every stayed at... I'm talking like, my sheets were dirty! I seriously thought about finding a new hotel, but it was too late and I was too tired, so I got some clean sheets (at least I hope) and went to sleep.

Thursday around noon, I rolled into the Birthplace of Rock 'N' Roll,

Also, home of "The King"

This is Martin. He's a writer, and a pretty friendly guy. He was the first to welcome me to Memphis.


I'm not sure who the stubborn one was here.. but it had to be whoever painted their storefront second. I mean, if my neighbor's store was red, I don't think I'd go with hot pink for mine. And if I moved in next to a place painted hot pink, I think I'd try to pick a color that clashes less, though not many colors would go with hot pink very well. Probably just looking for a little attention... I don't know, but I have to say, I kind of like it.


I guess Memphis is pretty laid back. Here are a bunch of cops hanging out in the street, drinking. I thought this picture was pretty classic actually.. take a close look at the cop's cup. I didn't ask.

Back on the road...

Once I crossed the Mississippi, I had one goal in mind.. and that was to get home as fast as possible.

After stopping in Memphis, I drove for about the next 24 hours straight with stops only for gas or food, or a good photo-op. I had about 29 hours of driving left and about 26 hours till the BYU-UCLA game... so I didn't have time for sleeping or any other nonsense...



The storm is brewing


As I was driving through Oklahoma, I witnessed one of the most amazing thunder and lightning and hail storms I've ever seen. The sky would go from pitch dark, to being almost as bright as day, almost as if the whole world was lit up by a huge camera flash. And, the hail was coming down like millions of buckets of tic-tacs being poured from the sky. It was pretty cool.


This is a pretty good representation of my vision at about 4AM... still trucking. At this point, it was too early to talk with any friends on the east coast, and too late to talk with any friends on the west coast.. So instead, I stopped for a 20 oz Code Red and some sunflower seeds to help me stay awake. I may have had my video camera out as well, to film myself singing Coldplay songs, but I haven't played the video back yet, so I'm not too sure. Anything to stay awake...


My first indication that I made it through the night.. as the sun breaks the morning darkness



Here is the sunrise around 5:30am... somewhere in New Mexico, near the Arizona border


Also somewhere near the New Mexico/Arizona border... I thought these were extinct.. but they seemed alive and well to me

somewhere near Flagstaff, Arizona


Apparently, someone else was trying to pull an all-nighter as well.. luckily it looked like everyone was okay.. except for the trucks.





Approaching Death Valley


And finally, after 38 hours of driving,
home sweet home