update

It's been a month, so I guess its time for an update. I'm still working on putting together my blank, as I wrote earlier, I'm gluing up 1830mm by 13mm pieces of fulcata. It's a bit tedious, but thing are coming together. The blank will be 2130 by 600 mm, about 7ft by 24 inches. I'm cutting rocker into three or four boards each weekend. Here's a pic of where I'm at...

Had a good trip to Hawaii in January. Got another great board shaped for me at the Factory, something along the lines of a Mitsven round-tail quad (although I went with the quad/thruster set up). The board has a really wide round tail that produces a crazy amount of lift. I'm thinking about going round tail on this build as well...time to jump back on the aku shaper to see what I can come up with. Here's a pic of the new stick...

Ezo Honu

Had a few waves this week, it was cold but fun, out for two hours on the 30th. No waves on New Years day, so I went for a run on the beach and ran across this, a dead sea turtle. I know they're pretty common in Okinawa and Shizuoka, but I had no idea they came up to Hokkaido. Poor guy, cold way to go...
off to Hawaii tomorrow...aloha

Template 1

I've downloaded the Aku Shaper software and have been working on some designs for the board. I'm looking for something with low entry rocker (for the summer mush), and lots of float. I'd like something like a fish up front, but want to try a different kind of tail (I've been riding swallow tails pretty exclusively over the last few years and want try something different). So here's what I came up with, a 6'1o" fishy diamond tail, with over 60 litres of volume (almost 170 beers) and super flat rocker.

Board Plan

After considering the options (HWS or chambered), I've decided to go with chambered as I really want to "shape" the board, and want to choose a build option where I don't necessarily have to glass it. This is basically what I will be attempting:

http://www.surfinggreen.com.au/how-to-make-a-chambered-hollow-wood-surfboard/

My first step is selecting wood. I've decided to go with Albasia Falcata, basically becuase it is light, strong, and a very sustainable type of wood. I haven't seen other boards made with falcata, but it appears similar to Paulonia (but perhaps a bit lighter). Here's a rundown on the charcteristics of albasia fulcata:

http://hasana.50webs.com/indowood/albasia.htmlwood/albasia.html

I can get the falcata in 6 foot lengths at my local home center, but it is only in 13 mm thicknesses. So, I plan on gluing three of these up, with one foot extensions, to make my own 7 foot boards. Here's a pic what the wood looks like. Most of it is quite light coloured, while some is pinkish brown. Making the boards for the blank is my going to take a bit of time. Basically, I want to make and glue up one at a time, slow and easy.

While waiting for the glue to dry I'll be getting stuck into this bit of ongoing inspiration:

http://www2.swaylocks.com/node/1029108

And weighing over templates:
http://greenlightsurfsupply.com/templates.aspx

First post

Well, here it is, my blog dedicated to life in Hokkaido...more specifically to surfing around Iburi and chroncling my first attempt at building a wooden board. It is December, it's cold, and we've been without waves for the last two weeks, so I suppose this is as good a time as any to give this a go. I'm stuck at 190 sessions for 2011, so it looks like the double century will not happen this year. Hopefully getting myself stuck into building a board will help me get over my disappointment and hold me over between the long winter lulls...