Got a new crop of handplanes shipping out. Look for them at Shelter, Thalia Street, and Wetsand surfshops.

In the interest of showing some of the experiments going on lately, I thought I would post this board I made a few months back. It’s made from polypropylene foam and oiled paulownia wood. That’s it. I wanted to make a board without fiberglass and thought a combination of boogie board and alaia would work well. It ended up being a little heavy and dead feeling. I like the concept though and I’m going to keep working on it. How did the maiden voyage on this one go? Let’s just say it didn’t go down so well. photo RT

Could be a handplane for bodysurfing, could be footwear. This handplane is made out of the scraps of paulownia left over from making alaias. Erin at Shelter Surf Shop prompted me to make these. I thought it was a pretty good idea, as the wood is so light and corky it feels like you hardly have anything strapped onto your hand. I’ll have one of these along with some other boards at the Thalia Surf/ Insight demo day this friday May 8th.

photo RT Thomas

"I want this one daddy!"

6'8" x 16 3/4" x 3/4"

This board's being ridden in the photo above. Dim's 6' x 15" x 3/4"

Ever since I was inspired by images of guys riding Wegener Alaia’s,  I’ve been wanting to make one out of the same wood that Tom Wegener is using over in Australia.  I got the chance this last October when I picked up a couple paulownia wood Alaia blanks from the Wegener booth at the Sacred Craft exposition in Del Mar. The first redwood Alaia I had made perviously rode completly different than the new one’s made from paulownia.  The new Alaia’s were much lighter, flexier, and more boyuant. Not to mention incredibly water resistant. I did a pretty crummy job of oiling the first one, because I was so excited to ride it, and it’s still doing fine with only two coats. I have become completly hooked on these boards since then. I literally didn’t ride anything else for about a month. I still basically just trim, but man it’s an amazing feeling. I never thought I could have so much fun just simply going down the line. It literally feels like you’re flying on a magic carpet because the board twists and bends under your feet as you keep going faster down the line connecting sections.  Building and riding these boards has probably been one of the most unexpected joys of my surfing life. Many thanks to Tom and Jon Wegener for bringing these boards back into the mainstream. Check out wegenersurfboards.com and tomwegenersurfboards.com