We’re looking for someone…

Finance person wanted for exciting journey with cold water surf brand. Based in workshop on rugged Cornish cliff. Wind and rain ever present. Highs and lows guaranteed. Passion and commitment to job in hand a must.

If you think the above is of interest – we want to hear from you – work@finisterreuk.com

Site for Bristol Wave Confirmed

“Tobin and I have a vision of a beautiful and sensitively designed community space where people can surf, picnic, play, work, socialise and enjoy the beautiful outdoor space that Bristol has to offer. This space should be accessible to everyone and really show that, if done thoughtfully, you can bring together urban life and rural beauty in harmony and bring benefits to the local community and ecology. Bristol historically has the gift of engineering and raw beautiful nature. The thought of blending and preserving these very precious local traditions excites me beyond belief.

Equally, the thought of not jumping into a car for 5 hours and stamping a big carbon footprint every time we want to surf, will make me feel a whole lot better about surfing.” – Nick Hounsfield

Yesterday The Wave, using Wave Garden Technology announced their location for The Wave. They have agreed terms over a 40 acre site near Bristol which straddles land at Over Court Farm in Almondsbury and Washingpool Farm in Easter Compton.

It’s one thing to hear this news from media sources and another to hear it directly from the people who have believed in it from day one. We know Nick and Tobin well, they’ve been swinging at this fence for a couple years now and to see it happen is an amazing thing – we’re pumped for you guys. We’re not sure how exactly we’re going to be involved with The Wave, but we wanted to celebrate and share the win – you guys know where we are, tell us when our little army can get to work.

The Wave from Nico Waves on Vimeo.

Honest Captain

Done a bit of floating around on boats, I like it, I like sailing and being out at sea, I worked on a few of them too, met some A grade legends, up there is Captain James Saddington, he tried to teach me everything he knew but I left him in the south pacific and it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Sailed loads, spewed twice and laughed a lot, my selfish mission is to become the master of my own ship and stay afloat travel, surf my nugg off and hopefully help a few folk along the way.

“Sometimes I don‘t know where this dirty road is taking me and sometimes I dont know the reasons why, well I guess keep a gamblin lots of booze an lots of ramblin, well it’s easier than just a waiting around to die – that was Townes Van Zandt

He’s the Honest Captain, he is a Finisterre ship mate and very close friend – beautiful words, love you man.

Worldwide

3 weeks ago we launched Free Worldwide Shipping – believe that. It may sound like just another promotional tactic, but is was much more than this. We’re very small, I’m not trying to harp on about this, but the truth is, there are 13 people working at Finisterre and those 13 people, come from a very diverse range of places.

So when we decided to launch free worldwide shipping, to actually send the products we make, to the many countries we’re from – felt very good.

Those many countries that we’re now delivering to, Pietro l. Franca just visited over the last year, filming some of the world’s greatest surfers. We saw the film, thought about what we’d just achieved as a small company and it felt good – it reminded us of how small the world can be and the many places we’ll now be delivering to.

Beautiful film Pietro – Finisterre jacket will be with you shortly man.

Pietro l.Franca from Pietro l.Franca on Vimeo.

Patient like a river

A.A. Milne once said, “Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”

It has been a long time coming, but we have one, a product designer, he goes by the name of Todd and you will meet him in good time.

We had a meeting with him today, he talked about the dreams he has for the range and the way in which we’ll get there. He talked about jackets, he talked about tents, he talked about boots, he talked about the products we will make, because of the things we do and the brand that we are.

I’ve got to be honest, I got pretty pumped. So I asked Dave to sneak in a picture, anything, just something to show you all, that we are making stuff, very, very great stuff and it will be here soon – be patient like a river.

A Collaboration

Mark Roberts from Glass Tiger makes unique wooden hybrid surf boards from his workshop in Falmouth Cornwall, and last year he made a board for our team rider Carlos Burle.

Mark says
‘Its been a huge privilege shaping a board for Carlos, and I love the way he’s open to new ideas and fresh approaches in terms of what a surfboard can be made from.

The idea of building a gun for Carlos is really to test my boards in the biggest waves on the planet under the feet of one of the most talented and experienced big wave surfer’s there is”.

Carlos tamed a few beasts at sunset beach Hawaii, and said ”the board felt good and I’ll keep it in my quiver for sure!!!”

Second Glance

If you were rushing by to make a boarding call, you wouldn’t give them a second glance…

… but if you looked twice, you might notice the old canvas rucksacks, the battered rigger boots and wellies, the pelican cases, the facial hair, the head torches hanging out of pockets and the boards.

A chart in the British Isles, 1800 miles roundtrip, over 30 hours driving, an 8 man Swedish tent was dusted off, the wood burner was pulled from the loft, rated to -10 sleeping bags were mandatory, phone calls were made and a small band of guys steadily formed in the early hours of a Monday morning.

We went to an island, more on this will unravel in the coming weeks, but for now – here’s a peek at the kit we took.

Thank you Al Mack for your trusty relationship with the wind and Chris McLean, for your steady hand, we wouldn’t have stepped out the door without you guys.

Behind the scenes our Spring launch

We’ve been shooting product videos here at Finisterre for seven years now. We go to the same spot, just behind the workshop, it’s this green door, looks like you could blow it down with a breath of air and we take a box of products and a handful of jacked up people.

In order to shoot great product videos, you’ve got to do three things.

1) enthusiasm – ensure the people you’ve got are jacked up, that they believe in why you do what you do.

2) just roll tape – there’s no point in staging things, forget about a brief, it’s a team effort, throw caution to the wind. If the product is perfect and the people are pumped, you’re going to get great footage.

3) turn product over – get the product in view and just flash through the pieces, leave very little time to pause, no breaks – keep piling on and taking off the products, people laugh and it’s candid.

PS – at the end of shooting, you’ll have some extra bits, the stuff that happens behind the scenes, don’t throw it out, slam it together and give some a glimpse of what happens behind the silver curtain. Out takes from our recent Spring launch video reel.

Camaraderie

It’s not something you often see in surfing, the sport is inherently selfish. It’s only when it gets bigger and when the sea shows her less playful side, that camaraderie shines through.

We’ve seen it many times in the past, when swell builds, the tone in those who are going to surf changes. It becomes more considered, with hints of camaraderie echoing from the car park to the line-up and it’s a beautiful thing to experience.

Can we replicate it, capture it, in time, but in the meantime, these guys seem to be pushing things and with the move to areas outside of their comfort zone, comes the camaraderie – enjoy one of the closest thing we’ve seen to it.

I Believe I can Fly ( flight of the frenchies). Trailer from sebastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

Giving it the respect it deserves

The similarities between making an espresso and paddling big waves couldn’t be more similar.

Every variable becomes that much more important, it’s a volatile process and can be a very violent thing. 135 pounds of pressurised water (the weight of an adult human being), being forced through a tiny wafer of coffee and any missteps by the barista, will manifest itself in the cup, in a very unpleasant way and that happens, because most people who are preparing it, don’t give it the respect it deserves.

The next time you sip on that espresso, think about the respect your barista gave the making process and the respect the boys who paddle give the bigger waves.

Kyle over at Intelligentsia, talk us through the process, you’ve got to love the epicures.

Espresso, Intelligentsia from The D4D on Vimeo.