Just watched this video and wondered what you guys thought would be the effect in terms of extra performance of painting the underside of a board? I know the slalom/speed guys who are looking for am edge will have something to say!http://m.wimp.com/oleophobiccoating/
I saw this at work today on the net amazing stuff it shore is a slipery sucker i wondered how it would go under the board to when i saw it to mmmm????
I dunno that it'd be that beneficial.
Slippery and fast for sure, but if the board is THAT slippery it'd probably slide out way too easily
, control is part of the game too No?
Nah, that's surface tension dominating a small droplet of water. Boundary layer theories have stood the test of time for a century of more. And I'll bet, another century on, (if the human race can support a windsurfing population until then) we'll still be rubbing the bottoms with 1200 grit wet and dry to go fast.
Riblets based on shark skin may be one theoretical way of improving on the low drag of a flat smooth surface.
royalsocietypublishing.org/action/cookieAbsent
According to this study they work by impeding the escape of the longitudinal vortices which form next to the surface in turbulent flow. But even then they only reduce drag by a couple of percent and they have to be carefully tuned to the flow conditions.
Boards are sanded on the bottom becuse it makes water stick to it, water through water is faster than air through water. This is how the olympic swimming suits work, also the tape they tried on the old america's cup boats.
The direction the bottom is sanded is kinda obvious in that the water will flow in the direction of the grooves that have been sanded in it, even 1200 wet and dry makes fine sanding marks..
This stuff is cool as, but would prob make you go alot slower.. a gloss bottom board feels sticky to get planning were as a dull bottom board don't.
would be awesome for wetsuits, harness etc..
I've seen a ton of people on the slalom/formula tour (myself included at some point) using Holmenkol. Noticed a lot of the Olympic sailors at the time (circa 2006-08) were using it to polish their boats... it's nano-technology.
Could never tell the difference to be honest after tons (and LITERALLY tons) of side-by-side tests.
Seemed like too much effort so don't use it anymore. Interestingly Holmenkol do a product which I haven't tried which is supposed to be sprayed on sails to stop them holding water ... could be pretty cool for reducing rig weight. Was FREAKING expensive though...
It is VERY important to have a smooth, clean board ... one big thing I notice from sailing in different oceans all the time is you get a lot of brown gunk stains on your board from sailing in the sea a lot. Good to wet/dry sand that off and make sure any repairs on the bottom of your board are SMOOTH ;-)
