Our friends over at Matuse are having their season end wetsuit sale in La Jolla this weekend…so we thought we would pass it along.  Arbor, Surfrider and a couple other companies will be there too.  Its a good opportunity to get a great wetsuit at a much better price.  Here is the link: 

 http://matuse.com/news/

If you haven’t had the chance to attend one of the Sacred Craft shows they are excellent! Unlike other shows in the industry shaping, shapers, and surfboards themselves are the focus. Its refreshing and lots of fun. Scott Bass and crew put on a really good show. If you have a chance the next one is coming up in Ventura, California, April 10th and 11th. Here is the link for more info:

http://sacredcraftexpo.com/

Here is some footage of good sized La Jolla Cove this winter and a quick interview with ys in the water, John Gothard.La Jolla Cove January 2010

Ok, a departure from surf again but on something that affects us all…the economy sucks.  So what can we expect to come down the pipe.  Here is a summary of a presentation last week by economist Alan Beaulieu.  He has been extremely accurate so far.

http://www.clarinova.com/blog

Some friends are in Tavarua surfing this week.  We will have a link to some of their pics soon..

Some more great images of the surf Wednesday in La Jolla.  From Coggan Creative in La Jolla via Chad (thanks!).  It was a weird, great day!  Blown out elsewhere…La Jolla offshore and going off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDhR6X8K5U0Some good size waves and offshore winds today at La Jolla cove.  Enjoy!

Also wanted to give some feedback on the Taylor Knox Surf Exercises DVD.  Its been a mission for a while to ditch the traditional gym workout for something different.  It was time to take the plunge so ordered the DVD.  The DVD came in about a week and I’ve been doing the exercises for about three weeks.  Because I’m not in the gym cardio has been slacking off a bit (working on it) but after three weeks I am surfing better and with more confidence.  I notice it mostly taking off and in turning down the line.  All in all pretty cool…and I’m going to keep going.  Interestingly it also gets me in the water more…not so bad.  For what’s its worth…a sterling endorsement so far.

Folks we are working on building a more interactive experience with shapers and people interested in everything about surfboards and surfing. Please join us on Facebook at Surfboardbuilders. We have some pics up from Pascuales in September from one of our friends and a ringing endorsement of FCS’s new fin system.

At the September ASR show here in San Diego Billabong sponsored The Art of Shaping event. The event was a custom surfboard auction with proceeds going to the SIMA Humanitarian Fund. The boards displayed were pretty insane and many of the shapers on Surfboardbuilders.com participated. Jim Phillips won the competition with the highest bid, some incredible stringer work, and using 2,500 year old redwood obtained from a winery in the Santa Cruz mountains. Here is the link to the Youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKSfsy74ZgM

From Swaylocks…here is more detail on how Jim made the board. http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/jim-phillips-billabong-art-shaping-asr-sept-2009 Other winners who are also shapers on Surfboardbuilders included runner up Bob Mitsven, 3rd place finisher Gary Linden, and Hank Warner… all exceptional shapers. Here is more on the contest from Surfshot.