Ride Report - Hollow Alaia

Well I couldn't have asked for better conditions to test a new board in. Perfect 2-3ft hollow and fast. early morning sunrise surf with only a couple of out. Just magic.

Now for the board - as soon as I jumped on to paddle out I noticed the increased buoyancy. It definitely made paddling a lot easier. First waves was ambitious. Late take off. I hadn't anticipated the speed. Even taking off late and deeper than I would normally I was way out on the shoulder by the time I had drawn out the first bottom turn.

The next few I took were smaller and I really started to realise how this board surfed in comparison to my regular alaia. The added buoyancy enabled me to take off earlier. The bottom contours and refined rails with the fact that it was recently oiled made the board incredibly fast, I had to keep my hand in the wave to hold myself locked in the pocket as the board just wanted to go. The board's flex was noticeably less, but it didn't seem to impact the boards hold in the wave during take off and bottom turns, but it was far more likely to slip out as the wave started shoulder off or when I tried to cut back. I'm not sure if this was due to the reduced flex or increased buoyancy or both... Either way I think with a few more sessions I will have this under control.

The only real downside is that the board took in some water. Its the first time I have trialed this building method so I am not surprised it didn't work perfectly. I can't work out where just yet, although the culprit(s) joins will reveal themselves as the water evaporates out. The outcome from this will be that I will need to sand it back and re-seal all the joins.

Already thinking about the next version! Definitely on to something with this shape + more buoyancy! Stoked

Cheers
James

Hollow Alaia Prototype 1

After 2 months of planning, designing, shaping and finishing a new prototype hollow alaia is ready for her maiden surf.

It has been a long time coming with many little hurdles along the way. I have experimented with new building methods and new glue and there has been some good lessons learnt.

The board doesn't look perfect. One of those lessons was which glue works best for which application. Luckily as a prototype all I really want to know if it works the way I imagined.

It is fairly short and not as wide as my previous hollow wooden boards. Despite being hollow I have kept it quite thin and flexible. Combining a fairly standard alaia bottom contour only slightly enhanced and a rolled deck.

The weight is probably a third less than an equivalent alaia.

God has switched on the perfect conditions with a medium small swell and offshore winds forecast.

I'll keep you posted on the ride report!

Cheers

James

Two alaias almost ready for the waves

Looking forward to seeing this new film!

A great looking film promoting diversity in the line up! Can only be a good thing!

Next Gen Alaia Hybrid in action at Lorne

Here is the latest alaia hybrid in action on its first outing at Lorne Point. This is Tim's first session on the board and the 2nd on an alaia, normally alaias are crazy hard to learn how to surf, this hybrid makes it a lot easier to pick up.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87364047@N08/7994220098/in/photostream

Tiny swell, but you get the idea - speed, glide, control and FUN!

Any questions drop me an email!

Cheers James

Newest Edition...

Alaia hybrid 6'1 x 19' x 1 Paulownia board with ceder keels. Super fast and smooth with more hold and control in the pocket. Built for Tim. Ride report and vid to come.

Next Gen Alaia Hybrid

The next model of the alaia hybrids in currently in progress and is looking beautiful! similar to the Edddy Sled it is 6'1 by 19' by 1' however the rails have been pinched in a little more with more continues flow through to a gentle swallow tail. This board will be finnished in the next week or so - stay tuned for photos.

New Model - Eddy Sled

Just a quick update on the newest model named The Eddy Sled - 1st prototype is 6'1 by 19' by 1'. It is a parabolic design with tiny red ceder keels and a square tail. It is sealed with linseed oil/gum turpentine and bees wax. The first prototype was built here in Australia and I took her over to Chile to test her out in some long peeling point breaks, unfortunately the surf I had over there was not ideal, but the board still worked really well. To cut a long story short I ended up surfing at Renaca, a heavy, punchy, beach break in central Chile. The Eddy Sled paddled slightly better than a regular alaia, due to the increased buoyancy from the added length width and improved directional control from the mini keels. The real high point however, is the fact that in overhead heavy and hollow waves, this alaia hybrid held in really well. It is still loose enough to pull out a few sliding 360's, but plenty of hold when you need it most. I really loved building and surfing this board and so does her new owner, a Chilean bloke named Edwardo. I'm about to finish off another board very similar to this but with a swallow tail for a slightly snappier feel. Enjoy the photos and any queries just drop me an email. Cheers James

