The Game Is Afoot

Damn, more than a month since an update. Our apologies, but it's been a really wild month and it's peaking this weekend in Del Mar with the Sacred Craft Surfboard Show. We, along with a slew of other surfboard makers of all styles and flavors, will be there proudly displaying our fine product. There'll be something for everyone, and that's just our booth. E1 & E2 is where we're at, and the space will also hold Jon Wegener's outstanding range of alaias and finless sliders, Carl Ekstrom and his super future shapes, the shredders from Mick Mackie and a full new range of Hydrodynamica Test Pilot Series boards. (There's footage of some these prototypes being ripped over on the Hydrodynamica blog.) Better yet, you can try demo boards for yourself. 'll be at the official demo, Saturday 7am at 15th St Del Mar, as well as an unofficial one Suday 8am. Alaias, flextails and mini Sims will there to try. All quality, all weekend- come on by and say hello if you're in the area, check back to the blog if not as we'll have a gang of board pictures to post next week.

Goin' Off

You know it'll be amazing. Wegener is bringing planks, Eli is bringing boards, Ando will have fine threads, there will be new Swift shirts, there will be some epic new designs from the Hydrodynamica Test Pilot Series (and we'll be taking orders). Joe has been shaping some new stuff in the last few weeks that really will astound and amaze, and of course the lovely Mary will provide lumpia. September is great.

Moving Pictures

Some salty frolics from the Aladdin's cave of film fun that is the Hydrodynamica project. See Casper GO!

Summer

Apologies for the mushy pace of posts, but that's summer for you. (Especially when there's a bit of swell) There's work getting done though, and Joe has been playing with a few new variations on the designs that will hopefully be ready for a grand unveiling at the upcoming Swift Movement 'Goin' Off' blowout party, tenatively scheduled for Sept 10 and 11 at the Barnyard in lovely downtown San Diego. More on that as we get it dialed in and our boy Phil works his graphics magic. We still have t-shirts too, so if you want to proudly state your appreciation for progressive surfboard design (in easy wearing cotton, several colors), we're ready to help.

Some real Surfing Heritage

Photo lifted from Cher Pendarvis- thanks!

A recent Saturday night saw the Surfing Heritage Foundation in San Clemente hosting an event for a new film on shaping they've been involved in, and Joe Bauguess happily provided them with a really nice example of what shaping is all about in this modern era. He was displayed there with sn interesting range of boards for sure, Ekstrom, Pendo and Meyerhoffer were all represented, to say nothing of the collection the foundation has going on. All going well there will be a film with Joe actually in it and shaping doing the rounds by the end of the year.

Happy Customers Make Us Happy

This time it's the Brennan's from the chilly North East. They rock a serious selection of home made wood along with some post modern planning hulls, and ride the hell out of them. Extra points for the Casper coffin. SoCal friends come to Ebb & Flow, the new Andy Davis store in Cardiff at 111 Chesterfield Rd (across from Patagonia) which is having an opening party complete with RK showing some newly minted Hydrodynamica footage.

We Survived the US Open

So while the coast of CA was hit by the best swell in months on a beautiful sunny weekend, we sat amid the hordes at Huntington and showed off boards we were absolutely dying to get out in the water! Actually, it wasn't all that bad- the crods were largely nonsurfers which was a bit odd, but we met plenty of cool folks and between our boards and Jon Wegener's finless planks we drew some interested and/or bewildered visitors. Hit of the show was undoubtedly the fresh out of the glass shop next gen Simster- Joe has these things dialed in really hard and they were blowing a few minds 'Is that some sort of kneeboard?' No friend, you stand up and GO! Joe made a Saturday afternoon personal appearance which was pretty bonus, and fun was had. Next full blown Sacred Craft is 10/10/09 and we'll be there.

US Open Of Surfing

OK, should you happen to be attending this event, try and find the Sacred Craft area as The Swift Movement will be represented, we'll be sharing a booth with Jon Wegener and displaying some of the newer surf craft output we've been doing. There will even be demo boards if you want to try one (no interfering on the heats though) and we're working on getting Joe Bauguess there to hang for a bit. I wonder what the mainstream surf crowd will make of alaias and Trilobites? We'll see.

Simsters at Mitch's La Jolla

Matuse of Mitch's with fresh Hydrodynamica Test Pilot Series
Simsters. 5'10" with double foil Gephart keels,
and a 5'6" with single foil Gephart keels.
These boards are more fun than Tijuana during Prohibition.
Straight outta IB via Joe Bauguess.

Simmons-esque

The beauty of ultra functional design is that there can be riffing done on it, and whole new things emerge. Over the last few years The Swift Movement has been dedicated to working with the designs of Bob Simmons, and there are progressive new boards emerging from the work that Joe, RK, John Elwell and the crew of test pilots are doing. Cases in point, the White Pony, a little swallow tailed cloud of a wave skate, and the Simster, a reworking of the classic Simmons design with some decidedly 21st century twists. These boards are now available for anyone wanting to live the future.

