For a project at university I’m conducting a
research project on surfboards. We are aiming to gain a formal understanding
(numbers, equations etc) of how boards perform. (We are more focused on
the material and structural aspects rather than how a slight change in the
rails or rocker will affect the performance)
The question we are investigating currently is:**What are the physical characteristics of a
surfboard that are important to the user?**
**Below are a few characteristics we have come
across and feel to be of importance:**
Paddling Performance (e.g. how the mass of the board
changes the position the board sits in the water)
Durability
Weight
Stiffness
Riding performance (actually how it feels once on the
wave)
Stability
I would greatly appreciate any input into what
the rest of you believe are important characteristics of boards.
For a project at university I’m conducting a research project on surfboards. We are aiming to gain a formal understanding (numbers, equations etc) of how boards perform. (We are more focused on the material and structural aspects rather than how a slight change in the rails or rocker will affect the performance)
The question we are investigating currently is:What are the physical characteristics of a surfboard that are important to the user?
Below are a few characteristics we have come across and feel to be of importance:
Paddling Performance (e.g. how the mass of the board changes the position the board sits in the water)
Durability
Weight
Stiffness
Riding performance (actually how it feels once on the wave)
Stability
I would greatly appreciate any input into what the rest of you believe are important characteristics of boards.
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Just my two cents - I think you would end up with two separate lists. A list of the important physcial characteristics that define a board would read something like
length
width
thickness
volume
template
rocker
foil
bottom shape
rails
tail
fins and fin placement / configuration
weight
flex.
A list of performance characteristics that define how it rides would read more like
buoyancy
paddle-ability
trim speed
stiffness - tracking
looseness
control in turns
speed / power loss in turns
center of control while riding (sweet spot)
flex
The first list is composed of measurable components, the second list is far more subjective. Finding the link / ratio between the two is the elusive key to making great surfboards, i.e. how much volume is just enough, how many fins and where in order to maximize control in a turn, but minimize drag in trim, etc. etc. Defies scientific anaylsis, at least so far as I know.
Further complicating the equation is that rider's size shape weight abilities style etc. would have to be factored in, as well as the waves and conditions of the ocean, large powerful small mushy rolling glassy choppy offshore, low-tide and sucky, high tide and fat, etc. etc.
To dial in all the various factors when making a board to maximize performance for the specific rider in the specific waves he'll be riding in is the realm of the master shaper. No computer has been able to do it.
What university are you from, and what kind of student are you? What year are you in, and was it your instructors decision to choose this topic, and if so what is his name? And perhaps most importantly what do plan do with this research? I think these are valid questions, which deserve consideration; good luck in your quest for knowledge, and please give us detailed reasons why this stuff matters to you and your university.
[quote="$1"]
The question we are investigating currently is:What are the physical characteristics of a surfboard that are important to the user?
[/quote]
One, and one only, that the board respond effortlessly to my desire to go anywhere on the wave that my mind projects it. The term ''magic'' comes to mind.
What would be interesting is finding a **correlation **between volume distribution and paddling performance. (that is one of the few things that can be somewhat objectively quantified. However, the volume distribution of the paddler will have a big impact on this.)
Please share it afterwards.
I’m also interested in the answers to ghettorat’s questions.
ghettorat, you beat me to it. Maybe I’m terribly suspicious, even bordering on paranoïa, but if Ikra006 needs such info, all he has to do is search in Swaylock’s archives because everything is in there and i’m afraid it’s way too complex to be summed up in one single reply.
@Ace: I admit that colors are of the utmost importance, but even before that is “a very pointed nose”. Only red boards with pointed noses are really fast. But then, everybody knows that.
I resepect Ben but there's alot of "art" in a good surfboard. And a good surfer can do things a kook can't. No matter what the shape or materials.........and don't get me started on tail patches.
I don't surf San Onofre very often...but...one day about 5 years ago I was sitting on the crapper at Old Man's. Looked up at the wall over the door.Someone wrote this in ink pen...."Kooks Teaching Kooks = More Kooks"......
I not the greatest surfer. Some dude ditched his board in front of me the other day in 3 foot surf. I was not wearing a leash so ditching was not an option. Are you a Kook? Does your instructor wear a leash? Do you ditch your board?
getto,you say these are valid questions,would you ,or anyone else be prepared to validate them
i’m on the edge of my seat
what understanding could this college kid hope to obtain,that,‘without focussing on rails or rocker’,which you would consider restricted only for a certain group
and if we’re going to be suspicious or paranoid
most of the leading large producers have aquired,or are hoping to aquire,technology to customize models,
they are likely to use all the available information in the public domain to gain a better ‘understanding’
and therefore a larger part of the market
i’m interested in how your ethics will fit in to this future…
if any of the leading thinkers among the mass producers,who may lurk here occaisionally,would like to provide a more rounded view
I agree with Stingray about Ben Thompson. Ben was doing some really cool work with science and performance. Seems like a couple of years ago things were a lot more open for discussion.
Sorry for the long reply I have just finished exams and haven’t
had time to work on the project. I am a 4th year mechanical engineering from
the University of Auckland and this project is being undertaken through our
Centre of Advanced Composite Materials (CACM). In regards to the motivation
behind the project it was definitely student driven, I have a passion for board
sports (skating, skiing, kite boarding and surfing) and wanted to spend the year working on a project that I was personally interested in. I was directed down the
surfboard path because past students from CACM have already looked into analysing
the mechanical behavior of skis, kite boards, snowboards and my supervisor felt
that analysis of surfboards would provide a meaty year long project to tackle.
What I plan to get out of this is
analysing different composite layups, for example how much does the global stiffness of the board change if we use 2 or 3 layers of glass top or bottom, how much
does the stringer contribute to the board strength and stiffness and one of the
more trying arguments PU vs EPS and why do the EPS boards which are claimed to
be ground breaking technology keep breaking. However if I was just to do a yearlong
project on composite layups and the different variations it would only last a month hence why
we are taking a broader picture (that incorporates board structure) and looking
at the overall board and saying what characteristics are measurable and how are
these important to the end user. By the end of the project we hope to have
produced a standardised method that can be used to measure these characteristics
and provide a scale on how these affect performance.
looking forward to hearing more from your quest,as others have said,ben thompsons work is cutting edge
i’ll move mine to another thread
grat,the validity of a question still needs further consideration,why,you (a person who hides his identity) should infer a wish to contact a person with direct influence on the asker of the question,lkra…
I go with Herb´s. I definitively am going with Herb´s choice. The spirit ahead of the fisics. How many of us have(or had) a out of fashion shitty design feature"magic board". How to explain all the fun and performence it(we) engaged. Don´t have to go distant, check this forum topic “show us the bar of soap you have created…” here on Sways. Looking at the designs and what people say on “test rides”, makes it easy to… Or think about surfboard design improvme… evolut… develop…
Don´t really agree on this words cause they give you the idea of something getting better, mean that surfboard design changes across times dont or didn´t allways happen like something getting better(improving), but maybe getting adapted to a certain "way of doing, being and thinking". Can not forget the single fin shapes on the late 70s beginning of the 80`s, small, fat, roundy…could never surf those shapes. Luckily there were the twinfin.
Hope this is written in some perceptible inglish.
Have fun is once more the key word for pleasure and positive acomplishments. Miguel