New Beginnings

This weekend I picked up my latest batch of Paulownia from David at Port Phillip Plantation Shutters. This my first batch of timber from David and it is very good quality with almost no knots and only the slightest bow in one of the planks - it will be easiest to work with yet. David was exceptionally helpful and his knowledge of paulownia from seeds to surfboards is impressive! The next two boards will be destined for trip to Chile. I am looking to build two alaia hybrids - around 6ft long by 19' by 1'. They will both have twin tiny keel fins and parabolic rails. The idea is to keep the epic speed, glide and the controlled sliding of my regular alaia, but adding the keels and parabolic rails I am hoping that this board will hold in larger hollow surf. The previous alaia hybrid was a blast to ride especially when the waves were overhead, but it is too heavy for a trip overseas and also required a lot of timber to build. So I have drastically reduced the volume of this design, which will make it harder to paddle and catch waves, but hopefully will still retain the hold, speed and glide characteristics. I'll post a series on the build process once they're complete and performance diary from the Chile trip. Enjoy the waves!

Awesome shapes!

Thomo's designs are really inspiring! Good to see him starting to get his name out there.

Design Ideas

I will be building a few more boards over the coming months. I'm thinking I'll do a twin fin fish about 5'7 by 21'  with a simmons outline and alaia hull a lot lighter and looser than the previous version and almost as fast. The other board(s) will probably be alaias/paipos... Any other ideas or requests please shoot them through.

Cheers
James

2 boards leave the nest...

Just posted off two of my treasured hollow wooden boards to Jan in Northern NSW. I'm hoping and praying they survive the courier trip, I couldn't have jammed any more bubble wrap into the board bag, but still wont feel comfortable until I know they are safely delivered and out in the water...
Its always hard saying good bye to something you have poured so much time, thought and effort into, but I am sure Jan and his boys will love them, and I know the boards will love the variety of waves and warm water up there!

Enjoy Jan!

Riding and Sliding - Alaia's coming soon

I just had an amazing lunch hour session on the alaia. For those of you who are unfamiliar with these weird looking ironing boards, the alaia is a flat wooden board rediscovered by Tom Wegener and based on the ancient Hawaiian boards. These boards are challenging to ride at first, but are well worth the wipe outs. Once you have them wired, I can honestly say they are the funnest boards for those small clean days. Super smooth and fast, you carve on your rail, pull 360’s at will (and sometimes even when you don’t mean it!) and generally surf waves that not even the Mals can. Check out this clip for some ideas (http://vimeo.com/15613970)

They are pretty thin (normally under 1.5 inches thick), about 5-7ft long, and around 17-19 inches wide. They are commonly built with a rolled nose through to a tri-planning hull with a single or double concave through back third of the board. With a fairly straight outline and knife sharp rails they are total speed machines.

I made from Paulownia with red wood stringers. It has been snapped three times, glued back together and re-shaped twice, and it is a blast to ride!

They are simply oiled and are totally eco-friendly. Give me a bell if you are interested – I’ll be building some new alaias when I place the next timber order, prices will start at about $250.

5'8 Chambered timber fish - make an offer!

5'8 by 20 & 1/2' by 2 & 1/3' Chambered Timber Twin Keel Fish with 4oz glass top and bottom.
SOLD To make an offer  - Leave a comment for JAMES on this page or call 0417 106 480

Up for grabs is the original Kiri Surfcraft. This board was made a few years ago and has been surfed regularily since then, its been such a great board and has drawn so much attention from other surfers that it inspired me to start Kiri Surfcrafts. Now it is up for sale to make way for new and innovative models.

