As undisputed queen of the surf Layla Kalani reigns supreme in the sport of surfing. As the Womanimal spokesperson she has become one of the most recognized faces in the world. Now, despite initial concerns about price and design, she is poised to become the producer of the greatest surf boards ever created. Kalani Custom Boards push the boundaries of surf science, and according to experts, might just be worth the eye-opening price tag.
According to Kalani the idea of a state-of-the-art board company came to her while working on, Veil of Terror: A Bride’s Nightmare, her first movie. “I had no idea how much technology was involved in making a movie. The cameras and the mounts they used to stabilize them were incredible. What the video drones could do was amazing, I didn’t know just how far advanced movie making had become. We had almost as many technicians on set as sound and lighting people. That got me thinking about how little surf science has advanced over the years. Since we were filming in Lahaina, I knew just the person to talk to about pushing the boundaries of design: Ano Lee.”
“I didn’t know much about making surf boards when Layla talked to me about it, but I love a challenge, and knew someone who had been hand-shaping boards his whole life, my cousin Leelee,” Lee says. The culmination of that conversation made its debut last month to cheers and skepticism. Despite initial shock at a price tag that can reach over $20k, and some issues with its paddle assist system, sales have steadily increased, with owners hailing the pricey boards as the best ever made.
Kalani Customs are built on a parabolic carbon fiber frame with an expanded polystyrene (EPS) core, and covered in a proprietary epoxy resin. The result is a board that “stores and releases energy as you transition through turns and provides a highly responsive ride, perfect for ultra-performance surfing.” However, it is its other features, and the creation process itself, that sets the boards apart.
While the boards are built with the same basic components, each is personally shaped by Wiley Lee, (Leelee to everyone we interviewed), Ano’s cousin. Leelee requires a personal meeting with each client before completing a board. He says, “We’re making extensions of clients to meet the sea here. The better I can get to know a person, the better I can make their perfect board. I need to look into someone’s eyes to know what to put beneath their feet.” Along with Leelee’s personal touch, the boards include: a photo realistic covering preloaded with 3 unique designs (more can be purchased through the company), a built in shark mitigation system, and an amazing paddle assist feature.
“I’m most proud of the paddle assist,” says Lee. “I’ve integrated a magnetohydrodynamic drive (MHD) system into each board. Without getting into the specifics, it basically uses an electrical current in the surrounding water to help propel the board. The technology is quite old actually. They built a prototype system in 1965 and a ship called the Yamato-1 used a MHD drive to cruise through Kobe harbor in the 1990’s, but the technology has gotten a lot better in the last 50 years. With a person paddling and the assist working, one of our boards can hit 8 knots (9.2 mph), about 3 times faster than you can paddle or swim. We want our clients to get to the waves first and maybe get a little boost getting out the end of a grinder.”
While the company says they have worked out the initial complaints about the assist system, many clients say they are still waiting for Layla and crew to make good on refund or replacement promises. Local business owner Ronnie Kalipalani is one such disgruntled customer. “The crew thought I was crazy when I bought 4 of them when they first came out, but I’m a big believer in playing hard and teamwork. I’ve found that nothing brings a construction crew together after a morning of pouring concrete and pounding nails, like an afternoon of surfing. They worked great at first. Honestly, they’re super nice boards, but then I wiped out and the board kept going without me. Luckily, it shot itself straight into the beach. I swam in to warn everyone to be extra careful, but it was too late. I watched $40k worth of boards go out to sea after their riders fell off. One got stuck in a cove a few miles away and we got it back, but we figure the other is somewhere around Guam by the direction it was heading. They fixed the issue with the boards we saved, and Layla herself promised me a refund for the fourth, but I haven’t received anything yet.”
Kalani says that they have fixed the glitch, and the assist system will no longer operate without a person being on the board. She explains that the company is still reviewing claims, but is in the process of providing refunds, or replacement boards to everyone who had issues like Kalipalani. As far as other complaints are concerned, Kalani marks them up to traditional thinking and living in the past. “The problem is the purists,” she says. “Look, there’s still people who will tell you that flying, or going down the rail is the only way to travel, and that veiling takes all the adventure out of traveling. Obviously, being a purist doesn’t make you right. It makes you stuck in the past. I wanted to make a board that was as revolutionary as my surfing style, and that’s what we’re doing. Our boards are the future of surfing.”
