mega hodge podge!!!!!

my good buddy miles sent me these super epic texas day photos. he says "DIG THE PIG" : Rode the original flexipig that I got used from Gene in June for the first time for a full session (5 hours) this morning and it’s a blast and nose rides very well. 9.7 and like 28 lbs and flat as an ironing board but that and the 7-8 second swell made it pretty easy to catch waves. I think the fact that it’s only 9.7 made it easy for me to put it where I wanted in a hurry compared to the monsters I usually ride.

my good buddy andrew is having an art show in Oceanside Friday (514 coast highway) . Be there!!!!!!!

john cherry sent this to me via surfapig@live.com: "Hi Mike, I just posted a couple pigs I built for Japan. 3” chambered balsa stringers. The template is the same one I put together for Bobby Donnelly’s pig that we shaped just before I got your VJ to restore. If you recall, when I laid my template over your VJ, it lined up identically with the exception that my template was about 1/16” wider through the middle third, giving an ever so slight curve in the mid rail more so than the VJ. I love the template. BTW……I love your new Bing!!!!! Aloha Bro, JC"

andy byrne sent this to me via surfapig@live.com: Hey Mike!Been lurking your blog ever since it popped up. Love the stoke sharing going on!So I did a craigslist swap this weekend. I ended up trading a 9ft Ryan Lovelace Pointer (which to begin with is a very piggish/chip outline) for a real deal Terry Martin 9'6'', 3.5'' double volan pig. This thing is MEAN. Probably weighs about 15lbs. Anyway I took it out at Porto yesterday for some chest high soft waves. I couldn't believe how well it rode. Plus I even got some cheater 5's in. I was a little worried that it would be a straight shooter boat. It couldn't be more of the opposite. Anyway, super stoked on it. It's the first pig I've ever owned and I think it will not be the last. Oink Oink. Here's a couple pics. Maybe you've seen it around. Andy www.theanchored.blogspot.com


a little departing shot from south of sliders:

a 21 lb. cherry chip!!

jp from surfy surfy sent this to me via surfapig@live.com:

john is n AMAZING CRAFTSMAN. although this isn't a pig...it sure is FUCKING SWEET. i had to put it up here. after all...pigs came from chips!
surfy surfy is a rad store. check it out, drink some coffee coffee. contact jp for further informatiot 760-452-7687 or mobile # 760-484-0254

Hola!
9'8" chambered balsa. Blank, shape and fin by John Cherry.
Glassed at Moonlight.
weight 21 lbs
$3200 (gosh!)

Scott Johansson PIG'S!!!

scott sent me this via surfapig@live.com: Mike, Just wanted to share my new Dewey Weber Pig. I think it turned out clean. I love the shape. Shea Weber is such a cool guy and was great to work with on having this board shaped. Jerry O'Keefe shaped it here in San Clemente, and John Cherry down in Oceanside made me the fin. I've had tons of boards and I haven't been this excited about a board in years. I also threw in a 7'6' PIG that i've ridden for years. Not bad for a garage board

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Scott Johansson

NICE!!! thank you for the contribution Scott! It is always nice to see anything from John Cherry! I love the aesthetic on that weber! nice template on that red one!!!

a cherry HOBIE!

john cherry fixed up my velzy jacobs. john cherry made that simmons replica. john cherry makes some incredible fins and surfboards. john cherry fixed up his hobie..its for sale on ebay.

surf a pig, surf a simmons!

i went surfing with my friend tim today. our buddy steve picked up, surfed , then gave to us this bob simmons replica that John Cherry and Terry Martin made. the documentation of the session is below.

the board is not a pig.
the board carries momentum. The board surfs higher in the water than a pig does.
there is a lot of shape in the board.
the other day , i noticed how awfully un-attractive I am.
I kept forgetting I wasn't on a pig.
she would really get going. i tended to want to be too far forward on the board. she was fastest quite far behind center.
mind blown.
i didn't forget about the pig.
our buddy matt laying his board on a rail!
I get some great video of the simmons replica in action. the board hauls ass. it has a control...or a feel more akin to an ala(i/y)a than a pig. what an honor to get a go at this board. what an experience! so stoked to know the people ...and surf the wave... i do! check the video!

