Shed Sessions

SHED SESSIONS: Newport Beach Edition

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SHED SESSIONS: Newport Beach Edition

Original Post Date: Sep 6, 2018

When Bird Huffman, of “Bird’s Surf Shed,” was asked to choose some boards from his collection for the punchy beach breaks of Newport Beach, he stuck with a motif of fast, flat and thick designs. Boards, that after a couple strokes, will have a surfer racing through a hollow pocket.

Young guns Tyler Gunter and Finn McGill experienced the highly effective planing elements of a 5’2″ kneeboard-esque twin fin. A chunky yet complex little board that seems to go 0-100 instantly with no way to bleed-off speed. Despite never really catching on in California, Ben Aipa’s mid-70s “Sting” design surprised Newport local Bobby Okvist with how well it worked. Bird also shares Hawaiian Larry Bertleman’s preference to ride the design with the fin loose–freely sliding from front-to-back in the fin box.

Stylemaster Jared Mell trims a Robert August shaped single with fluted wings from the early 70s. The “Endless Summer” star’s endlessly classic step-up board comes complete with a heavy glass job, pin lines and no leash plug. No leash, no mercy! Especially on those big Newport Point days. No Newport-centric quiver of classic boards would be complete without a Russell Surfboard. And Bird tosses one from the late 70s, shaped by streetwear mogul Shawn Stussy, into the bunch. Both rich in beauty and Newport Beach surfing heritage, the Russel Surfboard seems to go just fine in the pocket under Punker Pat Towersy’s feet.

Featured Boards:

House of Paipo “Shoe” 5’2″ X 22″ X 3.25″

Dyno “Sting” 6’5″ X 19.5″ X 2.75″

Robert August 7’2″ X 19.25″ X 3″

Russell shaped by Shawn Stussy 6’2″ X 19.5″ X 2.75″

SHED SESSIONS: Santa Cruz Edition

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SHED SESSIONS: Santa Cruz Edition

Original Post: Jan 9, 2018

Starring: Noah Wegrich and Darshan Gooch

 

Watch the boys as they test out four vintage surf-crafts in the waters of Santa Cruz.

For Season 2 of Shed Sessions, we’re taking a slightly different approach. Rather than allowing the surfers to run rampant in Eric “Bird” Huffman’s San Diego shop–picking out whatever boards they want–we’re letting Bird take the reins. “I started gathering boards in 1972,” says Bird. “At this point I’ve got about 1200, so there’s a wide, wide variety of boards. For this season, I’m gonna pull out three or four boards that I think would be fun, and then we’re gonna reunite the equipment with the area and the people where it came from in the first place.”

Bird’s picked out a classic ’60s performance longboard and a ’90s tow-board with weights down the middle, are anything but ordinary, but neither are the lines Gooch and Wegrich draw on them.

The boards, in order of appearance, are as follows:

Flying Fortress Shaped by: Andy Tyler Dims: 6’6″ x 21″ x 2.5″

Haut Shaped by: Doug Haut Dims: 9’6″

Rusty Shaped by: Rick Hamon Dims: 6’0″ x 17.25″ x 2.2″

Gemini Shaped by: Jeff Alexander Dims: 6’1″ x 18 1/4″ x 2 3/8″

SHED SESSIONS: ALBEE LAYER

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SHED SESSIONS: ALBEE LAYER

Original Post: Feb 8, 2017

Even among the 900 or so boards that line the rafters of the Surf Shed in San Diego, owner Bird Huffman has his favorites.

His dearest fish of all – a 5’6″ Larry Mabile, with handsome glassed-on, double-foil Larry Gephart keel fins – is taken for a test ride by Maui’s Albee Layer in the latest episode of Shed Sessions.

The hundreds of boards in Huffman’s library contain countless stories practically laminated into their very DNA, and many haven’t been waxed up for decades. So when Albee spotted Chandler’s North Shore gun, a surprisingly nimble Jeff Bushman 6’10”, that went unridden since the movie’s premiere, he couldn’t resist boosting an air or two, for history’s sake.

SHED SESSIONS: San Clemente Edition

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SHED SESSIONS: San Clemente Edition

Original Post: Feb 9, 2018

IAN CRANE, NATE YEOMANS, AND JETT SCHILLING TAKE THREE SURFBOARDS WITH A SAN CLEMENTE HISTORY FOR A SPIN.

For Season 2 of Shed Sessions, we’re taking a slightly different approach. Rather than allowing the surfers to run rampant in Eric “Bird” Huffman’s San Diego shop–which has a collection of over 1200 vintage surfboards, we’re letting Bird curate the quiver.

For the second episode, we grabbed Ian Crane, Nate Yeomans and Jett Schilling and paired them up with three very different surfboards that Bird picked specifically with San Clemente in mind: A three-inch thick single with a starfin, a Kolohe Andino grom-era thruster, and a classic performance twin fin. While each board poses its own unique challenges, it’s fun to watch this trio of SC goofys try to figure them out. The boards, in order of appearance, are as follows:

Hobie Lazer Zap 6’0 x 21″ x 3.5″ Shaped by Terry Martin

Mayhem Scorcher 5’6″ x 18″ x 2.19″ Shaped by Matt Biolos

Hobie Twin Fin 5’6″ x 20″ x 2.75″ Shaped by Terry Martin

SHED SESSIONS: San Diego Edition

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Shed Sessions: San Diego

Original Post Date: Dec 29, 2018

Bird loans out a sacred Stevie Lis double wing fish to local ripper Jake Halstead in some pumping South-San Diego reef breaks.

Next up Lucas Dirkse borrows Joe Ropers personal G&S gun in some heaving slabs.

& finally, Jojo Roper paddles out a killer Caster Chris O’Rourke model at the reef Chris and his father Joe made famous.