Waxing philosophy

I stopped reading after the word "brahs"

 

I still think this is sjb. Just look at his terminology.....

 

I remember doing a speech in highschool about stereotypes.. one of them was

"A surfer may not say YOOO BRAH DID YOU SEE THAT THING, THAT THING WAS GNARLY SHRED GNAR TIME." ...

"A surfer may say, Hey man its really nice out there, definitely go out if you can."

 

Yo Bra,Its all about the comb.Cut the bollisticks G-Money.

 

Yea... don't you know REAL surfers speak ghetto now?

 

I thought about that before too. I've got some friends that sail y-flyers and they wax the bottom of their boats with a teflon type of wax and they swear by it.

 

Without getting too technical, there's friction drag (skin friction) and form drag. Friction drag is at the particle level (small scale) and is created by the water's contact with the surface of the bottom of the board. Form drag is a larger scale, and has to do with the shape of the bottom, like concaves and edges.... stuff you can see easily.

Friction drag is reduced when a "boundary layer" of water sticks to the surface, and the rest of the water flows around that boundary layer. Drag is reduced here because there's less friction between water and water, than water and surface. Waxing and polishing a board bottom minimizes the boundary layer, and increases friction drag. So does a gloss and polish job. A good 400 grit sanding with the direction of scratches going nose-to-tail creates a much more efficient boundary layer, which reduces friction drag and helps you go faster. This is nothing new... all the pros ride sanded hotcoats, even though you could hit it with the polisher and get it even smoother.

Form drag is reduced when surfaces are flat and smooth. Lumps of wax on the bottom of your board, poorly sanded repairs, dinged up fins, lumpy shapes, bad glassing or sanding jobs... all increase form drag and slow you down.

How much these things effect board performance is relative to the surfer's skill level and how in tune he is with his equipment.... some guys feel it, some guys won't. IMO... if it might make the difference between making a section or not, I need everything working in my favor.

 

in soviet russia, board waxes you

 

so... one of my boards has a sanded surface and I have no problems building up speed on the board. I saw this thing on Mako sharks, that thier skin has micro pits in them and water molecules fill these tiny voids up, so that instead of the ocean water passing over sharkskin, its actually ocean water passing over ocean water and this helps the mako move at very fast speeds. due to cutting down on surface resistance.

So, using that logic, you say that someone might take a fine grain sandpaper to the bottom of thier surfboard to help achieve this result???

 

Yes... research has shown that the surface texture left by 400 grit sandpaper makes the most efficient surface in terms of boundary layer thickness and reduced friction drag. But the sanding strokes have to be nose-to-tail, which form grooves similar to the "riblets" found on the bottom of some racing sailboats and aircraft. As board builders, this is all we can do without going high-tech. Keep in mind that most water does not flow nose-to-tail perfectly parallel to the stringer. It flows at some angle across the bottom, which would be at an angle across the abrasions.

 

LBCrew
Dry sanding or wet sanding?

 

Wet... only because the higher grits work better that way. Otherwise, the dust will cake up under your pad and you'll be wasting your time.

 

What up Frosty? Ballisticks:is the science of mechanics that deals with the flight,behavior,and effects of projectlies,especially bullets. Hope this helps. peace

 

Yeah, I agree the tricky part would be getting the bottom contours correct, V-shape, double, single, ect.... The grooves would need to compliment the shape, otherwise it going against the grain. Also, it should be noted that these grooves will be gone after roughly 50 hours of surfing due to salt/sand abrasion. I have never surfed a board with grooves sanded in the hotcoat, therefore I cannot speak on it's noticeable performance. But, now I am curious.