After watching the footage of Derek Hynd surfing chunky J Bay on his finless boards I was in awe and inspired but where to begin should one want to have a crack at finless surfing.
I’d hazard to guess that many of us that have seen alaias being ridden have thought that they have looked really difficult both to paddle and ride.
Now Tom Wegener has come up with these…http://www.surfindustries.com/surfboards/seaglass_tuna.php#review
Looks like the learning curve just somewhat flatter.
heh heh, but my knees don't bend anywhere NEAR that much any more.
I have 3 shaped EPS blanks that have been sitting at Oneula’s house for a couple of years, and we never got around to finishing. The original plan was to veneer wood over them to make them look like wood. Now I guess we can just glass um
massive leap from making only timber boards and growing and recycling your own timber to making boards with toxic materials with GSI , not anything wrong with it just a big difference to what I thought Tom was all about....interesting boards, I wanna ride one....
I'd like to try one too, although I'm still figuring out how to work the boards that have fins on them!
i’m betting this will come full circle-- HWS folks coming up with their own version of wegener’s seaglass tuna, which is essentially his ‘upgrade’ of the traditional inch-think wooden alaia hehe watch this space! " )
the foamies look much slower. Just an observation. Face it, half the surfing community will probably never stand up on a wood alaia. Took me a while. They (toms new foamies) do look fun.
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i'm betting this will come full circle-- HWS folks coming up with their own version of wegener's seaglass tuna, which is essentially his 'upgrade' of the traditional inch-think wooden alaia hehe watch this space! " )
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its already been happening, I have been dabbling for about 12 months with a few variations of hybrid alaia-fish type finless craft, and few others too.....
Howzit cuttlefish, IAfter watching the footage I as blown away by how good Derek could ride that board.I think the surfing world is in for some surprises and hope more guys try them,I know I would but I am not sure what my health is going to do and if I will beable to urf again in this life, but not for not trying.Aloha,Kokua
howdy pridmore,
how about posting your HWS alaia-fish hybrid pics here? looking forward already
cheers,
Hey Charlie,
Isaac who’s riding Tom’s board in the You tube clip in the link I posted seems to be able to stand tall quite a lot.
Kokua,
I really do hope your health will allow you back into the water after all you’ve been through.
Mark, I reckon your board will be a lot different and I’m keen to try both of them.
I understand Tom’s buying plantation wood from NSW as I’m sure demand out-sttripped his modest crop around his home long ago.
I was really suprised to see Tom collaborating with GSI as well.
dont wanna post here as I have already posted elsewhere in these forums and when the thread has another shaper ( and a great one at that ) , I dont wanna hijack with my pics, other thread called "Less Fins"....yeah, didnt think Tom would go down that super mainstream, made in Asia road, I'm sure theres more to it and Toms such a great guy and shaper......
I dont know how mainstream these can go but I am very interested to see ( finless in general and not just Toms ) , your average HPS guys seemed to think it is stupid from my recent experiences, and most arent willing to try it, even when offered a board to try in suitable conditiions......
I reckon it’s like many things that we see and think that will never catch on but once you’ve seen enough of them it becomes normal enough.
Surfers are no different in this regard nowadays.
Apparently their first shipment arriving in November and is just about sold out already.
Both the senior staff (guys I’ve known for 20+ years and are 50ish) have ordered one and are frothing.
One of them already rides wooden Alaias but the second one has never been in to it.
I figure if there’s enough of them around people will start looking to shapers like Pridmore to custom make their own boards.
I know there may even be a niche market for me too…making fabric alaia board covers.
cool stuff. i better make a compsand one
how thick is it
The 5’4" X 16&1/8" X 2&1/4"
The 6’2" X 17" X 2&1/8"
If their epoxy alaia works well and has the necessary flex then a compsand should work even better.
How about the rails- ala bodyboards.
Balsa Composite alaia #1
B C Alaia #2
Now I just need to learn how to stand up on them!
Les
soor… somehow they came up doubles?
lost me there, hmm sorry what’s HPS btw?
man that thing is looking so much like my nideckerSL
HPS , im thinking High Performance Shortboarders
