Location, Solar System, Planet Earth, in the Western Hemisphere, North American cluster.
Break: C**** R****, affectionaly known as Crow Diffender or Crowds like Trestles.
Swell was from the SW. No wind. Weather over cast, water temp winter So cal temps. Low tide moving on high.
Crews wore light armor neo top and trunks.
Testing Pilots Hikaru Ichijyo from the 3rd Squadron Hiros Gyros and Miria Farina from 2nd Squadron Minmei’s Song were both from the combined P and U groups flew the Fiirewire Macintosh IEEE 1394 Quadro Turbo versionades 2.0 5’10 standard thruster quad. swallow tail, flat bottom
Comparison Pilots using the R Dot round pin Epoxy fighters (and wing followers) using v. 1.1 styro and yellowing non RR brand epoxy were Rick Hunter and Talho Yuki. 5’11 18.5 tri fin thrusters round tail std concaves.
Only issues of note was that both Rick and Talho had fully waxed and beaded boards whereas the firewires weren’t fully waxed.
Also the quads seem turn sharper than the thruster, but that was taken into account for.
The boards: the Rdot was light but the IEEE1394 was lighter still. both seem to have similar flex capacity. both seemed made out of solid construction. The R dot had some yellowing issues, but later Herb had said its acetone damage, which backs up Jim Phillips’ of acetone or alky leaves residue and stringer of plywood. R dot has the fin advantage Lox Box, and the IEEE 1394 was equiped with FCS, secured by hardened foam inserts.
The IEEE 1394 have scarfed / mitered pieces of balsa rail, there was some point where the foam wasn’t fused right and you could see the joint in the nose and swallow tail. Strangely the crews were expecting the Bufo trampoline style flex (no we didn’t put the board to the test we held it and flexed it).
The test. Since it was during the time of AB3, the main peak was off limits due to the dog fights occuring in the takeoff zone, thus the aircraft carriers catapaults were unable to launch.
Staying out of the zoo, they went down to the seaside area, mainly lefts. Its a problem since all four were regulars, but not much.
The paddle:
contrary to popular belief, the IEEE 1394 5 '10 s did not offer much more significant floatation than the R dot 5’11s . They both paddled the same and were very loose and wobbly. Ever since some of the pilots switched to epoxy and EPS they were used to compensating for this “feature”, the lightness.
additional participants: Lead Engineer, Morita, and assistants Sarai and Tim. Also smith techs Will, Sakuya, Mike and Helena helped with the arming and deployment of all vehicles.
PU and PE boards do not have this lightness, theirs is momentum or weight.
Anycase the R dot crews did report some wobbly paddling, but the firewire was much more pronounce and required body english to keep the balance.
Also while sitting on the Firewire, the test pilots noticed the bubbles from the exhaust vent hole.
Catching waves. The IEEE 1394 teams took off on the first waves of the sets. With the R Dot crews hitting the 3rd or 4th waves on the same set.
Wave catching feelings were recorded as similar as the R dot, a quick acceleration of speed. Unlike PU/PE, there was no build up or acceleration, nor momentum to hold the speed. Once free hands were allowed to stand manuever, speed slowed. Also they had to use the push nose down technique for final ‘latching on the wave’ since for some reason, weight transfers change the balance point of the EPS and Firewire.
One thing the IEEE 1394 the crews noticed was the hightened sensitivity, since the board is shifting as the waves begins to power the trappar drive, PU normally holds stable, R dot epoxy is loose.
But the IEEE 1394 makes subtle weight shifts not so subtle. The pilots had to adjust and compensate to avoid suddenly sinking the nose to black pearl or dragging the tail to drag ass and miss the wave. Also when standing they had to make sure BOTH hands touched off at the same time or else one rail would dig dug and it would be game over. In one mistake turned victory, the firewire had squirted from the pilot’s grip, so the pilot threw it forward. It went down, and the pilot was pitched over the falls to stand right on top of board, and after a shakey bottom turn, managed to ride the wave.
