Both standing riders are the same height, equally skilled, using single fin boards specifically designed for efficient paddling and maximum trim speed.
All waves begin as sharply defined head high+ peaks, immediately unwinding to shoulder high, velvet smooth walls with a 5 mph offshore wind, semi-hollow faces, peeling extremely fast. Halfway through each ride, the wave flattens and backs off for 100 yards, immediately followed by a dredging hollow 100 yard section. All waves have the potential for 500 yard long rides ending in a deep water channel.
Which would you expect to complete the most waves?
(1) A 180 pound surfer on a 18’ long x 80 lb. board
I found that light surfers on heavy longboards have “another kind of inertia”. Maybe being the weight closer to the water, and, in this case, better distributed since we’re talking about a longer board, helps to maintain the speed, and obviously to connect different sections.
We can take Tudor as an example, but he isn’t exactly an “average surfer”.
On the other hand, a heavy surfer on a lighter board (and a shorter board in this case) tend to sink the board more, and even being well balanced, the weight won’t be as well distributed as on the case number 1.
So i think that on case 2, the surfer would have more control on heavy situations, as a hollow section or an step wave, but on case 1 the surfer would have better trim and will connect sections easily with less effort.
I would go with 1 also, based on experience. I built a very heavy trad longgoard and also own an epoxy mal, both have more or less the same volume. The weight(Kinetic energy)carries it through sections whereas the epoxy has to go around the sections.
But I’d be interested to see how Berts non-floppy mals perform.
Considering the 2 situations when catching a wave; in both situations the mass is the same therefore they start off with the same potential energy = mgh and this potential energy they can exchange for kinetic energy = 1/2mv^2 (less drag) and they can then acquire additional by climbing up the wave again and dropping down again to convert it to kinetic energy. Since both board designs have been optimally designed, lets assume they lose the same amount due to drag. The shorter board would have less skin friction drag but the longer board would have less ‘wave-making’ drag. So lets call it quits on the drag issue. They would therefor complete a wave in the same time.
But the paddle back in the channel will separate the 2. The poor 180 lb guy is paddling/propelling nearly 1,5 times his weight whereas the 235lb guy is paddling/propelling less than 1,1 times his weight. The light guy’s board is more dense than the 12 ft board. (80 lbs / 18’ > 25 lbs / 12’). So the lighter guy is gonna take longer to paddle back. So the heavier guy will complete the on most waves.
dale…my primary surf break has a lot of people who are just learning, and i oftentimes see boards cruising down the line with no one on them (because they jumped off a long time ago). it’s shown me just how much better our surfboards surf without us on them, so given that, i’d imagine that the winner would be the board with less human interference…especially on a heavy 18-footer. the momentum should easily take him through the sections.