04 – Guethary
Day 4 – May 2, 2009
(above) Today we leave
(above) The train station…I’m still trying to figure out that picture…
(above) All aboard and time for some coffee and munchies…
(above) Some of the cheese Ann bought
yesterday…
(above) Watching the countryside slide by…Off the scale rural beauty that is hard to capture on a bullet train...
(above) At Biarritz, Guilhem and Jean-marc were there to greet us…I was disappointed that the Tahitian dancing girls that Jean-marc promised would be there had another commitment…C’est la vie…
(above) Guilhemgave us a quick drive around of the region…Here we are looking at the main break in Guethary…Tide too high, the wind a bit strong…
(above) Guilhem’s CD’s suggest this is a guy who I could do a long road / surf trip with…
(above) A spectacular chunk of Atlantic coastline…
(above) The main surfing beach at
(above) Time for lunch…
(above)” Je voudrais le
quiche”…
(above) We went next to Guilhem’s home…This is his recently built board building studio…It will be home soon to the Hollowsurfboard Workshop…
(above) Shaping on the right, glassing on the left…
(above) A serious collection of planers…
(above) The most recent addition…Some guy in California, John Mellor, was having an on-line exchange with Guilhem about power planers, then last week this arrived…Unexpected, no charge…I need to meet this Mr. Mellor and see what might have my name on it…
(above) Every serious shaper’s workhorse, the Slil 100…
(above) Oui…
(above) A few shaped blanks waiting for their day on the glassing rack…
(above) Shaping stand racks soon to be assembled…
(above) A decent collection of vintage boards over in the corner…The board with the ‘fro chick is for the guy who did his logo…
(above) Every board has a story, as they
should…
(above) Jean-marc and Guilhem go over tools and materials we need for the class…These guys are well prepared…
(above) Guilhem shows a picture of his first ever surfboard circa 1966…One for the history book…
(above) I’m still figuring out that one…
(above) Time for some sight seeing with Jean-marc as tour host…
(above) Looking straight up from the car,
through the plexi roof, the trees here are pruned like this year after year…
(above) Out on the sidewalk, a window
display has posters of the big waves of the area…Seriously big waves…
(above) Tree manipulation...
(above) Late afternoon, me, Ann, Guilhem and Jean-marc…
(above) One of the many small local
harbors…
(above) Still plenty of sidewalk cafes here…
(above) The street to the beach…
(above) I want this place…
(above) with a view like that…
(above) Tradition rules the region…
(above) The church where Louis the Fourteenth
got hitched…They say he was the best king
(above) The hanging boat represents the importance of the fishing heritage to the area…The boat’s colors are green and red, Basque colors…Again, tradition rules the region…
(above) Coming straight out of the church, hello Billabong…So much for tradition…
(above)
(above) We drove back to Jean-marc’s house for the evening, but we had one more look at one more spot…
More later …
Paul