H-3 and Jeff in action

The "secret spot" where Harbour Owners often surf was in Fall form this weekend. The winds stayed calm, and the swell was big enough to overcome the tide, plenty of very nice peaks with the occasional larger set making it exciting.

Local surfer and pro photographer, Jim Boswell (of JB Photography) has been on hand of recent, and he caught Jeff on the best sequence of the day.

Many other Harbour regulars have some great shots to view at www.PrintRoom.com/pro/jboz
Once on the site, click gallery, then find a day you were surfing, you just might find a photo yourself.



Thanks Jim, for giving me the pictures to post.

Nice work Jeff, Great ride! Def. shows what the H-3 can do!

September is here...

A classic photo circa 1965, of Harbour Surfboard owner and Surf Talk regular, Screwfoot49.


I'm back...I had a great trip, but I missed the waves and my Harbour surfboards.

I hope you all had a great summer, I've been cramming in as much surf as possible, surfing Camp Pendelton for the first time, San O with Brother John, and a Bolsa Session or two. It's great to be back in the water with my fellow Harbour Owners.

Although I'm loving the warmer waters (most the time) it's time for Fall Off-Shore glass with hopefully some nice swells and dwindling crowds, and I'm excited.

I'm also pumped about the new Harbour Web site, make sure to schedule some time to check it out.

New Blog site, new photo's for boards, and many more new additions make the site a real gem, matching the quality of the Harbour Name.

As always, the New Arrivals are a first stop for me.

And the Surf Talk usually has a nice picture or two...



I especially like the newest post on the new Blog, featuring some old-school Harbour skateboards.
Harbour Surfboards

It was something special, my first Saturday back, some nice waves at 23, then over to Nicks for a burrito, followed by browsing through the new boards on the rack. Some great new Nose-Riders in there.


It's always a stoke filled experience stopping by the shop.

Keep the stoke, I'm hoping to have a new Harbour in my line-up before Nov. 8th Harbour day, so you know that will be worthy of a post with plenty of pictures.


Nice work JDuck.

Harbour Day coming soon, check side panel, or here's the word from Boardhound:


Hello all, We are gearing up for the annual Harbour Surf Day, Please let me know if you want shirts the shirts will be ordered
on Sept 20, 2008. If you are attending the east coast event Please let me know so I can get your shirts either to you or to
james for hand out on the day of the event.

West coast event will be held at Bolsa Chica state beach, Tower 20 (lot just north of campground)
We will start meeting at 6:00 am on Nov 8 2008 .
If you need a room the Sintra Inn in sunset has offerd us a 10% discount on rooms Sanatra Inn
(go to reservations fill out the info and in the comments box put "Harbour Surf Day 10% discount)

Schedule of events
Friday Nov 7th (To be announced)
Saturday Nov 8th- 6:00 am Set-up, meet, Gab & Surf
10:00am Surf Day Photo
10:30 to 1:00 Grub, Gab & mingle
1:00 Raffle
2:00 Surf or gab

T-Sirts 20.00 each (Artwork Attached)
Raffle tickes 1.00 each (You do not need to be present to win) Name & Phone # required

On a road trip...be back soon!

Hello all, I won't be able to post here for a while, I'm on a road trip across America, but I'll get an update in August. If you want to follow my travels, I'm updating here: surfwriters

At least I can throw these up though, nice concave, and nice "very close" Nose Ride!

Harbour Owner Society at San O! Pics by JDuck

Saturday morning 4 a.m. I pulled into the already 4 deep car line of San O, feeling good.

Jeff (Slider) was asleep in the overhead bunk of the Millennium Falcon, and I planned on getting another bit of sleep before the gates opened. But it wasn't long before the rumble of Todd's truck, John's van and the regular San O crowd started to pull in, so I was too excited to sleep.

Todd's Big Rig and my RV set up nicely in front of Four Doors, and the Harbour members rolled in, then it was into the surf to beat the crowds.

The morning swell was fun, with some good sized sets giving us plenty to ride. (Some shots form Sunday may be uploaded soon, when I get them). After a strong and tiring morning of surf, it was time to initiate the new HOS grill.