john cherry!

very beautiful. JC is amazing. check this out!!!

bobby d and john cherry

its entries like this that get me psyched. john mentioned this board when i dropped my velzy off. then he mentioned it again when i picked my board up. i am all the way pumped to know that this blog is worth its weight in salt. here is what bobby d had to say:

Hey Mike, John Cherry and I shaped this 9'7" PIG. The fin is by John Cherry made with Balsa, Agave and Foam. Glassing: 8 oz Volan sanded gloss finish by Micheal Miller. The Pigs Dims: 9'7"x17"x23"x17 3/8"x3". I saw your Velzy Jacobs at his place and brought my template back up there to compare. Without ever seeing that Velzy Jacobs of yours our template ended up being almost identical. The only difference was the wide point, which is 23" and I believe the Velzy was 22.75". Our line has just a lil more curve. Nose and tail measurements were very similar as well. On this board because of the blank I ordered I had to bring the tail in from the template I had been itching to shape a board for years, after seeing the Blackboard model up in Ventura I decided that a Pig would be a great classic board to take a crack at. This is board #1 for me. I'm stoked on how it came out. Hopefully I'll be able to take it out tomorrow! Your blog is gnarly keep it up. Keep the stoke man, Bobby D

Mike, I finally took my pig out on yesterday morning at 15th street in Del Mar. There were some nice waist high peelers coming through. The tide was coming in and the wave was reforming and walling up on the inside. If I had to sum up my first experience on a pig i could do it in two words: Fucken Sick! That board turned like butter and when in trim flew stayed in the critical spot of the wave. Extremely stable. I was surprised with how wide the tail is that I could still do a huge cutback burying the rail and not eat shit. Then I could turn back into the face of the wave and it would get right back in the sweet spot. On my second wave when I got inside it walled up and where normally i would walk up to the nose I just stood there staring for a moment in amazement that this board was keeping right in trim. I'm hooked! Now to talk the wife into letting me get a flexpig from Gene. Take care, Bobby

a Cherry Velzy Jacobs

well, i don't know where to start. i'll try to be concise and not too lofty. perhaps i'll start with a story:

Dan Forte of Dano surfboards told me that back in the day Dale Velzy went through a 2 year period where he didn't pay for any of the wood he used to make his boards. Velzy was going to the Long Beach harbor and plucking the discarded Balsa Wood they used for packaging material out of the water and then letting it dry out. Stop signs in the beach cities were made with redwood post around this time. Allegedly Velzy would use the wood from the stop signs as stringers for some of his boards.

well, i don't know if this board is from the wood in that story, nor does this board have a stringer. i do know this... this board is AMAZING. Gene Cooper found the board at a swap meet. He called me and told me I NEEDED this board. It was at a time where I couldn't have scrounged up money for something like this no matter how many couch cushions i lifted up. there was a twinkle in his voice that had me CONCERNED. he ended up buying it. time passes, and he brings the board to my Jazz the Glass premier at Hurley. I wouldn't go near it. I didn't even want to touch it. I NEVER thought i'd have the opportunity to call something like this mine...much less have this be the board i ride. time passes, my wife buys the board off gene as a present to me. WHAT??? i can't thank her and Gene enough. the board was in great shape, considering. it only has 4 pieces of wood. it is INSANELY light. it seems about the same weight as my usual boards. it was solid when i acquired it from gene. however, it needed a little freshening up. gene said i should just grab some isotalic resin and get her done myself. he mentioned he would help me. time passes, he is super busy with various art shows and shaping sprees. i get impatient. enter john cherry. well, not only was i impatient...but not in a million years did i believe i could EVER honor this board. i do NOT have the skills required to freshen up such a significant board. yet, I know john cherry does. my buddy introduces me to John, the rest is here. I am going to be sliding this board at sliders for a while.

glass cancer removal

tail prep.
tail detail
a jig John had to build to precisely remove a horrendous ill-repaired ding.

the fin before it met John Cherry.

the fin during it's meeting with John Cherry.

the fin after it met John Cherry.

check the video!