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My first Alaia

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Olivier D
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My first Alaia

Postby Olivier D » Sat Sep 10, 2016 3:08 pm

Hello guys,

Could you give me some advice the dimensions of my Alaia?

I've made this with different stuff I found on the net.

FYI, the rails will be 0,6cm deep and the concave will be around 0,4cm deep and 115cm long.
Capture d’écran 2016-09-11 à 16.48.30.png
Thanks!
Last edited by Olivier D on Sun Sep 11, 2016 4:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: My first Alaia

Postby BWD » Sun Sep 11, 2016 3:08 am

if you are 70kg, great, especially for some power in the kite.
if you are 80kg+ or want to use it for light wind, make it 46-50cm wide.

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Olivier D
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Re: My first Alaia

Postby Olivier D » Sun Sep 11, 2016 10:01 am

Hello BWD,

I'm 75kg but I would like to use it for light to medium wind (10-15 knots). Should I make it a bit wider?

And last question about the rails, I've made them 5cm wide from the edge all around the board, am I correct or should I make straight rails from the bottom of the board?

Thanks!

Olivier

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downunder
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Re: My first Alaia

Postby downunder » Mon Sep 12, 2016 3:04 am

5 cm sounds about right, maybe even more than that as I remember seeing it.

I would glass it on top with a vac and a FG, peel ply, bleader, breather, vac bag layout. Than, you remove a peel ply and get a nice non-slippery finish.

D.

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Re: My first Alaia

Postby BWD » Mon Sep 12, 2016 3:19 am

I would go for 47 or 48cm at your weight and I would carry the wide part of the board somewhat farther aft than depicted in your pictures as well.
it's an interesting outline you have created. Since you are going to use rocker, you may not need much concave sidecut, in my opinion.
Your outline looks like it would function as concave sidecut, although it's a little different. Interesting.
But for me, side cut or none, I would put the wide point where the "20cm" label is on your concave, because that is where your front foot will live. But, to each his own.

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Re: My first Alaia

Postby RalfsB » Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:00 am

BWD wrote:I would go for 47 or 48cm at your weight and I would carry the wide part of the board somewhat farther aft than depicted in your pictures as well.
I agree. I have a very similar shape as in your picture but a bit wider -- very good for light winds and upwind, can also handle powered conditions.

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Re: My first Alaia

Postby zob » Mon Sep 12, 2016 9:26 pm

Think of concave and beveled bottom as two features which should together form a sled-like rails on each side along the concave. And the board sits deeper in the water. Where the outline gets wider and the concave is ending (or starting, it depends :D) bottom rail gets wider and creates gradually bigger lifting surface until it joins into one when the concave finishes (this was from tail to nose description :D)
Check the Addvance jet bottom cross section sketch (somewhere in the middle of the page). Off coarse they don't need to be that pointy, just to get the point.
I would suggest you make the bevel wider than 5 cm. Follow the width you are going for.
Bottom rail also represents a tiping point, and further thowards center it is, greater is the leverage of your heel pressing near the edge. This helps in low wind because if you can not keep the board on the edge, you go downwind.
Making the bevel a bit concaved would make the ride even smoother.

p.s.: Making those hips in the outline (like waterlust graham cracker alaia) again creates just a little wider bottom rails and lift in the back and ads to the playfulness of the board ;)

p.p.s.: You can be more generous with the tail cut :D LIke 3- 4 cm in and wide as the concave basically evolving the cut down thowards the bottom rail. It gives better water release on turns, and better control if you need it.

Sorry, nothing on your actual question. :D What is your biggest kite?

p.p.p.s.: Nice project's front page!

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Re: My first Alaia

Postby Bob the kiter » Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:47 am

Hi, I tried couple times my friend's board original Naish Alaia. It was awesome, I never believed I can go upwind so easy. About your board, it has the front rocker, that is good. I suggest you to go even for bigger one as I pinched the wave with Naish couple times.
Not sure about the width. Naish board and NeoAlaia http://www.NeoAlaia.com they both make more narrower boards. They explain it is better for steering the board. Your thick board gives more lift. Both ideas makes sense for me. I would love to try yours ones it is finished.

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Olivier D
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Re: My first Alaia

Postby Olivier D » Tue Oct 11, 2016 8:21 am

Hi guys,

Thanks to you all.

Just a short update. I've finally bought some red cedar wood plank. The problem is that they were quite thin (2mm +++).

I've made some changes to my original shape:

Width: 47 cm
Concave: 5 mm deep

For my first Alaia, I won't have any rocker. The planks are too fin to play with that anyway.
lattes.JPEG
display.jpg
pre_colle.jpg
collage.jpg
post_colle.jpg
avant.jpg
vue_globale_concave.jpg
vue_concave.jpg

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Olivier D
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Re: My first Alaia

Postby Olivier D » Tue Oct 11, 2016 8:25 am

Now I have some doubts about the solidity of the whole. The board is 18,4mm at the tickets points and 14mm tick in the middle of the concave.

When I put my hand on the middle of the board and I pick up the (left or right) extremity of the board, there seems to be a lot of flexibility. Maybe too much?

A friend of mine told me to test it gently on the water when it will be finished and see afterwards. I really want to avoid laminating my board as I want to keep it really simple. And I don't have any experience on that technique.

What do you think?


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