Monday, 11 June 2012
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!
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Awesome shapes!
Thomo's designs are really inspiring! Good to see him starting to get his name out there.
Monday, 9 April 2012
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
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!
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!
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
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.
Thursday, 8 March 2012
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!
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!
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