Surf Splendor Podcast

Amidst a busy start to the year, there have been countless opportunities to witness and appreciate the delights this life brings.

Although I don't try build odd looking boards, the nature of committing to asymmetric changes from nose to tail and rail to rail to enhance a concept or create a forgiving change creates boards that can need a little explaining.

I am honored to have been included in the Surf Splendor Podcast series on the recent episode. It was a  great pleasure discussing a brief history and some board concepts with Mr. David Scales. David asked relevant questions that built on one another throughout our time and created a lovely dialog that you can enjoy. It is always great to have these thoughts challenged and explored by people who know little or lots about surfing.
What continually comes to mind in conversations like these is the fact that this opportunity to play in the ocean is simply a privilege and one must cultivate your fascination for the sea.
Check out other interesting interviews on the Surf Splendor platform.

Enjoy the feature by going to the link below or find it on iTunes or stitcher if you prefer.

http://surfsplendorpodcast.com/022-donald-brink-hand-shaped-hydro-crafts/

Video Sample

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#creativeandinnovative vissla.com
Enjoy Your Water
Donald brink

January1 Word for the Year

Being grateful is the best condition from which to look forward. It's been a memorable year gone by and the future seems to be one filled with great hope and possibility.
Most years, I like to find a theme or a word on which to hinge the mood or decisive flow and put a sense of intention with explainable reason on the path being forged day in and day out.

It's best to have these thoughts buttoned up before the year turns over and it's been a fun task dreaming of the ways ahead. I resonated with the word DELIGHT, reading it in various passages in the scriptures. I went about learning exactly what it means, to have a deeper understanding of why I was intrigued. The familiarity of its use has declined since the eighteen hundreds yet the meaning has never been so real today.

    de·light noun \di-ˈlīt, dē-\
: a strong feeling of happiness : great pleasure or satisfaction

: something that makes you very happy : something that gives you great pleasure or satisfaction

Growing the surfboard brand and working on the details as a custom craftsman has a natural tendency to intrigue me and I love what I get to do. I find it a continued honor to partner with people in their wave riding pursuits. More than this though, the children are growing up quickly and with each day brings a confidence from new learned things and a bravery in the fascination of the new experiences at hand. I have watched the captivation of an animators character on a movie screen displaying a world of fantasy being believed by a four year olds perspective. The simple study of the delicate fibers of the end tassels on a carpet by a toddler as he studies the details with the best accuracy of his motor skills.

Seeing the present in a way that gladdens ones heart and looking toward the future and the thrill it will bring and the charm it will hold leads me to label the year ahead a year of "Delight" We cannot know the details ahead or the joys or pain it may bring. What we can foresee is the mystery of any day we are apart of and the complexity of its detail. This alone can bring a stance of delight.

Enjoy your year and consider the things to be bewildered by. Don't forget to appreciate and cultivate your fascination for the sea. Thank you to all those who have supported our path, ridden a board and helped in this journey. I look forward to the partnerships, potential and plans on the horizon as we take what we know and apply design and intent toward a better world and a better understanding of its creation and maker. For me, this is most obvious in the details of family, art and surfing.
Here's to another year of being #creativeandinnovative vissla.com
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Enjoy Your Water
Donald Brink

Remembering Madiba

 

A quick Ink Brush sketch to honor Madiba and the service he gave. The compasion of this man on the country I grew up in was not deserved or expected. The grace he showed leading us towards freedom for all and equality could not have been writen as it was without him.

In my youth, I clearly remember feeling the overwhelming tension in the air through the times of change. 

It was not expected that a man leading the right way forward was to be one of such grace and without resentment. A country that had done everything to hide the ways, actions, capabilities and potential of such a leader, now at the mercy of his guidance as the people looked to him to lead.

To be honest I thought we were all gonna die, being a young white boy walking the streets of Johannesburg from school running from riots and the sound of gun shots. Mandela was a man in power then, but not a man we knew, never mind one who we now have seen could lead with such grace.

I'm honored to have lived in a country which has undergone such change through a time that was lead by a man unlike any. Thank you Madiba

Fittingly Black and white.

 Ink brush and honor. 

