The future of windsurfing

The topic of adjustable sails (one sail different sizes) has sparked an, idea, maybe a bad one but an idea none the less.

We always look back at windsurifng gimmicks and concept....so what lies ahead, who can come up with the future for a boom, mast and a sail on a board.

Here is a few that may take some time:
1. Electronic push button Downhaul and outhaul that makes a cool winch motor sound.

2. Little solar powered properllers to get you on the plan in marginal conditions

3. Dynamic hull control (DHC) - a solid middle "channel" bit of board that is down when you need a bigger planning surface and up when you want less surface area.

4. Retractable winds that come out once you are going fast enough to lift you just above the water making use of the MIG effect (I don't know much about it of if that is the right spelling?)

5. Lighweight.solid.sail.concept.dot.north.com

6. An oar that you can't let go of to fend off sharks just in case you fall off your board with the propeller going.

Well, these are probably a load of ***t but what does the future hold?

How light can a board get????????

I think you mean WIG, Wing In Ground effect.

As far as lightness goes, I don't think you will get too much lighter unless someone decides to build a hollow board with just stiffeners under certain bits. However there is a fair few hurdles to overcome in the development of something like that and really probably wouldn't be worth it in the end of the day. Thou don't really know if increasing the skin thickness and the addition of stiffeners would end up with a weight decrease that would be worth the increase in price.

I guess you could look at using honeycomb materials in the core, but I don't think they really don't get down to the low densities of some of the foams that the guys are using, however most of my research has been into higher strength cores, probably much more then required in a board. Plus it would wouldn't be as easy to shape as foam. Maybe you can use something like Aerogel (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogel), not sure what the mechanical properties are like, but it sure is low density, probably around a 2kg weight saving on a 90L board.

One area for possible improvement is changing the manufacturing techniques and materials, using prepreg materials cured in autoclaves (don't think foam could handle the temp and pressure thou?), or maybe just room temp prepregs you will be able to have a lighter and stronger layup on the board. Don't think anyone uses this kinda stuff for windsurfing board yet do they?

Could also obviously change the layups and amount of reinforcements used in the boards, however I think some of the custom boards floating around these days are already pretty damn close to as light as you can go.


As far as the other stuff goes, I think most of the stuff adds too much complication to a sport which I think one of the main attractions is the relative simplicity of the equipement.

Thou one thing I can imagine is increased development maybe in cams, making them more lightweight and easy to depower so that maybe we will get the locked in high-wind range of a cammed sail, but also the softness, depower, low end grunt and pumpability of a cammless sail. Maybe a kind of tuning system in the cam to change the stiffness of the foil, or even better a progressive stiffener so that as the sail fills out it gets stiffer giving out a fast stable sail which twists off nicely up the top when its windier, but when its lighter the sail is softer making it easier to pump.

Probably a heap to be done with fins as well. Not sure how much or what type of research is going into fins, but theres probably a lot to be gained in fin developments. Personally I'm gonna treat myself one of the maui ultra fins maybe with my tax return money, also AUD is getting better against USD, money to be saved. A lot of good riders are using them these days, e.g JP is using them on his twins. Seems like the guy building them has put a fair bit of research into them.

What I really need is an undingable fin.

I'm ridin' on a dolphin, doing flips an ****, the dolphins splashing, gettin everyone all wet.

hahaha,

I'd be extremely happy with 15-20knots which doesn't occur around midnight

i've given this one some thought and i reckon the future is

triangle course racing in the surf on sups.

now that would be a blast!

bonus points for wave sailing on the way back in.

Depending on your definition of "autoclave" - this is how most boards have been built since about the mid 90's.



I'm not sure what you mean by this... a primary requirement of a cam is to *not* depower.



Some people have tried steel, which results in some other weaker part of the fin being destroyed instead. There are other materials which some people are testing, which help to eliminate surface scratches - look for some of these in the future.

2 Piece board? Starboard have a 2 piece SUP in there new catalogue, a few guys have made 2 Piece kiteboards successfully, i'm sure there is a windsurfer out there too somewhere.

Hollow Boards, been done a few times, old D2 race boards where hollow, Mistral made hollow freestyle boards when Nick Baker was competing in freestyle and Nude Customs from W.A has built and sailed one in the surf alot...

Think gear will just get lighter as the materials get better and stronger, bigger wind ranges for gear so you don't need so much gear.

Prob go more toward something like kevlar in boards and lighter laminating techniques... maybe different lighter stronger cores..

The actual future of windsurfing all depends on us right now passing this great sport on to younger generations so the technology will continue to progress..

We should just be working to make it cheaper.

The cost of the sport is what puts a lot of people off.

Portable wind ( the sailing kind..).You have a little button & push it & immediately get 20 -30 kts ( insert your favourite amount) consistent & from the right direction.When you are finished & see the someone you don't like just going out you push the button again & he gets left to swim in..

my mauisails boom has them.

Should be that kiting will give us a kick along like snowboarding resulted in skis being made to work properly.
Actually i bought a copy of January Windsurf magasine (usually do a Borders Browse)
where Starboard star Teisda speaks of a prototype foiler board consisting of twin fins with 4 foils that just "lifts up" in a non critical way.
Compare with Randle's Y shape fin and difficult manual adjustment of board tilt using cords from the boom, it sounds just too easy.
Maybe the top foils are surface skimmers mounted on the fins forward of the main foil?

Should be a prize for the first local lad to make it work.

grab a slab

Put in on eBay. Your fortune is made.

What's that for, people who don't like to flip their rig? That could revolutionise the gybe. You could turn like a proa - do a lot of fin first reaches :). Maybe its for freestyle?

that's not to mention the manufacturers haven't started using kevlar with titanium stringers and the cost will really be offensive