As usual, Todd and Jeff stepped up beyond the call of duty, with Jeff supplying the rib-eye and Todd supplying everything else (keep buying the gear all), the two master chefs created a phenomenal feast. (That's Slider, putting the pressure on with his Mad Dog look, killer tattoos, and tough guy swim trunks.)

Let's face it, there's tons of paddling at San O, and after a double session, we were wearied, tired and very happy.



The never tiring Todd, fires up the grill again, for the second round of grub; burgers, more steaks and Brats...very tasty, very tasty indeed. He seems to work best when approached, just as the embers go dark, and someone (like me) asks..."Can you cook me a steak?"

The crew gathered around, telling stories, before the picture. Many more showed and surfed, including a whole new crew for Sunday, but these are the members hanging around Sat. afternoon.

That's me, wondering how my back got old so fast.

A few of us enjoyed yet more cuisine Saturday evening, at San Mateo campground, with tri-tip tacos, and award winning Cabernet. Thanks for the hospitality James Clan.

I must say, I'm always stoked, by the "locals" of San O. For many, they've had their spots for years, they have their routine, and they have their locations to park; yet they welcome the Harbour Owner Society, and make room for our occasional gathering there. From the warm welcome at 5 a.m. in line, to the proper policing of mega-rigs taking 10 spots parallel parking, to the Hawaiian Surf Club...a great class of people. Thanks!

Another great event with fantastic friends--all who enjoy riding the wonderfully crafted vessels that carry the Harbour name.

1st Florida Harbour Day!

April 27th. Sunday. Morning. Oh-Dark-Thirty:

My friend Tom "Snake" Kelly arrived at the house as instructed - with no board. This was to be a Harbour only day and since he loves Harbours (but hasn't bought one yet - egads!) he was due to ride the Banana. I had loaded up my wife's Chevy Guzzler Gigantus (Suburban) with several boards the previous night so we were ready to go on his arrival. I had packed the Gatorade, he had brought a prodigious supply of Twinkies. Ready to roll.

Destination: Ponce de Leon Park, Melbourne Beach, Florida. Time alloted for journey: 2 hours:

Burnin' up I-95, slowing only for the many patrol cars. Munching onTwinkies, MojoBrew cafe Cubano and Rolaids, whilst listening to Warren Zevon sending lawyers, guns and money... We arrived, well, late. Eight thirty to be exact. Ponce de Leon park is actually nowhere near any of the east-west corridors that bring you from the interstate to the shore. So, once you get there, you've doodled down the coast for about twenty minutes taking in the sights; condos, condos, scrub palms, condos, bikini clad lovelies, condos, ah... a park... nope wrong one, condos, bikinis, condos, palms, the park! The upside of being a bit of a distance is the lack of crowds. Das ist goot. Muy bueno. Etc.

As we unloaded, we spotted a fellow taking video of the waves [which we
had suspected were non-existent as we were driving down A1A (the coast
road) - fortunately we were wrong about that]. He wasn't wearing a
Harbour shirt and there was no indication he was a "Harbour Guy" - we
do blend in fairly well - but my extra sensory perception lead me to
believe that he was, indeed, "one of us." It might have been that he
saw my Harbour shirt and came over to us introducing himself. I prefer
to think it was the ESP thing. Anyway, it turned out he was Tom
(Longboard727) from St. Petersburg, which is on the Gulf coast of
Florida (our West coast). AKA The Land of Even More Pitiful Waves Than
South Florida Or Maybe Utah. He had traveled all the way across in a
tiny Toyota which was dwarfed by his San-O on a soft roof rack. Risk
taker; I knew we were in trouble.

We readied the rides: Tom - 9'6" San-O, Snake - 10-0 Banana, James -
10-0 Sol (okay so the waves were seriously underpowered for the Sol but
I had promised to bring it for Gordon to try). The Banana was ideal but
I didn't want to stick a friend with an inappropriate board, so I got
to look like a kook (okay it wasn't much of a stretch for me) instead
of Tommy (Snake). I am such a nice guy.

