Short trip through the Italian and Swiss Alps in a Lotus Elise

Well only four months after my trip to the Alps in the Lotus I've finally pulled all my clips together. If anybody is looking for a trip away from the ocean I can highly recommend bombing around some mountain passes in a sports car!

First Cobra Update

Progress is slow due to me only working on this board during the weekend, but with my intended completion date being the end of March all is more or less to schedule. Can't really fibreglass until the weather warms up (learned this the hard way) so there is no rush.

The frame has bow been glued together and reinforced with thin balsa strips (to keep the weight down). The strips comprising the base have also been glued together and steam bent to fit the frame. This board has a bit more rocker than my previous hollow boards so it has been a bit more work getting the strips to fit the shape of the frame.

The model Cobra is also coming along well, front and rear suspension have now been painted and assembled.

The Beginning of Two Cobras

The round tailed hollow single fin is a board that's been on my schedule for a while. I love the feel of a big turn on the nine foot single fin, just not the feeling of terror when my 12 stone wooden longboard takes to the air above me, so I've settled on a nice performance six foot version for my next hollow board.

The preparation for this board began in the summer when the strips were cut, the board designed and ribs traced and cut out, but now that it's too cold and dark to get out into the shed it's time to begin construction of the Cobra in the comfort of my conservatory.

Incidentally, the name Cobra has come from the intended design of the board which will have two racing stripes down the top and bottom of the board in the style of the Shelby Cobra. The other Cobra referred to in the title is the model I picked up on sale in a model shop that was closing down. Seeing it looking lonely on the shelf it felt like too much of a premonition to not buy it.

I'll just have to see which Cobra comes out the best at the end of winter.

Long time no post

Well it's been a while since my last post but I haven't forgotten about it, two holidays, some great surf and too many things on the go put me into a spiral of not posting I've struggled to get out of but the motivation is here again! 

After a week of blasting around the Alps I took a trip to Colorado to visit the lovely Katie and incredibly just one month after returning home I've already finished sorting out the holiday snaps.

              Europe photos                         Colorado photos

Few More Paipo Snaps

Couple more pictures of my new bodyboards before I cover them in wax and put them into active service.