New stuff from surf radio

Listening to Scott Bass and Marty Thomas on the "Down the Line" radio show podcast isn't always a waste of time. You can find out about something cool, like Spirare Surfboards. Kevin Cinningham, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, began shaping in 2003. His boards, appropriately self-described as "functional art," are unique; although custom built, they usually come with multiple stringers instead of a single plank glued between two halves of a foam blank, or on-rail stringers found on boards like Firewires. They're fun to look at, ideal for mind surfing. A few of the boards have been displayed at local art shows around New England.

Cunningham talks at length about his motivations--applying the practical aspects of his education, along with plenty of creativity, to his affinity with the ocean and surfing in a way that takes the environment into consideration. (He even drops a Clark Foam closure remark. Shocking.) "Currently my work combines my two passions, art and design, and the sea (surfing)," he explains. "Surfing focuses on the individual's body and movement within the space of the wave; a dance."

Deviation from conventional board design and structure isn't always a top seller. But maybe Spirare is getting attention at the right time, as guys like Machado, Slater, Rasta, and the Malloys (along with a number of other surfers/shapers, including Dane Perlee of Pearson Aarow and Chris Christenson) have been generating interest in the variety of boards they're riding in free surfs and in heats.

Peep Spirare's Web site; Cunningham is currently taking custom orders. Prices weren't listed, but drop an email and, Cunningham told DLT listeners, he'll get back to you in a day or so.