Noa Duke Frank, 12, isn’t a big surfer. But he likes the ocean.
“Definitely the one thing I love most is going in the water,” he said at his family’s north Manhattan Beach home last week.
But bodysurfing, he found, was “a pain in the booty.”
The Manhattan Beach Middle School seventh grader wanted a handplane to help him lift his torso out of the water while riding a wave.
“You go so much faster and do more stuff,” he said.
He could only find cheap plastic ones or really expensive wooden ones, so he “went on YouTube and figured out how to make one.”
Using a jigsaw, he cut out a piece of wood about a foot long. It was crude, but it worked.
“I was using it, and my friends said, ‘Dude, that’s sick. Can you make me one?’”
He did. And then he made another.
About a year and a half later, he estimates that he’s made 150 to 200. He works on them in his free time and sells them through his website, NoakaiDesigns.com, and at several stores including Spyder Surf, Tyler Surfboards in El Segundo and as of just recently, Rider Shack in Culver City.
At Spyder, Luke Jarvis said they’ve sold around 40 or 45 since they started carrying them less than two months ago.
“It’s a really great thing to come around because everybody knows of him and he’s grown,” said Jarvis. “Local families come by and their kids point them out and they sell.”
The brand is named Noakai Designs. “Kai” means “ocean” in Hawaiian and is also Frank’s older brother’s name. (There is Hawaiian ancestry on both sides of Frank’s family, and all the kids have Hawaiian names.)
The planes come in two shapes, swallowtail and moontail, and sell for between $40 and $50. Buyers can customize them. For more complex designs, Frank turns to his older sister, Kalea, a junior at Mira Costa High School.
Almost his whole family is involved, which is one of the reasons Frank enjoys his hobby.
His father Deron, who likes doing things around the house, cuts most of the big sheets of wood. Noa uses a sander to round the tip, create the rails and put a channel on the bottom. He’ll use paint or a wood burning pen to make a design. His dad will apply three coats of water-based urethane, because as Noa says, he’s “still working on the patience part.” Once the boards are dry, Noa will use stainless steel screws to fasten a rubber handle.
“I don’t think any two are exactly the same design,” said Deron.
“It doesn’t have to be perfect,” Noa said. “ The reality is you just need something to help you get out of the water.”
His father says that in Hawaii, kids use trays from McDonald’s while bodysurfing.
“It’s really hard to make a bad one,” said Noa.
Recently, Noa attended a South Bay Boardriders Club event, where he met local surfer Dane Zaun, who tried out the handplanes and wanted to buy one.
“I’m like, ‘No, dude, just take it,’” said Noa, who tweeted a photo of the encounter.
“One of the most fun things about making handplanes is I get to do things I wouldn’t ordinarily be able to do,” he said, like meet famous surfers.
Recently, Noa made an alaia, the surfboard used by ancient Hawaiians. He hasn’t tried it in the water yet, but he’s thinking about making more and selling them, and maybe paipos, which are small, finless boards.
“A handplane company can only get so big,” he said.
He’s enrolled in the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy, where he’s learning to create a business plan.
He doesn’t know what he’ll do with the money he’s earned. He said he makes about $20 for every handplane he makes.
“I honestly have no idea, other than reinvesting,” he said. “Maybe treat myself to something.”
He just bought a surfboard made by his friend Cash Cherry, another Manhattan Beach Middle Schooler, and is painting it in his garage.
Despite his success, he hasn’t lost touch with his inspiration for making handplanes.
“I think the main reason I do handplanes is to see my friends use them and see how happy they are,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun for me to hear them say, ‘Dude, this thing is rad.’” ER
