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 |
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the catalogue #501
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MANUFACTURE
MANUFACTURER: Traditional
SHAPER: Unknown
DESIGN: Alaia
DESIGNER: Traditional
SPECIFICATIONS
CONSTRUCTION
One piece solid koa
wood with twine repairs to the nose and tail.
DIMENSIONS
|
Length
:
|
6 |
ft |
6 |
inches |
L2: |
|
|
Width
:
|
14 3/4
|
inches |
|
Wide
Point :
|
|
inches |
|
Nose
:
|
|
inches |
|
Tail
:
|
|
inches |
|
Thickness
:
|
1/2 |
inches |
|
Pod
:
|
10 3/4
|
inches |
|
Nose
Lift :
|
|
inches |
|
Tail
Lift :
|
|
inches |
|
Weight
:
|
|
kilos |
|
Volume
:
|
|
litres |
|
Other
:
|
11 |
pounds |
|
|
|
|
FEATURES
Nose:
round
Tail:
square
Deck:
flat
Bottom:
convex
Rails:
rounded square
Rocker:
slight nose lift
Left : Nose
detail, note repairs of string or wire, threaded through
holes, to prevent further splitting.
A similar repair is also in the tail.
|
|
FIN
None, standard for the period.
DECOR
DECAL:
MARKINGS:
COLOUR : natural timber
BOARD
HISTORY
Collected by J.S. Emerson in Kailaua,
Hawaii in 1885
Held by the Bishop Museum, Honolulu,
Catalogue No. 293
Images Margan and Finney: Pictorial History (1970) page 23
DESIGN HISTORY
The Polynesians arrived in Hawaii circa
1000 B.C. with an unequalled maritime knowledge and skills to the
finest surfing location on the planet.
Not only was there consistant swell and
a tropical climate, but a previously untapped store of timber.
Unihabited for X0000 million years, the Hawiian Islands had
produced a massive store of surfboard building materials - trees
large enough to build sixty foot canoes
The main timbers were...
Willi Willi (Erythrina sandwicenis) -
a light timber similar to balsa wood and used for outrigger
floats.
Breadfruit or Ulu (Artocarpus altila)
- also light
Koa.(Accacia koa) -a fine grained
hardwood.
Some reports suggest that Breadfruit
or Wilii Willi were preferred timbers (particually for the
longer Olo) for their lightness (and ease of shaping?), however
the only existing examples of these boards are in Koa
wood. Probably the lightweight nature of these timbers was
the cause of their disappearance.
Some small (Paipo) examples exist in
Breadfruit.
A tree was selected and felled,
sometimes with religous ceremony or offerings, and a board was
roughly shaped by a stone adze on site.
The board was then moved to a
Canoehouse or beach site where the shape was completed
progressively with adze, various coral heads and an oahi
rubbing stone.
Several staining agents were
availaible...
Root of theTi plant (Mole ki)
Juice of pounded Kukui bark
Soot of burnt kukui nuts
Charcoal from burnt pandanus leaves
Juice from banana buds
Ashes of burnt cane leaves
Usually several agents were mixed to
produce a glossy black finish.
One account quoted by Tom
Blake states that a willi willi board was immersed in
mud to seal the timber grain (page 45).
The finishing process was completed
with the addition of kukui nut or coconut oil to assist
waterproofing. These contruction processes were not exclusive to
surfboards - they were standard practice in canoe building.
Further coatings of oil were
regularly applied as ongoing maintainence.
After use boards were dried and
stored, sometimes wrapped in cloth.
Dimensions vary between 6 feet and 12
feet in length, average 18 inches in width, and between half
an inch and an inch and a half thick.
The nose is round and turned up, the
tail square.
The deck and the bottom are
convex, tapering to thin rounded rails.
This cross-section would maintain
maximum strength along the centre of the board and the rounded
bottom gave directional stability, a crucial factor as the boards
did not have fins.
 |
 |
Alaia and Surfer,
Waikiki 1890
(Bishop Museum)
Kampion,
Page 29
|
Surfers and
Alaia, Hilo Bay, Hawai'i circa 1900
(Bishop Museum)
Cropped from Lueras,
page 56 and 57
|
Any
discussion of the performance capabilities is largely
speculation.
Contemporary accounts definitely
confirm that Alaia were ridden prone, kneeling and standing; and
that the riders cut diagonally across the wave.
Details of wave size, wave shape,
stance and/or manouvres are, as would be expected, overlooked by
most non-surfing observers.
Most early illustrations of surfing
simply fail to represent any understanding of the mechanics of
wave riding. Modern surfing experience would suggest that high
performance surfing is limited more by skill than equipment.
It is a distinct probablity that
ancient surfers rode large hollow waves deep in the curl -
certainly prone, and on occassions standing.
|
Standing Rider on
Paipo/Belly board,
Kuhio Pier, Waikiki, circa
1962
Photograph by Val Valentine
Kelly,
facing page 192.
|
By 1000 A.D
these principles were confirmed...
13. Large waves are faster than small
waves.- a larger board is easier to achieve take off.
14. Steep waves are faster than flat
waves.- a smaller board is easier to control at take off.
15. Control is more important than
speed
16. Surfboards are precious.
Plans
and Specifications : Alaia, 1938
Any
discussion of the performance capabilities is largely
speculation.
Contemporary accounts definitely
confirm that Alaia were ridden prone, kneeling and standing; and
that the riders cut diagonally across the wave.
Details of wave size, wave shape,
stance and/or manouvres are, as would be expected, overlooked by
most non-surfing observers.
Most early illustrations of surfing
simply fail to represent any understanding of the mechanics of
wave riding. Modern surfing experience would suggest that high
performance surfing is limited more by skill than equipment.
It is a distinct probablity that
ancient surfers rode large hollow waves deep in the curl -
certainly prone, and on occassions standing.
|
|
Standing Rider on Paipo/Belly
board,
Kuhio Pier,
Waikiki, circa 1962 .
Photograph by Val Valentine
Kelly,
facing page 192. |
By 1000 A.D
these principles were confirmed...
13. Large waves are faster than small
waves.- a larger board is easier to achieve take off.
14. Steep waves are faster than flat
waves.- a smaller board is easier to control at take off.
15. Control is more important than
speed
16. Surfboards are precious.
Plans
and Specifications : Alaia, 1938
surfresearch.com.au
Geoff
Cater (2004 - 2013)
: Catalogue: Alaia, 6ft 6in, c1835.
http://www.surfresearch.com.au/00000501.html