On the wave maneuvering: like the R dot epoxy, the boards were looser and quirkier (than PU). The IEE1394 was even looser and quiekier, like science fiction call girl. This may be partly due to Hikaru and Miria’s unfamiliarity with the Quad set up of the Firewire. The Quad did have excellent down the wave speed, but hopping or pumping didn’t seem to accelerate as much as simply laying on a rail.
The R dot was more stable and smooth during transitions and the turns held drive and acceleration, but when engaging into the turn initially the speed loss was noticable. The IEEE 1394 could execute turns w/out loss of speed, but the test pilots found they could not generate speed nor drive during the turn. R Dot had more arcing turns, but the Firewire test team found they pivot like a cross between a single fin with a 12 inch finbox and the fin is moved full bore forward and a twin canard. Herb had warned Al about that square turning feeling.
The R dot had better vertical capability and spraying. Since they were mainly lefts, it was hard to even get that on a backfoot (No worries the 7 squadrons are improving surfing and manufacturing capabilities). The Firewire could be sent vertically, but coming off the top, it would experience this braking halt and slide for a split second. This could be due to quad and also the inherent lightness. Also the test team found the IEEE 1394 could out run the wave, but the round house was hard to execute since by the time they were finished the IEEE 1394 the final snap turn would leave them in the flat areas of the wave and they would lose it. Also the white wash recovery took some time, But the R dot’s acceleration during the turns.
So the test crews when out running waves, instead of matching the R dot’s roundhouse, they were forced to a zig zag double cutback. One swing the nose back into the foam, and another snap turn to pull the nose to forward in right direction before the nose made contact with the foam.
kick outs: Firewire was better, you could simply point and it would go and free itself off the top. Note: this could be lightness and also a ability of the quad setup. The R dot you had to be near the breaking part and execute a bottom turn to garner speed to shout to the top. If not you got stuck.
The Legendary Flex and Springback:
Both test pilots Hikaru and Miria are experienced R dot and the R dot project EPS loxbox squash tail is their main weapon of choice, as opposed to Rick and Talho’s round pin, wider template, looser rockered EPS R dots.
That said, they both reported the Flex and Springback was comparable to the EPS R dots. Based off of the IEEE 1394 it is a possibility the Firewire’s flex and spring is more consistent OVER a longer Period of Time than standard. Since we cannot buy a IEEE 1394 to test that theory . . . oh well.
It could be that dual balsa stringers dampen its flex characterstics since is it not one solid or longitudinally glued blank as opposed to the much thinner single plywood stringer. Since the pilots feet rest across the traditional inline stringer, they can affect flex more than when the stringer is upon the rails (you could engineer the flex of the center to take advantage of the perimeter stringers, Gekko State squadrons don’t use parabolic since it is misleading. Perimeter is better but since the FW was stiffer than expected) .
Also during Huntington hopping or Huntington HUmping on a dying wave, both R dots and Firewire IEEE 1394 seemed to flex and pop back the same. During combat reviews, it was found the R dot round tails tri fins (these aren’t dangerous) seem to utilize the springback more as they tended to accelerate and have drive out of turns.
As said before it is probably related to fin arrangement.
The IEEE 1394 could use a flattened rocker, it is highly manueverable and its speed retention is great but not its speed generation. A flatter rocker would give more speed with less maneuverabiltiy but it would work better since turning is highly tuned. But since Bert left the house, the knowledge of compsands may require reinventing the wheel.
White wash / Foam manuevering for the IEEE 1394 was more than excellent. It climbs foam faster than the Rusty round tail, but at the same time it would stall in the foam just as easily, and get knocked loose quicker than the R dot. R Dot possed more stability and allowed more thorough maneuver exection than Firewire, which the test pilots simply excuted their first move and held on.
One thing is the recover in foam / white wash was more difficult than the IEEE 1394. The R dot could hit the foam, the pilot had to balance from the first contact, rebound or redirect, or turn back in the wave, whereas the IEEE 1394 was easier to turn into the foam and didn’t require adjusting on initial contact upon, but right after the first move, the pilot spent most of the time trying to recover after their first move into it.
