Have a safe holiday season. Thanks for all your continued support over the last year! 2012 is going to be big! SURF ALL DAY. THRASH ALL NIGHT.

These two bands are on high rotation at my house and on my iPod. Trapped Under Ice are from the mean streets of Baltimore and play a heavy brand of NYHC inspired sounds. Their latest record, Big Kiss Goodnight, the followup to 2009′s Secrets Of The World doesn’t let you down. More riffs, more headbanging. Take Offense from Chula Vista, CA have been on the radar for a while now, their record, Tables Will Turn has more of a West Coast sound mixed with some NYHC. Think a bit of Cro Mags,Suicidal Tendencies and Piece By Piece and you’ve got a damn good recipe. Circle Pit!!

This is a sneak peek at a new model that will be heading to stores shortly. This is the first one finished, and it’s called The Bullfrog. It’s short, it’s wide and it’s pretty ugly, but far out, this thing goes! We took the ‘test’ board out in less than ideal conditions – I’m talking ankle to knee height slappers at best, and it was a heap of fun to ride. The board in the photo is 5’4 x 21 3/4 x 2 1/2 with a pretty flat deck and rolled rails, it’s taken from an iPhone, so all you photo nerds out there, don’t hate. If you want to surf something different this year, this is a major contender.

THE BULLFROG

Short, fat and ugly. The Bullfrog is going to be invading the local line-up this Summer! Inspired by a less than impressive Spring period on the East Coast of Australia. A low entry rocker, combined with a vee bottom helps make this board one of the easiest paddling boards you’ll ever surf. A soft swallow tail to increase the bite out of your turns and a 5 fin set-up to give you versatility. Surf when nobody else can.

Available in either FCS or Futures.

Mitch!!! from LEAF on Vimeo.

During a mid morning break on Tuesday morning, I took the opportunity to snap of a few shots of The Glass Lab – this is where all the work is done. I get so stoked when I see the finished product, the overall quality of Stacey Surfboards is second to none. The guy’s at The Glass Lab have their product down to perfection. It makes me super stoked when we are sending boards out and I know they are exactly what I want to see under your feet…

MIKE GIANT TIME LAPSE @ THE FAST LIFE from Eric Maldin on Vimeo.

Mike Giant is one of my favorite artists EVER. He is a legend in the graffiti and tattoo scene and has also been behind some amazing skateboard graphics over the years. When I was in San Francisco earlier this year, I was privileged enough to get tattooed by him. My buddy, Doug (a rad dude!) hooked it up for me over a few emails back and forth. Giant is a cool guy to hang out with. He’s got a lot of interesting things to talk about and his studio will keep your eyes busy. Check out the clip above of a recent event held in Los Angeles and watch the master, El Gigante at work. Head over to rebel8.com and check out what goes on over there…you’ll always see some whacked out stuff.

Yesterday, Mitch Crews scored the Full Frame on stabmag.com. Mitch has been up in Santa Cruz, CA, competing in the O’Neill Cold Water Classic at Steamer Lane. In this shot he is riding a board called The Wolf, a new model that is ready to hit the racks at your local board store. The Wolf is a board that has been a long time in the making. It’s come from combining a few different boards together to come up with a great small wave performance board. It takes bits and pieces from The Twist and CD6 (small wave contest board from 2009) to give you a board that crosses over in a range of conditions without having to switch boards. I love working with guy’s like Mitch because he is such an explosive surfer who demands a lot of performance in his boards. This pushes me to continually evolve my shaping. Expect big things from Crewsy in the future…the kid is killing it!

Here is a sneak peek at some of the 80′s Blast’s we’ve got going to Aloha at Manly, Finbox at Thirroul and Surf Culture in Bondi. I love how they’ve turned out, the sprays make me wanna don some hideously bright boardshorts and surf onshore slop! Get yourself in contact with any of these stores to put your name on one of these gems.

MODERN TAKE – NOT RETRO

SUPER FLAT DECK

VEE/SINGLE INTO DOUBLE CONCAVE

5 FIN SET-UP

FAST AND FUN!!!
After spending the last two years working with Bob Hurley on our
Hulrey)(Stacey boards. Designing
the RAB3 with both Bob and
Wayne (Rabbit) Bartholomew, I thought it was about time for me to
have a go at designing my own 80’s shortboard. So here it is the
80’s BLAST. A combination of original rockers, outlines and rail volumes,
mixed with my current curves and theories. The 80’s BLAST has amazing
speed and flow. When picking up his first 80’s BLAST Rabs said,
“This is the dream the Cheyne Horan never got to realise”…

I was just looking through some photos of a recent trip to Mexico. I spent a month down there earlier this year, totally scored too! It made me think of this day when I arrived at around 7am to find an almost empty line-up and one of the best day’s surfing I’ve ever had. My arms were like jelly at the end of it! Perfect right hand barrels with a handful of guys out…it doesn’t get much better in my opinion. I had a fresh 6’2 x 19 3/8 x 2 1/2 HOODLUM in my boardbag that had only been ridden a few times before I’d left. It was feeling good, but I hadn’t really had the chance to ride it in some pumping waves. With a fresh coat of Tropical Sex Wax and some Future HC AM-2 fins it was good to go. As I walked (more like ran) out to the point I saw some of the most perfect waves I’ve ever seen peel off down the bank with nobody on them. I was frothing. With my girlfriend trailing behind and my buddies still lagging at the truck, I was amped to beat them out there. My first wave was the test. I positioned myself as deep as I could against the strong current and paddled hard to make the drop. I got into it fairly easily, bottomed turned and set up for the first tube of the day, jammed a few turns, flicked out and I knew this board was special. The HOODLUM wanted to go wherever you put it, it maintained it speed through slower sections and generated speed again with ease. It’s not a board that you just want to stand on, it wants you to get busy. The dimensions I was riding were very similar to Jordy Smith’s HOODLUM he got back in March. I’m glad I went for a bit more extra volume because after all the paddling, I was screwed! If you’re after a good high performance shortboard, make sure you check out THE HOODLUM.

THE HOODLUM

PERFORMANCE SIGNATURE MODEL

NARROW NOSE OUTLINE

FLAT DECK, BOXY RAILS

DEEP SINGLE TO DOUBLE CONCAVE

MITCH CREWS signature model…
This board is the combination of 2 years of research and development,
numerous contest wins, a 2010 Australasian Junior title and who
knows what in the future. The HOODLUM had to perform in any and all
conditions, be able to withstand some gnarly tricks and turns whilst
maintaining it’s flow and speed. The HOODLUM is a true performance board
make no mistake. You wont be able to stand still and hope this
board goes by it’s self, the board is based around Mitch’s energetic
explosive surfing style, so you need to be on your game to surf this board.
Also made in a small wave version which should
be ordered 2inches shorter.

check our little buddy Kai out. Met up with him on the weekend to hand over some new sleds, he picked up a WOLF and a new model I’m working on called the “TAXI” seems like he got straight on them and got to work.
look out for more of him in the future.
Rip Curl GromSearch National Junior series begins in Victoria

Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Wednesday 28 Sept, 2011: TRICKY conditions greeted the best 16 and under surfers in Australia at the first event of the six stop Rip Curl GromSearch series presented by Telstra in Victoria today.

Interstate surfers from NSW and Qld converged on Jan Juc beach to start this year’s series.

Kai Hing (Sunshine Coast, Qld) and Narrabeen’s Jordan Lawler were the day’s standouts in the premier boys’ 16 & under division, whilst Jan Juc surfer Zoe Clarke locked in the day’s highest combined score of 16.34 (out of 20).