Can this be wakesurfed?

[Timmy!]

Looked almost squirrely there, so it must be fast! It's basically a skim board with real fins on it, isn't it? Congrats on the maiden voyage!

[Surfdad]

Thanks Timmy! It was crazy fast, which I "think" had something to do with the square'ish rails. The water literally lept off them.

You've asked the $64,000 question! My quess is if the board can be made to ride really well and allows James to do a ton more tricks, it will be deemed a skimboard or something else to thwart any sort of innovation.

Foregive me if sound nasty, we were burglaized last night while everyone was home! I guess they hit 4 others neighbors also. Scary and angering, both...and attitudinally effecting!

But back to the question, what, in your mind, makes it a skimmer? The lack of thickness?

[Timmy!]

But back to the question, what, in your mind, makes it a skimmer? The lack of thickness?

Well, good question...what do rules in a competition define as a skimboard? A front fin? It looks like a skimboard due to its lack of thickness but it lacks a front fin.

Sorry to hear about what happened. Can't believe they did that while you were home! And to steal a motorcycle to boot? Pretty ballsy!

[Surfdad]

I don't think the rules say anything, most likely they'll develop them to address that one Phase 5 board and this one and others if it's finalized.

Isn't that awful about the theft? I guess they hit four or five houses in the neighborhood, mostly breaking into cars. So brazen! From the stuff left around it looks like druggies.

[NICKYPOO]

A Skimmer in my mind is the lack of fins. Real fins. Your little experiment is a true hybrid as I see it. The future is now! Damn the two party system!

Sorry you got hit. Bastards. I've been there. It sucks.

[NICKYPOO]

You can really see the release off the rails in both the pics and the vid. So clean.

[Surfdad]

I guess those bastards hit 5 folks in the neighborhood. Mostly unlocked cars, but our garage was open and James got his motorcycle stolen! They even used our tools to cut the chain that had the gate locked to get the bike out!

Maybe hybrid is what the powers that be decide. I think what's really needed is some damn infrastructure that dictates a rational way to address conflicts like this, that come along and will continue to come along, not just folks saying my systems better than yours and YOU smell funny too! Eh...I'm starting my rant again!

Doesn't the water just flow off the rails?! It was amazing, so smooth and effortless, plus I swear it was ridiculously fast. I really think the release of the water has something to do with the speed.

[NICKYPOO]

Bummer deal on the bike. That's pretty ballsy. Although, shame on you for leaving your garage open. That's just asking for it. Ever since I got jacked, I'm super anal about keeping doors shut, windows locked, cameras recording and alarms on.

Kinda funny, most anybody these days has a surfboard on their boat. It's grown immensely in the last couple years. Every manufacture is focusing on surf performance at least somewhat, if not mostly just because everybody loves it and wants a good surf boat first and foremost. Maybe, just maybe it will be enough of a boost to the sport in the next couple of years that brings in enough interest for the right people to want to get involved. First you need a little solidarity though and the combining of the classes is the only way to build it right. Yer little board there is ground level solidarity.

It really is pretty to watch. Just butter smooth.

[skippabcool]

That sucks that you guys got hit.

With the flexing I thought you were going to purl right away. As I thought that you about did and then recovered.

This is awesome watching you do this. I think the worst part is watching you still ride. I would love to be in the water right now.

[Surfdad]

It wasn't the garage door where the cars come in, but the little side door. We live out in the sticks because we wanted to avoid this sort of thing?! You're right, we now have everything locked and alarmed, plus the entire property is fenced and the only two entry points are locked with chains. Sheesh, welcome to the country!

Mike Armstrong of Calibrated Wakesurfing says the same thing as you. Trying to quote him: "we don't surf or skim, we wakesurf"

The original argument for splitting the divisions was because it was stifling to those that rode a surf style board. It would force everyone to ride a skimmer, if they wanted to be competitive. BUT that wasn't meant to be the do-all and end-all. As the sport developed then the rules and critea needed to evolve with it and instead they've become a protection mechanism preventing any sort of progression. The watch word has become NO! that's a skimboard. Jeeze, no it's not. Or double grabs are worth 80 gazillion points! Again, no they aren't. Someone needs to strap a set on and say "any significant variation of the style of riding or of the underlying equipment shall prompt the organizer and chief judge to determine if a separate division is warranted" Then there is a way to deal with the development and folks are still protected if they like to ride old school. I don't know if that is adequate if that just creates a bigger can'o worms but there needs to be a way to address progression that isn't left to whether a judge likes it or not. Bah humbug!

I'm not oppossed to having a myriad of divions that are reflective of the style, gender and age of the folks riding, but it needs to be fair and equitable, and NOT thwart development or have this crazy arrogance that what is NOW is all there will ever be.

You need to ride one Nick! The speed was remarkable and just begged for a 40 foot long pocket! I'll make one that's not so flexible

[NICKYPOO]

When I had Sean Walzer make my board, I told him I wanted as thin as possible with hard rails all the way around. He called me back just to make sure that's what I really wanted. He thought it was odd. Maybe just because it went against grain as to what possible and what was believed to be the best thing for a board. He felt the thicker, soft rail board was the way to go. Nuh uh. I want it thin and sharp. I had ridden all the pop-outs made at the time plus a couple others (Butter Board,P5 and even a 5-0 G&S) and I always came back to the feel of those hard rails and thin boards (P5). I just needed some fins on something similar. What I ended up with was exactly what I wanted. Now I want one of your's. Thinner, faster, lighter. Trust me, I'm dying to ride one.

[Surfdad]

I was sitting here thinking about the very first Calibrated skimmers that Mike produced. I think it was 1/4" thick divinycell, maybe a tad thicker, but it was super thin, also. He had to really beef up the lamination to get it stiff enough, so it was pretty standard fare in the weight department. He did no shaping of the rails, they were straight up and down square! Those went really well, also. Sadly I drove the truck over ours and made it 2 skimmers! I had completely forgotten about that board.

I "think" I have a plan to stiffen the board up enough to allow airs...well LANDING from the air is the key. and still keep it light. We'll see!

[NICKYPOO]

It wasn't the garage door where the cars come in, but the little side door. We live out in the sticks because we wanted to avoid this sort of thing?! You're right, we now have everything locked and alarmed, plus the entire property is fenced and the only two entry points are locked with chains. Sheesh, welcome to the country!

Maybe if you hadn't surfed that particular door...

[Surfdad]

LOL! Door karma!

[Surfdad]

I was thinking about the speed of this board when it was twisted sort of out-of-shape. It was literally fastest when it had a negative rocker. Like a curve downward. It would come back quickly when I unweighted it. It reminded me of the "dynamichull" attribute, that the now defunct, Hydroepic advertised. It was a hollow carbon fiber board and the bottom of the board wasn't attached to the deck. The deck was super reinforced though and didn't flex or "morph" but the bottom did.

I become more and more convinced that wetted surface area is what makes wakesurf boards go. Not volume, thickness or much else. It somehow makes sense to me, that if THAT is true...that wetted surface area is the predominate factor, that a board which could somehow maximize that area depending upon where the board was on the wake, would be the fastest.

Not sure about other attributes of performance, but if we are talking planning and wetted surface area, MORE would be better than less and achieving "more" would dictate different shapes depending upon where you were on the wake.

Shape shifting bottom?