Surfboards at the Lumen Gallery in Capitola
This week a couple of boards went into Lumen Gallery in downtown Capitola. The gallery recently opened and features art by a lot of local artists including the owner of the gallery. The art ranges from unique paintings, wood-turnings, metal work, jewelry, and now also hollow wooden surfboards. Stop by to say hi to Cierra and check out the boards, or contact us if you’re interested in any of them.
Lumen Gallery 831-607-9255 cierra@lumengal.com
Martijn.
April 13, 2012 Category: Front Page, Pointwood, The Ventana Shop No Comments 
Custom Longboard with Hatch
This 9’6″ beauty is a custom order for a local pro named Tyler Fox. He wanted a unique longboard with twin keel fins and a hatch/dry compartment to bring some goodies out into the lineup. The board is made from recycled redwood and left-over cedar from the shop. The arrows in the cedar strips as well as the tailblock are made of scrap aromatic cedar from the shop. The leash cup has some really cool abalone inlays to finish off the board. The hatch measures 7.5″ x 7.5″ x 2″, enough for a cliff bar or two, some wax, and a small camera if needed. I will also build a second lid for the box, structurally reinforced for those bigger days when the hatch is empty. The board will be glassed in Entropy Bio Resin, a new batch we are testing for the Entropy guys. Check back soon to see the completed board.
Built by Martijn.
April 13, 2012 Category: Custom Board, Front Page, Pointwood No Comments
Longboard finished!
The latest board finished at the Ventana Shop. I explained most of it in an earlier post, but to refresh your memories – the redwood came from a deck in Boulder Creek, it is clear grain, most likely old growth that came from the Santa Cruz mountains and looks amazing. The nail holes were filled and then capped with brass nail heads, and it looks really cool. The burl tail block was driftwood found on a local beach, and the abalone inlays came from a local abalone farm. The Santa Cruz Waves logo was drawn in pencil per request of the new owner. It weighs in at 22lbs and looks like it will fly down the line. Glassed in Entropy Bio Resin.
Built by Martijn.
April 1, 2012 Category: Board Page Gallery, Custom Board, Front Page, Pointwood 2 Comments
Custom Agave Handplanes
I’m just finishing up a couple of custom agave cactus handplanes. These little boards are super light, and are covered in two layers of 4oz. cloth top and bottom. One of the handplanes also got a custom resin tint, which adds a cool effect to the unique color and grain of the agave. These little puppies are awesome! Call us if you’d like a custom cactus handplane.
Martijn.
March 2, 2012 Category: Custom Board, Front Page, Handplanes, Pointwood No Comments
Longboard in the works
This is the newest longboard I’ve been working on, for a friend at Santa Cruz Waves (www.santacruzwaves.com). It’s 9’4″long, 22.5″ wide, and 3″ thick. The decks are recycled redwood, doug fir, poplar, and mahogany. The tail block is redwood burl, with two abalone inlays. The nail holes in the redwood planks were filled, sealed, and then inlayed with the heads of brass boat nails, and it looks incredible. The old nails had rusted and stained the redwood black around the holes, which looks really cool with the shiny nail heads. Now it’s off to the glassing shop…
Martijn.
March 2, 2012 Category: Custom Board, Front Page, Pointwood No Comments
Custom boards finished!
The latest two custom boards went to their new owners this past weekend, and they were stoked. Both boards were unique, a 5’10″ thruster with cedar decks and redwood accents, and a 5’10″ egg also made of cedar and redwood. The redwood is of course recycled from local sources and looks amazing. The cork on the egg board is stained to match the redwood, and both of them are glassed with Entropy Bio Resin. See earlier post for some construction photos.
Martijn.
February 14, 2012 Category: Custom Board, Front Page, Pointwood 1 Comment
Tyler Fox tests the 7’9″ Widow Maker
Our friend Tyler Fox from Santa Cruz Waves (www.santacruzwaves.com) stopped by last week and took the 7’9″ Widow Maker board for a spin at Steamer Lane, here in Santa Cruz. One of their photographers went along and photo-documented the scene. The waves were firing, the weather was incredible, and the surfing was impressive. Tyler took the board out and put it through its paces. Air drops, tube-rides, the works! It was a great sight to see such a skilled surfer having such a good time on a hollow wooden board, once again proving that they are excellent surf-craft as well as beatiful pieces of art. When prompted for a first impression, Tyler stated “The way these boards carry so much speed, it’s awesome!”. We are looking forward to seeing more of our boards out in the line-up, and hearing about the stoke they deliver. Check back soon for an interview with Tyler Fox, and some cool new board ideas. Please also visit Santa Cruz Waves, the website is an excellent compilation of local information as well as incredible photographs by some very talented individuals.
Martijn.
