Chris 249 said..
The shape of most boards changed dramatically with wide style boards, which use the simple physical fact that a short and wide planing surface is far more efficient at planing speed.

The idea that the gap between the two “planing” surfaces won’t get in contact with the water seems to be very dubious in any chop.

These boards goes away from that. The style, incidentally, was tried about 1981.

What were those boards built from back in 81?

Spelling is overrated 😎

choco said..

Chris 249 said..
The shape of most boards changed dramatically with wide style boards, which use the simple physical fact that a short and wide planing surface is far more efficient at planing speed.

The idea that the gap between the two “planing” surfaces won’t get in contact with the water seems to be very dubious in any chop.

These boards goes away from that. The style, incidentally, was tried about 1981.

What were those boards built from back in 81?

Probably just polyester and foam.

Solid job WA test team. Super edit Flex.
Perhaps I should take back my comment that step hulls will eat any modern slalom board now 😳
Or will they get there with further testing and modification? Sounds like Bruce plans to keep pushing so we'll see.

Could this design benefit from a different sail design ?. The Ken Warby's speed record for this design was achieved with a powered motor, with the impulse at the back of the hull. His design also had rear stabilisers, like an airplane. A sailboard impulse is not like this at all. Could a rig be designed to emulate the forces of Ken's jet boat ?. What about kite power ?

It would be interesting to see what a onshore wave sail (a light, powerful, but compact rig, carbon wave boom, full carbon RDM etc) would do in those powered up conditions on the small board. Then try a foiler's rig.

I've not done well with speed on Hyper at Budgy. A few knots slower than I would have been on Carbon Art I think.
Mitch did 40 on it different day so it can do it.
Home at Jimmy's beach with pointer in Hydro 155ltr 75w I did 23kts in light wind. I felt I'd struggle to get that out of the rest of my normal boards that day.
Still looking for a tester for OCSLA. Oh my a slalom event is coming to Jimmy's next weekend, must I be the crash test dummy!?

decrepit said..
This design, really benefited boats with little to no control of angle of attack. It fixes angle of attack to close to optimum.

Mike, could you explain to this numpty what Angle of Attack means ?. How does this step design lock in a fixed AoA ?

MobZ: I would love to see the Warby on a +30kt day on a flat water spot, with a light rider, using an on shore wave sail with a high centre of effort that lifts the board. Narrow wave boom set to eye height, and 30-32cm lines, front foot drive (rather than back foot). A rig that weights a feather. I'm just curious. Something completely different to how a race sail applies force to the board and rider.

Thought I’d chip in… in that speed boards generally have a curving outline from wider mid to narrow (often pin-ish in narrow versions).. plus a certain length of straight line bottom before the rocker kicks in… this contrast in surface area allows the narrow tail pod to be leveraged deeper into the water to get the trim angle. The trim angle set in the boards rocker can therefore be overridden and increased by the rider.
The WARBY step hull in this version has unfortunately been made with too much width at the very back end/tail block without enough tail outline curvature…too parallel … Without any cutaways or outline curve into a pintail form, the board has lost its ability to easily be trim-controlled by normal methods of rocking the board onto its tail.
Note that there is still a rear footstrap hole 25mm further back which would help to allow more weight and leverage further back.
i have suggested that Flex has someone in WA carve in some cutaways to reduce pod width and allow the board to pivot from further forward. The lift is currently way back which puts more pressure on the front steps.
If balance is correct, the board should only be lightly dancing on front steps with easy trim angle correction.
Also note that the MORPH was ridden with the rear straps in the forward holes. The board was still ridable due to the above mentioned outline variation from wider forward section.. then narrower tail due to cutaways. The board will be faster when the rear straps are moved rearward as trim angle will be easier to attain.
The HYPER has more planing outline curvature so lift is dispersed further forward than on the WARBY… so desired trim angle easier to attain .
cheers.BM

He went out briefly. I believe he returned at the rate of about 36kts. A tad overcooked in the wicked westerly he said as he hastily swapped to smaller board for the session.
He does not get rattled, but I think his eyes might have been ever so slightly wider at the experience and is interested in more I think.

MobZ said..
It was all a bit frantic and that is all I got. Pretty cool watching him adapt instantly to the take off though.

Many thanks for the clarification! Yes, good to know! Pretty chunky board for blasting winds. Hopefully we’ll get to see him test ride the STONK.. or one of the other smaller sized boards..
Cheers. 🍻

jn1 said..
Mike, could you explain to this numpty what Angle of Attack means ?. How does this step design lock in a fixed AoA ?

AoA is simply the angle the lifting surface is to the lifting medium.
This determines the amount of lift and the amount of drag. Not enough angle and you don't have enough lift, ( standing too far forward reduces AoA and results it too much board in the water)
Too much angle you have too much drag, (weight too far back sinking the tail)
with a hydro, this angle is determined by the 2 planning surfaces forward and the single surface at the rear. the weight is somewhere between these 2 planning areas, and the angle between them results in the AoA. Shifting weight around will have a small effect on AoA, but nowhere near as much as with a continuous planing surface.
With conventional boards, the sailor can trim the board set up and alter their stance to get the best possible lift to drag ratio

I must have done 99 gybes where it was mildly powered and went around ok. This one is OCSLA


This one on 3 step ATLAS, it went around, but the other way. This surprised me because I'd ridden that one a lot and had no previous major unruly behaviour from it. Fangy fin 18.
Don't think I hit a berg or anything, was doing many lovely ones on Carbon Art all morning before this. The only difference that may have caused this, that I can come up with, was that it was a downwind run with a race sail, the other 99 were slower, tighter arcs I guess. And I'd had a 50k sesh already on CA, maybe I took that style into it. Usually I don't swap boards on a day.

SurferKris said..
This reminds me of the Starboard Hypersonic board with the large double concaves. It can be very efficient in medium winds but it kinds of lacks a "fith-gear " and an all out top-speed when the conditions turn on. I don't think there is anything that can match the traditional slalom and speed boards for an experienced rider. But there might be something to gain for the average joe in medium to lighter winds.

The Starboard Carve and old JP boards with the channel spring to mind as well.

jn1 said..

The Starboard Carve and old JP boards with the channel spring to mind as well.

True, my Carve 99 has that channel up front. Got my first 30 and alpha PB on that one,