Well, my newest alaia/ paipo/ boogieboardish thing worked. I was a little worried that this one was too weird but RT tried it out and liked it. Largly inspired by the footage of Ryan Burch on his blocks of foam, I designed this board really wide at 23 1/2″ and short at 5′. I kept the volume down in the rails and the reverse curve in the outline so the board would hold in better when trimming. I still have some bugs to iron out, but there’s definitely some possibilities here.

This is a new 6’4″ hull I took up to Sacred Craft in Ventura. It’s made with the R.T. Openface construction for extra flex and spring, same as the Lil Macho board I posted.  Sam George took a liking to this at the show and commented on how it combined the old with the new. That pretty much summed up what I try to do with my boards. Striving to build a better board using common materials, instead of expensive and unsustainable man made exotics. Thanks to my good friend Church for picking this board up. Enjoy!

This is the latest openface model made for Ryan Thomas, aka R.T., aka the surfer formerly known as Bearded Dolphin. It has the same dimensions as the last one, but the rail wood tapers from 4 layers to 1 for increased tail flex and the color has been changed to spontaneously combusting black. It weighs 5 1/2 lbs without the fins.

A little over a year ago RT asked if I could build a compsand board with more flex in it, since his smaller stature (140-45 lbs.) made ordinary wood and foam boards seem a little too ridged for his taste. We came up with the idea of using balsa only on the deck and letting the bottom ‘breathe’. The deck panel retains the liveliness that compsands have and the bottom is allowed to stretch and flex without as much weight and force being applied to it. This board is the third one and I think we finally got it. All the reports I’ve gotten back from him have been good. He said the board flexes and feels pretty much the same as a traditional poly board and he’s already had at least one potentially catastrophic run in with his knee to the deck, with no damage. The bottom should hold up just as well as any other epoxy board, since it has a 1/2″ layer of 2 lb. EPS there. The final weight of the board is in the sub 6 lb. range too, so I think we may have hit all the goals (lightweight, strong, and flexy).

Nine Lights 5’8″ Twinzer…

…under the feet of RT: