back in the late 80s I got hold of an experimental home made board, and soon after gave it away. It was about 15cm wide on a good day, maybe 180cm long, and 10cm thick. Bit like a thick water ski, never got it going (on the small lake in 15 knots and a 5.0 flat semi battened sail).

Roo said...

The first board to break the 40 knot barrier over 500 meters was a 11" wide Mudshark shaped by Jimmy Lewis, back in November 1988. Erik Beale was the rider and always had the narrowest boards but 11" was his smallest.

I saw this board in the flesh at the london boat show.

It was truly the smallest board I have ever seen. For the time it was short too at 2.20 ish I think.

Volume must have been around 40-50 litres.

slowboat said...

keef said...

We need to supply production boards with production straps that work. We supply premium DaKine straps.

im with you, these speed boards need to be fitted with a production strap that works , surely dakine or other production strap manufacturers can come up with a strap with an eyelet to access the front fin screw , the back strap i made for decrepit is wider at the back than the front with an eyelet for the screwdriver or socket, the wider back screw either side of the box and you only need one screw for the front
my straps aren't good enough for the open market , but the idea definitely is

slowboat said...
>>>>
Also, lending boards between runs is common practice so having a velcro adjustable strap is really important. I have big feet. Other guys dont. So the straps need to be easily adjustable without having to piss around with screws.

This is a point, a few people have expressed interest in trying my board, but my custom keef straps are set up for my feet with boots on, without boots they'll probably be too loose for most feet.
Thanks for the warning slowy, if the foam deteriorates, I'll make sure I replace it quick smart.

Revhead said...

back in the late 80s I got hold of an experimental home made board, and soon after gave it away. It was about 15cm wide on a good day, maybe 180cm long, and 10cm thick. Bit like a thick water ski, never got it going (on the small lake in 15 knots and a 5.0 flat semi battened sail).

If you got it in Canberra and it's all white (well yellowed epoxy) it could have been mine.

I had at one stage a 14in and 12in home made boards. I think the 14 was always faster as it was far easier to sail, the 12 was just too narrow and twitchy, which made it slower over all.

Jan when was the last time you used it?

Like a lot of people I am about 20kg heavier now than I was 20 years ago. What was possible then just ain't going to happen now :-))

nioCE !! CAN I HAVE A GO ? ;-)

great collection ! please post the pascal board was one of my faves as a kid ;-)
thanks for sharing

B.t.w.. The yellow board dous have a name. It's written underneath the laminate. The name is: Canal Plus MK.II

Have been away for some day's. Thats why I reply now.

When I bought this board, one month ago, I had a long talk with Erik Beale on the telephone. He told me that he used this board on the canal. I have no reason to doubt him.

Also the german surfmagazin wrote about the 1989 Masters speedtrails in Saint maries de la Mer sailed in march, were Erik did beat Pascal Maka in a direct face-of with a maximum speed of 74,31 km/h. in this magazine the board is featured, including pics.

Erik told me that he used more than one board during this competition. Sailing the 25 he found out that the board had a verry good topspeed, but the avarage speed was not that good. The extremely gusty wind in Saint marries de la Mer made it impossible to reach record speeds over 500 meter on the 25. When entering a lull the board slowed down to much. The 27cm and the 30cm boards had similar topspeeds as the 25, but they were better in gliding thru the lulls. The 30cm board proved to be the fastest board in these conditions.

I can not show you the speed done by this board because in those day's only the top speed of a competitor at the end of the speedweek counted, and was made public. In this case that was done on the 30cm board. In the mid 90's the rules changed. From then on the 2 best speed in every heat did count.

I have competed on the canal in 1990 and in 1991 myself and I know that in the rankings only the topspeed counted and they were publiched. My personal runs were handed to me on a small printout. Even if Erik has these printouts, I don't expect him to be able to tell you wich run he did on what board.

Andrew, I hope I have answered you questions to your likings.

Speedsurfing reminds me of how we would get things done in the old days!!

Every idea and development looks so good on paper

Hi all
Late '80's I had an 8'3" x 12" . Always a bit of a bugger when u have size 15 feet - it was about 8" at the front strap... I think mid 30's was about the best out of it. But then again it was the 80's...