In for a penny, In for a pound
More than a couple of blow in’s have past through our doors of late. The dry season brings swell and the swell brings em. Most are very memorable, though, as it the case with most things in life, some a little more than others. Just so you know we’re definitely not delving into the quagmire of ‘likes and dislikes’. No sir-ee Bob, just that some of them have that funny commodity, we like to call it, harmony. A couple of harmonizes that we’ve waxed lyrically about previously are our Noosa brothers Thomas “Doc” Bexon and Jake “Swatch” Bowery. You’ve heard the tale about when they came to Bali for the Deus 9′ & Single Log Fest. We read you the news about the 9 foot double ender with the ripe colour tint they designed for our local break, the ‘Tugu’ and we’ve rallied on in the past celebrating their trips that usually culminate on the somewhat holy trio of their skills of walking on water, their humility and their unparalleled beer drinking capabilities. Partners in crime. The bearded bloke from the bush before life uprooted itself and moved to the Sunshine Coast, he was about ten at the time. Fate sealed the deal with the sea and they have been friends ever since. Then there’s the demure English lad who learnt to shape and glass boards down the side of his parents place in North Devon. Waiting for Sundays to do long boards while his parents were out. His hand crafted lean too shed no being long enough to accommodate the oversized blanks without the door left open and the ensuing smell not at all to his parents liking. Then we had an epiphany. Which means much the same as our proverbial penny dropped. Perhaps it’d been a bit too ‘shepherd’, and nigh about the ‘sheep’. The men, now thoroughly discussed, especially when you combine it with the preamble above, left an opening to talk about what it was they had done. Their legacy if you like. We damn well think it is. You see these are not one trick ponies we’re talking about. Their repertoire is wide and varied and getting wider by the day. This last visit they definitely had a foot firmly planted in their past repertoire while the other was tapping about in the land of possibilities. A prodigious work flow produced in those short few short weeks a total of 18 works of art. Think inlayed fabrics, pigment tints all in handmade perfection. There was the boy’s staples of tried and true. Two lil ‘Le Nard’s', their Mini-Simmons inspired pocket rocket. Twin keels glassed on smack bang in front of a big ol’ lopped off square tail. An ‘Espresso’, A viscous little board, fast, snappy and very responsive, their invitation for you to get your shortboard on. A couple of ‘Mini Bonzers’ that got a whole lot of Cambell Bros inspiration flowing through them. These 2 +1 widow maker set ups delivering buckets of drive garnished with oodles of hold. Then there’s a whole lotta ‘Hullabaloo’. Sleek, slippery lil devils that someone, more poetic than us, coined the term for’Glide-tastic’. The head master from the ’feel’ school of surfing. A world of glide across an ocean of speed. Last but not least we come to a little think tank piece, so new it still remains nameless. For now we refer to it as the ‘Mini Log’. A moment, a chance conversation between the guys and Spencer from Deus LA. In which he featured lamenting that none of the current models addressed the Californian coast penchant for something a little smaller. An everyday board that could be ridden from small to well big. Point Break. Questions of tails and concaves. Rides and rocker. Winds and lines. What started on beer napkins, moved through to foam in a matter of days. Answers needed for everything even a question of colour. A parochial desire for solid pigments, less flamboyant, to the point of subtle drove the lads to refine and define giving us our first glance of something truly wonderful. But enough of this drivel. Take a gander below and don’t drool on your keyboard. The best thing about all of these boards is that they are for sale right now. If your in the market, get on ya bike, and head to your nearest Deus store. Boards you’ll find in Deus Bali Hullabaloo 7’9/ mustard yellow color, Box Fin Hullabaloo 7’9/ Mustard yellow & Batik fabric, Box Fin Hullabaloo 7’2/ Light Blue, Box Fin Hullabaloo 7’2/ tugu color, Box Fin Le nard 5’2/ Fabric deck, Glassed on Keels Le nard 5’10/ Solid deck, Glassed on Keels Old Faithful – Log 9’8/ dark green, Box Fin Boards they made for Deus US Mini log 8’7/ Dark brown, Box Fin Mini log 8’9/ Dark blue, Box Fin Mini log 8’11/ Light blue, Box Fin Espresso 5’8/ Mustard Yellow, FCS system plug 5 fins. Mini Bonzer 5’10/ Red Batik Fabric. Center Box + side glass on fins. Mini bonzer 5’8/ Mustard yellow batik fabric. Center Box + side glass on fins.
