ALAIA #2

...love mixing surfing in with snowskating. So my take would be to put some kick into the nose, so it could ride on snow some day....(an alaia doesn't really need flip in the nose, surprisingly it doesn't really want to pearl)

super wide about 22" x 6'6" and radius sidecut just like a snowboard, or "sub", I stole the sidecut from an old belowzero snowboard...this has been done already in the surfboard and alaia world, nothing new ..(check out mick makie's boards or wegener's alaia's)

bottom

....and "Voila", first wave drove it into the sand on the shorebreak and snapped my nose...typical rookie maneuver, fueling the fire to the people on the beach who thought I was crazy for paddling out on a picnic table top.... but like every surfer who snaps the nose off on a good day, I just ripped the rest off, and kept surfing. matter of fact it was my best session on an alaia to date....luckily this was just a test model (snapping the nose took me back to the eighties when I made a mock burton backyard, and snapped the nose off that one too..)

...snub nose 5'9" alaia after the break, it rode well in junk waves on sunday, however it has since been modified, much more to come....

...alaia's have officially scratched me where I itch.. I will settled down soon and start making some snowskates, but until the next real swell, (so I can test some designs) I am hooked on these planks.. For any woodworkers or diy'ers who might be interested in making one but are on the fence ..I say, "do it." They are a blast. both in the build and the ride...my humble hints, make it thick and real wide. It may not be sexy looking wide, but it is much easier to catch the wave....but make a narrow one also to compare...(cedar is cheap, somewhat "waterproof" and soft to carve)..also wegener brothers hand build perfect ones that are for sale..