I’m available for more test rides !
Had a few ideas myself in this vein a couple of years ago.
Might rattle my dags and have a play with them once I’ve got through my current build plans (fins and a board or two).
But who knows, maybe not; the build plans have a habit of changing every month or so 
You might need to ask a few more people. E.g.:
“The Hexflex is easy to control; you can carve up and down the wave with it. You can do maneuvers, butterfly, spin and hit the lip!!” – Taylor Char about the Slyde “HexFlex”. (see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX29l3otx5U).
Tom Marr talking about how the FCS fin on the bottom of the Garage Handplanes “Barrel Monster” allows you make turns with it: “it’s something really unique about these handplanes, something I’ve never encountered before in bodysurfing; you can actually bank a bottom turn and come off the top of the face of the wave” - See here (https://vimeo.com/148055447)
Mind you, it might also be that yours can do these things better than the handplanes mentioned above can: Taylor Char’s in Hawaii, but the guy behind Garage Handplanes is in Avalon Beach, (from what I gather roughly your neck of the woods), so there’s a good chance you’ll be able to spot at least someone at a local break that’s got one and you can talk to them about it/check it out for yourself to see how it actually compares with your ones.
Cheers.
LIT, I saw the videos but didn’t see anyone actually doing top or bottom turns, but I also haven’t posted any video of same so I can’t claim too much but I mean actually doing roller coaster turns.
What I did see was a lot of lateral sliding on the aptly named Slyder and a lot more direction control on the Garage Handplane with the FCS fin which seems like a great solution.
I’m working on several new versions of my foiled handplanes.
xlnt thread and innovation!
Correct me if I am wrong Brett.
But I understood you to say that you could make hard bottom turns, come back up the face and proceed with roller coaster on open face. Good tracking control…
Bill, I don’t want to oversell it until I’ve got video to show…
And I have a donation of a GoPro, just need to work out how to use it.
Fair enough. Never a good idea to oversell or hype.
New idea, new handplane.
Vac bag carbon and veneer, keeping long side foils for stability but low area so they stay submerged ( I’m a Believer that there’s a general and limited range of speed in the surf) wide concave at the front and more vertical sides for drive in the tail.
The vertical sides I had experimented with angles out to 45 and then brought them back to 25 then 15 now 6. From a 11 foot glider to a 11 inch handplane a lot of the same angles still work.
Yep I thought that too - there’s a second or so in the Taylor Char clip where might have done one but the lip came down on top of him as he was possibly doing it and obscured him. Next thing you see is him popping up further down the line, further up the face and just inside the curl. But it’s pretty iffy…
And I thought that too - the pics you’ve posted from Ben’s movie footage doin’t really show that; had a look at his blog but he didn’t seem to have posted the movie clip. Hence me hoping you could find someone with one of these handplanes that people have claimed can do these things and do a proper side by side for comparison. It’d be great to see some actual movie footage of that too.
Or maybe Ben could just post the movie footage the pics were taken from?
Cheers all.
Hi LIT, most of the pics were just stills but now I’ve got a GoPro I can do my own videos.
I think the difference with these new handplane designs is similar to the ‘finless surfboard revolution’ of a few years ago. If you’re riding a finless craft it performs as its shape dictates, you can try to make it look like its riding exactly like a finned surfboard, but it’s not.
But if it was then all surfboard fins are now superfluous becuase it would be possible to replicate the performance of a fin with a groove.
Turn it around for hand plane designs, most are flat bottom and have grooves and channels to create some amount of grip and drive. Some makers like Garage use FCS fins as an option and it would create the same hydrodynamic effect as that fin does on any craft.
All of my designs have vertical surfaces similar to surfboard fins, some designs have twin keel fins 12 inches long x 3 in deep, and the effect they give is the same as they would on any other craft. They sit deep in the wave, creating a ton of down the line hold and directing the water flow to create drive.
They’re not better or worse but The shape dictates the performance.
New wider handplane ready to ride, less foil area but I’m putting them deeper in the wave
Initially I was focussed on getting the planing area sorted but it’s quickly clear that planing isn’t a problem unless you’re stuck in tiny waves. My decision would be a minimum of 60 square inches of flat area.
Curving the flat horizontal hull into a concave and then taking that curve further into a vertical plane reduces the amount of lift but increases the grip and drive. This next one has a stepped concave with a minimal planing but greater vertical area.
I like the simple method for a mold with center arch and wings.
Hey Bill, those offcuts of EPS always come in handy down the line.
I was moving away from the basic handplane flat for planing and creating more vertical surface by increasing the concave.
The problem with concaves is that they don’t return a solid ride response because they cover many angles.
The benefits of vertical surfaces is why we all use fins.
Summer waves on a new handplane.
Where’s the video!!!
Did my first video yesterday, the housing fogged up and got nothing. It’s not easy to surf and hold a GoPro steady. Maybe tomorrow.
But every new designs narrows down the essentials of the craft, how much planing area and where, can it be split into sections, how well do concaves work and what curves work best.
Bill ( Stoneburner) and I were talking about surface angles and how effective a range of angles are and aren’t. It’s easiest seen in how boards and fins are either horizontal or vertical surfaces or within a few degrees of either. Sure there are some examples outside of this like the tips on a wing keel fins, Bonzer keel fins…
And the discussion led to a theory of how to use the ineffective angles to create new designs that work.
The first handplane in the pic is a central planing area and two outside foils ( in green) connected by 45deg angled arms ( in red)
The performance of the handplane is all lift because of its width, length and amount of planing area, the side foils are tapered so there’s minimal area in the front and increasing to the tail and that results in an looser feel at the front with Max lift at the tail.
The effect of the angled arms is almost invisible, they’re not upright enough to create lots of grip nor flat enough to add great lift , they’re kind of anti matter design.
The surfaces exist but don’t add to the performance, so why bother…? Because they are a connector for other design elements. Looking at the third pic , it’s the same setup with a central planing area and two side planing foils, the connecting area between these planing areas I’ve minimised to cut down as much input from the connectors and there’s no way I could design those two foils sitting so far apart in a simple design and functioning independently without using the anti matter design.
So you can read how these handplane will ride by breaking down the 3-D design into elements.
A. The central planing area is large enough to get on the surface without any additional buoyancy.
B. The curved forward ‘anti-matter design’ arms to support the front of the side foils without making the front track.
C. The forward curved arms transition into vertical panels further back that create drive from the tail.
D. 14 inch side foils that add to the overall lift but create a stable platform at speed.
There’s a little more to it but that’s the basics.
Jedi Master…
Anyone who doubts that Brett Curtis is a creative genius just hasn’t been paying attention. And I’m not one to just throw out the word ‘genius’ like beads at a Mardi Gras festival.