I think the IEEE 1394 can enter into foam very easily, but exiting or recovering (pointing nose to beach) is the hard part. The R Dot entry into the foam required balance skills, but exiting or recovering is harder.
Handling wave disturbances. The lightness of the IEEE 1394 magnifies this like a Jackie Chan kungfu blow. The board when hit by foam or part of the wave seems to not dampen the effect.
The R dot isn’t better but seems to plow through a little easier, with the award going to PU for that (and wood boards)
Overall battle report.
IEEE 1394:
Ratio of caught waves to ones attemped for: 7/10
Avg manuver per wave: 3-4
Avg ride: 3-6 seconds
Execution of manevers easy, recovery difficult. Maneuving is heightened.
White water perfomance is great in the beginning, but nominal in end / recovery
Spring back / Flex ok, not what was expected.
Absorption of wave effects is nominal and wave hits are amplified
Loose and easy, harder to generate speed or drive in turns, but holds current speed more than R dot.
Maneuvering has a broken rhythm, jittery feeling.
R dot Epoxy EPS
Ratio of caught waves to ones attemped for: 8/10
Avg manuver per wave: 2-3
Avg ride: 3-6 seconds
Execution of manevers normal, normal recovery
White water perfomance is normal, stable middle and finish. Entry into white water has initial bump
Spring back / Flex equal to IEEE 1394
More stiff and controlled, but posses drive during turns (and speed loss when starting a turn).
Maneuvering a little smoother.
***** Presented by Edea Tiptorrie procurement coordinator along with the testing group to Gekko State leaders
taps the mic
“Is this thing working?” Bummmmp Whuummpp. Wheeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnngg!
General staff: “Tiptorrie stop messing around.”
"Oh sorry. Esteemed Peers of Gekko State. Here is the offical opinion . …
On the Firewire IEEE 1394 standard:
On lightness
I could see where the flicky nature lends itself to contest winning but in heavy offshores, or chop, or bump its lightness is its undoing. Or its small wave performance can be excellent.
In clean waves it would be easy but waves that have bumps or curves it could cause holding issues.
It clearly lacked the momentum of PU. Also the delicate balance between too light and too heavy places this in the too light category.
Performance tests
"Furthermore the performance and tests reveal the Firewire IEEE 1394 to be only slightly more exceptional than the current weapon, the R dot handshaped epoxy. Also the Engineers of Pejiti and Moria will be able to replicate the R dot technology within a few years. In white water it handles great upon entry but recovery is difficult.
In carrier take offs and landings, the Firewire IEEE 1394 requires much more concentration and attention, and the number of botched takeoffs is increased. Paddling is the same, since the balance is easily shifted, it requires more adjusting by its pilot.
The trade offs of the the pilots getting used to the Firewire IEEE 1394 standard does not compensate for the nominal returns in overall performance.
Pricing
"Its cost as compared to procurement are $150 more than the R dot, and also has extra piece . . . the valve that could take in water if durability fails via normal use like all equipment or if struck by a blow. Also the workmanship is not up to basic standard. They do not use longitudinal glue ups of balsa stringers thus making full use of the wood, although wood glue is stronger than wood itself, it may not contain the flex properties.
On flex, spring, and return.
Since its major selling factors are the legendary flex and spring back, both of which were not up to expected standards, and can be replicated or duplicated on EPS 1 lb and epoxy with PVC or longitudinal plywood standard stringer or perimeter a la GregL or Segway this has surprised the Gekko State’s members and test crews immensely. We were expecting something to beat Bufo and FW, the prodigal children of Loehr and Berger, have failed in their Legendary features of Flex.
the Gekko State Acquisition Team (GSAT) has NOT recommended this particular wave vehicle for use in combat. Rather we recommend a vertical integration of surf mecha vehicle into our units to fully integrate performances from design and build teams to pilots and flight crews.