" The Kala "

 This is Charlie Loiselle's latest board the "Kala"

 " Bookmatched redwood top and a lauan bottom (ripped and alternated at the stringer and glassed on both faces). All in all I still prefer a properly planked bottom but the lauan is quick and easy to work with, and looks good. I went with a bonzer fin setup with an FCS trailer rather than the regular large single fin – I intend to surf this one as a slippery twin as well as the bonzer setup.  The smaller side fins are glassed on and made of meranti marine plywood."

 "Artwork is a Kala I shot a while back (hence the name) and printed up myself. I wanted to see how the heavy rice paper would glass, and it came out nice. The blue highlights cover the deck-rail joint, which due to the heavy dome of the deck came out uneven. The lizard on the bottom was heat-transferred directly on to the wood."

" Rails are strip-planked with alternating white fir and mahogany. The leash plug is stacked ply, cut and worked by hand with a stainless bolt as the anchor."   Check out other shots at :
http://islanddreamssurf.blogspot.com/2012/01/kala-ii-electric-bugaloo.html

The "Nohu" from Charlie

Charlie Loiselle from Hawaii loves building wooden boards and gives them all names inspired by the sea. Mostly fish.
" The Nohu, or scorpionfish, is a real ugly fish. Thus I named my newest design after it."

" Latest out of the Island Dream factory (i.e. my car port). It's a twin-fin fish with little bitty fins and minimal rocker - kind of like the "bluegill" that Jon Wegener is doing in Cali, but hollow wood. Bookmatched redwood top, lauan bottom (ripped and alternated for a better look). Solid laminate rails - this is the first board I've done that I didn't strip-rail, and I don't think I'd do it again. It's faster, but strip-railing is lighter and...more elegant? Anyhow I'm taking it out this weekend (once the varnish coat finished drying) and will try and get some pic in action."


It’s a 7’ twin fin fish with minimal rocker and a wiiiiiide tail. I made it for small days when it’s too mushy for an alaia, as an alternative to a longboard. We’ll see how it rides – the fins are real small, so it should slide quite a bit but "

Check out Charlie's blog and his other projects at : www.islanddreamssurf.blogspot.com

Inspired by the sea

Charlie Loiselle , loves the sea and loves his surfing. Like most of us he is inspired by what is around him. Here is his latest Alaia and his story...

" The latest out of the shop is this unique alaia. Based on the success of the Omilu model, I made some changes that I hoped would be beneficial. First, more wood. The Omilu was a bit to thin and too light, making it flex more than I would like. Additionally I don’t feel like it would hold up to overhead waves. Also, maintaining more width throughout would help in catching waves and planing. The omilu tended to downshift once off the face. While fairly easy to maneuver, I felt it was too loose – particularly when in the flats, where it was a chore to keep it from spinning out.

So, I developed the uhu. Very little wood was removed from the blank – just enough to give it a nice outline.Unlike the narow waist of the omilu I went with a “stinger” tail, keeping the board wide up until the last 20 inches or so where the tail steps in. For control I went with a catch surf setup – rounded 70/30 rails up front and hard, inward-canted rails in the tail (Catch Surf hand-makes finless soft surfboards which are really taking off) The bottom is the standard single concave, with the addition of a couple of channels in the tail to help keep it straight."

Unique step / stinger rail on this board.

"So how does it work? I took it out on a nice chest-high day at an empty reef break out by the Coast Guard air station at Barbers. It was perfect alaia surf – long, gentle lines with reforms and multiple sections. The board performed beyond expectations. It was markedly easier to catch waves than the omilu, allowing me to get in earlier and really set up my rides. It tracked straight – almost too straight, and I really had to use a shortboard-like technique to turn it, unlike the omilu which really needs a light touch. The only negative was that it really wasn’t any easier to paddle than the others (alaias are a MAJOR arm workout). The extra wood didn’t make a difference – it was essentially neutrally buoyant weight. The positive side of that is that you can duck-dive the thing about 6 feet no problem, and actually “swim” underwater with it. "

" As for the graphics…after cutting the outline, it just looked like an uhu (parrotfish)." Great looking board and the graphics really set it off.

For more of what Charles is up to check out his blog :
http://islanddreamssurf.blogspot.com

The quickie Alaia by Chrles Loiselle in Hawaii

Check out his other board building at - www.islanddreamssurf.blogspot.com