Updates, Changes, spiders, Hotcakes

Heya surfboard and surfboard-riding enthusiasts, much has changed since the last HHG blog entry. Here are a few highlights:
1. Northern California went from being in the worst drought in history to experiencing the largest seasonal rainfall in the state's history. Nice!
2.  Team HHG moved across town. The kids can now run feral and I no longer have to worry about the homeless guy pooping on my front doorstep twice a week with impressive regularity and precision. Nice!
3. I built a new shop. It looks like this:

It took me a long time. One morning, I got bit by a Black Widow spider in the same spot on my leg where I was bit by a Brown Recluse spider in 1991. Another morning, I tried to do the shingling myself. It took me six hours to get a row down. I called Javier and he finished the whole thing in about forty-five minutes, stopping only once to point out that he could carry two bundles of shingles up a ladder while I struggled with one. Nice!
4. I finally caught up on orders that were postponed due to the move, which gave me some moments to refigure some templates and designs, especially the midlengths which are, and have always been, staples of the thinking person's North-of-the-Bridge quiver. The chief result is that I boiled down my six different midlength designs (too much!) into just two platforms: the Valiant, and the Mini Flying Beard (or MFB, or Mini Beard, or Beardlet, Peach Fuzz, or Baby Beard, according to those who ride them). The Valiant is a widepoint-forward speed egg with a sleek profile, rails, and foil. I've shaped them in lengths from 6'0 to 8'0 (Midlengths longer than 8'0 fall into the Broadsword category) with customizable dimensions, in any fin configuration one can imagine, and with a all 'round beachbreak/pointbreak rocker that can be tweaked per customer/shred spot. Here's a 7'2 Valiant:

The Mini Beard is a cruisy, full-nosed, scaled-down log meant for fun in non-life-threatening conditions. Like the Valiant, the full array of fin configurations can--and should be!--explored. I've been shaping them from 6'0-8'0. Here's a 6'6:

5. Another new model: the Hotcake, a widepoint-aft midlength that really likes a bonzer setup--either three or five-fin configurations. The Hotcake really likes the rider to hang out on the tail and lock into trim. This is a great shorter board for a longboarder in the 8ft. range, or a good longboard at 7ft and up for those smaller or high-tide pointbreak days. I like mine on surf trips when my arms are blown out in the afternoon but I want to paddle out at sunset just to grab a few more...Hotcake!

Glasson kelpy bonzers:

OK, that's enough change for one post. If it takes eight more months for me to update this, and you're itching for more surfboard porn, feel free to check out my Instagram here.