Mat, we can put together Alaia article part 2 titled "the hardest thing you will ever try to learn"
Without giving too much away. I´ve surfed it in different conditions on the west coast of sweden, BIG norway, as well as france & spain. the hardest part is getting the paddling right and actually catching the wave since the take off shifts so much in short period swedish conditions. when you first get on it, you wonder how this is gonna work, more swimming than paddling as the boards buoyancy is almost non existent. when surfing "normal" conditions abroad you know where you should be. the best type of wave is a proper point break like rincon, malibu, noosa...
at the same time, the waves you do get up on are amazing. the lack of friction is such a cool feeling,
I will write more in NSM if you want. here´s a pic of Tom Wegener shaping my alaia
