Anyone out there with experience kiting on an Alia?

I've got an 8 foot alaia board (Wegner, solid paulownia wood, fish tail) that i attempt to surf every once and a while with mixed results. I took it out under my kite this weekend just to see if i could make it work... and it was awesome. I was amazed at how smooth and responsive it was. Really a unique ride.

so i'm hooked but 8 feet is a bit long so i need to cut it down but not sure how short i should go. I noticed Nash makes one that's 5'9. How does that handle in waves and chop? Jibes? Anyone got reviews?

I was thinking 6 foot or so... i'm ~180lbs

any tips on length appreciated. i want it long enough to keep that smooth feel but short enough that i can handle it in most conditions.

The concensus seems to be shorter is better.
Longer is easier to catch a wave and trim.
Shorter is easier to spin slide and carve (assuming you are skilled enough).
I made a 6'9" and caught a few waves with it.
It was fun but pretty hard, in beach break unorganized waist-high waves.
I rode it with an 11m kite in very light wind (8-10knots?) and it trucked upwind like nothing else and felt really cool jibing.
But once that loooong nose pearls, forget it.
With no rocker, the board submarines until it stops, you stop, then the board floats up backwards or sideways to the surface. Just can't get leverage against a flat longboard pearling
So they are not great for chop -6 inches of chop ended my experiment, so if you rode an 8 footer with success, you are ahead of me!
So I think shorter is better for kiting -I'd like to make a short one and try it some more.
Probably just an inch or two of rocker would help a lot too for kiting, whatever the purists say about that.

thanks for the reply, helpful. what kind of wood did you use?

my experiment was in overpowered conditions and i kept it hard on the edge, probably made pearling less of an issue. i can imagine lighter wind more challenging for that

it also seemed to flex under my weight to the point that it created it's own rocker, but that's just me guessing.

you're right, it up-winds like a motorboat. so cool.

Hey,

so I've been looking at making one for a long time, but the wood blanks at my local surfstore was always so prohibitively expensive...they also said it would not hold up on kiting...

The Naish one has though, and mainly because it is reinforced with glass.

I've been messing around with the Naish one...in mini waves, mostly slop, and riding in choppy on shore condition in lightish wind, but with big kites it is super fun. I've not tried with a small kite yet. The board works well enough in chop, and holding the line pretty easy.

The Naish board has a pretty serious concave in the center of the board, that I think helps. Doing all sort of spins and slides, it is just a fun board....it makes you just want to mess around and play. I have not used it for any serious surfing tho, but sloppy + shorebreak I;ve had a lot of fun.

I cannot see pearling being a big issue..the takeoff would never really be straight down? Just take off liek you would a longboard going at an angle.

This one seemed to work well?

http://web.me.com/rondunn66/Obeche_Stor ... _Kite.html

I think the key is the naish one is short.
Get on a 6-6 + alaia and try to rail upwind in chop and maybe you will see what I mean about pearling. ?
The concave out the back 3 feet or so is key for me -a good 1cm of concave, with rails rolled out from the concave like a sharpened 50/50 rail except with a vertical edge almost like a twintip edge....
For kiting I want one a foot shorter than this 6'9" with an inch of nose rocker...

...double post

Nice work. Post more pics when you finalize it.

How do you think a concave with an inside edge work on the board? If it is only in the tail, it would still release fairly easy, but once you put some weight on it, hold a little more?

One guy here tried a custom longboard twintip no fin, with a deep single concave, and about 5cm of bottom, that turned into a diamond rail. The board looked so good, but he did not particularly like it.

I will have a go on the board some day, because he has very specific things he is looking for. My biggest concern was that the board was heavy since it was a custom job with super heavy glassing.

It is awesome to see all the new shapes that are hitting the market. Finally we're getting to the point where the special requirements that kiting puts on boards are making it to the surface.

I would shoot for < 6 ft, as that length worked well for me. The rule of thumb seems to be simiilar to a snow board, foot to nose or chin height. As you go longer you suffer from chop and having to move your feet around like on a longboard. I believe the obeche fish that top hat rides is 60". In the Wegener spirit, just shorten it a bit, ride it, shorten it some more, ... until you find the dimensions that work best.