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

This is the latest foam and wood alaia I’ve made. There have been a few changes since the last one I posted. I brought the volume up a bit in the nose and tail for even better paddling and wave catching ability. The nose and tail are a bit wider, so the outline has a bit more curve in it. It seems the more outward curve you have in the tail, the better the board will set and hold in trim and turns. The rail stays stuck in the wave rather than curving away from it and releasing. The deck is bowed with reverse rocker to keep volume in the middle and allow the ends to flex. Also the wood on the deck has been cut in an hourglass shape to keep the panel flat. This avoids any compound curves in the panel that could stiffen the structure. I rode a similar board  recently at almost flat, high tide Rincon and had way more fun then I should have had. The board motored along great in the weakest of waves and I didn’t have to worry about nailing a fin on the rocks. Dimensions of this board are 6’8″ x 17″ x 2 1/4″. The widest points at the ends are 18 1/2″ and the rails are pinched to 1/2″ and squared off, with a hard edge almost the entire length of the board. The bottom has a full length single concave and 1/4″ of chine on the rail.The rocker is almost flat. This board is currently available at Wetsand surf shop. The one I rode is now my new favorite ultra small (I wouldn’t be going out otherwise) wave board.

This hull is 6’4″ and has very foiled rails.  Since the board is so bladed out I was able the bring the wood paneling all the way to the edge and leave off  the wood strips on the rails. This combined with the R.T. Openface method increased the boards flex. Normally I can’t get away with this because the wood is too thick to bend around the compund curve of the rail. You can only achieve that with really thin veeners as with Surftechs for example. Really thin veeners though don’t do anything for performance, as it’s basically like laminating shelving paper to your board. Instead of the ride being lively and springy it’s has a dull thud and slap against the water. Hulls are supposed to have a bit of flex in them, which is why the best of them such as Liddles are glassed so light and have thin 1/16″ cedar stringers.  This is also why they unfortunatly get beat up so fast. The rail less method, combined with EPS foam, a wood deck and custom epoxy glassing enhances this flex characteristic without the worry of the board going ‘dead’ or dinging if you look at it wrong.  The stringer has been spread over the whole board so it won’t get flexed out and the deck is way stronger to boot. No more mushy hull syndrome. This particular board is avaliable at Wetsand in Ventura.