Has anyone ever seen anything like this on the water?
Thinking of building purely for the sake of a project, but would like to know thoughts on if it would sail or not.

"quote"
Wooden Raceboard

Recent years have seen the price of racing sailboards skyrocket to $4,000 plus, excluding many sailors. Now you can afford to join the race with a board thats inexpensive to build and be just as competitive.

Like all of Michael's designs, they are easily built. The construction is similar to that of a model aircraft.

The comprehensive plan also incudes fitting a mast track and a finbox to take a standard Turtle fin.
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Thanks Decrepit, yeh I don't expect this to be competitive to any degree, but might be fun to build. I was wondering how critical weight would really be,wouldn't there be large variances in rider weights to negate board weight?performance of any board would be based on design wouldn't it?(I know this probably lacks design for good performance, but I lack skill for that anyway !)

John Gettens used to race home-made wooden longboards years ago. They were vast; about 14' long I think, and very, very quick a lot of the time. The weight doesn't have to be a problem as you gain by not having a core.

However, in longboards the rocker line is absolutely critical. You may need to try to find something like a Mistral Pan Am or F2 Lightning 380, IMCO or Fanatic Cat to make sure that this will sail well.

weight is a big factor!
Don't be fooled into comparing it with your own weight, and thinking it's such a small percentage it doesn't matter.
That's a common error, your weight is part of the power train, (it's counterbalancing sail sideways thrust). The board and rig are dead weight, getting them as light as possible has a big impact.

20kg sound very heavy to me, but I haven't got much experience with big boards

Just googled original windsurfer and they came out at 20kg's.
I think a lot of early "plastic" longboards would be close to that.
I will give it a go and see how it turns out, something to do when there is no wind.
As for a small hole in it - as a beginner windsurfer, my swimming has improved so should be right!

As for the weight of it:

I've got an old Cavman Raceboard for really light days and teaching mates (huge thing probably 300L or something), it weights 18kg and goes okay I reckon. Sorta plasticy top and some wood in the hull too, glassed bottom.

Hope that helps somehow in working out if you one will work

How to have a 200-plus litre board which is still a sinker!

nup.... you gotta make it out of ironbark!!!

snides8 said...

i have always wondered what it would be like if there was some way of replicating or manufacture artificially, different materials that grow naturally.
such as.....(try not to laugh) the shell of a pistachio nut...
think about it....its as light as a feather, as stiff as carbon and impact resistance...well
you know what i mean.granted a lot of its strength come from its shape but you got to admit its pretty tough stuff......now just got to peel a million more for my next board..

I like your ideas snides8...better/lighter/stiffer boards in an eco-friendly material, could be heaps cheaper too, as majority of board material would be previously a waste product of agriculture

Just gotta keep it non-biodegradable when using the board, but biodegradable when board too old. Maybe they would be cheap to make so you could get a new one every 6 months before it biodegrades.

You could get new boards quite often, cheap and feel good about it and producers would get more turnover


Probably a not too silly idea, but good luck getting any of that through the buisness/economics heads of the gear producers