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 ?
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.
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.
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.
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.