Hi y'all,
I just got a new surfboard and emailed Birkin about it. It is made for big days at Ocean Beach - a 7'6" custom gun. Since I know others wanna see it I figured I would use that letter to launch my surf blog. Here is an exerpt from the letter:


"I just got a new board that you would LOVE!!!!! Made by Danny Hess in SF who made my 6'3". He makes wood boards, the nicest on Earth in my opinion. Not only are they master crafted but Danny has really mastered the blend between retro boards and modern day performance boards. Both the boards he made me have the wide point (20 inches wide) under the chest, further up than the modern shortboard. 70's style. Also less rocker for MAX speed. The boards come back into high performance tails both with quad set ups, the 6'3" with a swallow, and the 7'6" a rounded pin. The 7'6" is also 2.75" thick under the chest. So it is a ridiculous paddler. Paddles like an 8'0" but turns like a 7'2". And the quad even though it is more manouverable it also sticks to the face. Basicaly a perfect board.

Last weekend I had a chance to ride it for the first time. Two days at OB - 12 foot but hard to get a wave. But I got enough to fully test the board. " It worked, I made steep drops, mostly lefts. I had many fast closeout walls to race across, some perfect glassy shoulders to turn on, some long waves...

Saturday the swell was like 10' @ 17 seconds. I paddled at Pacheco. Having not surfed in 3 weeks and not much this year, I was in the worst surf shape of my life. So I was pleseantly surprised when I finally made the paddle out! I was the only one out that I could see but I hear there were lots surfing Sloat. I caught a mushy one and then an outside bomb, easily 15' face, and it just kept holding up a perfect shoulder. About half way through I decided to just ride it to the beach and call it a day. The board worked!!! It floated above the turbulance, paddled like a dream, was duck divable, caught waves with ease, and turned on a dime.

Sunday: 3 1/2 hours of non-stop paddling and still drifted from Noriega to Taraval. Swell dropped to like 8' @16 seconds. Hard to find the waves. I caught one giant closed out wall per hour for the first three hours. Then we had glass off during one of the best sunsets of all time and I caught three or four good ones to end on a positive note.