This is a chambered surfboard, each of piece of timber that make this board have been painstakingly hollowed out. The brass vent is to allow the board to breath, unscrew it when you are not in the water and screw it in tight just before a surf (a 5c coin works well in place of a screw driver(!)).

The light coloured timber is Paulownia – an amazing, fast growing timber originating in South East Asia and now sustainably grown and harvested in plantations throughout eastern Australia. The Japanese word for Paulownia is KIRI, which is where the brand name comes from. The unique thing about this wood is that it is almost as light as balsa wood, but it is much more durable and is resistant to water logging. This board is lightly glassed with 4oz cloth by Jade from DSN Surfboards in Gerringong, NSW (Jade has glassed a few woodies in his time and did a really good job with this one).

 The low entry rocker, planning hull and sharp rails are also all designed to give the board more speed down the line. You will also notice the rails of this board are quite sharp, combine this with small timber twin keel fins and the board’s responsiveness is greatly improved. A chambered timber board is much more lively underfoot than foam and fiberglass boards (especially when the surf has a bit of power), it will flex a bit and bounce in and out of turns, the resonance of timber means you will “feel” the way the wave and the board interact. The feeling is hard to explain, suffice to say it’s a great ride!

This board surfs great off the front foot, is super fast and as with most hollow timber boards, it lends itself to huge arcing cut backs, super human floaters and drawn out top-to -bottom ‘figure 8’ turns. This board feels a little slow to paddle, but due to the simmons planning hull design as soon as you catch the wave this board will have almost instant speed, you can relax and just enjoy the speed and energy of the surf and I'm sure you will be able to make sections that you once thought were impossible.

This board is made to bring the fun back into your surfing, no matter what the conditions are like. I've surfed this board comfortably in anything from knee high to well overhead, the bigger the surf gets the livelier the board feels.

The ideal wave for this board is a long peeling break with a variety of fast hollow sections and slow shoulders that break anywhere from knee high to a couple of feet overhead. Since surfing this, my first timber surfboard, I have only gone back to my regular foam and glass thruster for two sessions (when the swell was 6-8ft+).

Surfing wood is addictive!

yeeoow Kiri Surfcraft a finalist - check it out page 105 (issue 10 Free in good surf stores now).

http://www.smorgasboarder.com.au/

Keeping the dream alive

Keeping the dream alive – the lunch hour surf

I check the time as I swing out of my chair, its 12:18 and lunch hour the clock starts. I walk briskly down the corridor towards the beckoning exit sign, I’m trying not to look like I’m rushing. I don’t want to raise suspicion.

The cool easterly hits me as I escape out of the backdoor into the carpark, its definitely picked up since this morning, but still looks almost offshore, I stay positive.

Past the city green and I’m out of eyeshot of the office, I start to jog.

12:22, I reach the backdoor. My wife has taken the boys out to lunch at a friend’s place, and I struggle with the stubborn lock on the back door before racing inside to get changed. I contemplate pulling on my wetsuit, the water is getting cold its probably about 15-16 degrees maybe, but a wetsuit will steal precious minutes or potential surf time. I tell myself to suck it up and I don the boardies and thongs.

12:24, I struggle to ride my bike through the narrow side gate with my board under my arm. Its my latest wooden mini simmons, its not glassed, and almost completely solid, its not light and I’m barely managing to balance on the bike with the 8kgs of wood under one arm.  

12:26, I’m on my way cruising down the shared footpath dodging an elderly couple walking their little dog, I’m hoping that there are no chance encounters with anyone from work on the way.

12:32, I pull up at the beach, the surf club is the closest access and the wind is straight cross shore. The swell is solid, about a foot overhead on the sets, there are some good peaks, but its choppy. Normally I’d keep looking but after the craziest morning at work, and only 46 minutes left of my lunch hour I head straight out. I lock up the bike and I’m running through the shallows by 12:34.

