Kite specific alaias

[ToeKnee]

My alaia:




172cm X 43cm, 5 cm nose rise and 5 cm concave. 1.25cm to 1.6cm thickness (half inch to 5/8").
Made from 4 materials from the top down:Linseed oil (seals wood, good grip), Wood (douglas fir from the lumber yard!), Carbon laminate (6oz, biax.), Paint. Tracks really well and fits in the car, just the thing for constantly changing water level in the reservoir. It weighs 4.5 kg (10 lbs) so easy to grab and carry with one hand.

Good idea ieism! i will try it in the powder this winter

[RalfsB]

Very beautiful, how thick is yours? What wood is made of? What is its weight? Thanks

It is made from a glued wood plank, thickness is 18mm, I have made the edges and the nose thinner, also slight concave in the middle. The wood, I believe, is fir. On both sides I have thin fiberglass cloth in epoxy. Initially it was just an oiled wood but then it broke in 2 pieces (lengthwise) while riding, so I needed to make it stronger. Initially it also was totally finless but then it was too slippery, so I added 2 small keel fins. It weights just a bit over 5kg.

One drawback is that if you lose this board in the sea, it stays very low in the water (just like a twintip), but I liked this board very much so one of my next projects was an alaia-inspired foam board. The dimensions were roughly the same as my wooden alaia, the shape was closer to Firewire Cornice, the bottom, just like with alaia, had no rocker, just a little rocker in the nose, deep concave, 3 small fins instead of 2. It is still one of my favorites, especially in light wind / shallow places.

[RalfsB]

...
172cm X 43cm, 5 cm nose rise and 5 cm concave. 1.25cm to 1.6cm thickness (half inch to 5/8"). ...

Wow, fantastic job!

[Chris Middleton]

RalfsB - this is where the Kite Alaia comes into its own with the rockered nose. Pearling becomes a thing of the past.
An Alaia can be ridden in any conditions however, you have to ride it off the tail to avoid burying the nose.
As a result riding off the tail pushes a huge amount of water - BRING ON THE NOSE ROCKER - this avoids, as I said earlier pearling and as the boards are between 2m & 2,4m in length the flex in the boards renders them remarkebly comfortable. The thickness of the boards we've been shaping is 19 to 25mm and the material we've been using is Paulownia - due to its lightweight, mechanical strength and of course it's natural hydrophobic qualities. But... the weight factor is a consideration if you have to walk a long way to your local spot but you can use any wood or even marine plywood as I chose to do in the video guide: diykilaia.com

[sflinux]

Kite specific versus surf specific, the only difference imo is the kite alaia should be glassed. I've made three unglassed alaias out of redwood which were super fun, but fragile for kite use. The next unglassed one I made out of baltic birch plywood which has held up beautifully to the abuse of kiting. The naish alaia is glassed. Many people tend to over exaggerate the bottom concave/contours on an alaia which could potentially add drag. Just remember the rail acts like a fin too. The thin knifey rail along with bottom single concave gives the tail lots of grab, similar to a single fin, but faster (no drag) and looser when you want it to be (like skateboarding in the rain). If you go too long on an alaia, the nose will catch chop in kitesurfing conditions. Rather than adding rocker (which will slow the board down and negatively affect how the board is ridden backwards), I would keep the board flat for maximum speed and just shorten the overall length of the board. When the board is short enough, you can weigh the tail and slice through chop. When an alaia is thin enough, it will flex to create rocker (to control speed) and create negative rocker (to help in catching waves). The narrower the alaia is, the faster the ride will be.
Definitely worth the effort. Hydrofoils don't always work at low tide, where something like an alaia or skimboard will. An alaia being that it is longer and narrower, is faster than a skimboard, so will require less kite than a skimboard imo.

[gregkn73]

Kite specific versus surf specific, the only difference imo is the kite alaia should be glassed. I've made three unglassed alaias out of redwood which were super fun, but fragile for kite use. The next unglassed one I made out of baltic birch plywood which has held up beautifully to the abuse of kiting. The naish alaia is glassed. Many people tend to over exaggerate the bottom concave/contours on an alaia which could potentially add drag. Just remember the rail acts like a fin too. The thin knifey rail along with bottom single concave gives the tail lots of grab, similar to a single fin, but faster (no drag) and looser when you want it to be (like skateboarding in the rain). If you go too long on an alaia, the nose will catch chop in kitesurfing conditions. Rather than adding rocker (which will slow the board down and negatively affect how the board is ridden backwards), I would keep the board flat for maximum speed and just shorten the overall length of the board. When the board is short enough, you can weigh the tail and slice through chop. When an alaia is thin enough, it will flex to create rocker (to control speed) and create negative rocker (to help in catching waves). The narrower the alaia is, the faster the ride will be.
Definitely worth the effort. Hydrofoils don't always work at low tide, where something like an alaia or skimboard will. An alaia being that it is longer and narrower, is faster than a skimboard, so will require less kite than a skimboard imo.

How thick did you make the one with plywood? And what is its dimensions? thanks