kneeboard surfing

I thought it was about time that I got back to the things that matter especially as I have had such a bad time with not being able to get in the water in the last few weeks. I had another day at the hospital today trying to get my shoulder fixed (with yet another cortisone injection guided by ultra sound). so this film is the closest I have got to the ocean in a while.
check theses sites for more
simon farrer
KSUK
british kneelo club

this tagging thing >> gizfolio guys

I normally have no interest in this tagging malarkey but as it was the gizfolio guys who tagged me I thought I would sort of comply.

A reminder of the Tag Rules…
One: Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
Two: People who are tagged need to write their own blog entry about their eight things and post these rules.
Three: at the end of your entry, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names/pseudonyms/blogs.
Four: Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

so here they are, 8 random facts about dgthekneelo

1, dgthekneelo is an amalgamation of david george the kneeboarder. I am a surfer but as well as surfing a normal well sort of normal surf board (currently an 6' 2" oxbow fish). I ride kneeboards and have quite a few, my favourite is a 5'10" blue and white swallow tailed quad (four finned), shaped by ex. world champion david parkes. (I am also a surf contest judge)

2, I once worked for malcolm mclaren, as a designer around the time of his album 'fans', he is a very cool man with a creativity to match. I also designed for monsoon, as well as terrance conran amongst others.

3, I initially trained as a textile designer, but have moved on to web design as well as designing brand images/logos for the surf/fashion industry. I consider that even after 27 years of trying to do it I am always learning new stuff, and am also in the lucky position of being able to teach it.

4, I still wish that I had trained as an architect, but I love what I do.

5, my dog, a parson terrier called 'rusty' (after the legendary surfer/shaper rusty presendorfer) did a poo in my sons bedroom on saturday morning. (not sure why?)

6, I eat muesli late at night even if I am not hungry, a habit started when I used to get home late after baseball training. I played infield ( 2b & 3b), catcher, as well as occasionally pitched (not all at the same time) for the b.h. red hats, the brighton jets and the south coast/brighton buccaneers in my baseball career. it has totally wrecked my body, I used to have a very good throwing arm. however I don't regret a minute of playing I had so many good times.

7, I actually like watching formula one motor racing even though it is such a huge waste of money and resources and is very loud. I felt guilty about it so to placate my guilt I made a pledge and made a donation and my name is on jenson buttons car this season.

8, I completely stopped drinking alcohol in october 1999, and have not started drinking and do not plan to drink alcohol (in the same quantity) ever again!
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I have never and will never make people feel forced to reply, or do anything. I am only doing this as I have a lot of respect for the gizfolio guys.

I tag lgcreativity, as well as dan lockton
I know that I am supposed to tag a whole load more but most of them have been tagged before and will probably be bored of this tagging malarkey.

back to what you know >> george greenough

it wasn't going to be long before I returned to my love of the ocean and surfing and whilst looking for something else I found a few pictures that I had to share the first one especially. even though I grew up on the south coast of england I have a few photos of me as a 12/13 year old looking like one of my all time surfing hero's george greenough. I was born a few years later than him but with out knowing I seemed to have had a similar interests and dress sense, until I decided to be david bowie for a year or so.


the man who did more for surfing in general not just kneeboard surfing which he is most usually only credited with. his designs for smaller surf boards along with revolutionary attention to the detailing of the skeg (fin) broke new ground in the late 60's and 70's and to this day the hydrodynamics of a pretty much all surfboards in some way have been influenced by george's designs. the site I was looking at was california surf museum.

be sure that I will return to mr. greenough as his influence is firmly embedded, in both my surfing and design life.

> kneeboard >> should be good today > north coast, cornwall, uk

I had to put this photo up it is (kneeboarder) karl ward, surfing in the world kneeboard championships at santa cruz, california earlier this year. to me it shows power & speed as well as total commitment.
the north coast of cornwall should be getting a good'ish clean wave, check surf98 for more details.
special mention to pushing tide & surf in oregon both well worth a look if you get the chance.

too texty >> more images >> surf sites

I have realised the last few blogs have become a bit 'wordy' I don't mean in a precocious way just too much text to get a real feel perhaps?

on the back of some lengthy email conversations I had today with the deputy editor of a soon to be launched extreme sports/lifestyle cornwall based magazine. surfing and surf literature, writing have been foremost in my thoughts. further still I have to think a bit about a surf related proposal on offer?

until then I thought a much better way to end the day was to give you a brief tour around some good surf related websites, using and containing some great images as well as good writing. check their websites for more.

from left to right surfgirl, a1surf, kneeboard surfing uk, and bottom kneeboard surfing usa.

hours in front of computer screens ends in pictures of fins

strange isn't it I have spent so many hours in front of different screens today. testing software, running and evaluating new applications. looking at endless websites, blogs and virtual spaces and in the end I have to find something real to touch and look at and hold it happens to be a surfboard I mentioned a few posts ago when I was talking about the twin fin, this is a quad fish and it's is mine I love the look of it and setting the fins in a formation such as this really does make the board very fast as there is no central drag. it was made in byron bay, australia by ex-world champion david parkes a master when it comes to making surfboards that work.
so rather than write about stuff I have spent the last 12 or so hours looking at I will list some of the good stuff I have seen today + open office 2.1 + russell davies + lindsay.at + chocolate and vodka + my flickr + ma.gnolia.com + firefox2.com + 1-2know +
I won't go in to the 'educational' stuff that I have been trawling through for work as I want to stay awake a little bit longer. don't worry I will save that for another day.

kneeboard surfing >>

this such a good picture of richard smith the current world junior-pro champion I had to post it. you can see the speed he has generated from the trail his board has made through the wave.

should be great waves on the north coast of cornwall (where richard comes from) on friday 16/feb/07. for forecasts check surf98 and a1surf.

pic credit DarcyM

thing of beauty? >> twin fin fish?

you might not agree but I think the pictures on this post show a thing of beauty, a 'new' old school (retro-shape but I don't like the term) twin fin fish surf board the link takes you through to the forum pages of surfer magazine where it is discussed and more pictures shown.

there is only one board shape (& set-up) that I think is more pleasing to the eye and that is a quad (four finned) kneeboard surfboard. I am lucky enough to have one and it is a case form really following function. the board looks great and surfs like a thing of beauty. pictures will follow soon.

surfing >> blogs

looking round a few different blogs I came across matt thornton's blog, I remembered him from somewhere then realised he is a part-time surf photographer as well as a number of other things then it clicked (excuse the pun) matt has a link up from my web site surf98 to his photo page (temporally offline) so check his flickr gallery well worth checking some really worthy pictures.
he has a lot more to say about the surfing type if there is one, just thought I would add this as he has a link to surf98. so thanks matt hope you keep adding to your depiction of the surfing fraternity even include the brand of surfing some of us prefer kneeboarding.

while on the subject of surf blogs and I don't really want to bore you all with a long list I must just mention bloggsd. A surf school an intersting topical blog and so much more some great photos and some interesting personal views from the gower, wales.

photo darcyM, surfer chris 'bro' diplock

kneelo >> karl

as a kneeboarder I really like this picture, it is not me and was not even taken by me. it is karl ward in the world championships, santa cruz, california jan 07. taken by skye, courtesy dunc. BKC