Sunday, March 28, 2010

Downwind Raceboard No. 6

Hot wired and ready for shaping.

Downwind raceboard number 6 will be Jacky's. It's going to be 14'6 x 26 with a target weight of 22 lbs.

I've got my rockers and template dialed in just right for our ocean conditions during the summer SW wind. They plane early and they hit very high top speeds. It's easy to keep the plane going without poking the wave ahead in a way that knocks you off a plane. The stability is very high at a narrow width.

A few months ago, a fellow shaper set me the Naish 14 ft glide rocker, fully mapped in detail. I was stoked to find Naish's glide rocker, and the way it curves throughout the board, matched the rocker I had developed (independently) exactly from the tail to about 2/3 of it's length. My rocker deviated in the forward 1/3. Mine being more gradual, while the Glide curve accelerates more rapidly. With my rocker working just right for our SW wind, I didn't take anything from the Naish and kept mine the same.

I have not added any design features for flat water or upwind racing. This is strictly a no compromise, optimized shape for SW wind. It should be an awesome summer of downwind runs past our house.

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