Hi de Hi,
Nice your account of building your first wooden board - good luck with the next one
In the South of France we've been building and riding KILAIA 'KI-te : a-LAIA' Wooden Kitesurf boards since 2013.
More info here:
www.wooden-stuff.com
FB page WoodenStuffProject:
https://www.facebook.com/woodenstuffproject
Alaia's are fantastic, some what specialised, surf boards.
They work in clean smooth waves & they can work with a kite on flat lagoon, offshore conditions or any condition that is flat.
Introduce swell or bump & jump and the modus-operandi change - Big Time.
Yes you can ride an Alaia off the tail but...... You push one hell of a lot of water.
So - the solution quite simple - the Kilaia comes into play that's an Alaia (Sort of...) with Nose Rocker.
It hacks up wind almost as well as a foil - you'd better believe it!
Ride-ability is so easy - and thats an understatement.
You can go cruising and in an afternoon clock up a 50 plus nautical miles - the same way that going on a trip with a foil has changed our way of kiting.
It glides through lulls with relative ease - obviously if you have total wind failure, like all boards foils - you swim home.
The Kilaia is super Easy Access (you don't have to eat much water to become proficient) unlike a foil - if you are a proficient kiter within 30minutes you've got it dialled.
Here's a taster of what the boards look like & yes I'm an English chap in Montpellier, France.