Retro Wave
Still surfing a foam-and-fiberglass surfboard? You're way behind the eight ball, dude.
A burgeoning group of surfers and shapers in SoCal and beyond are returning to surfing's roots by embracing a material that feels downright revolutionary right now: Wood.
Alaias are a model of surfboard that owe much of their popularity to Tom Wegener and follow in the tradition of ancient Hawaiian wave craft. They are subtle in their simplicity — a single finless wooden board — often fabricated from paulownia.
But make no mistake, while many of these boards look like plain planks of wood, their construction is modern in every sense and employs design elements that pull from the latest in contemporary board design (like swallow tails and double concaves).
To ride them is to experience what is referred to as the “Lala” – or surfing in the ancient Hawaiian style. And suddenly the boards are dotting the lineups from Malibu to Venice.
"Riding an Alaia is infinitely harder than riding a modern foam board," said Wegener, who's based in Australia. "Which is good for a surfer wanting to show his or her skill."
Part of what's behind the surge in popularity of the boards is that surfers on any level can ride them. There's also an environmental allure, knowing that the board you're riding is literally a board — a natural element (no harmful chemicals or processes need be employed in the shaping of an Alaia).
Beyond that, the Alaia is novel and unlocks gestures in the surf in a way that foam boards are not capable of. For example, due to their lack of fins, alaias entice surfers to stay slotted in the pocket, imposing a hydrodynamic restriction that encourages surfers to be more creative in their close proximity to the curl.
Popularized in recent films like Thomas Campbell's The Present, Derek Hynd’s Musica Surfica and the Tom Wegener’s Creation Plantation (which includes a complete tutorial on making one’s own Alaia), the craft has also recently been picked up by a variety of surfing superstars including David Rastovich, Tom Carroll and Rob Machado. Surf shops including Mollusk in Venice also stock the boards.
Despite their simplicity, don’t expect the alaias to be considerably cheaper than a new fiberglass board; Wegener models start at around $595 retail. Kits with paulownia wood blanks and full instructions on how to construct the board are also available from Tom Wegener for about $250 for those with a DIY bent.
Wegener and his brother, Jon Wegener, are already surfing royalty. Surfing Magazine named Tom “Shaper of the Year” in 2009, when the Alaia was still a blip on surfing’s hype-scape. It was Tom who, during a 2004 trip to Hawaii, visited the Bishop Museum and fell in love with the wooden boards.
Soon after, he began replicating the design and, along with his brother — who shapes in the L.A. area and is based in Hermosa Beach — is largely responsible for the popularity of wooden surf boards today.
Tom runs what could be called a biodynamic Alaia farm in Australia — where Alaia production circles back on itself as the woodchips from the production of the boards are composted and used for mulch to grow the new trees on his property (which will one day be shaped into Alaias).
He says the green techniques he has pioneered are “enormously important” to him and that he enjoys the fact that he's, “freely given away all he knows.”
His film and kits put the means of Alaia production into the hands of the surfer and add another dimension to Alaia culture: Ordinary surfers are beginning to make their own boards.
But (let's be real), there's still no match for an expertly shaped Wegener Alaia. Tom attributes the recent rise in popularity to a mix of creative rebelliousness, novelty, challenge and performance.
“A complete generation has been brought up on the same equipment which is at odds with the freedom/rebellious movement that sparked the popularity of surfing in the early 1960s," he said. "For the first time in 100 years, surfing has become static. The kids are looking for something that will set them apart from what their dads were doing, but at the same time they are connecting with surfing’s deeper Hawaiian roots.”
The Alaia is not without its detractors however. The argument centers on whether or not it's a passing fad, or whether there are skills that contemporary surfers and shapers can learn from its design.
According to the Wegeners, the modern version of the historic Hawaiian surfboard holds in its curves and concavities opportunities for surfers to unlock new nuances in their sport — and who knows, for shapers it just might hold the keys to the next notable steps in modern board design.
At the very least, “It is the fastest surfboard for sure," said Wegener, "and on a good wave it will out-tube ride any modern board by a mile.”