Latest Alaia Blank Technology. I have been working with the growers of paulowia trees and millers to make the strongest blanks. Here is the latest test. They flex but don't crack! It is a slightly different type of paulownia and grown in New South Wales. We use just four cuts from every tree and specially glued. We have really come a long way. Available soon.

Europe Trip: Let's make some surfboards!

I have had a pretty good run for the last few years as a surfboard maker. Plenty of great customers have kept me busy and, with a very low overhead, I have had the freedom to experiment. I have stumbled upon such innovations as paulownia wood a as a basis for surfboards and new glues for putting surfboards together. I made a line of hollow paulownia surfboard from fish to 18 footers.

My life changed in 2004 when I saw the ancient surfboards in the Bishop Museum in Hawaii. I was enormously inspired and in 2005 I started making replicas. A small tribe of us started riding the boards, and low and behold, we found that the ancients were surfing far beyond what we imagined at the time. A flat piece of wood is really fun to surf, but just as important, making your own flat piece of wood surfboard is fantastically fun. I started selling the paulownia alaia blanks with templates and a “How To Shape an Alaia” DVD. I have never known such positive feed back. It was a whole new level of stoke.

Making your own equipment is a HUGE part of surfing. Matt, my team shaper, and I are going to Europe with little more than a tool bag and some templates and a large stack of wood. We just hope to inspire others to get back to the basics. We will make boards as we travel and let any one try them. We will give workshop classes to pass on all I have learned.

Along with the Alaia boards, Matt and I will be testing and making the new Tuna boards. They are like an alaia except they paddle super easily. They are a whole new style of surfing and they can also be made in the average garage.

This is the new paradigm in surfing: wood in garages without toxic chemicals. The paulownia wood and new glues have really helped this change take place. Also, the times of foam and glass have dominated surfing for two generations and they have become a little boring.

The idea for the trip came when I made the first Tuna board. I had a carton of beer, a bunch of off cuts of wood, and an Idea. By the end of the weekend I had the board in the water and it surfed far better than I expected. “My gosh” I thought. Again, a new surfboard that is just as fun to surf as any other board I had ever made. Are there other boards out there???? Let’s grab some tools and go on the road to find out.

For further information about Tom Wegener, please see the four videos on
www.youtube.com/watch?v=apNmUbiRiIU

For the introduction to the Tunas please check out www.vimeo.com/4284833

But, is there a more basic surfboard than the alaia? I figured there must be another major piece to the puzzle. There had to be a board that surfed like an alaia but was long and easy to paddle. The Ancient Hawaiians had a board like this, though there are only the faintest references of it. I made board which fitted the need and I named it the Tuna.

This summer I am searching for the new paradigm in surfboards. It is a board that is very environmentally friendly with no toxic parts. It has to be from simple tools that can be used in a normal garage. As far as surfing well… Well, actually the alaia appears to be the best over all surfboard ever made at this point. What I have seen now supports the thought that it is the surfer not the board that makes great surfing. But a great surfer is about the enjoyment of the lifestyle, not the maneuvers performed in the water.

Matt and I are coming soon with a very old Australian crocodile skin bag filled with tools. I hope we can meet up with you and make some great surfboards.