Keef, It's a bottom shape I have sketched up numerous times that has been floating around in my head for a while. It is essentially a flat V board but has a centre concave that runs to flat at around 700 off and has side flats that twist slightly as they run forward to lift the rails.
We will see how it works!!!
I imagine MVM has gone through the concept of his simmer boards with you , your board is very similar to the 100lt monster minus the steps , the steps on the simmer boards are similar and lift the rail, I like the parallel outline and the less wetted surface area for the width and volume, it looks like a light to medium wind flying machine, your a lucky man to have Stuart doing these boards , he had the cheeky monkey at illawarra , it looked like a work of art, light and bullet proof
Keef the board is actually very different to the Monster, those boards have a very complex setup up of varying rockers, concaves and steps, this board is much simpler and much closer to my last Cheeky Monkey slalom. It's a bees dick longer than the last one, slightly wider at 300 off but has the side cuts so waterline width is actually narrower. Thinner in the nose and the rocker is a bit higher at 1500 off. My last board was constant angle V right through with subtle double concave. This board is constant angle V right through with the centre concave added. That had the effect of dropping the rails closer to the water so I added the twisting side flats just to lift the rails back up a bit from the mastbase forward . Overall it still has less V than my last Cheeky Monkey especially in the tail which is quite flat.
It was really curiosity that lead me to this, I doodle up boards all the time while I am in corporate meetings and this one kept appearing on the note pad so I thought, what the...... I need to build one and see how it works. I think it will be very fast, my reservation is how it will handle the Port Phillip killer chop. I am going to find out soon.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Concave channel down the guts running out to flat about 700 off. Flat V panels either side with spiral V flat side panels to lift the rails forward.
Mistral is V double concave.
mate has got an old AHD slalom board with very similar bottom shape I'll take a pic next time I'm there
AAARRRGHHH!! How did you know I was going to make my next board those colours!??
I have to say I like it now!
Stuart has done the final colour coat ready for the fine sand. This shot really shows the bottom shape.
I am getting excited although I apologise to the Melbourne Windsurfing crew in advance for there being no wind for a month after this baby turns up.
Maybe as it is a medium wind board it will blow like crap for a month!!!!
It,s finished. Stuart will send it south of the border tomorrow ready for a weekend test. Looks like he has done a great job and I am so excited to give it a run and see if that bottom shape is a thumbs up or thumbs down.
First Sail today, unfortunately not a great day to try it though, gusty Northerly that just didn't have any punch in it.
I rigged a proto 2014 6.6 Koyote, looked like there was a solid breeze but soon found out it had sucked me in. Initially spent my time dredging but then it filled in enough to get up, spent the next couple of hours planning probably 60% of the time but mostly only just , never really lit up.
It felt pretty good. It was quite choppy for the lack of wind with the tide running against the breeze and there was a massive fleet of big boats racing out of Sandy so a confused chop from them to add to it. My initial fears that the bottom shape would be a bit harsh in the chop were not realised, it punched through nicely. The board feels very stiff and reasonably lively yet never felt like it would get messy. The nose trimmed down quite low and it was very stable laterally, didn't rock rail to rail. Very easy to gybe, held a nice arc and lots of speed. The strap positions are good and the mast base was dead center in the track so appears I got that right as well. Reckon it could take a bigger fin that the KA 37 in the marginal stuff, 40 would be max though I think.
I really should have had a bigger sail but was too lazy to come in a re- rig, a 7.5 would have been spot on and I would really have got to see what she could do. I think 7.0 to 7.5 will be the sweet spot for it but you could stick an 8 on it for sure.
Looking forward to next time!!!!
Had a good sesh on the board today. It works, no problem. Sits pretty flat, the lateral stability is the thing you notice which is different to a conventional V setup. Soaks the chop up nicely although in the conditions I was getting launched a bit. Seems fast enough, again a Northerly with the steep waves that make really going fast so difficult . The gybe is good, holds it speed well and seems to glide through lulls well too.
I think it will be great in a SW seabreeze where the wave spacing is not as close and I should be able to get some decent speed out of it at Elwood up towards the poo pipe where the water is flatter. A 7.1 Race on it will be sweet I think. Will be my after work seabreeze session board for sure.
I have come to the conclusion that this bottom really has no great advantage over a conventional V setup but does not seam to have a disadvantage either. It's just different with that really noticeable lateral stability. Was worth the experiment just to see.
I appear to have got everything else right, nose rocker spot on, sits low but does not threaten to catch even when deep off the wind. Volume distribution is good, with the front foot just behind the mast base it is easy to slog off the plane. I can uphaul it no problem at all.
Staps are placed well and I have not moved the mast base from dead centre in the track where it appears well balance.
I think it is a keeper.
it's been interesting to see your latest design martin as usual they look superb as well. I've found in the past with bottom shapes like this proto the thing that seems to suffer a little is early planning and sticking to the wave in front when going off the wind. the way to solve tht seems to be to go crazy deep on the entry concave through the nose. keen to hear if your thoughts.
for my money the double concave into v is a hard shape to beat on anything other than formula gear.
Yeah you looked to have it well dialed yesterday Martin, apart from your 1st few runs where it looked a bit flighty in the short chop after that it looked really settled, and not far off 30 knots.
Ha Jerry, Yep got a bit messy when I passed you yesterday, launched of a real steep one. I was trying to do a Foxy to you and nearly came unstuck!!!Was fun being on the edge.
Justin, yep I totally agree it is pretty hard to go past Flat vee to double concave, it works and really does not need to be any more complex than that. As I said this was an experiment that I just had to do. The board is good, it,s just no better. I didn't have a issue with the nose catching or sticking, in fact it felt really safe downwind. The concave is only 1/3 of the width and it has V panels either side, so maybe that solves that issue.
It seemed to truck upwind, so that could be a win, it held a really high angle. Maybe this is a good Formula board shape?? trucked up wind and liked going really deep downwind.
Just not good enough! two hundredths of a second you must try harder.
Well done Martin glad to hear the board goes well. Really missing Sandy Point
Could have pushed it past 40 with a bigger gust. It felt really slippery, just sat on its tail and went. I was impressed with the ease of speed.
Had a good session on the board in a very rough 18-20 knots at Beaumaris. I am pretty impressed and I think there is definitely something in this bottom shape. It handles the chop really well, quite composed in the washing machine messy chop and when I got on the back of some swell lines and put the pedal down there is no lack of speed. I really like the way it sits really flat and the more you pile the power on it just sits up on its tail more, it does not rock rail to rail at all.
When I get some fun tickets I would like to do a bigger one and play with the rocker and V a touch but the basis of a really good design is lurking here.