12:58, I check my watch and this wave will have to be last. It shaping up to be a good left, I drop down a lumpy 7ft face, the sharp rails and momentum of the timber board cut through the water like a knife. Easing into a long bottom turn, I then set a high line racing under the lip as the wave starts to peel. All of a sudden I’m way out on the shoulder, burying my trailing hand in the wave I rip this freight train of a surfboard back toward the pocket. I bounce off the foam and by dragging one arm in the wave I lock into the little pocket. I make a quick shuffle down the board and attempt to hang five, I hold it for a second too long and the nose begins to dive. I dive off the back into waist deep water only meters from the beach. Adrenaline pumping, water up my nose and sand in my hair, the craving is sedated for now.

1:07, I know I’m out of shape and I’m stuffed after riding up the hill, my back tyre is really flat and I feel the rim bounce over every bump in the path. Pushing hard for last few hundred meters I make it home by 1:09.

1:12, I’m still tucking in my shirt as I lock the back door heading back to work. I finger comb my damp and possibly still sandy hair as I hurry down the street back towards the office.

1:15, I bite into my apple that I grabbed on the way out of the house as I swipe my card and walk back through the back door.

1:16 I’m consciously trying to keep my breathing normal as I sit back down at my desk, no one has said anything and no out of the ordinary weird looks. I’ve done it! I can’t help the silly grin that spreads across my face. Only my second lunch hour surf for the year and its saved me from the brink of the 8 to 5 oblivion. The dream lives on.

Glassy Peaks

A Sunday Surf.

My first session in two weeks - I was pretty excited. The upside of fatherhood and work keeping you out of the water is that you are so much more appreciative when you do get a chance to surf.

Sliding the wooden fish into the car, I notice that despite several years of heavy use, she still looks as new, definitely a testament to durability of timber boards. 

As I drive down the road I am hoping the grey skies and drizzly rain would keep most of the crowd in bed. Even so, when I pull into an empty carpark at japs, I'm a bit apprehensive, no one out, it must be pretty average.

I jump out of the car, hands in my pockets and hoodie on and I jog up the path to the lookout. I'm greeted by the sight of a neat little A frame peak with a good 50-100m rolling left hander. Its small, but super clean with a nice shape.

Racing back to carpark I'm greeted by a couple of young guys suiting up, they've done the local check and Japs is the pick.

My wettie is stiff and scratchy, showing its age, but I'm grateful for any insulation against the cold Southern Ocean a stark contrast to balmy waters of the east coast. The paddle out through a fast running rip is a breeze and in two minutes I'm taking off on my first wave, I'm too deep and too late and the lip hits me in the back of the head, a nice wake up call. The next few waves are good, taking off early and racing down the line I've got heaps of time and speed to draw out a couple of big arcing cut backs. As I'm paddling back out after my fifth wave I see three guys walking down the steps. Within fifteen minutes there are another ten guys in the water.

Its great to see a couple of old friends and a few of the guys are interested in my board. The sets start to build as the tide comes up a little. I score a little barrel going right and follow it up a with a good overhead left with a good wall and power to link a few good turns together. This earns a few more enquiries into the board as its really performing well in these slower than normal waves. I'm happy to sit wide and chase the peaky ones as half a dozen guys jostle for the sets. After a few more I score a great little right that peels almost to the sand. Time to go in.

The cobwebs have been blasted out and I'm blissfully happy with wet sandy hair driving home. There really is no better way to start the day!

For Sale 5'7 Mini Simmons $400!

FOR SALE 5'7 Mini Simmons Australian Paulownia and Red Gum - $400!!! SOLD
Pick up locally (preffered) or I can bubble wrap and wrap in cardboard and courier if the buyer can organise, pay for, and insure it.

First Test Run

I've just finished building and testing a new hollow wooden surfboard thats now up for grabs. It's inspired by Bob Simmons, Dan Thompson and Tom Wegener's thumb... I've been shaping these boards as a hobby for a while now and I'm now looking to launch my brand, Kiri Surfcraft in the coming months.

