The View

                          Heres a couple of short clips from Cyrus Sutton from korduroy tv.
                      I was lucky enough to meet Cyrus briefly on the beach at Tea Tree Bay
                        while he was filming at the Surf festival last year . Nice guy and in my
                                                          opinion a brilliant film maker

                                              

Hope you enjoyed the views!!

Waiting for the paint to dry

                 Heres a couple of eco ride handplanes waiting for their bio varnish to dry
                 The guys at Bio Products in S.A. have been really helpful as i search out
                 different ways to seal my handplanes . These ones have had two coats of bio
                 varnish and are ready for their third and final coat. I am loving the way the
                 gloss varnish is bringing out the colours in the paulownia timber.Beautiful!!

      The handplane below is one of my smaller boards . It measures 300x200mm(12x8'')
    and is designed for waves with a bit of grunt. Its lack of size makes it easy to swim with
in larger surf. Once again the bio varnish really brings out the colours and markings in the timber.

Wood Monday and Surf Festival

                                            Wish all my Mondays were like this! From the
                                             guys at  korduroy  . Enjoy! Wherever you may
                                                         be on this  Monday morning!

And of course all this week on the Sunshine coast

we are lucky enough to have the Noosa surf festival

happening on our doorstep! Get along and check it

out . Its much more than a bunch of surf comps!

I am hoping to spend a couple of days catching

 waves off the points with my little handplanes

   and enjoying the vibe of the whole place. 

               Might see you there!!            

To strap or not to strap



16''x8'' Crescent tail with strap



16''x8''Cresent Tail with strap

                                                                         

  Same but different or different but same?  I was really surprised after a fun session in the small surf at Kawana beach a little while ago. I took both the handplanes pictured above out on the same day and was pleasantly surprised to find no real difference in the performance of the two boards . They  are identical apart from one having a  strap and the other a slot in the nose . I was also able to swim just as easily with the slotted nosed board as i could with the strapped board . The simpisity of the slotted board is really attractive to me as effectively its just a piece of shaped  timber but what that piece of timber allows you to do on a wave gives such a buzz. I am playing with some smaller handplanes for use in larger surf at the moment and so far i have beeen making these with a strap but there is one on the workbench that might just get a hole in his nose . I'll keep you posted!!

A little bit about my handplanes

     

 A little info about my handplanes . The timber used in all my boards is paulownia which  is a locally grown and renewable resource . It also has a great strength to weight ratio and is very resistant to water absorption which makes it ideal for use in the making of these little boards .  So far i have been sealing all my handplanes paipo and alaia with a mixture of gum turpentine and linseed oil .  Though i am currently experimenting with a bio varnish that i have been getting good reports on and I hope that within a couple of weeks i will be able to offer handplanes coated with this environmentally friendly product .My linseed oil handplanes require re coating from time to time depending on how often you use them (usually every 4 to 6 weeks for me) whilst handplanes coated with  bio varnish may not require re coating for up to two years . Once again depending on how often you use it and how well you treat it. For more info feel free to email me at ecoride@y7mail.com

Welcome

                    The idea behind eco ride in a nut shell is to produce items that give maximum fun with minimal impact to the environment . I have lots of ideas  that i feel do just that  and my handplanes seem to be a good place to start and starting a blog seems like a good way to get them some exposure. I must admit i have become completely addicted to these fun little boards over this last year .To the point where i have even stopped taking my regular surfboards along to the beach . I am sure this is temporary and i will return to the  world of stand up surfing soon enough but at the moment i am completely addicted . On days when stand up surfers are paddling around frustrated at the conditions ,when the surf is small or the banks are not co operating i am finning into wave after wave and scoring countless tiny little barrels and trying hard to keep my boardshorts on .
                    I hope you enjoy the blog and if you are interested in purchasing one of my handplanes please feel free to contact me via email .