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Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012
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Back in April (2012), I decided to look
around the internet to see what’s really going on in the world of surfing. What
is the new trend? Is it surfing shortboards, longboards, SUPs or something
else. Honestly at the time I didn’t know what to expect. So I did a little
internet surfing and created the post called Gliders
and Riders that has a bunch of video clips of people riding some
interesting flotation crafts. Some guys were riding really small short wide
boards (Fish) and a few people were riding boards without fins (both foam
boards and wooden boards). That’s when I quietly stumble upon the Alaia
(surfboard).
www.surfscience.com defines the Alaia as follows:
Alaias
are thin wooden finless boards whose history traces back to the people of
Hawaii before the 20th century. The predominant material used
currently is Polonia which is light, extremely strong, and will not
delaminate or have problems from taking on water. Alaias will last a lifetime
if treated well and bring the rider back to a simpler form of surfing waves.
I did some more research and it seemed as
though it wouldn’t be that hard to make my own Alaia. There is lots of
information on the internet about all the steps it takes to shape an Alaia from
a bunch of sources. I did hit one snag- I didn’t know where to get Polonia
wood for my Alaia. I finally found a few sources on-line but they all seemed
pretty expensive to me (around $300 USD). I decided to go with a different
material (Pine wood) for two reasons. (1) Pine is a lot cheaper (around $30
USD) for the end size I wanted (6’ Alaia) and (2) I’ve never shaped anything out
of wood or foam before and I’d probably get pretty upset with myself if I ended
up trashing a $300 Polonia wood blank, but I wouldn’t even frown at messing up
a $30 Pine blank as long as I learned how to use the tools so that I could do
better on my next try.
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
I went to a few local Home Improvement places that carry
wood in search of my Pine Alaia blank, 3 different Home Depot’s and 2 Lowes. I
settled on a 6 foot blank that was ¾” thick (couldn’t find 1” thick blanks
larger than 3 feet).
I wanted my Alaia to have a familiar look and shape as my
7’4” Hybrid surfboard (the board that I’m most comfortable riding in all wave
sizes). I used some scotch tape and taped together six pieces of 8.5”x11” thick
blank paper to make a template of my 7’4” hybrid nose. Then I used some more scotch tape and taped together six
pieces of 8.5”x11” thick blank paper to make a template of my 7’4” hybrid tail
(from just above the fins).
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
I cut out my templates and traced out the nose and tail designs
on my Pine blank.
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
I was very happy with how things were looking so I cut out
my basic shape and smoothed out the wobbly parts (leaving a hard sharp edge).
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
I knew that there was some concave in the tail but wasn’t
sure how far it ran up the board so it was back to the internet for more
detailed instructions. I marked off a 6 inch concave on the bottom that was 1/4 inch deep (which would leave a 1/2 inch to stand on)...
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
I found a few more sites that offered more detailed instructions but that didn't seem good enough. I needed to touch a completed Alaia
board. I searched all my local surf shops and found an Alaia for sale at E.T
Surf Shop in Hermosa Beach for $695. I felt the rails and how the tapered from
½” at the rail to the thicker center. I touched the smooth concave bottom and
found the channel to be much deeper than I expected, but they used a 1” Polonia
so they could have more curves without compromising the overall structure
(wasn’t too thin).
I rushed home while the memories where still fresh in my
hands and went to work on shaping the concave and the tapered rails. I also
rounded the nose edge for a smoother transition (I hope).
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
Totally stoked on my shape, I did a sanity check next to my
7’4” hybrid. Awesome!
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
I knew from the beginning that I wanted to add some art
work on my Alaia. After some deep thought I decided on the words ‘IQ TEST.’ I
figured I’d write it in a way that would make it hard to read like in graffiti
style or something like that which in part is like an IQ TEST in itself. I
flipped though one of my sketch books and ironically found exactly what I was
looking for on the first page, ‘IQ TEST’ written in ambigram along with my name
Eric J (J is my middle name initial) also written in ambigram were the words can
be read the same way from left to right even if the words are upside down (rotated
180 degrees). I thought up clever punch lines about my Alaia with the words ‘IQ
TEST’ on it like if someone wanted to try out my board then they would be “taking
my Alaia IQ TEST.”
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
My mental Alaia swell was building and with my growing enthusiasm I
did some more data gathering and put together a new post called ‘The
Concrete Jungle Has Eyes for Alaia.’ I really believe that the Alaia
revival will define a new generation of surfers. There are so many great
surfers in the world today and I’m really happy to be part of the classical
progressive group that is emerging that enjoys a wider range of wave sliding
toys.
After finishing up the art work on my Alaia I went back to
my notes on how to seal it. It turns out that there are lots of ways to do it
and went with using lots of coats of boiled linseed oil
with a day to dry in between coats. One the problems with using Pine instead of
using Polonia is that Pine soaks up oils (or water) way more than Polonia
(which I hear naturally repeals water). I think the first coat that I applied
was thin and so it turned out that I needed to apply even more coats.
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
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| Eric Cedeno - Alaia IQ TEST Surfboard 2012 |
I can't wait to take it out for an IQ TEST drive... I'll keep you posted.
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