As we were waxing up Gordon ran up. He had been in the water for a
while and was coming up to switch boards out. He introduced himself. He
must have ESP too, because he came right over to us (naturally it
wasn't the three boards with big triangles on them). I wasn't sure I
had actually met him because I think I blinked and he was back in the
water. I am a bit sluggish in the mornings.

So, I didn't bring a wettie. Actually, none of us had. Except Gordon. Smart. It was cold. Not California cold. Florida cold. Which is to say, about 70 degrees. After about fifteen minutes the brain freeze had worn off and it was really very pleasant. Central Florida has the nastiest looking water. The bottom is all silt and rock so it is never clear when there are waves, and bacteria joyfully find their way into any exposed orifice... sinus infections run rampant in this part of the state. Plus there are sharks. Lots of them. Big ones too (someone caught a 12 foot Tiger at a spot I surfed - on the day I surfed it. Not an uplifting thought really). None made their presence known today though.

We finally made it into the water and we were welcomed by waist to chest plus peaks. Lefts and rights. Tom (727) and I stuck together and traded off waves, occasionally doing a me-go-right-you-go-left deal. Fun stuff and fortunately we knew our rights from our lefts so no collisions. Drops were nice but you had to work the faces to make it through the trough between the reef and the shore. Gordon said it was better earlier. Natch.

The Sol is an awesome board and loved the drops, but the tail is too narrow for mush and it took a lot of cutting back and trimming waaay forward to keep it going in those waves. Tom was catching some awesome rides on his San-O - getting up to the nose even with a sprained ankle. I hate that kind of talent. Eventually we traded off and I quickly found out why Rich has size charts. A 9-6 San-O is a shortboard for my 205 pounds.

Eventually a steep enough peak cam along and I took off right, almost lost it on the superfast bottom turn and managed to work the wave all the way into the shorepound where I politely backed off the wave (okay, it dumped me me off the back of the wave - two left feet, I swear) so that Tom's board wouldn't get bounced off the inside bar. Tom had some trouble with the bottom turns on the Sol at first because of the tail and the mush, but he worked it nicely and really enjoyed the board, methinks. He followed me in and we walked back up the beach - there was a bit of a drift on it so we were about a 1/4-mile up. We traded boards after I let him tote my much heavier Sol up the beach for me. Sneaky.

Tom went back in and Snake and I wended our way back to the Guzzler. Me for a different board, Snake for a Newport. I was eyeing the Banana that whole time because I had observed him getting a LOT of waves (not surprising - he did earn the nickname after all). Since he's a smoker, I bet I could've grabbed his board and reached the water before he could catch me. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor (he's also mean when he's mad), I instead reached for the Fish. 6'6". Yikes! I had taken it out for the first time two days earlier and, having decided that there was no way I could ride something so tiny, I was sincerely shocked when I popped up and skated the thing down a face and cutback into the curl - on my very first try! Woohoo! Same for the twenty something waves that followed. Four-foot shorebreak and fun as all get out.

My confidence was up. So here I was, paddling out on the 6-6 and I had lost Tom and Snake but ended up next to Gordon on his Quatro which he had switched to from his HP-1. Needless to say Gordon's wave count was about four to one. Well, maybe ten to one. And smooth? He does his Harbours justice. I managed four waves on the fish and didn't do as well as I had in the minichop two days before, but I was still happy that I was standing on a such a small board and having a blast. Went in and traded out for longer equipment again and saw Gordon rushing off for work - sadly, he never got to try out the Sol (next time). I paddled back out and managed to hook up with Tom once more. The waves were seriously deteriorating as the winds came onshore and really bumped them up. My Twinkie high long since gone, tummy rumbling and fatigue setting in, I said "one more" and proceeded to wait another 45 minutes for it.

Ugh.

