Sensor packed surfboard

And on top of it, there doing it for school.

Now imagine going to school and researching surfing the whole time. Sounds pretty epic to me.

 

In terms of board design, the research could have some merit. I doubt, however, that there will be any revelations. Conceptually, we understand a lot of what's going on under surfboards. I disagree with the idea that how water flows along the bottom of a board is a complete mystery. Rate of water flow, direction of water flow, forces and pressures, flex... have not yet been accurately measured. And that's what this kind of research attempts to do. But we do know enough about the behavior of water to make predictions and base design concepts on those predictions. Basically, I expect this kind of research will only serve to confirm and quantify what we already theorize conceptually.

Don't get me wrong.... I'm a science guy. I like data, and encourage this kind of research. I just don't expect many surprises.

In terms of using this kind of instrumentation to judge contests... malarkey. It only tells what the surfboard is doing, and not the surfer. Style still counts, and always will. A 2 G turn in a critical part of the wave, done with style and grace, beats a 3 G turn done on a less critical part of the wave, with a bunch of arm flapping and stink bugging.