Skimmer shape

[Surfdad]

What do you think? The place I swiped it from had several sizes.

[skippabcool]

It will be interesting. I am waiting to see you riding it.

[Surfdad]

I'm not sure I'm going to build it yet, but the shape is interesting. I found a site that described this evolution of the shape:

4.) The latest evolution of skimboard shape is based on the hyperbolic function, with double-concave sides creating a waistline at the middle. Snow skis and snowboards use this geometry to achieve a carve turn on snow. They maintain better speed by tracking along a precise arc, than by displacing some volume of the particles underfoot in order to turn. There is less drag by this mechanism, along with enhanced directional control.

The waistline of the hyperbolic shape, also allows the rider to easily "twist" the board so that front and back portions are slanted differently. This gives a highly sensitive foot-steering response, more rotational than directional in its effect.

The hyperbolic skimboard shape has retained the good bidirectional qualities found in phase (3.) of skimboard evolution, above.

Another advantage is that its widest surface areas are located beneath each foot, so that the rider's stance is well supported and secure. There is less sense of falling off from a central balance point, during any weight transfer from front-to-back.

A possible disadvantage is that the rotational moment of inertia is high, due to the mass of the board being distributed outward from center. This is opposite from the primitive circular board which doesn't care which way it is facing and will spin very freely. The hyperbolic shape has a high directional stability and tends to snap into its path. It is not as easy to toss this type of board into a sudden spinning maneuver, such as the stunts derived from skateboarding lip tricks. Twin-tip shapes would be the optimal choice for such tricks. Hyperbolic boards are also somewhat difficult to "wrap" onto the face of an incoming wave, yet they do handle deep water nicely. Hyperbolic skimboards are best suited for long graceful glides, distance runs, top speed, and maneuverability.

[Wakeman22]

Very interesting.

Good solid ideas and foundations based on the concepts used in ski and snowboard shapes of today. Make it and there may be a new generation of boards and better tricks to do. Love it.

[Surfdad]

I don't know. I might make one out of wood to see. I snowboard and the sidecut works on hard surfaces when the board is flexing. I guess the board would need to flex so that the sidecut engaged. It sure begs to be tried on "the cheap".

[NICKYPOO]

It looks like a bandaid. I've been interested in this shape for a while. Obviously it works in the snow world and you see more and more of it in the wake world. Hell, my slalom ski has a side cut. Hydroslide came out with that wakeboard years ago. It never seemed to take off but, that would seem more a result of being made by Hydroslide. What self respecting wakeboarder is going to buy a Hydroslide wakeboard?

The shape, to me, looks slow. That's just my feeble brain trying to imagine the waterflow against those rails. It just seems 100% counter intuitive. It looks like it will hook a turn but beyond that...? The flex part of the equation is the $100,000 mystery right? I think you are going to try it no matter what we say. I can just about hear the wheels in your head turning from here.

[Surfdad]

I must be so transparent! I still haven't been able to figure out how it works, so I moved on to the White Lightning! Quadruple Carbon layered sandwich, eventually...just two layers now. I want to take it out and ride it without any external lamination

[NICKYPOO]

Oh wow. Where do I begin? I guess with, a pin tail? No fins? Looks long. How long? What's with the color? Weight? Why? Does it flex at all?

Sorry for all the questions but, that is the last thing I expected to see come off you're bench.

[Surfdad]

I posted that up just to pique your curiosity, Nick! You are the man for details. We are going to be making a skim for James. The contests that he goes to mostly allow riders to enter the surf and skim divisions and it will give him some more riding time. So, we had to make a skimboard! I'll have a finished prototype in about 2 weeks. What you see above is the board without external lamination...which will eventually be carbon. We took it out and rode it yesterday sort of to document that it is stiff and durable, plus waterproof, even without anything on the outside.

The board, as is, weighs about 2.5 pounds, but should finish up around 4.5 pounds with the 4 layers of carbon.

Thanks for following along!

[Ewok]

The band-aid board looks like a marketing gimmick unless the broad flexes like a snowboard, and I just don't see that happening yet. I'd look at the foam slabs designed by a nautical engineer than try to copy snowboard design made for frozen water vs free flowing water on a wave.

That skimboard looks cool, but can't James just enter both events with his surfboard since he can do big spin now?

[Surfdad]

I don't think a surf style board with over 35 square inches of fins will be very competitive in a skim division, where the norm is MAYBE 3 square inches. Those guys kill it and the fin differential really impacts some of the tricks that can be done. Riding revert, being able to basicall spin in place. One trick, does not a skimmer make

We're hoping to create a production composite sandwich skimmer that we can sell, or that Inland will manufacture for us, fingers crossed for the later!

[NICKYPOO]

So, you would be able to put some fin boxes in if you wanted to?

Just out of curiosity, why the pin tail?

[Surfdad]

The pintail offers about the best stability upon landing, because it sinks some with less area back there. The other notable benefit is when the board is revert, like after landing a shuv, the pintail is now the nose and the boards ride virtually identical with the nose forward, or the tail forward.

I've seen some of the variations of skimmers, and they are all just very small and narrow at the very end of the tail. This board that we've got is super stiff, so we don't have the flex issues that tend to slow other boards down. As such, I think we'll be good with the pin.

Yeah, you could definately stick some rail boxes in it if you wanted, it's got just enough thickness! (mind reader! )
The C5's like on your Walzer fit easily, also.

[Timmy!]

I want a pintail surf style board. I want to learn how to big slaysh's like the ocean surfers. I think once I get my act (and materials) together, I am going to build a board and the first one is going to be a pintail.

[NICKYPOO]

Well, I would be very interested to ride one of your skimmers. Sounds like you have a good plan.

I can certainty attest to the difficulty if riding a "finned up" skimmer revert. It's a very delicate operation not to catch a fin. My Walzer is quite slow revert as well. I'm assuming with the nose rocker, flex, lack of fin in the water, its not that surprising. I'm lucky if I get 20-30ft out of it before I A) hook a fin B) fall out of the wake or C) and this is the rarest occurrence, somehow bring it back around and stay in the wake.