New 5'6" alaia for belly riding

I really love riding prone.  I do it more than regular standup surfing.  Its a whole different world when you are on your belly, your nose just inches above the water.  And every day is big!

 This board has a built up nose and rails, which give it some nose rocker that helps with a steep drop in.  The rolled rail and the tail board give the board a bit of stiffness, so they don't break as easily as a flat alaia.  

When the glue is set, the side rails get chamfered on the inside and the thickness will be zero at the tail.  The nose block gets lots of shaping on the inside, so that there is a smooth transition from the deck to the nose and tops of the rail.  Because of the thicker rail, I'll put two tiny half moon fins just to give the rails a bit more bit in a steep face.  

This is the original model which got reshaped 4 or 5 times until i was happy with the rails.  I ended up with some pretty wide chined rails in the nose section. You can see the nice curves that the nose and rail have where they meet the deck.  This board developed stress cracks where the top rail has a joint.  The new board has a one piece rail to eliminate the joint.  

Yeah, I'm a Copy Cat...

There is a reason they are popular...they work and are super fun even in 2-foot crap and the strap doesn't even have to be centered!

More Mini - Simmons

 The fins roughed out

 I found some mahogany for the nose and tail blocks in the yard. 

710 Finished

Finally got some pictures of the  new board to post.  I've ridden this  board for the last 2 weeks in surf from 2 feet to about 5 feet and I'm learning how to really enjoy it.  I've learned to stay on the tail so I can use my weight to drive off the bottom and really how to pump across the wave face.  Trim in only a short step forward and really it can be ridden is juicy surf without moving the feet at all...something new to my longboard style.   I have found it to be very fast, super loose and turny and easy to paddle.  The low rocker is not a problem on late drops.  I can now make sections that before would have taken me out.  I think the extra rake on the fin gives the board a little extra drive out of the bottom turn, because when done smoothly, I can really feel the board accelerate back up the face.  So I'm pretty stoked with the performance of it.  Eddie of Island Influence told me his old-school shaper's forumla for placement of a fixed fin.  Definitely works Eddie!

Wood Quiver, circa 2008