diff --git a/skl/arena.go b/skl/arena.go
index 9267b1588..5f7b057e4 100644
--- a/skl/arena.go
+++ b/skl/arena.go
@@ -45,11 +45,18 @@ func newArena(n int64) *Arena {
 	// of nil pointer.
 	out := &Arena{
 		n:   1,
-		buf: make([]byte, n),
+		buf: makeAlignedBuf(n),
 	}
 	return out
 }
 
+func makeAlignedBuf(n int64) []byte {
+	buf := make([]byte, n+int64(nodeAlign))
+	buf0Alignment := uint32(uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&buf[0]))) & uint32(nodeAlign)
+	buf = buf[buf0Alignment : int64(buf0Alignment)+n]
+	return buf
+}
+
 func (s *Arena) size() int64 {
 	return int64(atomic.LoadUint32(&s.n))
 }