Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

Channels on a surfboards

Forum for kitesurfers
longwhitecloud
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 3676
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:15 am
Style: Master Baiter. Oracle of windsport.
Gear: 2 sets of Flysurfer VMGs 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 15, 18. Foilboards ( Masts 75 90 110 125 Wings 880 950 1100 1350 1750) all with Ronix Ones attached. Soon to retire to Wingfoiling.
Has thanked: 108 times
Been thanked: 175 times

Re: Channels on a surfboards

Postby longwhitecloud » Mon Nov 20, 2017 12:52 am

Yeah that video isn't really saying too much.

Channels like these come and go. Look back 30 years ago. U won't see them on the wsl.

Some kiteboards are more for surfboard freestyle than waveriding tho where tracking and front surface area (to catch the wind) can be more important.

Surfboard industry, cut n paste.. just like China, no one with a PhD in fluid dynamics let alone an engineering degree, although over time there have developed some damn good surfboards out there.

As a kiteboarding customer i reckon it is really hard to choose a kite surfboard. Its really is down to the conditions and what you do though. You have to try many boards to learn and that can be hard to do.

Cruising comfort paralell rails
Small mushy waves. Super wide tail.
Huge. Fast waves.. narrow board, narrow tail, smaller fins if finding out of control due to too much lift.

Look at a surfers quiver it's complex..

10ft log or big foamie (lots of good surfers started riding big foamies!) 1-2ft
9ft performance Longboard 2-3ft
Fish or fat tail
twin fin super wide/ 2ft
Volumous shortboard 2-3ft
Performance shortboard 3-6ft
Stepup board 6ft+

Then u got the hipster surfers that make their own boards and try anything, preferably something to do with the 60s and 70s but maybe a mix of 2017 too...

Bushflyr
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 893
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 11:14 pm
Gear: OR Razor 7m
Caution Spitfire 9m, 10m
Firewire Vanguard 5' 4"
Naish Global 5' 10"
Shinn Monk
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Channels on a surfboards

Postby Bushflyr » Mon Nov 20, 2017 3:01 am

tegirinenashi wrote:
Sun Nov 19, 2017 1:31 am

Citation needed. Look, if channels are in any way better than flat surface, then there must be some kind of optimum. In the number of channels, their shape, etc. What we actually see is a wild zoo of different "designs". Aren't those designs supposed to compete between themselves too (and exhibit the winner)?

BTW, the convex shape of the board bottom is a kind of a channel. However, advantages of convex shape are much easier to believe, because it is a smooth curve (and therefore much more likely to be a solution of an optimization problem). For convex channel, the optimal number of channels can't be anything other than 1. However, the fact that board designers were compelled to follow Gillete path and increase the number of channels hints that probably minuture concave shape doesn't really matter too.
LOL, The fact that you even mention the term "convex" clearly indicates that you have no clue what you're talking about. Convex is not a channel. More channels is a limitation of board thickness, not abandoning the concept that channels work.

bjw
Medium Poster
Posts: 181
Joined: Sat Aug 19, 2017 7:01 am
Gear: Best
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 14 times

Re: Channels on a surfboards

Postby bjw » Mon Nov 20, 2017 8:52 am

The difficulty in having an engineer design a surfboard is the chop, size and shapes of waves/chaos theory around boards. It wouldn't be easy to model.

Surf boards are radically different for different regions. With kiting we have even more factors. Then looking at channels.. They are one factor only.

I find the Firewire over rated. The Stallion seems to be the best made and a pretty rad shape, but a tradional surfboard will always ride the best. Again no channels.

User avatar
tegirinenashi
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 815
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 3:29 am
Local Beach: 3rd Ave
Gear: Bates 4000, Dominator MX-10
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 33 times
Been thanked: 36 times

Re: Channels on a surfboards

Postby tegirinenashi » Mon Nov 20, 2017 5:26 pm

Bushflyr wrote:
Mon Nov 20, 2017 3:01 am
tegirinenashi wrote:
Sun Nov 19, 2017 1:31 am
BTW, the convex shape of the board bottom is a kind of a channel. However, advantages of convex shape are much easier to believe, because it is a smooth curve (and therefore much more likely to be a solution of an optimization problem). For convex channel, the optimal number of channels can't be anything other than 1. However, the fact that board designers were compelled to follow Gillete path and increase the number of channels hints that probably minuture concave shape doesn't really matter too.
LOL, The fact that you even mention the term "convex" clearly indicates that you have no clue what you're talking about. Convex is not a channel. More channels is a limitation of board thickness, not abandoning the concept that channels work.
I grant you this point: it meant to be "concave". (I also have trouble distinguishing left and right :)

TomW
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 3585
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 6:43 pm
Kiting since: 2001
Local Beach: Vejbystrand, Lomma
Gear: TW Surfboards hydrofoil board 110
Gong Veloce M, 100cm carbon mast
Ozone Hyperlink V1 7m
Hyperlink V2 9m, 13m
Concept Air Wave 4,5m
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Sweden
Has thanked: 53 times
Been thanked: 193 times

Re: Channels on a surfboards

Postby TomW » Mon Nov 20, 2017 10:11 pm

I was planning on building a set of boards with identical outline, rocker and thickness one without the channels in the tail, and one with bonzer type och channels, and one with only single concave to V. Then test them out.
But I've lost interest, because they work fantastic as they are and am building a few HF boards this winter.


Return to “Kitesurfing”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: andylc, Baidu [Spider], Bing [Bot], Brent NKB, DanielorDani, duddd, funalex, ham-er, SolarSet, voodoospirit, Yahoo [Bot] and 591 guests