Farm

George Greenough's late '60s surf film, Innermost Limits of Pure Fun, is a cult classic. Farm is the band that made the soundtrack.

We were fortunate to meet longtime Southern California surfer Denny Aaberg recently, one of the original members of the band. He has a great story about how George contacted him to help with the soudtrack for the new movie he was making out of footage he had shot at Lennox Head featuring the beginnings of what is now referred to as the "shortboard revolution". This was in the midst of love and peace and party, and George had a wild idea; rent the local auditorium, set up the band, screen the film, and have the band play live to the scenes scrolling across the screen.

It worked, and George's in-the-tube footage (shot from his back using an improvised water camera he had built from scratch) became legendary - as did the "Morning of the Dawn" sound Farm riffed to it.

Good stuff. Denny was stoked to hear about what we do here and happily signed our limited edition copy. He even scrawled "unsalted" in honor of the film about Great Lakes surfing he had seen. Our friend Vince Deur's freshwater "Unsalted" has made the rounds judging by all of the salties I've met who have seen it.

We had to go half way around the world to get the soundtrack, but meeting Denny made it all worthwhile. Look for Innermost Limits of Pure Fun and give it a watch (and listen) when you get a chance...you'll be stoked you did.

The Drift

DRIFT SURFING

This is good stuff coming from across the big pond to the east. Looks like we stayed in the same hotel together at the Noosa Festival, and didn't even know it. Great article on our friends' Jonno and Stefan's new movie, "Somewhere Near Tapachula", among other stuff.

Have a look.

Solitude

Here's one from Ecuador. I shot this from the second story of the house we stayed in for the month. Looks like a cloudy, albeit muggy and warm day. No wetsuits here. And this is not a right point...this is beach break. Of course, it didn't look this good every day as tide and wind played big factors and that would be too good to be true. It did get this good a few different times, though, and the best part? Not another surfer in sight.

ps. It's bigger than it looks.

Saturday Night In The City

We drove into Chicago last night for the opening of our friends' art show, Fresh Perspective, at the Barbara&Barbara Gallery in the Ukrainian Village. What a blast! Jason, Mike, and Jack had some beautiful work on display - it was so cool to see the dedication to our surfing community that these guys have showed. A ton of fresh water sliders came out, students, artists, parents, friends...we shared story and drinks and generally had a bitchin' time.

If there were ever a story of surfers making the most out of very little, this is it in the Great Lakes. I am so stoked to be a part of it.

Special thanks to the boys for putting this together, and to everyone who came out to support it. Now, some photos...

South End love...so nice.

Jason, Mike, and Jack - artists and surfers.

Oil on canvas by Jack Flynn.

This little Gallery fit our group perfectly. Table and chair.

More Jack magic. "Vag", Swedish for wave. This was inspired by a recent Lake trip he and I took - and yes, the waves looked like this.

Erin, admiring some of Mike's photos.

Rusty the wave slayer and some photos Mike took on last year's Third Coast Surfari to Ecuador.

Enter Year Six

How many people would have thought that Third Coast Surf Shop would last this long when we first opened?

And here we are, opening day of season six. I can't begin to say how grateful I am for all of the support we've recieved from family, friends, customers, and acquaintances in the first five years. Without you, we would be long gone.

And without you, we stand no chance for another five years. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all of your support.

You can find our spring hours here. Looking forward to seeing everyone in the 2010 season.

Fresh Perspective

Our South End friends Mike Killion, Jack Flynn, and Jason Lukas are displaying a collection of their Great Lakes surfing artwork this coming Saturday at the Barbara & Barbara Gallery in Chicago. All three of these guys are so tuned into surfing here...there is sure to be some incredible stuff, not to mention a gallery full of lake sliders eager to see it. If you surf on the lakes or are interested and can make it into the city, this is one event not to be missed!

Fresh Perspective

Saturday, March 27 from 6:30 - 11:00 pm

Barbara & Barbara Gallery - 1021 N. Western Ave. Chicago

See you there.

Also, an apology for the slight delay in posting. Blogger pulled a fast one on it's FTP users so we had to reconfigure, which took a little time. Thanks for your patience, and thanks for reading.

Noosa

A small group of Third Coasters leaves for the Noosa Festival of Surfing in Australia next Wednesday. It's the second year in a row we have organized this trip and I'm really looking forward to this one.

In preparing for the trip, excitement builds. The list of reasons abounds...

• the surf is ridiculous - multiple right points in tropical water.


• the people coming - so many influential surfers including Joel Tudor, Tom Wegener, Alex Knost, Christian Wach, Harrison Roach, etc., etc. Not to mention legends like Rabbit Bartholomew, Bing Copeland, Denny Aaberg, Peter Townend, Bob McTavish, etc.


• the events - The Beautiful Girls concert, new movie premieres, contests, auctions, expos.

Bob Pratt snapped this last year. I was invited to participate in the "One Design" contest where each person surfs the same board - this was the new Meyerhoffer from Global Surf Industries.

Can't wait.

Ecuador Imagery

As promised, here is the first of some visual imagery from Third Coast Surf Shop's Winter Surfari to Ecuador. We took 20+ Great Lakes surfers over four weeks to a surf-blessed stretch of Pacific Coast with 80 degree water - sure beats the ice sessions at home!

Special thanks to Tod and Brett for sharing these. More to come soon...hope you enjoy.

Tod's video:




Click here for Brett's videos!

Good to be Home

Bleary eyed, sore, sunburnt, and stoked...pretty much sums up how I am feeling after 4 weeks of surfing in Ecuador with other Third Coast Surfari goers.

24 hours of travel was capped off with a couple pints of good craft beer and a hearty meal at Three Floyds Brewery yesterday afternoon before a much needed long night of sleep. The trip was so fun and I think the 20+ people that came down to surf with us had a really good time. There is something unique about sharing a big house on the beach with a handful of lake surfers; most have never met, but all are in for the same reasons.

Today is about unpacking and a day of rest. Tomorrow marks a return to work with a renewed vigor that only a long trip like this can bring for me. I am more excited about surfing, and more specifically, surfing on the Great Lakes, than ever.

And next week is our Third Coast Spring Surfari to Australia. It's hard not to get excited about that.

In the meantime, I'll do my best to update the blog, our YouTube page, website, and other online sources with photos and recap from Ecuador. I know many of the people who went have photos and video to share as well, so I'll try to gather it up and pass it along.

Hope you are well, staying warm, and ready for spring. It's good to be home.