February 10, 2012 Category: Front Page, Surfing 1 Comment
5’10″ Redwood Single fin (box) Egg
Buy: $1800 SOLD SOLD SOLD
The newest board here at Ventana is a 5’10″ Egg, 21″ wide, 2 3/4″ thick, concave nose to vee in the tail. The single fin is in a standard Longboard box, to allow different fin options, and to make travel easy. The deck and bottom are from the Redwood we salvaged from a deck in nearby Boulder Creek (see earlier posts) and scrap Cedar from past boards. A simple vent plug and glass-on leash loop make the board look incredibly sleek. We will post more pictures of the fin and bottom in the next few days. Check back soon.
Shaped by Martijn.
January 31, 2012 Category: Front Page, Pointwood, Stock Board Archive 1 Comment
New Boards in the making
Currently in the making are three new boards, all of them happen to be 5’10″! There are two disc/egg boards with single fin boxes, and a thruster. One of the disc/egg boards (the custom one, the other is for the shop) will also have glass-on sidebites to keep things interesting. The board above is built from some of the Redwood we reclaimed from Boulder Creek, and Yellow Cedar. The stringer is Redwood and Doug Fir, cork rails with stain to match the redwood in the tail section. The Redwood is about as dark as the stain when it’s in epoxy, though the color difference looks quite drastic at this point.
The thruster is also 5’10″, made from yellow Cedar and a dark Redwood stringer/nose/tail. The deck is handsomely plain, with a stark contrast between the wood species. The nose/stringer/tail were built to resemble a Redwood tree, with the tail being the roots, the stringer as a trunk, and the nose block as the tree canopy. Abalone is inlayed into the Leash/vent plug.
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- Fin box install under deck
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- Clamping the top deck
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- Shaping finished
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- Staining the rails
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- Ready for epoxy
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- Gluing up the thruster
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- Curly Q’s
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- Finished shaping
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- Redwood tree nose block
Martijn.
January 24, 2012 Category: Front Page, Pointwood, The Ventana Shop No Comments
Salvaged Redwood Surfboards!
We received a phone call a while back from a Boulder Creek woman who was tearing the redwood deck from her home in the Santa Cruz Mountains. She had heard about our surfboards, (and love of recycled wood) and wondered if we would be interested in checking it out. The deck was built in the early sixties from choice straight-grained redwood which has a beautiful dark brown glow. We sliced into some of it right away and are very excited about the possibilities. If anyone is interested in getting a custom redwood surfboard built for them please contact us via email or phone and we will set you up with a very special board.
We would like to thank Elaine for the wonderful donation, and encourage everyone else to turn their scrap wood into a Ventana shred machine!
January 8, 2012 Category: Front Page, Surfing, The Ventana Shop, Uncategorized No Comments
New Year’s Eve in Big Sur
A small group of our friends decided to go camping in Andrew Molera State Park in the Ventana Wilderness of Big Sur to spend New Year’s eve in paradise. Andrew Molera is at the northern end of Big Sur, and is a wonderful spot for camping and surfing. The campgrounds are primitive, and hike-in only, located in a meadow near the Big Sur River, and are surrounded by the mountains of Big Sur in an amphitheater-like setting. The beach is about a mile hike from the campsites, along a trail that meanders along the river through meadows and brush. Lots of Poison Oak!!! We decided to take four woodies along with us – an 8’2″ Tanker, 7’9″ Single fin, 6’6″ swallow tail, and a 6’1″ Thruster. Along with the boards, we also had to haul our wetsuits, food, handplanes and fins, as well as a solid stock of “adult beverages”. To simplify our lives, Martijn built a cart out of recycled lumber and casters, which proved to be a very nice commodity. We strapped the boards to the top, and wandered back and forth between the site and the beach.
The surf was firing, solid 6′ with some larger sets every now and then. The boards worked really well, the strong off-shore winds proved no match for the weight and momentum of the boards. Unfortunately we were too busy surfing and handplaning that we didn’t manage more than a single photo of surfing :(
New Year’s Eve was epic! A huge pasta meal cooked over the fire, cold beers, good company, and a magnificent evening sent 2011 off right. After dinner we headed to the beach for a huge bonfire, and made it back to camp in time to laugh, relax and open the champagne for midnight.
The following day was spent gathering our gear, packing the vehicles, and heading out in various directions of travel.
We hope you also had a great New Year’s Eve.
Martijn.
January 2, 2012 Category: Front Page, Pointwood, Surfing No Comments
Art At The Barn December 10 & 11
Ventana Surfboards are on display at our friend Luc’s ”Art at the Barn” show, a showcasing of local talented artists. The setting is a really cool old barn in the middle of Live Oak, and the art inside is quite amazing. Stop by if you can, there will be music this evening, BYOB, and lets all have a good time. The address is 1352 El Dorado Ave, Live Oak, CA. The show opens at 10AM, but the real party will be after sundown. What a great weekend with plenty of swell and cool things going on in our little Santa Cruz.
December 10, 2011 Category: Front Page, Local Events, Uncategorized No Comments