I know this isn’t surfing related, but I just have to brag. I just put a Garmin 301 GPS unit on my dog Safari, and took her to play Frisbee.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g357fMbRSJI
The GPS unit takes measurements at a rate of one reading per second. Her top speed reading was 31 miles per hour!
BULLSHIT!
Thats another one for The Dungeon.
Good girl Safari.
Cool dog, but she only looks like she is going 28.5mph. Besides I won’t believe it until you post a google map showing where Safari was running.
Now if you had a 20’ dog made of wood with a tunnel tail…
The tunnel is under the dog’s tail.
That’s where the vortex is generated.
It can make you go fast.
Besides I won’t believe it until you post a google map showing where Safari was running.
Ok ok you’ve got me. 31mph it is. I am just jealous, my Cav would be lucky to hit 20mph I reckon.
Nice work Swied. … . it seems that we are allowed to have GPS dog speed threads but NOT “show us a picture of your dog threads” ( See Janklows recent dog thread with ball and chain). . . . nor are we allowed gps surfing speed threads apparently.
Perhaps if I call my surfboard a DOG I can post GPS speeds and the mods and trolls won’t notice ?
BULLSHIT!
Sorry nice try but Herb is the only one who can get a thread locked by calling BS
You might have to try something stronger
I understand there’s some people really interested on measuring speed on a surfboard, and i can understand why. I’m anything but an expert here, but i’d say it would be great to be able to measure other things like acceleration, deceleration during a turn, etc.
Some people will believe the records some of you post, some people don’t, but this doesn’t mind, is like when you say “it was double over head” and people think “sure it was more like shoulder high”, time will show the truth if more people starts measuring speed and posting their own records.
My point is, why don’t we sum all the GPS/Speed threads in one and debate there everything about it to have a good place where to study the subject? just like we did some time ago with Fin Theroy.
What do you think guys? i think it would be very interesting for you, the ones really interested in measuring speed with a GPS and we’ll also avoid all that criticism about having so much speed/GPS threads in the forum.
My guess is if GPS/speed measure have it’s followers here the thread will go endless (like the fin theory did), if it doesn’t has any followers… well i guess it’ll have some.
Just an idea.
Coque.
Hi Coque,
Thankyou for your sensible suggestion.
I think that there have been so many gps threads because of the level of emotion from some members and subsequent thread locks.
So less gps threads would happen IMO if certain members maintained politeness on these subjects.
In any case I won’t be posting any more gps stuff until the next swell, which with el Nino will be a while I think… .
Cheers
Roy
I posted this thread sort of as a joke. I wanted to see If I could get a huge passionate debate started based on a thread about a dog playing fetch. 
The idea of a separate area for GPS/Speed threads is a good one, though. I am interested in doing more speed measurements while surfing, and plan on posting more results. It’s great that so many people are interested in the scientific measurement aspect of the sport. I am a data analyst by trade, and love measuring things and making graphs. My wife thinks I’m a geek.
Hi Swied,
What do you mean your wife thinks you’re a geek? I mean c’mon, aren’t we all geeks in this forum? We’re all surfboard building and repair geeks. The way we visit, lurk, practice, debate, compliment, criticize, obscess on every detail, discuss myth and lore, oh yah, the symptoms are there.
Perhaps the only redeeming thing that may keep us all from being fullblown geeks, it the subject. Surfing is so cool, that by sheer coolness it may offset our geekness.
I guess I missed something. I’m not a GPS guy. Is it trying to harness the power of GPS or measure the speed of a surfboard? It would seem there are more accurate ways to measure speed. A video camera with a clock, some markers and a little geometry ought do to it.
My wife knows I’m a geek.
One thing about geeks, they know what they like and go for it.
Hear hear!
Man we oughta have that inscribed on a huge loving cup full of cider to pass around at SL shape-a-thons/get-togethers
Just makes it all seem not so OCD,
which it’s not
it’s not a problem…
it’s really not
have to go look at a few threads now–
binging on I mean looking at and thinking about hulls for the last few days
I hear they have some sort of addictive quality
But you need waves
See if I had waves here
But the El Nino
Just a little bit more Swaylocks to get through the night and then I can stop
need to sleep
so tired
just a few more threads
greg
LOL!
To use the vernacular of today’s youth, I’m feelin’ you dawg.
Here’s a question for you guys: how fast do you think a typical overhead wave of say a 14sec wave period swell is travelling as it breaks?
I figure that’s got to be 15 mph easily. (a 14sec swell travels about 48mph in deep water but obviously slows a lot as it reaches shallower water, but if you just sit there and let the wave pass under you, it sure feels like at least 15mph).
Ok. Imagine watching surfing from an aerial view. If we were to watch a surfer trimming down the line, for say 10 seconds, we would see the surfer travel a much greater distance than the wave travelled straight towards shore in that same time period. Now, can a surfer surf at, say, a 53 degree angle to shore? Sounds reasonable to me. And if so, the picture we’ve just seen from our aerial view of this surf session is the famously useful “3-4-5 triangle” and tells us that the surfer travelled 5/3 the distance in his 10 seconds as the wave travelled towards shore. Therefore the surfer would be averaging 5/3 the speed of the wave towards shore, which was 15mph, right? The surfer’s speed would be 25mph/40kph and sounds totally reasonable to me when thought of this way.
Anecdotally, I’ve been riding skateboards for 30 something years and bomb hills and I’m pretty familiar with what the moderate speed of 25mph feels like (meaning, the air resistance of that speed as it hits my body) and even i’ve ridden waves where i have the sensation of travelling much faster than what 25mph on a skateboard feels like.