Hydrodynamics Idea

Hi Swaylockers,

 

I came across this article on Surfline and made me think how this could apply to hydrodynamics and surfboard design:

“A shark’s skin helps the fish swim faster. Shark skin is covered with tiny, tooth-like scales which are so abrasive that people use the skin for sandpaper. But that roughness reduces the drag of turbulence by keeping a thin layer of smooth flowing water next to the skin as the shark swims.”

 

I’m probably overthinking this, but just curious what other’s opinions are.

This is why sanded-finish boards are seen to be faster than gloss finish, and i think Bill T has been developing a ‘sharkskin’ finishing product? (not quite sure whether on fins or bottom of boards) I think it would be interesting to sand different areas of the board’s planing surface to direct water flow, similar to the effect of concaves? 

There are also very fast swimming fish in the ocean that don’t have rough skin. 

There are also very fast swimming fish in the ocean that don’t have rough skin. 

Sailfish clocked @ 68 mph.


Sanded board faster than polished —> this one has always made me chuckle. 

I’ve ridden quite a few boards with a sanded finish and then a polished bottom - nothing. (I was not attempting to test the theory but it just worked out) 

 

The only given, is that red boards are faster. 

The only boards faster than red boards are bonzers. :wink:

agree with WideAWAKE about differences between sanded/polished, i’d never notice the difference, and as we all know, red boards are fastest. A good experimeriment would be compare a red bonzer,white bonzer and a white flat bottomed 5 fin (same as a bonzer) with red panels where the concaves should be, the red go faster panels should channel the water in the same way as the concaves…