Sunday, November 25, 2007

Killing it In Baja Part II and... The Gemini!

I'm totally blowing it Blogger-wise. I should post really good stuff one photo at a time- really stretch it out. After all, you never know when the photo well might run dry or you might wake up in a totally vacuous state with absolutely nothing to say (my contingency plan is to revert to "board porn" you know- super close-ups of rails, fins and... tails! Ooh la la!). I can't help myself though- so here's some good stuff all at once.

You may remember Mike and Dan from the "Killing it in Baja..." piece earlier in the year. Mike just dropped me an email with these two killer photos from their trip to San Carlos in August. Mike says, " I swear we only photographed the in-between-set waves, because during the sets, whoever was photographing was too busy scrambling for the outside to take pictures!" I think it's safe to say that this trip will be logged as an A+ adventure for these guys for the remainder of their earthly years. Check the the dorsal color on the whitey in the top photo, that's fresh. How about the paddle floating in the background- I can just imagine the pandemonium that followed the gaffing... paddles askew, these guys laughing their asses off, barely able to hold steady enough to snap the photo. Michael, you gotta give us the full story!

Most Progressive Paddleboard in the water? Steve (aka Capt. Neg9) rides only Alexander Gemini shapes. Check out the stand up board he had done. How radical is this thing? There will need to be a serious question and answer forum for this shape- I know I've got mine. Check back for some shots of the bottom workings on this ride- pretty radical stuff.

Updates: Haven't forgotten about your questions regarding the board cutting process- working on my "sources". And...there may be a new Stamps Carve Machine in my future... Merry Christmas to me!

12 comments:

linter said...

and those double prongs are the nose, right? consider my wee mind considerably blown. how does it ride? why does it ride? where does it ride? and like that. give!

John Ashley said...

Calling Steve! We're going to need some serious info here Capt. Neg9- the questions are rolling in! Steve, report to the information desk.

Anonymous said...

been on gem team for 8years now.from 7-10 to 11-6 sup.all i know i will never go back to pointy nose.john has pics of the bottom the tail and the fin set up.bat tail quad.rail to rail heavy concave about 5/8 inch.up at the nose 2inch dug out.after 2months this board has come alive.iam beginer sup.i surf everyday.stoaked really want a trip to white water hell on the gem.in 2002 or 2003 i caught the biggest wave in my life on a 10 0 alexander gun.being goof foot i had to go right.made into thechannel the look on the faces of the surfers sitting was awesome one guy paddles over to me says man that was big enough to drive a bus through idid not look back.ithink the take off was from 2 notch.john post more pics. also shapers hate the gem design but they sure like to grab the quad and tail.also ihere al merrick 2008 boards have some radical bottoms.possible some more grab.check out alexander.com.a true forward thinker in board design.capt.neg9 waves where awesome today at the towers.

John Ashley said...

You're killing me with that little surf report- just had to throw that in there didn't you?

More photos to come. Let the questions begin!

Anonymous said...

yes i did.cant stop this sup.thing already planning new gem.11 -0 28.5 4.75 with sk8 deck.aka s rails.capt.neg9

John Ashley said...

Hey Neg9- go take some digital photos of it being cut or let me know when it's being done and we'll post 'em up! Might be cool for me to talk to the man himself and find out what this Gem business is all about.

Anonymous said...

linter the board is smooth as glass on the water very stable.likes a long wall riding high on the face.you ask why does it ride.look at ocean going vessels.most of the fastest look like ms. budweiser.from sailboats to huge military ships.next time you see a toyota prius take a close look at the roof.the concave looks like the gemini bottom.start looking for inverted vees verted vees and concaves there everywhere.i ride the gem at a beach break across the bridge.what to give it a spin.capt.neg9

Anonymous said...

jaunero making phone calls to get pricing also need permission from alexander to make the gem.the design has u.s. patent.but all the info is in the computer. first one was c&c here in s.d.before alexander moved to bali.he showed dave brown how to scrub out the gemini.i got lucky.capt.neg9.

linter said...

love to take that baby for a spin, only i'm in RI and world's away. ...

Anonymous said...

linter i guess that will be neg nine on the ridedge .capt.neg 9

Anonymous said...

john going over specs for new ride 11-0 28.5 4.5 double wing bat or swalo tail quad.with sk8 deck.all the bells.

John Ashley said...

Yo Capt. Neg9: Go ahead and just drop those dimensions on us like the little tease that you are! Would love to see the new one!