I had the absolute pleasure of meeting the one and only Tom Wegener. He is an absolute legend and amazing shaper. He is such a humble and genuine bloke.
Tom lent me one of his new "Corky" Alaias. This one was one of the early prototypes and had been rebuilt several times. The flex in this board was incredible! According to Tom this flex is what allows the board to really hold into the wave. I have built dozens of alaias and alia hybrids but surfing a truly finless board backside has been really challenging.It just so happened that Granite's was pumping this day. There were probably 40 surfers out there and getting a wave was a bit of challenge.
I couldn't believe how easy these boards are to paddle! After a long wait on the inside, I realised I'd have to take off right out at the heavier peak if I wanted to get a wave. Hesitantly I took off on my first wave and not surprisingly got worked. Determined to snag one of these near perfect waves, I paddled back out and took the next wave that came my way. I took off a little earlier, I set my line with my right hand dragging and I was blown away by the how well this board held in the pocket. The board flew down the line and I struggled to pull it back in as we raced out onto the shoulder.
Three waves later I was totally hooked. I'm totally sold on the cork alaia concept. I'm also super excited to get back into building some more boards. Massive thanks to Tom! What a genius!
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