hello,
I want to build a modern speed sailboard,
any help in fast rocker lines is more then welcome,
bye
fish,
I will have to dig for it but I may have some dimensions for some w/s speed boards. I am on the east coast and made a board that went 34 mph in 29 mph of wind. This was in the early 80’s. Back then a lot of the speed boards were Waimea guns with mast tracks added. One guy around here had an Owl Chapman gun that was quick. You want a nice continuous rocker. Jimmy Lewis was the man for those boards. I’ll look through my old stuff.
Dave_D
Hi Dave,
thanks for taking time.
mentioning Jimmy Lewis,
a month or so ago, I just read in some article that his templates/ rockers of the late 80’s early 90’s, are even more valid today in 2008!!
timeless mastery I would say.
looking forward to your search results
bye steven
Gentlemen,
Have you had any luck in that search for sailboard designs? I’m planning one too and wanting to get some ideas on rocker, fin and mast track placement, etc. Eagerly awaiting some word. Thanks!
I worked at the same glass shop Jimmy was working at in the 80’s. He built a number of speed boards which I got to see. Can’t give you too many specifics but I had a 9 footer that was 17 inches wide, and 8’6" which was 16.5. They were ones I shaped but I was pretty much ripping Jimmy off. Rockers on those had about 18 inches of straight off the tail and the rest was pretty standard for a Wiamea gun. They were single concave … deep concave from end to end tapering off in the nose and tail and had chine edges through the middle of the board. I rode the 9 footer all the time, was one of my favorite sailboards ever. Would go in about 15 kts. The 8’6" needed too much wind and it had to be steady wind at that. Would just sink without power. If your in FL there’s a balsa one I built hanging from the ceiling in the Indian Harbour RR shop.
Thanks for the reply Greg. Wishing I was in FL although spring here in the Ozarks is beautiful too. I’m thinking of modifying the 9 foot template from the Tree to Sea site so your comments on the 9 footer sound good. Do you know where I can find a good image of one of those Wiamea Guns? Might help me in my quest. I have woodworking skills and rudimentary windsurfing skills but still learning how to marry the two.
Maybe this can help: http://www.ecboards.co.uk/
and this: http://www.surfboardbuilding.com/Building/building.html (this is mostly old stuff)
Modern speed boards tend to be quite a bit shorter, around 7’6", width depends on expected conditions, in perfect really windy conditions 16.5" sounds about right depending on the sailors weight, for less than perfect conditions you see all the way to 20" wide, wide point is usually moved well back of the older style boards for easier planing. Thickness has gone up too. For a perfect flatwater speed course usually no concave or vee, for chop a double concave works well at smoothing out all the banging. Usually not much rocker from the tail to the mast track, for a chop board a bit more rocker in the nose than a speed course board. The F2 Missle XS is a good example of a speed course board, the Tabou Manta 49 is a good example of a board that works really well in chop but is maybe a touch slower on the speed course, a google search should give you specs on these boards. I can sail the Tabou in moderate conditions, with up to a 6.5 or 7.0 without any problem, planes up really quickly. The F2 requires a hurricane to get going. If I can find my camera I’ll put up a few pics.