Addicted to Joy - Snowflakes
Larry Fuller
I walk on the beach every morning, trying to build up my leg strength after the replacement of both of my knees. This week, I was gifted this, and I’m so grateful. From what the Marine Mammal Center says it’s likely a sperm whale tooth. It fills me with wonder and stimulates my imagination, I still can’t believe it sits on my desk.
About a year ago, I got a comment that said, “This movie should be free, like surfing.” So, I give you all the gift of this movie. It’s given me so much, and I hope it brings you the same joy that it has brought me. Addicted to Joy….the film and all the interviews are now FREE.
I became involved in this film because of two people, Chuck Pyle and Larry Fuller. Larry was the visionary who came up with this project of building 100 surfboards with the world’s best surfers and shapers. Chuck supplied a lot of the uber-rare redwood.
Larry and I did most of the traveling, with at least 20 trips up and down the California coast, and several visits to Northern California. We certainly had adventures, from checking into a cheap hotel at midnight and carrying three surfboards bound for Gerry Lopez through a swarm of bugs, to losing the brakes on my van on a downhill grade on the 101. We had a lot of laughs and quiet times; we shared dreams, radio and television interviews, and disappointments. Larry introduced me to so many people and I am indebted to him for the experience. Seven years filled with much magic.
We discussed wood and the spirits contained within a 200-foot-tall redwood or Giant Sequoia. He told me about harvesting agave plants on a 30-degree slope in the San Diego mountains. We talked about how special each board was, each one its own creation and life. On one of our trips at the very beginning of the film, Larry told me a story about each board being like a snowflake. I finally got this recorded and I’d be honored to share it with you here.
The first couple of years working on the film were full of awe, curiosity, and amazement. I was profoundly touched by the contact and relationship that Larry had, not only with the surfers and shapers, but with the wood partners. Larry can look at a piece of wood and know exactly if it will work for a board or not. It’s a skill that takes a lifetime to acquire.
Larry spoke story with wit and depth. He had studied historical Hawaiian boards and he gained much knowledge through Pohaku Tom Stone. With Larry, Tom created many authentic boards for this project including a 20’ Olo that weighed 350 pounds.…that’s right, 20’. Here’s Tom paddling the board on the North Shore of Hawaii.
As the documentary took shape and I started to examine the footage, it became apparent to me that Larry was only part of a huge wheel. I came to a deeper understanding that many of the distinguished pioneers of modern surfing we interviewed would play a bigger role. What became crystal clear was that Larry was the vehicle that brought all of these pieces together. Let me stress that every board you see in this film is one of Larry’s creations. They are beautiful to behold and touch. Next time, I’ll go deeper into how Larry built this team to create the world’s most beautiful surfboards. Thank you Larry for your spirit and commitment… the world is a better place because of it.
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I’d like to thank you all for reading Wood Water Soul. I’d like to announce we have Addicted to Joy and all the interviews are free. Our first coffee cups and T’s are hitting the shelves, thank you. (check out the shirts, coffee cups, tote bags and water bottles ). We will donate $1.00 of the sale of each shirt to SHACC Surfing Heritage and Culture Center. Please share this Blog with a fellow surfer, or with a friend that needs some Joy in their lives. I invite you to watch, Aloha.