Alaia for prone riding

[Uncle Grumpy]

Yes to both. The concave is very slight.
Glassed by Moonlight as well.
It's a beauty but too heavy.

[bgreen]

Uncle G,

Nice board. What are your thoughts about riding finned and finless boards?

Flojo,

I'm not sure how tall you are but I imagine a 5'8" board would be difficult to ride prone. You'd have to move around a lot so finding the sweet spot would be difficult. There is also the all important question of the type of wave you are riding when the board sideslips (whitewater, fat walls, the bottom of a wave - all highly likely spots for sideslipping).

Bob

[Uncle Grumpy]

Hi Bob,
Over the past few years I've had so much fun playing around with the old school (finless) paipo and alaia style boards that at this point I'm pretty much over finned boards.
I only have two in the quiver and they rarely get ridden.
Fast and flowing is what I'm after.

FWIW
My favorite small wave board is still the 5'5" X 15" alaia I built a few years back. I'm 6'2"

[flojo]

Hey Bob, thanks for the reply. I am 6 ft tall but I think the biggest problem is the thickness of the rails and floatation without fins on the board.. I am more comfortable riding shorter boards but was interested because I see some of the boards on the forum like Mr Mikes and Uncle Grumpy's are quite long. I also do find that on boards less than 43 inches or so I have trouble pulling my fins out of the water when the board gets up on a plane and it actually slows me down. So I am just looking for a happy medium and having fun doing it.

[bgreen]

Uncle G,

I mix it up a lot, in a space of a few days I just rode finless, two fins and five. I've not ridden wood boards too much of late but surfed with a mate recently, who rode a wooden finless board and had sitting in his car a fibreglass board he bought from me, which he has only ridden once.

Flojo,

I'm 5'10 and ride between 50 - 57". I did ride a longer board once but didn't like it. I think it really depends on the waves you are riding and what you want to experience. Speed lines versus turns, a more bodysurfing type of experience versus being more out of the water.

The fun and frustration is finding what suits you. Unlike other types of surfcraft, there are few firm guidelines.

Bob

[Uncle Grumpy]

Having the extra length makes it easy to get your legs completely free of the water so you can actually surf just the board..
There's this move where having a nice clean section in front of you, fins pulled clear of the water, you lay both arms back along your body, not holding on at all, using only subtle body adjustments for control.
It's the most incredible sensation. True face first surfing.
I don't think I could pull it off on a shorter board.