I am so stubborn in my refusal to paddle in. But then, out of nowhere, a headhigh peak arose. I spun and took off, gliding down the brown, sunlit wall. Reading the way the rip disrupted the face and broke it in two, I pressed my heels into the rail and swept back into the curl, straightening out for a second before pushing my weight back onto my frontside rail and hooking into the reform, accelerating like a bat out of hell into what fast became a booming shorepound. I pulled out and proned in. Looking back I saw Tom raise his arms in a two-handed salute and I waved goodbye. A great end to a fun, fun session.

Back up at the cars, Tom packed up his board (he had taken the next set wave in and gotten a good noseride) and decided he had to get back over to St. Pete rather than join us for lunch at the local food shack - DaKine Diego's which serves pretty-darn-close-to-authentic Costa Rican cuisine. Snake and I packed up and headed over after bidding Tom a safe journey. We were all stoked on the camaraderie and decent surf and wished only that there had been more of us there and more time afterward. We will plan another one with more time to decide on a date so that more folks can come.

First annual Photo Contest! WINNERS!

First, my favorite picture, even though it was not in the contest...Rich filling out my order form for my first custom ordered Harbour...I've bought new and used, but to sit with Rich, discuss the shape, and spend time with him and his knowledge, priceless. I'm looking forward to posting the shaping pictures and the finished board.

Thanks Rich!


Now to the contest.

Lots of votes for all the pictures, here are the four with the most, so I'm calling it a tie in both divisions...thanks for the artwork, and thanks for the votes all...fun times! We'll do it again. Boardhound has a little something for the winners.

Stay tuned, for a fun little write-up and pics Monday, from the Florida Harbour Day, and then in a week or two, some photos from the H.O.S. San O weekend.

CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE--IT'S WORTH IT!


#1 Great photo, what we dream of as we head to the beach.


#6 As one voter said, it's why we go to the beach on knee high days!


#7 Great art, great surf shot!


#13 Artistic? Entertaining?...well...it did tie for most votes...why, because we love the Boardhound!

The other vote getters.....

Photo Contest and H.O.S. Event May 2nd & 3rd

For more great art from Ron, check out his website, awefoto.com

It's a down month for events, but the weather is warming, and May 3rd and 4th is our next H.O.S. gathering. Look for the big White Rig, and the H.O.S. Mobile Office near 4 doors, in San-O.

Should be a fun one, some of us are camping at San Mateo, Sat. night.

Todd's bringing some grub, but bring something along to share if you like...hopefully we'll be initiating the new grill.

KILLER SALE PRICES AT THE SHOP! STOP IN FOR A GREAT DEAL ON BOOTIES, SANDALS, ETC...STUFF'S GOING FAST THOUGH. And as always, boards are a pleasure to view.

It's time for the first Surf Photo contest.

Two contests.

1. Contest 1 is of the best surf shot, judged on the surfing action, not photo quality, this can be a wipeout, tube, turn, or vibe....submit your photos to tdsurf@juno.com, I'll post for voting.

2. Contest 2 is for photo, artistic quality. This photo can be of anything surf related; waves, piers, oceans, surfers, shapers, boards, etc....it should be judged for photo quality, artistic value, entertainment, etc.

Once again, send photo's in smaller format, not too big so I can post easy, to tdsurf@juno.com

As soon as I get 6-10 pics in each category, I'll post for voting. This is an on-line event, with the possibility of no award (or maybe a little something)...just for fun, to see some surf related photography.

It's simple, send me a pic, I'll post them all, we vote, send me your favorite choice, and I'll post the winners.

If you're a pro, great, I'll post your website along with your picture, so you're a winner either way!

ALSO IN MAY!

BOARDSWAP

Buy Sell Trade

MAY 10, 2008

O&E Representatives will be present offering savings on surfboard accessories!!!

Check out Joe Aaron

Pro Surfer/Artist/All Around Great Guy!!!

Joe will be doing some live artwork and have other artwork on display. Check out his website:

www.joemotionprod.com

9am- 2pm

329 Main St.
Seal Beach Ca 90740

Call the shop for questions or to reserve a space to sell your board…it's FREE!!!

(562)430-5614

FREE BBQ 12-2pm

WWW.HARBOURSURFSHOP.COM

Keep the stoke!