Andrew Kidman

New Fish bound for the waters of South Oz, glassed to look like a seal by Simon Jones. Fins foiled by Jones, the template was taken from Skip’s new Bomber Fish he sent down to me. Rare birds in flight.
Photos by Paul Whibley.

For some reason The Fish has drifted out of fashion over the last couple of years, which is odd as the ride remains the same. My 5’10” Skip Frye Lakers Fish is 13 years old now and still feels as good today as it did in the beginning. Last year I asked Skip if he would make me a new 5’10”, I wanted to feel what he’d done to the design in the last 13 years. On my new Bombers Fish he pulled the tail in by a 1/4 of an inch and the fins were slightly smaller with slight curve in the back. The Lakers Fish had large straight back keels. This board is for Paul Whibley in South Oz, I make no bones about mimicking what Skip does, it’s an honour to have his boards and to try and replicate his rail and form by hand. He told me 13 years ago while I was watching him shape Lakers Fish, that, “The design is yours now, you’ve gotta take it and do what you want with it. That’s what I did when Stevie gave me the template.” (referring to when Steve Lis gave him the original cardboard Fish template in the late sixties that he still uses today) It’s no easy task, a task that always leaves me humbled and with even more respect for Skip and his peers Steve Lis, Larry Gephart, Stanley Pleskunas, Hank Warner, Steve Pendarvis, Bob Mitsven and the other shapers from San Diego where the Fish was born. Legends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amyJVu34G3w

It’s outrageous that Coal Seam Gas companies are being given licenses by State Governments to explore and extract gas in Australia. Coal Seam Gas, already banned in France, is an extremely dangerous operation for every reason that is explained in this short film. Please watch and circulate this information where ever you can.

Skip Frye shaped this for me a few months ago. Kirk Gee, the legendary Kiwi that lives in Compton and publishes some of my books picked it up for me from Skip yesterday and shot these pictures of it. Black & Red, the colours of my beloved Bombers. My last Fish from Skip was Purple & Yellow, the colours of Skip’s beloved Lakers. Makes sense to me. The board is currently stranded in L.A. waiting for a kind soul to bring it home to Oz.

This single hit the truck for Sydney yesterday - a date with Long Reef Bombie. An attempted replica of The Single Splice.

Glassing by Simon Jones.

This board is based on the shape Dave Parmenter made for Stephanie Gilmore that features in the new book Single. Dimensions of the board 6’5 3/4 x 2 5/8 x 20 1/2.

http://thewindyhills.tumblr.com

Regular Wildcat is a information hub my partner Michele is putting out there on the web. She’s inspiring to me in so many ways including this. Enjoy.

http://regularwildcat.tumblr.com

The proofs for Single: Studies of Movement from the Stephanie Gilmore, Spirit of Akasha Sessions came in yesterday. They look beautiful. It’s exciting to be working on a book again, looking at proofs and checking over what will be the final move before printing is always fun and a little nerve wrecking. Calling the art director Jim Newitt from Australia, who is actually English but lives in Santa Cruz, California. Jim is great to work with, helpful and considered, he has art directed my last two books and recently worked with John Witzig on his next publication which is incredible. This is what proofs looks like, they are upside down and back the front with pages all over the place. But it make sense to printers.