First thing you will notice about this board is that its made out of wood, the next thing you will notice when you pick it up, is that its on the heavy side. This is a chambered surfboard, each of the 5 pieces of timber that make this board have been lightly hollowed out. The brass vent is to allow the board to breath, unscrew it when you are not in the water and screw it in tight just before a surf (a 5c coin works well in place of a screw driver(!)).

The light coloured timber is Paulownia – an amazing, fast growing timber originating in South East Asia and now sustainably grown and harvested in plantations throughout eastern Australia. The Japanese word for Paulownia is KIRI, which is where the brand name comes from. The unique thing about this wood is that it is almost as light as balsa wood, but it is much more durable and is resistant to water logging. This enables these surfboards to be made without fibreglass or resin. This board is sealed with a plant based varnish, which will last many years if it cared for. If the varnish wears off or if the board is scratched or dinged, it can be easily sanded back and re-varnished and will look almost new again.

The dark red timber is Victorian Red Gum. This timber is used because it looks great and it is rock solid and heavy. Again it is resistant to weathering, many of the old red gum railway sleepers laid in the early 1900’s are still around today unsealed and going strong after a century of heavy use.

The weight of timber board is often a turn off for many surfers, however this is based on the misconception that a lighter board is faster and more responsive. In fact this board’s weight gives the board more speed and glide that allows you to surf a much greater area of the wave than your regular board. The low entry rocker, planning hull and chined rails are also all designed to give the board more speed down the line. You will also notice the rails of this board are quite sharp, combine this with small twin keel fins and the board’s responsiveness is greatly improved. A chambered timber board is much more lively underfoot than foam and fiberglass boards (especially when the surf has a bit of power), it will flex a bit and bounce in and out of turns, the resonance of timber means you will “feel” the way the wave and the board interact. The feeling is hard to explain, suffice to say it’s a great ride!

This board will require you to modify your surfing. You will need to surf rail to rail, as the rails are what gives the board it’s control and speed and hold in the steep sections of the wave. You will need to keep a rail ‘engaged’ in the wave at all times, this will largely prevent you from going completely vertical, but you will be rewarded with an ability to do huge arcing cut backs and long drawn out top-to -bottom ‘figure 8’ turns. This board feels slow to paddle, but from as soon as you catch the wave this board will have almost instant speed, you can relax and just enjoy the speed and energy of the surf, you will be able to make sections that you once thought were impossible, you can nose ride when it takes your fancy and land huge long floaters with ease.

This board is made to bring the fun back into your surfing, no matter what the conditions are like, all the test surfs have been in very poor conditions, but the board has still performed well and the surfers have had a blast. This board is designed for a surfer from 65kgs and up to 90kgs (can be heavier, but need to paddle harder) and to be surfed in anything up to overhead and a half, onshore, off shore, cross shore it doesn’t matter. This board is the first of its model and has been tested by myself and other interested surfers, as you can see in the photos. The ideal wave for this board is a long peeling break with a variety of fast hollow sections and slow shoulders that break anywhere from knee high to a couple of feet overhead. Since surfing my first timber surfboard, I have only gone back to my regular foam and glass thruster for two sessions (when the swell was 6-8ft+).
Surfing wood is addictive.

If you know anyone looking for an affordable wooden board thats a blast to ride, get them to check this one out - Cheers James

This shape is a finalist in the Shaper's Apprentice competition run through Smorgasboarder Magazine! Check it out on page 105 of issue 10 here: http://www.smorgasboarder.com.au/

Looking back to rebuild the future of surfing.

Do you ever find yourself just sitting and watching life? I do and the last time this happened I was checking the surf on a fairly average day at Japs (the local beach) … Nothing really changes quickly here. If it does change it kinda stays that way for a long time. Anyway this day was ok, winds were light and a bit off shore then a bit cross shore and back again. The waves were ‘saw toothing’ as my Californian friend would say, but there was an occasional good one peaking at just the right spot on the bank and peeling left down the line for 30 meters or so before fattening out to nothing in the channel. There was probably half a dozen guys sitting on that bank, which was the only one really working on the beach as far as I could see.

