Ryan Burchを扱い始めて随分と時間が経ちました。一緒に鹿島に波乗りに行った時にはまだその存在もそれほど知られていない時代。すでにSquit Fishはシェイプしていて、初めて乗った時にはその性能にびっくりしたものです。今までのフィッシュに無い、ドライビーで縦に上がっていく感じ。そして良い波ではまるで生き物かのように感じるその乗り心地は素晴らしいものでした。先人たちから学びさらに自らの波乗りスキルと感性をミックスして出来上がるBurchにしか出来ないシェイプです。
今回入荷した個性際立つ4本。短い方はRound Nose Squid Fishの5’6と5’10。Squitの幅を広げ、テール幅も広くなりノーズはラウンド。スモールから楽しめる日本の波に適したモデルです。あまり短すぎると弱い波では扱いづらいのでやや大きめでオーダーした5’6。そして大柄な方や年齢を重ねて俊敏な動きは難しくはなってきたものの短い板の乗り味が好きなご年配の方でも楽しめる5’10。
真ん中 Dark Voidは緩くロールしたノーズエントリー部分とやや細身なノーズが特徴的。スティープな波での引っ掛かりを無くし、より大きな波や掘れた波での性能を上げました。とはいえボリュームもあり、テールエリアも面積が残してありますのでスモールから楽しめます。トラベルボードとしても1本あれば最高です。
6’1’ Six one, Diamond Tail, Single Fin, Edge Board.
Hand shaped by Andrew Kidman.
Glassed, pigmented, sanded and polished by Peter Moschogianis.
Dog and Big Sky graphic by Barry McGee
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Dark Red Wine Fish
5’10” Replica Fish of the Skip Frye Fish Derek Hynd rode in the film Litmus.
Hand shaped by Andrew Kidman; the board features the original sized plywood keels hand foiled by the fin maker that made the original Litmus keels – Larry Gephart.
The Keels are signed by Derek Hynd and feature a Big Sky Dog painting by Barry McGee.
Glassed, tinted, sanded and polished by Peter Moschogianis.
The artwork on the bottom of the board is by Michele Lockwood.
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Blue “Green” Twin Pin Edge
6’9” Replica of Green from the film On the Edge of a Dream.
Hand Shaped by Andrew Kidman.
Glassed, tinted, sanded and polished by Peter Moschogianis.
The high aspect plywood fins are hand foiled by Larry Gephart and feature a Dog painting by Barry Mcgee.
The artwork on the bottom of the board is by Michele Lockwood.
My goal on Green is to ride it like a gannet glides the updraft of a swell. It seems with the Edge boards the more you are tuned into the wave and the waterline the better they perform, the less you try to force yourself on the board and the wave, the faster and more responsive they are. It’s something very subtle but incredibly rewarding.
Green and I have travelled to many places: Iceland, The East and West Coasts of America, Japan. It’s been surfed by many people on these journeys and exhibited at numerous screenings of On the Edge of A Dream.
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Barry McGee painted Green shortly after I shaped it when he was staying at our house in March 2016. It was the first time I’d collaborated with Barry; he’s a longtime friend of my partner Michele Lockwood, and so Barry painted “Mish” and “Ank” on one of the Gephart fins, which are our nicknames.
Since then I have collaborated with Barry on many projects. He did the artwork for the On the Edge of a Dream book and film project, he’s contributed art to Acetone Magazine, he did the artwork for the Big Sky Limited book, we worked closely together on the DOGS magazine and more recently I sent Barry a box of assorted Gephart wooden fins to paint on. With these fins I intend to make eight surfboards. Currently there are three in existence. A traditional Fish and replica Green were exhibited in May at the Scooters for Peace gallery in Japan; these two boards are currently being housed at Ride Surf and Sport.