The Goods

Seriously, Joe has been a near prisoner in the bay, working off all that downtime in Costa Rica I guess. His skills have not suffered for the break however, and the boards are coming out really sharp. The reports coming in from the first batch of customs that made it out there are positively ecstatic (one of the new dual fin mini's has made it to Bali this week so we're hoping for some interesting stories from that one) and we're all pretty stoked with how things are happening to the extent that I want him to find time to knock out an extra simster for 'research' purposes. More pics soon.

2,3,4

Joe B. & Geppy... takin' care business.

Boards in at Patagonia Cardiff!

Well, Joe has been real busy shapin' boards and the Patagonia Cardiff store has just taken delivery of an excellent selection of Casper shred sticks! From 5'3 on up to 6'2... and even a couple of tints, sweet! They are located at 2185 San Elijo Avenue, Cardiff, CA 92007 Give John or Roy a call at 760-634-9886 for more info...

hydrodynamica presentation at patagonia

Partial Hydrodynamica crew will be showing a teaser and
doing a short presentation on the project at the
Patagonia store in Cardiff at 8 pm... thats tomorrow
night Saturday June 13th 2009
main event is Thomas Campbell showing the Present
gratis...4 free. please come by! Joe Bauguess and
Carl Ekstrom inna house! maybe even John Elwell....

The Hectic-ness

The only problem with getting a flow of boards and shirts happening is suddenly there's little time for anything else, like blog posting, surfing- that sort of thing. It's slowly settling into the proverbial well oiled machine state though, Joe has finished the custom orders, there's boards making it into our retail outlets, Geppy has the fin workshop humming along and Richard is off in Japan talking story and showing off a fine selection of planing craft so expect all sorts of updates very soon. In the meantime, here's a really nice post about the Caspers courtesy of Gary up in Santa Cruz.
http://srfnff.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-wave-short-and-fat.html

Surfboard Madness

Another Sacred Craft has happened, and it was a totally fantastic time if utterly hectic. It all was better than we could have hoped with Carl Ekstrom spending the weekend at our booth with his assymetricals on display and happily chatting to all who had interest, RK rolling in with some great new footage, a fine array of the Simmons Planing Hulls that we'd collected from the various Hydrodynamica participants (sorry about the state of the wax) and a whole bunch of very cool people stopping by the booth to check stuff out (enough that I didn't get much of a chance to take photos or wander around). Joe Bauguess made a run up from San Diego and talked story on Saturday as well, and he's really stoked to be behind the planer again. The new Trilobite 3 fin and quad boards are being made, so if you'd like to get on the list for a custom let us know. A call to 619-696-0677 0r 323-706-0308 and we can set you up. The new shirts are happening too, we'll have photos of those up very soon. Thanks Bassy, it was a great show.

Sacred Craft

the beginnings


secret sauce on display

We will be at the Ventura Sacred Craft, booth G3. Come on by and check out the goodies- there will be a range of the new Hydrodynamica Test Pilot Boards and new shirts as well as appearances by Carl Ekstrom and Joe Bauguess over the course of the weekend. Should be fun.

Thread Party

Our good friend Patrick Trefz has made a book based around his excellent film 'Thread', and he's in town to sign it on Tuesday the 12th from 6 on. There will be free beer to drink and art and new visuals to look at along with a range of the new Hydrodynamica Test Pilot series boards. A fun evening undoubtedly, come on by.
340 16th St, Downtown San Diego.

We're back....

Happy Cinco de Mayo. The blog is up and running again because there's good stuff going on like Joe Bauguess arriving back in town today, fired up and ready to shape. There's a new line of t-shirts. There's a Patrick Trefz book signing party for 'Thread' on Tuesday May 12th here at Swift HQ, 340 16th St, San Diego, 7-10pm complete with new visuals, Patrick's book and some beer courtesy of Primo Island Lager. There's going to be new boards flowing soon, and we'll keep you updated on it all here.

FESTIVUS VI ALL HAIL

THIS FRIDAY JANUARY 23RD 2009
NOON TILL LATE.
340 16TH STREET, SAN DIEGO, CA
92101

HYDRODYNAMICA TEST PILOT SERIES

FUN CAN'T BE STOPPED. SIMMONS'S PHILOSOPHY WAS TO BUILD
JUST ENOUGH BOARDS TO SUPPORT HIS SURFING HABIT.
WE AGREE. FOR INFO ON BOARDS PLEASE CALL 619 696 0677,
ASK FOR PHIL.

HYDRODYNAMICA TEST PILOT SERIES

The Mini Simmons is the first edition of The Hydrodynamica Test Pilot Series.
The real deal, the real thing...future roots,
available exclusively from Swift Surfboards and nowhere else.
Currently these boards are available at a select group
of surfshops, due in large part to support from our good friends
and fellow test pilots:

Patagonia Cardiff by the Sea (Devon, Jon, & crew)
The Pod Room Oceanside (Chip!)
Thalia Street Surf Shop (Nick, Cori, & crew)
Mitch's La Jolla and Solana Beach (MITCH! Carter & crew)
Shelter Surf Shop Long Beach CA (Graham and Kim)
Mollusk NYC, SF, & VENICE (JOHN, DUTCHIE, BUBBIE, & CREW!)
Surf Garage Oahu (Toru!)
Jack Ocean Sports Japan (Cho San!)

for more info call 619 696 0677 ask for PHIL