Wooden surfboard construction: The 'Makaha' 12-9

This is a tried and true design which we have built in lengths from 9'1" right through to 14'9".At 12'9" long and only 2 inches thick it's going to have a lovely springy flex pattern to drive the tunnel fin on the end of that long tail.As is usual with this design the long tail ( all 9 feet of it !) is almost flat in the rocker, and the wide scooped nose has a pronounced curve. This gives the board incredible acceleration on the takeoff , as the board bursts on to the plane the massive amount of lift generated frees the nose clear of the water and the long fast tail section comes into play. Let me tell you, it feels good. . .. speed and impeccable control.A board this flexible is incredibly responsive to rider input, even subtle weighting and unweighting over chop or while making adjustments to the trim brings the board to life and it responds like a live thing, with a soft twang the board almost feels like it is breathing in and out as it drives down the line.Just the right sort of structure needs to be engineered for long thin flexible boards, they need to be strong enough to handle the deflection caused by the flexibilty. The photos below show the two internal diagonal frame and rail layers being bent and laminated on to the rocker jig. The diagonal frames are perfect for absorbing and releasing wave and rider energy. As the layers are built up the multi directional laminated rail beams come into being on the perimeter.This board design is one of the most incredible longboards ever designed and built, and the experience of riding one is out of this world.