HANDPLANES

I have been bodysurfing most of my life. Swimming in the lineup, diving under waves, and riding to the shore is how you bodysurf and these skills are the basics to any wave riding vehicle. Bodysurfing is how I learned to pull into tubes, and how I learned to protect myself from getting slammed on the bottom.

I have always considered bodysurfing fun, but did it when I was too hot on the beach and needed a cool down. I also bodysurf after my board a lot. I rarely use a leash, and have become an expert at chasing down my board. The last couple of years I have been making a lot of handplanes.

Making the planes made me take bodysurfing more seriously, focusing on how to get better rides. Without a handplane, when the lip or white wash hits you, you get pushed down into the water and under the wave. The plane lifts a lot of your body out of the water and cuts down on the drag your head and shoulders have when wave riding. This allows you to break free from the white wash and propel out onto the wave face. Less drag also gets you through slower parts of the wave so you can connect to the next section, giving you a longer ride. Best of all, you get longer tube rides. A handplane turns bodywhomping into a serious surf session.

Wegener Surfboards handplanes are made are out of light strong water resistant wood. They are coated with Entropy Super Sap Bio Resin for added durability. The strap is adjustable and padded with recycled Patagonia wetsuits. These handplanes are collaboration between Wegener Surfboards and Cyrus Sutton. He along with the team at Korduroy have been really into bodysurfing for a while now and have had a lot of great input into the designs.