For every good wave, there would have five other waves that no one surfed. There wasn’t really any one thing wrong with those waves, they were just over head high normally, some we a bit fat and slow and some were a bit too fast or peaked too far inside. These waves just rolled on through unridden and it struck me as a waste. I mean why, why did no one try and surf these other waves, its not like there was an endless run of good ones, there wasn’t, the good ones were here and there one, two, even five minutes apart. I figured it was unlikely that they (the kids surfing) didn’t want to catch waves. As a grommet (I always loved that name for young surfers) and sometimes even now, I was so keen to ride waves, I’d imagine waves even when I was living in Kinglake hours from the beach. I’d run down the dirt track behind our house in the National Park and pretend the trees and shrubs that overhung the track were waves and I’d trail my hand along their leaves and branches visualising the perfect barrel I was in…

The only reason I could think of why these waves were being surfed was that they (the surfers) weren’t able to ride those waves that didn’t line up just right. Their boards and in some part their skills weren’t up to the task. Looking at the boards they were all fairly similar, short, narrow, curvy with three fins, just like all the guys on the ‘dream tour’ ride. I’m sure the reason it’s called the dream tour, is because these guys get to surf all the best waves (or at least those that are well known) around the world in the peak of their swell season with just one or two other guys. Most surfers can only dream of that. Which begs the question if their boards are designed for those dream waves (and their considerable skill) why on earth do we kid ourselves by thinking they are the right boards for us to ride at our local break? I mean Japs has its day, but that’s just it, its day, singular. Unless you only surf on the very odd occasion when it’s absolutely pumping and all the elements come together just right, for the most part you’ll be riding less than perfect waves and normally you’ll have to share those less than perfect waves with half a dozen less than considerate other guys. It would stand to reason then, that the boards you ride on all those other days when it’s not quite perfect or indeed a long way from perfect, would be considerably different to those ridden on the ‘dream tour.’ Logical right? Yet our surf stores (or store since the other place closed down), don’t stock alternative boards, they just stock dozens of ‘dream tour’ boards with some slight variations in size and shape, fins and rails, and of course the big seller - different brands and colours! Are we surfers really that shallow? Are we too cool to surf the not the quite perfect days? Are we not creative enough to surf a slow fat waves well, to change our board’s shape, or our technique, our manoeuvres to suit the waves we live with? Watching all the old surf films, people surfed whenever they could, good days, average days, they were out there and having a blast, stoked if there was a good wall and loving the company of other surfers. What’s changed? Now we surfers hate it if another bloke paddles into our wave, we don’t surf if it’s not ‘good’, and a smile is a rare thing to see out there in the water…  

Things do change slowly here, and I think they are changing, surfers are waking up to the dreaded onshore Sou’ Easta’ and wanting to go surf anyway, so they are looking for other boards that might work well on those less than perfect days. Hopefully they might even begin to enjoy surfing with each other again. For me the change couldn’t come quick enough. I build and ride hollow wooden boards, they are nothing like the dream tour boards, they are wide, heavy, shorter, and they go really fast. They don’t turn as tightly as a regular foam thruster and an air is fairly unlikely, but they are heaps of fun in the waves here. There is one thing a Chinese pop out can never be, customised - Customised to your waves, to your size, to your style. If you are looking at getting a new board for summer, think about it. Get something you will have fun on even the surf is small, or a bit onshore, or if (dare I say it) some guy drops in…

Welcome

Welcome to Kiri Surfcraft. We produce high quality sustainable timber surfcraft. Our boards are made to bring the fun back into your surfing, no matter what the conditions are like.

Established in South West Victoria we use sustainably harvested paulownia grown in plantations in Eastern Australia.

We try to make our boards as green as possible without compromising on build quality or performance.

Our boards are affordable and will last you a long time if you look after them. Please keep checking back to see our latest boards, news, and events in the world of wooden boards.

Enjoy the waves!
James