Donald Brink

Short Sale First Five

Its a consistent honor to shape boards for people just like they need and want them. I embrace and find myself fascinated with all types of surfing and boards. Today I'm offering a special for those who need or want a short board and find they value in this deal and the benefits of working on the details involved for a custom hand shaped board. Whether you are referencing an old favorite, or looking for the dream groveler, this season we can build some thing special. Keep it light tight and right.
Consider the options over the next few day as you seek out something just right. Black Friday has a place, but perhaps more importantly and along the traditional roots of surf boards history and heritage. Small business Saturday is tomorrow, so support you local shapers and keep the true essence of those who innovate and create alive.

visit brinksurf.com to order

Offer available to first five customers,
advertised price includes the shaping
and glass. Clear sanded finish with fin
box system of choice included.
Add for fancies
offer valid only for local pick up
no shipping or international orders
Enjoy Your Water
Donald brink

Sustainable Show at Surfing Heritage Cultural Center tonight

Testing a board Testing abroad

Building boards based entirely on the output of the surfing experience and the functional elements of each part is a pursuit of freedom. This can create new and alarming statements in a boards look, but it's the perception of the value and the soul of the sum of their parts that often times needs little more than a few words of explanation toward understanding the vision and value and at times to more trained eyes perhaps just a giggle or a grin.

I know some of these boards look different because I'm used to seeing normal ones just like you are. However, in the dedication to bring the best out of performance and be on the cusp of progression, in varying wave types and conditions, with whatever ability or maturity a wave rider has, these brave thoughts have brought much joy to small and meager days at beaches and reefs abroad that will be forever etched within the memories of the surfers ride.

I recently returned from Hawaii, the Queen of the Sea to me. It was a short trip and the forecast predicted smallish surf. I never travel to Hawaii with out a good single fin in the bag, there is something about drawing pure and intentional lines on the stages where so much of what we have come to know all began and continues to be adorned.  I gravitated towards the updated and refined progression of thoughts in my little quad. The water was warm and so were the locals. "Mahalo", a few strange looks and perhaps a comment or two but the board felt so well matched to the conditions on offer.

I have spent so much time in Southern California's weaker waves, longing to create good grovel boards for anyone. The weight of testing similar concepts in a paradise like the islands brought feelings of slight trepidation and awe. I'm learning the reality that the sea needs to be approached and engaged in on whatever level or flavor it has to offer and the smaller days can be intentionally and bravely embraced with design and determination.

Enjoy your water; whether the sun shines, waves break or rains fall. We are to cultivate the fascination we have for the sea and are solely responsible for this. Play in the sea and be free. There seem to be less and less venues in this day and age where creativity and innovation is embraced and honored. Surfing can be the part of your life in which you can bravely learn and live these free traits. From what you ride and how you ride it, wherever you are start pursuing the mysteries hidden in your experiences of the sea on the smallest of days and beyond.

Stay tuned for upcoming announcements and vision details on how and why surfing will never be the same again because  of the creative and innovative paths and plans of many who care. #creatorsandinnovators

Enjoy Your Water,
Donald Brink
brinksurf.com

News and More from recent happenings, boards and events

It has been a busy and exciting season getting ready for the past weekends show. The Boardroom is an anticipated annual event, this being my third year having a booth. I thank all the surfers and friends who came by the booth with the kindest of words about the craft. We had a wonderful time discussing wave rides and explaining concepts of the boards and sharing thoughts and visions.

This year was a particularly treasured show as I was included in the lineup of 6 shapers chosen to honor Terry Martin in the Tribute to the Masters Shape Off. This was taken with the utmost respect of honoring such a friend and true legend to life and this craft of shaping. I was amongst the most talented of shapers with elaborate pedigrees and years of refined talent. We each recreated a 9'8" Legacy style longboard triple stringer with moderate rocker and a blended concave. Perfectly tuned rails and every inch of intentional perfection in Terry's board which we could study and reference yet not measure. Matt Calvani did well to claim top honor and the perpetual Mike Marshal trophy.  The two allotted shaping hours flew past, yet with a determined pace and dedication to craftsmanship and detail, I was elated with my efforts. My shape finished out well and although I could have spent 3 weeks getting the dust off and trying to make Terry more proud with every nuance, I think he would have been beaming at the board I made and so proud of the encouragement and belief he invested in my path which I draw from daily.

Shaping surfboards is a precious craft and I love to be involved with making surfers boards. The interest for how boards are made from one design to another, was hugely evident at the show in the crowds formed around every shaper, watching through the windowed bays from start to finish.

I have been working hard on the details and design of a new board concept for some time and the results have been rewarding. I was awarded "Best of Show" in the alternative board category for this entry and the concept was received well and had common interest among people as we discussed the thoughts of form and function of the creation. I have a patent pending on the board and look forward to the potential in manufacturing of these in a soft durable format. I feel like we can forever change the world of surfing with a fun pure and extremely progressive all encompassing option like this. The basic premise is: wave shaped rail, beach shaped rail. Go right, flip it over go left. Finless, buoyant, fast, functional, freeing.

Stay tuned for more developments.

Enjoy Your Water,

 Donald Brink
brinksurf.com